
Have you braved the cold to deck out your house for Christmas yet? We have (read below to see!), and the place we chose to start: our front door. First, with a festive welcome mat, and now with wreaths, garland, and lights that make the your home feel even more inviting this time of year. Let these 15 festive entryways serve as inspiration for decorating your door, porch, or deck for the holiday!
1. Move the Mantle Outside: We’ll start with an entryway that brings a little bit of the inside outdoors with a hanging Christmas stocking. Stuffed with pine sprigs and holly, the piece grabs all of your attention. But it’s also nice that when you zone out a bit, you’re met with a wild garland and two mini Christmas trees. (via Homedit)
2. Rustic Star: We love the warm, cheery feeling we get from this front door decor. There’s an effortless symmetry happening here that gives balance to the entire scene, from the perfect slouch in the garland to the equally and overly adorned trees. The large, rustic star on the door helps to bring it all together. (via Houzz)
3. Angles and Oranges: Here’s a great holiday scene for homes that don’t get much wintry weather. While we’re not suggesting that everyone go out and get a pair of cheeky angel topiaries, we do love the non-traditional color combination of green and orange. It’s a daring palette for this time of year, but it looks incredibly modern. (via Better Homes and Gardens)
4. Snowflakes: Three words: let it snow! There’s so much snowy detail on this front porch, from the obvious hanging snowflake garland and wreath, to more hidden elements like the snowflake decals on each silver tree bucket. There’s no chicer holiday theme to run with. (via Better Homes and Gardens)
5. Pinecones and Lanterns: If you’re drawn to this dashing doorway, then you’re definitely of the mindset of less is more. And in this instance, keeping it simple definitely makes a bold statement. We love that the ornaments in the full pinecone garland and berries around the metal lanterns exactly match the color of the door (it seems it helps to have a red door during the holidays). (via Better Homes and Gardens)
6. Neutral and Rustic: First off, let’s just take a second to ogle this front door. So gorgeous, and perfectly accented by minimal holiday decor. The simplest white garland adds a gentle touch of sparkle to this mostly neutral scene, which is so tastefully rustic. (via HGTV)
7. Winter Blues: Here’s another instance of both working with the year-round colors of your home and putting a twist on the traditional Christmas color palette (or simply embracing the colors of Hanukkah!) The combo of shiny silver and hues of blue make this porch sparkle like a winter wonderland. (via Robin Stubbert Photography)
8. Icy Glitz: If you’re ideal Christmas color is snowy white, then this is the front door decor for you! Icy blue ornaments and frosted pine cones give this wreath just enough wintry pop. Then, you can let the weather do the rest! (via Better Homes and Gardens)
9. Red and Green With a Twist: This super symmetric scene is tidy, yet bursting with personality. We’re swooning over the vertical snowflake hangings, which bring your attention to beautiful bunches of birch candles. There’s no overlooking the matching ribbon-wrapped hedges, either. (via HGTV)
10. Black and White: While we prefer our Christmas decor to be lit up in cheery color, we threw this front porch on the list for those who have a more minimalist taste. This scene is unfussy, yet everything is perfectly placed. We love how the doubled decor (see two trees and lanterns?) take up space without feeling repetitive, and of course, the monogram letter won us over. (via Made in Heaven)
11. Pop of Color: Here’s another more minimally decorated entryway, but this one uses color in a super smart way: every element of decor is monochrome! See the green ornaments on the green tree, and the red ribbon on that stunning red wreath? It’s classy, modern, and totally hip. (via Better Homes and Gardens)
12. Saying of the Season: There’s no more elegant way to declare the time of year. What fabulous DIY inspiration! (via Marcus Design)
13. Metallic Accents: We welcome all things glitzy during the holiday season, so we’re smitten with this metallic porch decor. When set on a background of white and green, there’s no such thing as too much silver and gold. (via Pottery Barn)
14. Nature Inspired: Who knew bare tree branches could conjure up such holiday spirit? And while they look pretty epic jutting out of spiky greenery, we’re obsessed with how great they look on the door. The oversized centerpiece plays up the height of the entryway without overpowering it in the slightest. (via Sweet Something Designs)
15. Coastal Holiday: This might be our favorite way to celebrate the holidays in a part of the world so sunny it never sees snow. Red ribbons pop against this white and sky blue entryway, where a garland of stacked seashells seems reminiscent of falling snow. (via A Beach Cottage)
Bonus: Our front door! It’s true! We decked out our entryway with fake snow, a couple of reindeer (see ‘em peeking?) and three frosty wreaths—one topped with a pretty burlap bow. This of course, is the entrance to Brit + Co SF, a holiday pop-up shop at Brit HQ where you can make, shop, and be merry! If you’re in SF, stop by between 11AM-9PM and say hi!
Any plans to deck out your front door this holiday? Do you stick with a traditional wreath or do you branch out with more modern decor? Tell us in the comments below!
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures