Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Stylish Holly!
While winter might be cold and grey, Christmas is a great time to brighten the house and enjoy some added colour.
Fairy lights can add warmth and a welcoming twinkle to your living room. And they don’t just have to be for the tree. Think about draping them across fireplaces or even inside them if you don’t have a working fireplace. Across the top of windows can be sweet as well, particularly if you hang baubles on ribbons in the window.
Traditional
For me Christmas is about red, green, gold and white decorations collected over the years and in different countries to provide a traditional feel. With thoughts of It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle of 34th Street, I hang stars, hearts, baubles and robin’s. If you like the customary feel look out for wooden and felt decorations. Go for red and either silver or gold baubles. Our traditional tree above is from House of Fraser (Bushy green tree £80, 180 Multifunction lights £40, Stripe knitted stocking £10, Red berry garland £25, ‘Joy’ star decoration £3.50, Decorations on tree from £2.50). If you like the traditional colours but prefer to add a few modern decorations, Accessorize also has a large range (from £3.50) like a union jack heart and English telephone box that will fit perfectly with the theme. Or why not start a tradition and splash out on a decoration a year from somewhere special like Danish jewellery designer Georg Jensen who do different annual designs from around £15.
Fashionable
Jewelled colours such as blue, green and purple have been seen on the catwalks for winter but they will also make your Christmas stylish too. This look from Next features giant green butterflies (£12 for 3) and their 100 piece bauble and star kit (£20) will make decorating simple. Next’s deep purple glitter stars (£12 for 6) also add a richness to the mix. Liberty has some lovely decorations in rich shades including a purple glitter diamante shoe (£3.50) and glittering peacock (£4.95).
Contemporary
Modern houses sometimes call for modern decorations and this look from Next manages to combine traditional colours with a contemporary feel by minimizing tones to just two colours. The use of red and white evoke a Scandinavian design feel that is celebrated for it’s chic style. Polka dots were popular this year and you can add them to your tree with funky red and white spotted baubles from Heals (£5 each).
Minimalist
For a designer look stick to white or silver decorations only. The simple wintery shades create a calm and sophisticated tree and the best thing about this look is that the decorations don’t have to be expensive to look expensive. The look above was created by Littlewood with the Noel letters just £7 and the snowball baubles £7 for six, while the main shot is from Sainsbury’s whose white bauble set (24 pieces) will set you back a miserly £2.99. Harrods has a lovely vintage white bauble (£4.95) and Selfridges set of four snowflakes, crowns or birds (£29.95 each set) are beautiful.
