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If you can’t wait to get up in the attic and pull out your tinsel, unpack your Christmas baubles and add a smattering of snow spray to all surfaces – then cool your heels! We caught up with some industry movers and shakers to find out how they will be decorating this Christmas….So before you dust off last years decs…have a read through this for some new inspiration from the experts!
Jane Rockett, Co-Founder of Rockett St George.
‘This year my Christmas decor is all about the pompoms, tassles and creating a party atmosphere. My theme for my dining room is gold and caramel against dark walls. I intend to cluster the spheres and hang a different levels over the dinner table.
The table itself will be piled high with ivy with caramel coloured candles and gold/white star tea light holders. Gold cutlery and serving spoons will finish the look. My kitchen is white, so in here I am using white spheres and disco balls – all the best parties end up in the kitchen! I like to fill drinks buckets full of ice and let guests help themselves’.
My top Christmas tips are:
- You can never have enough candles and tealight holders to create the perfect festive feel.
- Put the Christmas cards away, they look messy!
- Max out on the decorations. The more the better, no one likes a sparse tree.
- Buy two sets of fairy lights – one set is simply not enough.
- Christmas decorating is a family affair – open the mulled wine, put on the Christmas songs and have fun! Christmas is about family not the perfect decor (or you can always move things around a bit when they have all gone to bed).
Sarita Sharma, Interiors Stylist, Ideal Home.
‘I spend the summer styling shoots for the Xmas features for Ideal Home which I love! But I have to admit that there is a sigh of relief when the shoots are finished and I am not surrounded by baubles and glitter!
It doesn’t take long before my real xmas comes along, but luckily by then I am back in the xmas spirit and just love to decorate my house. We always have a 10ft real tree which takes over the sitting room but I have tall ceilings so the room can take it. I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to decorating the tree and tend to put my stylist hat. It makes the kids laugh as I take it so seriously! Our decorations haven’t changed in years, I stick to silver, white and I love the vintage look of mercury silver..
My Top Christmas Tips:
- Fairy lights are a failsafe way to add Christmas sparkle. Keep lights simple but make sure they have a warm glow rather than a cool one.
- From year to year, vary things slightly like adding a splash of colour. I love to use stunning paper pom poms. Last year I bought some in a pomegranate colour – they looked fab against the dark grey tones of my sitting room.
- Carry through your colour scheming from the tree right through with the gift wrap – it will all look very festive.
- Invest in some things you can use each year. A couple of years ago I went to Covent Garden Market and bought 2 bunches of the extra long white twigs, I keep them in the loft and they look like new every year!
Julia Kendell, TV Interior Designer & Presenter.
“This year my own Christmas interior will be inspired by the current Scandinavian trend. I can’t wait to accessorize my home with a white and pewter palette, organic natural elements, reindeer hides, velvet cushions and cinnamon-infused candles. I have the opportunity for a 10ft tall Christmas tree this year. So to save money on ornaments I’ll be spraying pine cones matt white and combining with bronze and pewter metallic-sprayed leaves and twig bundles.”
Top tips for the Xmas Table
- Keep the table-centre decoration either low enough for family and guests to easily see over, or suspend baubles and decorations from above to create a magical ‘Alice in Wonderland’ effect.
- Arrange sprigs of foliage, including ivy and holly, around candles and tea lights in glass holders for an inexpensive, classic look.
- For a beautifully styled table, arrange a stacked pile of plates, bowl and napkin at each setting in preparation for the meal to come. Remove just before everyone sits and replace with crackers and glasses of fizz.
Jess Contomichalos, Interior Stylist, Danetti.
As a stylist, Xmas begins in July usually as most interiors magazines have a long lead time so all features need to be wrapped up by mid August. Normally I have decorated about five different trees and styled a few ‘Xmas’ houses! I feel very ‘bah humbug’ by the time the real Xmas comes around. So, usually my children and I get all the decorations down from the attic. We put on our Christmassy music and I let them decorate the tree.
When I’ve told them how lovely it looks and we’ve all ‘ooh'd and ahh'd’ the pretty twinkly tree, I start twitching. I start to feel panicky about it! I wait for them to go to bed and then I completely re-arrange the decs so that it looks perfect! It’s the curse of being a stylist. I use lots of fairy lights with a soft glow. Along with candles and lanterns to create a magical atmosphere. I love dressing the table for Xmas, I like to load up layers of charger plates, dining plates and bowls. I also create a centrepiece for the table with baubles and sparkling reindeer with stars and crystals scattered along the centre of the table.
My Tips for Christmas decorating
- In the weeks leading up to Christmas whilst watching TV, we make origami style snowflakes out of plain A4 paper in a variety of sizes (each one is unique). They are so easy to make and look stunning when attached to windows with glue dots.
- I use white voile bunting hung around the walls near the ceiling and then I hang Christmas cards in between the triangles. It keeps them up and out of the way(!)
- Buy an inexpensive bumper pack of baubles in colours of your choice and then fill anything made of glass with them. So vases, jars, bowls, lidded cake stands or cloches for a gorgeous designer look.
- Go into the woods and find the perfect twigs to create a table top tree…(children love to search for one). When you get home spray it white and let it dry then place the twigs into a vase filled with glass marbles. String some fairy lights over the branches then find a selection of one off decorations and create a unique tree. At home our tree decorations are things like a small star cookie cutter on a ribbon, a large jingle bell (left by Santa of course), mini labels with Christmas message written on it by each of us and attached with mini wooden pegs. Along with felt shapes cut out and threaded with string, a crystal droplet from an old chandelier – and so on.
- Use icing sugar on mince pies and Christmas cakes. Even if they are shop bought, sieving icing sugar over them will add instant Christmas flourish!
Sue Pritchard, Florist and Stylist, Owner of The Lavender Hill Company
My Christmas Decorating Tips
- Switch to really seasonal festive smelling candles and tea tealights to set the mood. Notes of citrus, cinnamon and spices give any room a warm feel and the scent will fill the whole house. We blend our own candles in the shop so of course use those at home. Top tip is to buy fewer candles of better quality. A quality candle will burn for longer and smoke less, plus cheaper candles only have the scent in the top layer.
- I don’t do the whole house, I’d rather consolidate the decorations in the spaces that we’ll be spending time in. I focus my attention on the lounge, entrance way and dining room. Also, I find that the decoration take down operation is far less of an ordeal if it’s just a few rooms. If I did the whole house I think they would still be up in June!
- In terms of what I decorate with, I pick one theme or item and then decorate quite abundantly with that one thing. I find that’s the best way to have maximum impact. It’s always flower related; something in the shop will inspire me and then I build my ideas around that.
- This year I’ll be filling every inch of free surface space with silvery frosty looking foliage's. Also I’ll be using succulents in mercury glass containers. I adore succulents, and they require hardly any care which is ideal when I’m juggling the shop, children, grandchildren etc. They’ll look beautifully wintery over Christmas and then I’ll just swap the pots and spread them around the house afterwards.
