Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year and home staging for Christmas is one of my favourite tasks. I love creating a look that is special, but also unique and personal. A beautifully decorated home is both evocative and emotive. Perfect for this time of year. And if you want to create that extra special Christmas ambiance this year, here are some ideas:
Start with your favourite objects, whether they are Christmas decorations or other items. Think about why you love them and how you came to own them, and then from there start creating stories for Christmas centred around them. For example, what about using a much loved bronze as a focal point, or take inspiration from your favourite painting. Pay special attention to even the smallest details. Explore colours and try to think outside the box by walking away from the conventional colour palette of red, green, gold and silver. A great starting point is to use your room palette and start your Christmas scheme that way.
Play with lighting; gather lots of candles of all sizes and colours as well as incense holders to create a feeling of abundance in mood lighting and fragrance. Scents such as frankincense, rich musk, citrus or cinnamon notes are great for creating a festive feel and will forever conjure up memories of this special time and place. For the last couple of years, I have loved using the Penhaligon’s portrait perfume collection combined with rich velvet cushions of a fox and reindeer dressed in period costume. There’s something about the characters on the cushions that conjures up a feeling of a special Christmas story and setting.
From antique shops, charity shops and vintages shops, you can gather affordable but unusual items to complement each room and add to your existing Christmas decorations. I just love small vintage baubles, they are often so delicate and make you wonder about their journey from home to home down the different generations.
When decorating a mantelpiece, try to add items of different heights and scale so your eyes wander up and down and notice the most charming and smallest touches of magic. For a Narnia-esque look, sprinkle your setting with a snow-frosted finish.
Finally, keep in mind that you still want to keep rooms elegant for when family and friends visit so whilst you should let your imagination play around with ideas, don’t go too over the top.
Contributed by Carole Coleman of Carole Coleman Design
