It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeearrr! My singing isn’t so wonderful, but the Christmas holidays truly are! Our Canadian winter is nothing to be proud of, but fortunately we are smack dab in the middle of the winter splendor when it comes to the Christmas holidays, which creates the perfect atmosphere for decorating. While other countries may be using pineapples and fruits as decoration we have the privilege to use the best and most beautiful, genuine materials natural to the North that fits right into the Christmas décor! Inspiration for the holidays can come from our Great North land, from the indigenous vegetation; wood, pine cones and foliage included, to Northern inspired plaid patterns and fur trimming.
Christmas is not a holiday to hold back, full participation is encouraged! From the front door, to the fireplace, to the nine foot tree your family hand-picked, every little detail goes a long way to creating an inviting and memorable space for you and your family. Finding items to decorate the house is usually not an issue, but this season, try to establish a cohesive style throughout your displays and Christmas décor to help unify the house in a holiday theme.
Inky blues & vibrant teals
This year, I’m in love with the inky blues and vibrant teals for Christmas, like Benjamin Moore’s CSP- 660 Adriatic Sea & CSP-645 Avalon Teal.
CSP-660 Adriatic Sea
CSP-645 Avalon Teal
This blue colour palate is certainly a departure from the traditional Santa red and coniferous green, but it works well with the grays and off whites found in homes of today.
Mixing metals; metallic silvers, & golds.
It’s also never been a better time to mix your metals; metallic silvers and golds can create more variety within your colour palate, because it acts as secondary and tertiary colours.
Invest in versatile Christmas decor
More importantly, your home décor, whichever colour scheme or style you have, works well for the other three seasons of the year, so don’t go into the expense of buying all new décor to match your Christmas decor. Invest in versatile decorations that can be utilized for many years to come. The accent colour may be interchanged throughout the years, but the majority of your decorations can remain relevant for many years.
New & innovative Christmas decor ideas!
There are elements that make up the traditions of Christmas, like a wreath on the door, garlands on the mantle and more, but there are also new and innovate ideas to revive the wearied conventional Christmas décor. To prevent beloved traditional décor from becoming stagnant, modify how you perceive your decorations. For instance, that same wreath on the front door can be made out of feathers
or coordinating coloured ornaments instead of the traditional garland and holly bush. At the same time, play with sizes and shapes of your materials; maybe you hang three smaller wreathes instead of one large wreath or a square wreath instead of a standard round wreath.
Similarly, use the elements and trends of today to implement into your Christmas décor. Burlap can be used for stockings, mason jars can be used to showcase miniature Christmas displays or as snow globes. Incorporate Christmas décor into your daily activities, for instance, put your advent calendar on display, which becomes art as well as an activity for the kids to look forward to. The children’s Christmas art activities can double as displays as well. Just for fun, try giving the kids coordinating icing colours for the gingerbread house to display.
Utilize beautifully wrapped gifts as part of your Christmas decor
Your home is not the only thing on display during the Christmas holidays either. The beautifully wrapped gifts that pile under the tree perform as an extension of your Christmas décor through pattern, colour and texture, but they also eventually go out as the gifts they’re intended for. Take into account how the gift wrapping patterns look against each other as they are presented to a single individual or grouped together for a family. Comparable to your décor, play around with the size of materials, like patterns, ribbon width, bow proportions and name tag ideas to create an authentically wrapped holiday gift to add to the Christmas luster. While I wouldn’t necessarily throw the rule book out the window, I would toss it to the end of the room for this season. Focus on unison of your overall décor using holiday decorations. Your style may be gray and teal with metallic or traditional red and green with plaid blankets like a Northern dweller, the décor style is unique to you!
How to tie the perfect bow
There’s nothing as nostalgic as Christmas, whether you’ve grown up with family traditions or you’re in the process of making new ones. We all know Christmas is not only about giving and receiving gifts, but a festively decorated home around the holidays can add to that nostalgia and fond memories of the holiday for both you and your family. The rest of the year we live day to day in normalcy, so don’t panic about the season’s holiday, but enjoy the adventures to come and spend it in a majestically decorated home!
Sahra McFarlane
Interior Decorator
Creative Haus Designs
