How to have a classy Christmas: 28 festive home decorating ideas from style gurus
The best chic Christmas decorating tips
Shop for vintage baubles
Vintage Christmas ornaments arranged by Eleanora Cunietti.View image in fullscreen
Vintage Christmas ornaments arranged by Eleanora Cunietti. Photograph: Amit Lennon/The Guardian
I like to festoon my tree with vintage baubles from different periods and places. My favourite piece is a Santa’s sleigh from the 1960s, given to me as a child, but I love shopping for retro baubles too. Vinterior has a selection of bygone Christmas pieces, ornaments and tree decorations. You’ll find wooden Christmas elves and rosy-cheeked Santas from the 1960s at Handmade & Vintage.
Bring out a tablecloth
Tablecloth, red berry patternView image in fullscreen
Berry print tablecloth, £15, ikea.com
I’ve got a red-striped Arket cotton tablecloth that I bring out every year. It’s not Christmas‑themed but I only use it at this time as it makes our grubby Weetabix-stained kitchen table feel fancy and signifies our favourite festive tradition: canape day (where we spend an entire day eating only miniature food and cheese). Ikea has this gloriously festive berry-print one this year.
Display paper baubles in clusters
Display paper baubles in clusters
Scandinavian-inspired paper snowflakes.View image in fullscreen
Scandinavian-inspired snowflakes, £18.99 for 12, papersnowflake.co.uk
I love Scandinavian-inspired Christmas decorations and have been stocking up on big white paper baubles, stars and snowflakes for years. I arrange a few of each in a “tasteful cluster” and hang them in all corners of the room. All the fun of the 1980s, but much more chic. I’ll also be making my own orange-slice garlands. It’s quite time intensive (four hours of drying in a low-heated oven), but the smell is incredible and they look so festive hung around the fireplace.
Light a warming candle
Bella Freud Herb CandleView image in fullscreen
Herb candle, £65, bellafreud.com
A scented candle gives a glow to the house, and Bella Freud’s Herb (£65) is my favourite. It smells of white tiare, red apples and warm cloves. I also like to have bowls of colourful and moreish Italian confetti assortiti (sugared almonds) in the cupboard for guests (or myself) to have with a coffee or a Christmas drink.
A mantelpiece with baubles and foliageView image in fullscreen
Try making a Matthew Williamson-style ‘bauble snake’ for your mantelpiece. Photograph: Amit Lennon/The Guardian
Make a bauble snake
This Christmas I’m going to thread baubles – glass and glitter, in all the usual metallic shades – on to a length of wire to make a bauble snake. Then I’ll twist and coil it to create piles of baubles across our mantelpiece. Between them, I’ll dot simple cream church candles and tea lights in clear glass jars. I’m imagining all the colours and textures twinkling like the contents of a magical treasure chest.
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