How to Master Your Holiday Decorating!
How to Master Your Holiday Decorating!
By Anne Frazier, Nandina Home Collection
The holidays are rapidly approaching, and one of the first things you will want to check off your list is the dreaded chore of decorating! Before you go dragging those dozen boxes of decorations from the attic or the basement, take a few minutes to develop a plan. It will make the job so much easier and the finished product will put you, your family, and your guests into a festive holiday spirit.
Decorating for the holidays should follow the same design principles as decorating your home. First you must choose a color and a theme or style. From there you follow the simple design principles of symmetry, repetition, and proportion. Now that doesn’t seem so difficult, does it? So let’s get started.
Choosing a color scheme–A great beginning point is to choose a color scheme. Remember you don’t have to “throw the baby out with the bath water.” You can base your color palette on decorations you already have or on the colors in your home. If you have primarily gold, keep it, but add a punch of pink and orange. If you are a traditionalist and love green and red, add touches of black for impact.
Some sample color combinations are: red and green, red and white, all white, any color and gold or white or silver, white and black, silver and blue, orange and pink, and forest green and burgundy.
The theme or style–Do you want a glittery high style look, or a folksy rustic theme? Both are beautiful and can actually find a place simultaneously in your home. Just don’t mix themes in the same room. In the formal areas of you home you may choose to do a fabulous tree with glitzy silver and crystal ornaments, and in the kitchen or den have a simple Frazier fur decorated with your children’s hand made ornaments. If you have built a collection of Santa’s, snowmen, or villages use these items to create your own special holiday décor.
Symmetry, Repetition, and Proportion-Symmetry is a great way to add a focal point to a fireplace, entrance, or staircase. Flanking a fireplace or entrance with poinsettias or topiaries makes these architectural details of your home a real focal point for the holidays.
Repetition is key! Make sure you have enough of something to make a statement. If you use huge silver ornaments on your tree, add them to the garland on your fireplace, put them in crystal containers on your table, and put them in the wreath on your door. Try to use the same ribbon throughout a room or area, and when displaying a collection keep them within one area so that it makes an impact.
With proportion the key is to vary the size and texture of all of your elements. Use large and small ornaments on the tree or group a set of odd numbered candlesticks, same substance (crystal or silver), but vary the sizes. Vary texture to add interest to your decorations – bring in soft velvet tree skirts, sparkling crystal, glittering twigs, rough baskets, and fresh greens.
Make a statement! –For holiday decorating there is no easier or cheaper way to make a statement than with a can of spray paint. Use silver or gold to spray paint twigs, bamboo, ivy, or holly. Or if you are really bold and daring take an assortment of gourds or fruits, spray them all a deep chocolate or copper once dry give a second coat of high gloss lacquer. Can you imagine that mixed with votives and placed strategically down the center of your dining table?
Remember with holiday decorating if you have a plan, use sound design principles, pour yourself some cider and put on your favorite CD, you are set for success.
