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IT
happens every year: Grand plans for holiday decorating
collide with everything else that needs to get done, and
as the weeks before Christmas loom, you feel as if
you’re playing—and losing—“Beat the Clock.”
For help
in this holiday season, we asked a handful of
experts—from HGTV’s Kenneth Brown and Angelo Surmelis to
Williamsburg’s
Cindy Cragg and local artist and tastemaker Sheryl Green
of Lux Bond & Green—for their favorite quick tips for
holiday decorating. Their inspired and inspiring ideas
take little time—and in some cases little money. They’re
just the thing for decking the halls in short order,
which, of course, leaves more time for everything else.
Matthew
Mead Stylist, author and creator of
www.matthewmeadstyle.com
“Fresh
fruits and greens are easy, inexpensive and can be
recycled into fruit salad and fruit baskets for the new
year. When time is short for me, I gather apples,
oranges, cranberries and grapes from the grocery store,
cut fresh greens from my backyard and fill bowls,
compotes and cake stands with fresh fruits and sprigs of
evergreen. They are instantly colorful and festive and
fill the house with fragrance.”
Bella
Zakarian Mancini Ruby Life, for DesignMyRoom.com
“Bring
out your china and crystal for the whole season. Hotel
silver—at antique stores and tag sales—adds formality
without breaking the bank. Set the table with your best
linens and dishware. Drink your morning coffee out of
good china cups. Put tea lights in crystal candy dishes.
Pot up some white narcissus and amaryllis and watch them
grow during the season.”
Angelo
Surmelis Head designer, HGTV’s 24 Hour Design, founder
and owner of Swell Space
“One
thing that I love to do is find new ways to use old
ornaments. A lot of people buy new ornaments throughout
the year, they have all these ornaments and feel the
need to put them all on the tree, and it’s hard to
distinguish them. I get a branch from my backyard, and I
hang it from the ceiling—either in the dining room or
another room that’s lacking in festivity. To do it, I
put a simple hook in the ceiling, like a plant hanger.
Attach simple fishing wire from the hook, attach the
branch, then tie it up—over the dining room table it
makes a great centerpiece. From the branch I hang a
bunch of ornaments—all silver or all blue or all
vintage—I try to keep a theme. The thing that works for
me with that look is you’re taking a really organic
element and bringing in some really cool man-made
ornaments.”
Kenneth
Brown Designer and host of HGTV’s reDesign
“Once
you have the living room and dining room decorated,
don’t forget the guest bedroom and bathroom. The hot
trend for guest rooms this season is hotel resort
comfort. It is the best gift you can give your guests.
“Go the
extra mile and have a luggage rack in the room. These
pieces of furniture are great because they can serve
many purposes. Not only do they hold your guests’
luggage, but you can also place a tray on top for an
extra table in the room.
“For the
bathroom—have new scented guest soaps in a beautiful
bowl. Look for patterned bowls that coordinate with the
guest room [paisley and Moroccan]—good design always
relates to something in a nearby room.
“Treat
your guest like they are visiting a five-star spa with a
carafe of fresh water with cut lemons and cucumbers. I
like the cup/carafe combination where the cup also acts
as the top of the carafe.”
Alicia
Kennedy Founder and owner, The Home Organizer and
Graceful Moves
“Create
a simple, yet elegant centerpiece. Try cranberries in a
crystal bowl with water and floating candles or flowers.
Keep all decorations low to the table to encourage
conversation.”
P.S.
“Remember the beauty of the holidays is in enjoying time
with loved ones, not spending countless hours stressing
over the perfect decorations. A happy home decorated
with love is always best!”
Sheryl
Green Lux Bond & Green
“Sometimes the old ‘less is more’ works even for
holidays. Some of my personal favorites that I use to
decorate our own home are beautiful magnolia leaves. I
use them in bowls, vases and on my fireplace mantels.
Magnolia leaves do not require a lot of skill to arrange
and look more beautiful as they dry and curl showing
both the rich green and soft brown suede underside.
Place them on top of a mantle with fruit depending on
your color scheme—it could be oranges, apples or
pomegranates.
“Magnolia leaves also make for a stunning garland, using
ribbons at the corners or even drapery tassels. I have
jute tassels that I used years ago and they look
fabulous holding up the corners of my garlands over my
mantle.”
“Look
for unusual vessels that you might have lying around and
fill with silver pine cones, pomegranates or ornaments;
this makes an unbelievable centerpiece on your piano or
dining table. All are very dramatic with very little
work.”
“Exhausted and just can’t pull out all the ornaments for
your tree? Try putting up your holiday tree using only
large silver pine cones tucked in the branches with
white lights. It is actually a nice break from the
traditional.”
Chris
Madden Designer, author, television personality and
creator of Chris Madden Inc.
“Whether
decorating for the holidays or just giving your rooms a
quick makeover, the best tip I can offer is to make your
home appealing to each of the five senses: sight, scent,
sound, touch and taste.
“Start
with sight or visual appeal—creating delightful
vignettes on mantel, tabletops and when setting the
dinner table by using your ornaments and collectibles.
As for scents, keep your home filled with holiday
fragrance by lighting scented candles, simmering a pot
of spiced cider, or spraying your rooms with a pine
fragrant essence.
“Cozy
warmth should be synonymous with holiday, and I like to
provide tactile pleasure with thick, knitted or woven
throws on the backs of all my upholstered chairs and
sofas.”
Cindy
Cragg Williamsburg home stylist
“I like
to think of different window panes as frames for
different objects—sleigh bells or collectible items.
Maybe you have an item that would get lost on a tree.
The holidays are a nice time to showcase something that
usually sits in a cabinet.”
In the
18th century, window panes were typically decorated for
the holidays with sprigs of holly or evergreen. Ribbon
did not exist in colonial Williamsburg, so the items
would have been pressed on using wax or strung on
leather cords.
With a
nod to modern times, Cragg combines something old and
something new, stringing reproduction 18th-century
sleigh bells, like the ones sold by
www.williamsburgmarketplace.com, on ribbon. Cragg
recommends hanging the bells at different heights for a
“very nice, very classic” look that’s easily attained.
“The original idea dates back to the 18th century and
our American roots, but it is still very appropriate and
fun today.”
Ron
Masse Dunne & Masse,
Hartford
Instead
of buying commercial Christmas ornaments, Masse and his
then-young son would “take the Christmas cards that
people sent us, we’d date them on the back, punch a hole
in them and use ribbon to hang them on the tree. It’s
surprising because years went by and we would still pull
those old cards out. We decorated not with the
commercial ornaments but with the fronts of the
Christmas cards and stuff that had some sentimental
value to it. Kids love tradition, you pull out those old
things, they remember them from years past.”
Masse
and his family also tune into a short-wave radio on the
day before Christmas. “On Christmas Eve, we had a
shortwave radio, and because Europe has their Christmas
before we get ours, I would listen to all the music
coming out of Europe. We’d sort of work into Christmas
that way, as Christmas was moving toward us. It ties you
in with the rest of the world. It’s just fun. You can
hear 12 o’clock mass or something like that. It’s all in
whatever language you’re listening to. It makes it more
of a sacred night and a global event.”
Yvette
Piaggio Piaggio’s Loft, and a host of HGTV’s Curb Appeal
“Take a
beautifully embellished table runner and tastefully
scrunch it in the center of the table, add beautiful
candlesticks and a subtle holiday floral arrangement.
Festive oversized cloth napkins are a must, tied with a
satin ribbon and sprig of holly and green. Long chair
ties, about six inches in width, tied around the back of
the chair are a classic touch to jazz up an existing
dining chair.”
Benjamin
Noriega Ortiz Benjamin Noriega Ortiz Design, for
DesignMyRoom.com
“Lots of
little potted evergreens all over the house instead of
one big tree. They provide great scent and create a
winter scene.” |
