Deck the halls: Latest Interiors finds the best decorations whether your style is traditional or modern
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, ivy, laurel and anything else you can get your hands on,
Graphite tree £80, lights £18, baubles from £1.50, all www.johnlewis.com
it’s time to get the decorations down from the attic and switch on the fairy lights. For some, Christmas means big lights, inflatable Santas and as much glitter as they can get to stick to a tree. Others prefer a knitted sock, a wooden nativity set and a satsuma. Like many, we find ourselves somewhere in between the two… but we do like a little bit of Christmas cheer. So this week, Latest Interiors drops down a few chimneys to find out what the best dressed trees – and homes – are wearing this festive season.
An old fashioned Christmas
Home-made sweets, treats and decorations, paper chains, candles and mulled wine – the austerity drive means that old-fashioned Christmas craft is back in style.
And with a bit of time, some simple materials and a lot of motivation, you can do a surprising amount of decorating. Snowflake paper-chains (cut from long strips of paper), home-made fudge and gingerbread, oranges studded with cloves, home-knitted hats and socks – just like the Christmases Granny used to have. Many decorations really are simple enough to do-it-yourself, but if you’re stuck for inspiration or a dismal failure with the scissors, many stores are selling Christmas craft kits to make cards and accessories (see Marks and Spencer’s ‘Make your Own’ range, from £5 www.marksandspencer.com).
And for a traditional Christmas, surely you need a traditional tree? Around 70 per cent of tree buyers opt for a real Christmas tree, with or without roots. This year, drought conditions over the spring and reduced planting means that taller trees – over five foot – are in short supply, though. Most Christmas trees are crop-grown and sold to garden centres and shops, though it’s possible to buy direct from the growers if you visit Christmas tree plantations. Some growers (like Wilderness Wood near Uckfield) allow you to choose and dig up your own tree. Wherever you buy, look for the BCTGA (British Christmas Tree Growers Association) label, as a quality mark that the tree is of good quality and freshly harvested.
All that glitters
On the other hand, in the face of the financial squeeze, a bit of glitter and sparkle might just cheer us all up. Beat the winter blues with a shiny wreath, some out-sized metallic baubles, tinsel, and glittery reindeer in shades of purple, red, gold and silver. An increasing number of people are investing in fake, re-usable Christmas trees. ‘Natural’ looking fakes that imitate the real thing will go in any setting, but there are also some glorious black, white or even red fake trees, which lend themselves well to minimal, contemporary decoration. Fake trees have a number of advantages: you can re-use them, they don’t shed needles everywhere, and there’s no mess or fuss. On the downside, this year’s colour might not be in again next year, and although you might imagine they are more environmentally friendly than their rootless cousins, many of them are manufactured in the Far East (using petro-chemicals in their transportation here), and if not re-used will end up in a landfill site somewhere. So if you choose a fake tree, make sure you re-use it. We’re pretty sure Santa won’t mind.
