How much money do you want to spend? Check out the stores to get an appreciation of the offerings. Get ideas on style, colour and cost. Set a realistic budget considering the size of your home and how complex you want the decoration to be. What did you use last year? Why do you want to change? What do you want to change?
If you are budget conscious, using the colours and items from last year is an option. How you use the decorations can make it new and fresh. Decorate every room. Yes do something in every room. Very often we tend to concentrate our decorations in the main living areas or in one place. Little decorative touches in the bathroom, bedrooms and laundry, for example, spread the Christmas cheer.
Choose your colours. Be guided by what you like and feel drawn to. Being on-trend is nice. But if you or your significant other, don't genuinely like the colours it can seriously discount the experience. Remember the point of decorating is to get that feeling of Christmas. If ice blue and brown, teal and mahogany, deep purple and black, dark ruby, aubergine, etc don't ignite the feeling of Christmas, for heaven's sake don't use it! Get cues from gift wrapping, favourite childhood colours, fabric, or for a well co-ordinated look take a cue from your current decorating colours.
The formula for a streamlined experience. Keep your colour story to three colours or less. But use each colour at least three times in the space, varying the height in the room where the colour appears. In using three colours you can't go wrong with the basic ratio of 60 per cent for the main colour, 30 per cent for the co-star and 10 per cent for the supporting or accent colour.
To be successful you must achieve variety and interest by varying the size, shape, texture, positions of the decorations. So it is not just what colours you choose, but what proportions you use them and where you use them in the room.Select your theme. Try not to mix the story within the room. Are you going for an Asian theme? Traditional Christmas? Children's theme? Earthy style? Just like with your colours, ensure that you can relate easily to your theme. A theme will complement the mood of your space.
Make the most of your holiday budget. Decorations do not have to be ultra expensive to create great impact. Decorations just need to be carefully coordinated. Small décor pieces that are unified by colour or theme will read as one sophisticated exhibit. When choosing your theme, keep in mind space constraints, and any small children or pets in the household. Think of things that make you happy and say 'Christmas' to you.
Ensure that the chosen colours are compatible with your chosen theme. And both colour and theme can take cues from the colour and style of your space. Aim to create pockets of drama-regardless of the style you have chosen.Establish the focal point for each space. If using a tree, it will serve as the natural focal point for a room. But you can establish a focal point without a tree, if a tree is not your kind of thing.
Explore tabletop decorations, use your dining table, buffet top, sideboard, kitchen countertop or island; use the bathroom counter, bedside tables; use the walls, bookshelves, staircases. If using a tree these locations can play a supplementary role; creating a continuous flow around your space. Following good decorating principles carry the decoration to at least two other locations around the room. This creates rhythm, pulling the eye around the room.
When decorating adjacent spaces, the colour that co-stars in one space can be the dominant colour in another. This is another way of promoting a good flow without being monotonous.Use lights and glitter sparingly. I am from the school that believes in sparkle and light. I love to see light bounce off all the reflective surfaces of the tree ornaments and create a distinctive sparkle in the room. To me it's the smile, the joy, the lightness of the season. The season is about light and hope, promise and optimism.
I love the light. But please, keep it unified. Resist the need to use multiple colours – red one place, white another, multi-colours in another. It is difficult for a space to look well pulled together in the face of such randomness. White light is very versatile and would fit in to just about every colour scheme and theme that you choose. But be mindful that there is warm white and cool white. Cool whites would look good in schemes based on silver, white, blues, purples, cool greens and other cool colours.
Warm whites go well with colours like gold, bronzes, browns, reds, warm greens, oranges and other warm colours. Go easy on the tinsel streamers though. That could easily look dated and cheap. If ultra-sparkle is not our style, pearls and pearlised ornaments do add classy and subdued drama and shine. Pearls and velvet-sophisticated. Decorating the tree. The star of the show is often the tree. For a well lit tree, use at least one hundred (100) lights for every foot of tree.
So for a standard six foot tree you will need at least six hundred (600) lights. Place lights in the inner core of the tree and branches; not just on the outer part of the limbs. Even though the tree is against the wall, place some lights and ornaments towards the rear and do not forget the bottom limbs. This light and ornament placement gives the decorations depth and a more dimensional presence.
To achieve a totally co-ordinated look, I even select the gift wrapping paper in the colour scheme. Do not forget to add interest by varying the textures of the gift wrapping paper as well.
