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THE FESTIVE TOUCH

Annabelle Hunt, Colour Consultant, Bridport Timber

We all have different festive rituals and traditions but celebrating with our nearest and dearest is at the heart of most people’s holiday season. As the days grow ever shorter, transforming your home into a festive hideaway is easy; add a little Christmas magic with twinkling lights, colour, and pattern. Whether you are hosting a sophisticated soirée for seventeen, or a cosy kitchen supper for two, the trick is to create a seemingly effortless atmosphere and make everybody feel at home.

If you want to add a little colour to an otherwise calm neutral scheme, you might consider adding shades of green or jewel-bright pops of colour around a fireplace or on the frame of a mirror. For a bigger statement, Farrow and Ball’s deep burgundy Preference Red, or their beautiful archive colour Chinese Blue, really make decorations pop. Green is not only festive, it looks good all year round and is soothing – botanical tones are particularly on-trend. For the brave, dark Studio Green or saturated Calke Green bring intense drama. If it is a golden glow by candlelight, or warmth and sunshine that you crave, India Yellow is perfect.

Once you have hauled the decorations box out of the loft, concentrate on a few key areas rather than opting for a scattergun effect. Grouping ornaments and foliage into a beautiful display will make a much more stylish impact than odd bits dotted about here and there. Really going to town on decorating the staircase, mantelpiece or dining table will create focal points throughout your home.

Lighting is one of the easiest ways to create an instant atmosphere. Strings of twinkling fairy lights wound over curtain rails and piled into empty glass vases bring instant festive sparkle to any space. I usually choose warm white as they feel cosy and complement any colour scheme, allowing the colours around them to sing, but multicoloured fairy lights do have a lovely nostalgic vintage feel.

Foraging for foliage is a fun thing to do with little children. Picking up leaves in autumn, collecting pinecones or snipping holly and ivy from the garden, are simple, sustainable ways of bringing nature inside. Natural foliage looks particularly elegant against neutral colour schemes such as subtle, green-based Bone and soft Off-Black.

Encourage family and friends to linger longer around a beautifully decorated dinner table. More is definitely more when it comes to a festive table. We used to simply ‘lay the table’, but ‘tablescaping’ has become something of an art and has worked its way into our consciousness over the last few years. Layer place settings with colour and pattern clashes; start with a tablecloth then add a runner, placemats, and napkins. Choosing mismatched patterns, contrasting colours and materials, and avoiding anything that feels too matching will keep it feeling current. Add your favourite dinner and glassware, flowers and foliage in tiny bud vases and finally, for a cosy and romantic ambience, add candlelight. Continue a colourful theme with mismatched jewel-toned candles or keep it simple and elegant with white or ivory.

Finally, if you have a spare hour or two and depending on how creative you are feeling, use leftover wallpaper or wrapping paper to make five-pointed star decorations, either origami or cut-outs or simple garlands of paper circles sewn or glued onto string. YouTube has lots of videos and ideas for whiling away a crafty afternoon making wreaths and garlands. You could use up old sample pots to print simple motifs onto gift tags and cards or even hand-paint a Charleston-inspired table runner. Don’t feel you have to stick to traditional red and green; look online for design inspiration, think about your overall colour palette, use whatever you have and get into the festive spirit.

bridporttimber.co.uk

Chinese Blue No. 90 and James White No. 2010 James White No. 2010 and Green Smoke No. 47