It’s that time of year again. If you haven’t started digging into decorating for the season, you no doubt soon will. And given that we find ourselves closer to “normal” than we’ve been in a while, you’ll likely be welcoming friends and loved ones into your home again. (How great is that?!)
Let’s make the journey from your average Wednesday home decor to winter wonderland just a bit easier. No need to go searching for all the latest trends and tips. We’ve done that for you so you can stroll through some of the best tips and tricks we found about holiday colors, decor, and that little bit of special something for your home this year.
Holiday Colors From Traditional To Wildly Original To Suit Your Style
Every year brings different takes on holiday colors to get just the feel you’re looking to greet your guests with on those special nights ahead — and to enjoy every night yourself.
Let’s kick things off with a trusted source, Better Homes & Gardens. They’re coming in hot by cooling things down and with a white Christmas tree. As the folks at Better Homes wisely share, a white tree “lends itself well to almost any palette, so you can use it to create a rustic farmhouse look or cover it with a rainbow of bright ornaments.”
And speaking of rustic farmhouse design, holiday decorating can introduce starkly different colors than your normal decor. Better Homes & Gardens has a hack for that, “You don’t have to go all out on red and green if that’s not your normal year-round aesthetic: White, black, navy, natural wood tones, and other neutrals can all look just as festive as more traditional Christmas colors.”
Bye-bye, basic holiday palette. Hello, Veronika Lipar, fashion trend analyst, stylist, editor, and founder of Brunette from Wall Street. Her tour of trends answers the burning question of decorating fashionably by looking to fashion itself:
“…Christmas decorating trends follow fashion trends. So the most fashionable colours of the Holiday Season 2022 are actually the same ones we wear this season. We just pair them differently.”
She offers themes to show the way, like “Christmas at the Manor House,” a maximalist vibe with a snuggly welcome. “Imagine a manor house in the English countryside surrounded by old oaks and little forest animals. Green shades of old oaks are lifted by shots of the bright accents of orange and opulent touches of honey and brown.”
Or boldly beautiful “Pink Cafeteria Christmas.” With an obvious emphasis on pink, it’s “a sophisticated theme in a modern neutral pink palette with a little bit of gold and cowboy boots Christmas ornament that celebrate the accessories of urban life… perfect to use if you want to create a calming look in your home. Calming yet fun, luxurious, and special.”
The color trends takeaway is simple: Whatever colors you truly love in your home, you can make them the theme of your holiday decor. Lean in and have fun with it.
Our Favorite Of The Latest Tips On Holiday Decorative Accessories
Here we find ourselves on the precipice of the mother of all internet holes, but we’ve narrowed things down to a few decorative accessory trends that particularly sparked our interest.
Mantelscaping. (The term alone, right?) House Beautiful says, at its heart, it’s “a great excuse to get experimental with decorating – it’s really about clever styling to make your fireplace a focal point for the room.”
They offer these tips from Abi Wilson at HabitatUK, “Drape foliage along the edge of your mantel to create depth, then layer with tea lights or string lights for an enchanting warm glow. For more traditional interior schemes, opt for baubles in a classic red, green, and gold colour scheme, while for a modern take, embrace rich pops of colour – I love the contrasting jewel tones of fuchsia and teal.”
House Beautiful shares another emerging decor trend: sustainability. For more eco-friendly decor, “consider artisanal, handcrafted, wooden, recycled glass and papier-mâché decorations, and for the Christmas dinner table, focus on recycled glassware and reusable crackers.”
And they’re not alone, Better Homes & Gardens has a gift-wrapped opportunity — literally. “Stay on-trend while supporting the environment by ditching paper and investing in reusable fabric gift wraps or cloth gift bags instead of wrapping paper, which is often not recyclable.”
Reader’s Digest helps you make more of your merriment by upcycling wine bottles. “Instead of pitching that empty bottle of Merlot, create a glowing, gorgeous window display by adding some twinkly fairy lights to it. After rinsing it out, fill bottles from inside, or wrap lights around the outside of a few bottles to create a dramatic but inexpensive scene.”
They also see a golden opportunity for your kitchen to be yummy for the tummy and the eyes, “We all know that at parties, everyone usually ends up in the kitchen at some point… so you might as well make it as festive as your living room.
String some lights around your cabinets, your light fixtures, or the top of your fridge to give the room an extra warm glow. (Just be sure you can still open and close any cabinets and doors to avoid any accidents.)”
That last bit seems like a particularly good tip, don’t you think?
Add Some Winter Wonder In Your Home With These Elevated Decor Ideas
There’s a place for over-the-top, full-on Clark Griswold decorating. But sometimes you’d like a more elevated holiday design experience. We’ve pulled together some help with that.
First, we turn to the folks at Elle Decor and their stellar collection of 85 designers’ advice. From John Derian’s subtle approach (tip #1) with simple little accents to Michel Smith Boyd’s bold tangerine Christmas dream (#9) to Tammy Damore of The Cultivated Home’s snowy stairwell (#55) with lights and roses and all the way to Anne Maxwell Foster and Suysel dePedro Cunningham of Tilton Fenwick’s love of leftovers (#85) — fabrics, that is — to make custom decorations.
Elle Decor delivers. We agree with them wholeheartedly when they say they’re, “certain you’ll find glimmers of inspiration to make your spirits merry, bright, and oh-so-chic.”
Finally, let’s step out onto the veranda or, rather, into the curated tour of elevated holiday decor from Sarah Dimarco and Rachel Burrow at Veranda magazine. The 58 designers they’ve offered provide a wide spectrum of tips.
Like designer Richard Keith Langham (#50) taking classy big “There’s nothing fancy on the tree, just old-fashioned colored lights and glass ornaments from the five-and-dime,” he says, “But we have thousands of them.”
Then there’s the simplicity of Alessandra Branca’s home (#5), which “…lacks any pretense. The designer prefers to keep the decorations relaxed with cut-pine greenery, vintage ribbons, and delicate paperwhites that usher in a joyful spirit.”
Or Veranda’s celebration of how designer Lewis Miller (#9) broke with tradition entirely and “chose a sunnier palette for his Christmas decorations as it ‘complements the blue walls beautifully.’ A garland of weeping willow, pine cones, strawflower, and yarrow dress up his mantel.”
Inspiration abounds in all of the expert advice we’ve perused today. Make it your own to add more magic of the season to your home. And, as you’ve likely noticed, whatever colors or decor you choose, or however classy or kitschy your approach, there are ample opportunities to add the whites, reds, greens, golds, silvers, pinks, blues, and textures you’re after through fabrics.
That’s our neck of your holiday decorating woods. Drive your horse and sleigh our way, and we’re happy to help. Cheers.