Festive home looks
Make the most of a hopeful season
Our holidays may not be as robust this year or shared with as many family and friends as in the past. Still, with what we have experienced in the past months, there’s a real longing for some festivity. We’re all in.
There’s something about lights, the smell of fresh evergreens, sparkly ornaments, warmth of gold, glimmer and romance of candles. Comfort. It feels good. Nostalgia for Christmases and Hanukkahs past, with loved ones. The good times.
Each year there are so many fabulous ideas for decorating, from designers, bloggers and stylists. On the CB2 website, the talented Kara Mann, who has design offices in
New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, shows how she brings a little glam to her holidays.
What’s striking about Mann’s look is its elegant, chic simplicity. An entertaining vignette, for example, shows a burnished brass-finished mirrored gallery tray with glasses paired with a gold necked decanter. The pieces are set on a painted white sideboard. A pristine white feather tree stands off to the side; a 30-inch feather wreath hangs above.
A magnolia garland, with its warm copper underside, nestles on a stone fireplace mantel, with a trio of tall brass-plated steel candlesticks. Modern stocking holders are a vision in half white marble, half gold. Mann’s newest furnishings have found a simpatico partner in CB2,
Gold, of course, is the go-to metal for visual warmth. It’s especially winsome with white, both enhanced by candlelight or warm white battery-operated fairy lights. One of the prettiest swags at Crate and Barrel features white jingling bells, lined in gold, slung from a gold rope over a doorknob.
One idea for transporting to an amazing winter wonderland comes from an online wallcovering company, Wallsauce. Its massive murals, available in both paste and peeland-stick, are designed to cover entire walls. They’re particularly engaging as a backdrop in a holiday setting.
Look behind the sofa in a living room, and you gaze into a blackand-white image of snowy Central Park, lined with snow-covered trees and streetlights glowing along the way. Another design is a perky modern folk art depiction of stylized Christmas trees and reindeer, all fancifully colored and decorated with polka dots and chevrons.
A snowy forest of redwood trees is another backdrop for a bedroom decorated with greenery and a Christmas tree with gold ornaments.
Adding greens — real or faux — are an easy way to spruce up some rooms. We especially love Pottery Barn’s leather-wrapped rectangular mirrors, which hang from leather straps on hooks. A grouping of six adorned with pine wreaths with red ribbons makes a compelling focal point on a dining room wall.
Traditional holiday plants like poinsettias, which come in classic red, creamy white, shades of pink and variegated hues, are available even at big-box stores like Home Depot. They add a welcome pop of color.
At Pottery Barn, there are some convincing faux versions, as well as potted and loose stem amaryllis. As part of a mantelscape that features red plaid stockings, the red-andwhite scheme couldn’t be more engaging.
Among embellished stockings are a couple of standouts. Metal artisan Jan Barboglio’s Bota de Navidad for Neiman Marcus, places metal milagros — religious folk charms that are traditional votive offerings in Mexico and Latin America. Instead of appliques of fabric, the artist attaches silver and gold metal pieces on a creamy stocking. Another, embroidered with rosy flowers on a teal-y ground, has a fluffy cuff.
For those looking for a bit of nostalgia, snow globes always delight. Mackenzie-childs takes the beloved Santa Claus figure, with gifts, and nestles the glass globe into a fanciful gold sleigh, its side panels in the brand’s signature black-and-white stripes and checks. It’s available at Neiman Marcus.
Mini bottle brush trees, popular in the 1940s and 1950s are reimagined in colors for today — at Crate and Barrel.
Adding a note of whimsy are pine cones interpreted in a tree-shape candle mold, colored in a rainbow of gradated shades. Looking for a fun bottle stopper? The Hable sisters’ tree, penguin, reindeer and red-capped polar bear — available through Garnet Hill — are sure to make you smile.
Candles can add romance and magic, and the holders can be architectural, like a modern menorah from Neiman Marcus. Mercury glass or glittery glass votives add not only a shimmery elegance, but the candles deliver the intoxicating scents of the season as well.
The price range for decorations is considerable — from a few dollars to $7,500. The latter is for a 7-foot-plus two-sided LED star. But take heart. If some of the more expensive decorations are beyond your budget, there’s always DIY. Or the after-holiday sales.
To be sure, as a nation, we all look forward to 2021. A new year filled with love and hope for better times.