Hugh Wallace

Architect and presenter of My Bungalow Bliss (RTÉ One, Wednesday, 9.35pm). He says:

‘MY partner Martin Corbett [the couple are together 35 years and were civil partnered in 2012] and I are very lucky because we do very simple decorations in our own house in the south city and then decamp to friends in the Offaly countryside — we’ve been doing that for 20 years. The deal is I cook Christmas dinner, and we get bed and board and I don’t have to wash up!

I love the tree going up — we live in a cottage, so six feet is enough. Some of the decorations go back to my childhood, little animals, a couple of foxes, and it brings back memories, happy memories. I also love plain white lights on the tree, not colours.

This year, decoration is going to be very much about bringing nature into your home. Take some ivy, some real tactile materials, real trees, pine cones on the tree and pine cones on your dining table. There’s an opportunity to involve the kids, painting the baubles for the tree. Just buy simple glass baubles, out with the paint kit, and off you go.

For the table, I like linen tablecloths, napkins, napkin rings. Because it’s such a big to-do to cook the dinner, it deserves a great table. I have a 1930s Art Deco table runner that belonged to my parents, and the candelabra sits on it.

The art of Christmas cards has disappeared, which is such a shame, because I love them around a house.

I hang a wreath on the front door with a string of red lights woven through. I won’t buy that for another week, though, so it is still natural with all the cones and so on.’