My sanity’s worth £7k
STEPHANIE DANN, 49, owns a holiday rental business and lives between Northants and spain with her husband, 58. they have six children and ten grandchildren. she says:
IT MAY sound extravagant to hire a professional to decorate our home at Christmas, but it’s an investment that saves my time and sanity.
I used to do it myself, but with six bedrooms, five reception rooms and an indoor pool and leisure complex, it was a mammoth task that left me feeling fraught, not to mention covered in glitter. Now my children are grown up they descend on us with their own families at Christmas, and increasingly I found it hellish trying to decorate multiple rooms to make it magical for them.
So I’m quite happy to hand over my money — around £7,000 this year — and leave it to event organiser Julia Charles, whom I first met at various events before hiring her for my husband’s 50th birthday. Since then, she’s become my festive fairy godmother, sprinkling her magic over my home every December.
We have three artificial trees, an 11ft one in the family room, an 8ft in the dining room and a 9ft in the drawing room. They are built on site as they’re too big to fit through the doorways.
This year, Julia’s team have adorned the banisers on the staircase with a stunning 20metre garland as well as smaller ones on each of the three fireplaces downstairs. It takes a day and a half for all the decorations to be installed.
our grandchildren love coming for Christmas. And you can’t put a price on that.