While some people are counting down the days until they can decorate their house at Christmas, for others it can be a daunting task, especially if they have a hectic schedule or have just moved in. With some subtle touches and a sprinkle of festive cheer, the team at www.Duette.co.uk are on hand with a few simple tips to get ready for the festive season without all the stress…
Candles
There’s no better feeling than walking into your home and smelling familiar Christmas smells. Add a subtle touch of cosiness with the smell of Christmas by lighting a few scented candles.
You can place candles around your dining table too, however be sure to opt for unscented, colourful candles here, to make sure all attention is on your festive feast and the smell doesn’t impact your taste buds when tucking into your Christmas dinner.
If candles aren’t your thing, consider reed diffusers, air fresheners and even plug ins that can add to the festive aroma.
Light it up
Fairy lights aren’t just for Christmas trees, they are for everything. Put outdoor lights up outside around shrubs and branches to add a touch of brightness to those cold winter nights or brighten up your interiors by wrapping twinkling lights around the bannister or even the mantel piece.
If you’re feeling creative then you can place tea lights in old jars to light up your garden path, you can opt for battery or solar powered lights as both a safer and a weather-proof option.
Experiment with putting fairy lights inside empty wine bottles for some super cosy home-made lamps around the house, the perfect way to use up all those extra Christmas wine bottles.
You can paint old tin cans festive colours and fill them with candles to create a rustic, homely decoration.
Get creative
Keep you decorations subtle and drape doorways with tinsel or greenery to make walking around your home even cosier. You can create a feature piece by mixing few candles with a vase of twigs sprayed gold on the coffee or dining table to add a few simple festive touches.
Bring nature inside by collecting mistletoe and holly to hang around your house. If you can’t find any holly with berries, you can buy small wire berries to attach and complete your festive look.
If your Christmas tree is looking a little bare, try dusting it with icing sugar to make it look like it’s fallen out of the land of Narnia.
Got a fireplace that doesn’t work? Fill it with presents to make it a feature of the room and keep the Santa myth alive. It will also help you to forget the fact you haven’t got a real fire!
Decorate your door
Representing eternity, a circular wreath is the prefect addition to your front door to welcome your friends into your home during the Christmas season. The continuous evergreen circle is often used as a religious symbol to convey the unending circle of life, but is synonymous with Christmas and adding festive cheer to our front doors. Head to the garden centre and pick yourself up a real wreath with holly and berries to show off your festivity and make your house extra merry.
Whilst a natural wreath may give off fresh Christmas aromas, if you choose to go for an artificial wreath, make sure you store it carefully so that you can use it year after year.
Satisfy your sweet tooth
Christmas wouldn’t be complete without the countless sweet treats around your home for loved ones to enjoy when visiting, or for yourself to tuck into while watching your favourite Christmas films.
Don’t stop once you’ve put up your fairy lights and tinsel, hang candy canes on the mantel piece and scatter bowls of mini chocolates around the house – just make sure they are all out of your pets reach.
Spruce up your existing décor
If you prefer to go less overboard with the sparkle and the decorations, a soft rug is a fantastic way to keep your house warm and cosy. Keep those icy toes warm with a festive red rug, and if you choose one without Santa and his reindeers all over then you can use this all year round to bring an extra bit of comfort and warmth into your home.
Replace your lightweight cottons with thick chunky rugs draped over the sofa and seek out some velvety cushions to create extra warmth and add a touch of Christmas colour with minimal effort.
You can liven up your curtains by tying baubles onto coloured string and hanging them in-between the folds. You can add as a few or as many as you like depending on if you want a minimalist or over the top look.
Hang up your cards
Sending Christmas cards is still a fashionable thing to do, and you can help to keep the tradition alive by sending them round to all your friends and family, indeed give and you may well receive in return too.
It can be hard to find a space for all your cards, especially if you’ve used some of these suggestions to decorate. A great alternative is to hang them from the ceiling or banister on full display!
