Deck The Halls: How To Decorate Your Home This Christmas

This year, I’m designing our Christmas decorations with all five senses in mind.

As well as cosy textures, evocative scents, elegant looks, tinkling sounds and festive flavours, I’ll be taking a little inspiration from Nordic simplicity, where every detail is considered. But there’s also a touch of glamour: hinted at but not overwhelming.

Whether you lean towards maximalist flair or a more modern style, the final result is entirely personal. It’s all about finding a look that makes you happy. Here’s how I create a more relaxed festive feel in our home.

Modern nostalgia

Decorate meaningfully, striking a balance of grown-up elegance and festive playfulness.

As a child, I remember taking the baubles off the tree and creating my own pint-sized storybook scenes – it’s lovely to watch my daughter do the same.

Bring festive energy to simple spaces by blending contemporary style with objects that evoke memories, from heirlooms to homemade treasures.

Earthy and metallic

Deep shades give a feeling of low-key luxury, enhanced with flashes of green and the glow of candlelight. Our lounge is painted in a dark, inky blue (it’s Zoffany’s Como Blue), so the theme involves a mixture of bronze, gold, brass, silver and clear glass – right down to the baubles and wrapped gifts under the tree. For similar, try Selfridges Champagne Shine collection and John Lewis’ Winter Palace or Into the Woods collections.

Aside from the decorations themselves, add texture in the room to layer up the cosy glamour. Opt for soft textures in taupes, greys and creams, perhaps with woollen throws and deep-pile rugs.

Less fairy, more foliage

Christmas is the one time of the year we can indulge in flamboyance. But instead of drowning a room in glitter and ornaments, indulge in greenery and glass. You’ll find lashings of French ruscus and eucalyptus throughout our home, from emerald foliage woven round the banister right down to the sprigs on candlesticks.

Go Scandi

For a more minimal look that’s by no means cold and stark, take inspiration from Nordic style. To me, the Scandi aesthetic conjures memories of homemade Christmases but brings it all together in a chic, contemporary way. The back of our house channels this casual, child-friendly look. Closer to the big day I’ll scatter the space with traditional reds – ruby stockings and striped candy canes on the mantlepiece inject just the right amount of Christmas colour. Many of my own pieces are from The White Company’s elegantly rustic range – or take a look a The Nordic House’s beautifully understated collection.

More-is-more lighting

Clusters of candles never fail. Use them liberally in metallic or cut-glass holders for a subtle shimmer – my favourite simple but impressive centrepiece is the gorgeous Foxford Hurricane lamp (£75). Pop into our studio to pick one up for your mantlepiece.

When it comes to choosing our candles, we take this very seriously. Firstly, we have to like the suppliers. We choose only brands that share our values, including a passion for products that combine beautiful looks with the finest materials and which fill your home with long-lasting fragrance.

That’s why we love Illumens: their home fragrance collections are handmade in Suffolk and are a very personal reflection of several values we hold close to our hearts, including fine fragrance and designs that express our experiences and explorations.

Take a leaf from Nigella’s book and include ropes of fairy lights – draping them over mirrors and twisting them around cut glass are simple ways to maximise the amount of light in your room. Try these Montford diamond-cut jars with decorative lids (£17.95 from Middlethorpe Interiors) for a softly festive feel.

The power of scent

Scents are the burst of joy all interiors need at Christmas time. Fill your home with a blend of complementing aromas, from mulled wine to heady pine. My table centrepiece is a eucalyptus wreath, speckled with autumnal reds, from Joanna Keeley’s Flower Studio. I love the way it bathes the room in muted mint and clears the path for those familiar festive baking smells – clementine, nutmeg, and of course, the musky sweetness of mince pies.

Recreate those warm, evocative nutmeg and cinnamon scents (even when you’re not cooking) with our delicious Illumens candles and tapers (from £24).

Dressing the table

The spiced gravy is freezer-ready and the men in our family are already talking food. What meat will we be cooking? Not too many sprouts, I hope? And will Fraser definitely be doing those sausage stuffing balls this year? My thoughts are on the table – crisp white linen and china mixed with oversized silver chargers. My plan is to layer them up at varying heights for a statement display. We love Wedgwood’s Jasper Conran Platinum for its ability to look fresh on the breakfast table but reflect warm candlelight at dinner time.

And those amazing sausage stuffing balls? Christmas heaven. Email us and we’ll share the recipe with you. Merry Christmas!