Top festive decorating ideas, from foraging to Nordic themes
Purists won’t touch a Christmas decoration, let alone put up the tree, until December 8.
I happen to be one of them, but after that I move swiftly in happy pursuit of a nine-foot tree, lining up figurines on the sideboard in anticipation of their arrival at the crib on Christmas Eve, and welcoming a Rudolph made from logs and twigs back to the front door.
It’s the season of comforting tradition when we step into the spirit of our own rituals and those we’ve
picked up from relatives and friends.
Rapidly becoming part of these rituals is foraging, taking nature’s bounty indoors for making decorations, and you might not have to travel further than the garden for supplies.
Ex-visual merchandiser Laura Beasley set up Paper Daisy in County Cork in early 2021, making a career out of crafting decorative items from foraged materials. Posting them on Instagram resulted in influencers purchasing and sharing her work. By Christmas that year she had a dried wreath collection in Brown Thomas and Arnotts.
“Winter can be a lovely time to get out for a stroll and forage for materials, whether it be in your local neighbourhood, park or woods,” Laura says.
“Foliage such as ivy, berries, catkins, bracken, pittosporum, moss and any evergreen foliage is long-lasting. Virginia creeper vines, or bendy twigs can be twisted into wreath bases and secured with twine or wire.
"If foraging isn't for you, ask your local garden centre or Christmas tree-seller if they would sell you some tree offcuts.”
To get started, and impress guests over the holidays, Laura suggests a suspended arrangement over a table or in the corner of a room, encouraging experimentation and going a little wild and messy.
“I would hang a large branch wrapped with chicken wire and just have a go at adding greenery, dried out hydrangeas and twigs, and inserting the stems into the wire. If that idea is daunting, an interesting look is a bare branch with some baubles hung from velvet ribbon.
"For a professional look, don’t be tempted to work on a dead straight line. Some natural asymmetry works well, keeping an organic shape.”
Lacking confidence? Laura is running wreath-making workshops on December 2 and 9 at Studio 5, Midleton, Co Cork. For details see Paperdaisy.ie.
Reusing, of all things, the net from her daughter’s goalpost for chic indoor decorating is garnering praise online for Instagrammer Sharon Holland and her Now and Then Home account where she showcases her farmhouse and focuses on preloved furnishings.
“I was sitting on the porch and inspired to make a suspended ceiling,” she says. “I staple-gunned the net and filled it with hydrangeas, trimming the stalks and pulling them through so you don’t see the net.”
The effect is stunning, resembling a cloud overhead, and to add to the sky effect, Sharon says, “I think I’ll run some fairy lights through it closer to Christmas. It can stay right through Christmas and January if the hydrangeas stay intact which they will be if they’re dried properly.”
But if you don’t have a bounty of hydrangeas from the garden and are scant on goalpost nets, Sharon has another tip.
“I find the house feels quite empty if I don’t have some dried flowers, I gather whatever is in the garden and stick it in pots. It could be twigs, it could be branches with fairy lights stuck on.”
Nicola O’Dowda, Christmas buyer for Meadows & Byrne, highlights Nordic themes for anyone who wants their decorating to fit seamlessly into their homes.
“Christmas should be an extension of your current décor style,” she says. “Look towards the colours you already use in your home year-round and extend these into your Christmas décor.”
Focusing on greens, whites, golds and a touch of pearl, Nicola describes it as an elevated twist on a classic but contemporary Christmas, “a theme which would suit all propriety styles, especially those with a neutral backdrop.”
Nicola adds: “Working with height will always give a wow factor to your table, whether with a candelabra or some tall hurricanes.”
And for what she calls “serious home entertainers”, she has the novel idea of using tiered party stands, outsize versions of the cake stand piled with decorative candles, pine cones and baubles.
- Instagram.com/paperdaisy.ie/
- Instagram.com/now_and_then_home/
- Instagram.com/meadowsandbyrne/
