Create a magical Christmas at home…
It’s that time of year again when we all love to decorate our homes and create a cosy, stylish and welcoming festive interior.
At Snapdragon we love a natural, organic festive style- Wintry whites, festive reds and lots of natural elements such as Winter foliage, berries, cones, grasses and seed-heads – which all feature in our fresh flower and foliage designs. Bling is not our thing, but we love hints of soft metallic which are perfect with a natural style.
For a festive floral centrepiece – for your hallway, sitting-room, kitchen island…wherever! - that looks amazing and subtly fragrances the room just fill a vase with a selection of seasonal foliage such as fir, pine, spruce, magnolia, berried ivy and eucalyptus, birch, cones and seed-heads. Then depending on whether you favour more neutral Wintry whites or rich, festive reds, add in a few flowers and berries in your chosen colour- we love showy Amaryllis, large headed roses, spray roses and Ilex. If you prefer a textural rustic look then no need to add flowers at all. If you love a hint of silver, bronze or gold, then this is simple to achieve by adding touches of sprayed foliage, cones and seed-heads.
Candlelight and fragrance are always top of our list in Winter and Christmas is the time to go to town using scented candles to create warmth, atmosphere and build on the memories that fragrance evokes. Lighting a few candles with spicy, citrus scents always sets the scene- choose one fragrance and burn it in several rooms for a wonderful festive feel throughout the house. We love these festive scents from the Botanical Candle Co and our own of course! Our Amber and Midwinter fragrances are beautiful, and Midwinter is just perfect with its warm and spicy orange, cinnamon, clove and ginger. We also pour our two fragrances into gorgeous Sue Pryke lidded pots.
For baubles this year we’re favouring soft white bone china and antique brass stars and mercury glass decorations in smoked greys, soft greens, gold and silver.
Here are a few more ideas
- Hang beautiful glass baubles in varying sizes and in complementary tones. They’ll look great on a traditional Christmas tree, but equally good hanging from foraged branches or from ribbons or twine in a window to catch the light. And if you place glass candle holders with tealights along the sill the glass will continue to glint once daylight has faded. Alternative trees, such as flat brass or wooden trees that hang from the wall also look fantastic with baubles and greenery attached.
- A mix of natural pine cones hung with twine or fine gold ribbon on a sturdy foraged tree branch looks beautiful. Suspend the branch with ribbon or place within a favourite chunky tall vase for stability. Lightly dust some of the cones with soft metallic spray paint for added gleam.
- Banish the boring door wreath and create a statement and a warm welcome with a spruce and winter foliage wreath that’s just that little bit special and packed with lots of natural textural elements, dried fruits and berries. If you wait and buy or make yours mid- December then, on Christmas day itself, after all your guests have arrived, use the wreath as your table centre with a clear glass vase or storm lantern in the middle with a chunky pillar candle. After lunch or dinner, just hang it back on the door to enjoy for a week or two more.Unusual more minimal style wreaths made of metal or wood, like these we stock from Nkuku, also look great decorated with foliage and berries.
- Get some mini Christmas trees and decorate with little birch stars or cones in small pots. Line them up along a windowsill, console table or mantelpiece. Odd numbers work best- three or five are ideal. They’d also look great down the centre of the dining table, interspersed with candles at different heights to finish the look.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
