Present day Christmas décor is moving away from traditional holiday themes and gravitating towards enterprising and stylish choices.
Shrugging off time-honoured ideals, this trend blends non-traditional colours with metallics, organic materials and contrasting textures and prints to create a modern wonderland.
If you’d like to put a new spin on your Christmas tree this year, why not try these contemporary ideas…
A stylish Christmas tree
The modern version of the Christmas tree is just as special as the ‘old’ one. It may not be real, green or lush, but it is still a favourite holiday centrepiece.
Whether you have an overgrown tree, a grey, pink or white tree, or a stick in a vase, how you accessorise it and its surrounds will make or break the magic you’re trying to create.
Because you’re going for an atypical Christmas look this year, why not try out a black and white theme, and pair it up with everyday objects like small photo frames, dried leaves, pine cones, feathers or old pegs that can be fashioned into a star?
If you have ornaments with flat surfaces like small wooden hearts, place them on the wrapping paper and then outline each one so that you can cut out the shape. Glue the cut-out onto the heart and attach a piece of gold or black ribbon on the back of each heart for hanging.
There’s no disputing the fact that a black and white scheme is sophisticated and oh so stunning but, it may be a little too formal for Christmas. So, to add a dash of holiday cheer, pick a third colour like gold, silver, or copper to use as your accent hue.
It’s a wrap
To pull everything together, you’ll need to source wrapping paper in varying prints and different colour combinations within your colour scheme. Mix black polka dots on a white background with white and gold polka dots, a striped black and white motif with gold and white chevron designs, and plain gold wrapping paper for emphasis.
If you have ornaments with flat surfaces like small wooden hearts, place them on the wrapping paper and then outline each one so that you can cut out the shape. Glue the cut-out onto the heart and attach a piece of gold or black ribbon on the back of each heart for hanging.
Frame of mind
Paint your old baubles in a solid colour, either white, black or gold and then, once dry, use a paint marker to write or draw something special on them.
To style your black photo frames, pick two different wrapping paper prints. With your first choice, cut out enough wrapping paper to fill the frame, and then, use your second choice to cut out a smaller, simple shape like mistletoe, a star, Christmas tree, heart or gingerbread man. Stick this on the front of the first wrapping paper and place it in the frame.
When you do this, be creative with your combinations. For instance, you could use a stripped wrapping paper as your background and plain gold for your star.
Paint, dip and glitterise
To jazz up outside finds like feathers and pine cones, paint them black and dip the ends in gold paint and then sprinkle with gold glitter. The same goes for old baubles – paint each one in a solid colour, either white, black or gold and then, once dry, use a paint marker to write or draw something special on them.
Knots and bows
From there, if you haven’t bought your Christmas presents yet or don’t have enough boxes to go under the tree, wrap old appliance or shoe boxes with wrapping paper and finish them off with white,gold or black ribbon. You could also use the ribbon to accessorise your tree, just make sure that you go for fairly big bows so that your guests don’t miss them.
Wrap old appliance or shoe boxes with wrapping paper and finish them off with white, gold or black ribbon.
The finishing touch
To complete the look, pair the tree with an armchair or two, an area rug and a side table.
The trick to pulling this off is using neutral-coloured furniture and accentuating the space with just a handful of complementary pieces like a cushion and something beautiful for the side table.
Place a scatter cushion on your arm chair. Your choice, should be in line with the décor so pick something simple like a white cushion with gold writing or large golden polka dots. Throw in a fluffy white area rug and don’t forget to style your side table.
Top up a metallic coated coffee mug or soup cup with baubles and place that on the table. If you have room for one more item, take a stroll outside and see what you can find. Say you come back with two blocks of wood and some dry leaves, tie these together with some ribbon. Spray the leaves gold and glue them onto the ribbon so that it looks like a piece of garnish.
Now sit back and enjoy.
Source: Katlego Sekano (www.property24.com)
