It’s that time of year again, when the jingle bells jingle and the mistletoe hovers overhead. While some holiday accessories aren’t to be messed with, your palette and decorations can reflect a new seasonal style every year.
“We really believe in building upon palettes year after year. We don’t really want to say, ‘Well last year was this theme and this year you can’t use it anymore,’” said Sarah Fishburne, director of trend and design at The Home Depot.
For a holiday spin on upcycling, you can add a few fresh signature pieces and decorating tricks to your existing decor with these ideas.
Think outside the (gift) box
The first step to getting a holiday look that is uniquely you is to understand that there are no rules in decorating for the season.
“You can be as opulent as you want or as classic as you want. There’s no reason you can’t mix palettes throughout your house,” said Fishburne.
If you have multiple trees, it’s an opportunity to have more than one theme.
“You definitely see where different zones in the home take on a more formal setting, while more casual, more whimsical stories go into the more casual settings in the house,” said Fishburne.
Next, find new ways to use old decor. It’s important to start with a good base that you can freshen up. Melanie Robinson, a Cumming interior decorator who blogs at The Painted Chandelier, bought quality wreaths and faux greenery years ago. She adds pinecones and ribbons to change their look from season to season.
Wreaths and kissing balls are much more versatile than simply being placed on doors and hung from ceilings. Instead, ring a lamp with a colorful wreath or a circlet of green for a homey rustic flair, and replace a door wreath with a bright bow. Doorways, mantles and bookshelves are also great spots for wreaths, making decorating a snap. Kissing balls, too, can sit on tables or nestle into shelves for a splash of holiday cheer.
Ornament wreaths look fabulous on a shelf, mantel or even hanging over the bed, but there is so much more you can do with those colorful orbs. If your year-round decor includes decorative glass, rocks or other knickknacks, consider replacing those decorations with ornaments to match your holiday vibe.
Scrounge up cake plates and hurricane candle holders or go thrifting, and then fill the glass pieces with colorful baubles for a cheery holiday centerpiece.
You can even take the ornament frenzy a step further by adorning your usual home decor (think bookshelves, light fixtures and wall hangings). An ornament-only decor installation by Atlanta designer and stylist Diane Hewitt, who calls herself a “design concierge,” led to baubles in surprising places, like hanging from antlers.
“I like when offbeat decor is surprising or unexpected. It makes it interesting and fun,” said Hewitt, a sponsor of the Grant Park Candlelight Tour of Homes on Dec. 10-11.
Think outside your color palette
If you want to keep your usual red and green decor, but something seems to be missing this year, perhaps you need a pop of unexpected color. Try something you’ve never used before.
“The reds that we go to are always going to be the reds that we go to. The golds are always going to be consistent, the silvers will be consistent,” said Fishburne. “It’s those secondary colors, that’s where we’ll bring in new colors to kind of refresh it and change it.”
Designer Lance Jackson looked to the past to incorporate blue, pink, purple and orange into one of his holiday looks.
“I buy vintage ornaments based on the color for the room,” he said.
And if your walls are filled with brilliant color from January through October, then the holidays are the time to embrace that and work with it, not fight it. DIY bloggers Kelli Mullins and Kristi Jansen, of lollyjane.com, took their yellow and turquoise room and made it positively shine with Yuletide spirit — incorporating yellow, gold, turquoise and white.
The use of turquoises and other blues is a notable update that still maintains a classic holiday look.
“A lot of people embrace this as somewhat of a nostalgic palette, but it feels very fresh, it feels very updated,” said Fishburne.
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