Colours and lights at Christmas
With less than a month to go, it’s time to turn our attention to Christmas decoration around the home.
The whole festive season offers so many opportunities to add sparkle to our interiors, not just through trees and garlands, but with lighting, colour changes and other smaller accessories.
The question is, how to add Christmas lighting and colour that still works for your home - and helps you have a relaxing Christmas?
There are many different styles to choose from and it really depends on your existing design, your family and your overall approach to Christmas. Going all white and glass may not be practical with young children, while a maximalist approach is far from ideal if you have a house full of pets!
Here we outline the different ways to use colours and lights, to bring Christmas to your home.
Scandi style
White branches, small, bright white lights, pine cones and real trees are all central to this look. Think rural Norwegian cottages and remote snowy forests, with real woods and woollen blankets. This really is Hygge for the holidays - stick to natural tones of white, brown and green on your walls and leave the brights for other rooms.
Country kitchen
It goes without saying that food is key at Christmas, and this style embraces that to the full! Inspired by English country kitchens, this is all about tapping into the other senses: smell, taste and touch. Use rich colours that reflect the foods you eat during the holidays - deep red wines, dark green vegetables, rich brown chocolates. Kitchens are an explosion of colour so your lighting in this look can incorporate as many colours and styles as you wish!
Contemporary cool
Opting for one core colour is the key to building a contemporary Christmas palette. Richer, darker colours such as red, purple or green work well, but dark greys and blues can also be great if you are looking to create a festive room that is cosy, inviting and perfect for the colder months. Yellow lighting adds to that warmth and highlights the colours used in the room, either through draped fairy lights or uplit corner lamps, creating a space that truly envelopes the user in comfort.
Pastel pink
Bear with us on this one - it’s not just for the kids! Pink is a wonderful colour for highlighting other tones, working brilliantly against the green of real Christmas trees or garlands. Opt for larger bulbs to avoid going full on eighties kitsch, instead creating a look that is a bit more pop art and fifties cool.
Victorian
We still find it hard to believe that our ancestors used to put real candles in trees at Christmas - but they did. Obviously, we are not suggesting you do this! - but candles are perfect at Christmas in other parts of the home, particularly in windows and hallways. Scented options can provide the seasonal aromas of spice and pine trees, while their lovely flickering flames offer a wonderful welcoming feel to any room, regardless of its colour or style.
Christmas is a hectic time of year and this year many of us may feel more pressure to get it ‘just right’ after 2020. However we think it’s more important to be mindful, take time off to relax, and create a welcoming, warm and happy home in which you, your family and your friends can enjoy each other.
The right lighting and the right colours can really help with this. Our earthy paint tones have been specially created to encourage a feeling of calm and to make a space where you can feel safe and soothed. Classic deep blue paints, new earthy red colours and meditative greens and greys can help with this while offering a nod to more traditional festive colours.
Ultimately, the type of Christmas lighting, and the colours you use in your home throughout the festive season, will depend on your own personal style. While traditional colours like red, green and white will always be popular, you can add your own twist to suit your tastes.
As long as it works for you and your lifestyle, then it should be a Happy Christmas. And a mindful one!