A Holiday Home
A guide for adding a touch of Christmas spirit to every room in your home.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
Christmas is just around the corner, and there are few things more festive than gathering around a crackling fireplace with a warm cup of cocoa or hot mulled wine. When hosting friends and family, I want each and every room to feel welcoming, merry and bright.
A Holiday Table...
The Living Room...
For an easy and elegant centerpiece that lasts all season long, arrange a variety of natural cotton bolls, lotus pods, winter berries, and pine cones secured to twigs or wooden sticks in a glass vase wrapped with a bit of colored twine and filled with rock salt "snow".
Fresh evergreens adorned with berries create a fragrant table spray. Festive napkin rings serve double-duty as candle wreathes.
Evergreens, pine cones and winter berries adorn the mantle and china hutch. A Persian rug layered over a jute carpet adds warmth and color to the space.
I like to make sure that my coffee table books coordinate with the colors of the season. A small vase filled with a bit of rock salt "snow", dried bay leaves and holly stands in for fresh flowers, and a winter lantern housing a fragrant candle lends a gentle glow.
Poinsettias are lovely, but I abhor the tacky foil in which they usually come wrapped. Mercury glass planters are traditional and festive; however metal ice buckets such as the one shown here on the right prove an ideal and economical alternative.
A Welcoming Guest Room
Nantucket is, quite simply, my most beloved little corner of the globe, and my guestroom decor is a nod to this lovely little island all the year round. When decorating for the holidays, I incorporate small but thoughtful "ACK" inspired touches, such as adding a tiny tabletop tree trimmed with nautical baubles and filling my Nantucket basket with seasonal guest soaps and hand towels from Nantucket Looms.
This delightful print from Pete's Fresh Fish Prints hangs above the bed all year long.
During the holidays, I dress the window of my guestroom with a festive red balloon shade. Adorning the window seat with a pot of holly and plaid blanket creates a cozy nook.
My Nantucket lightship basket proves a convenient holder for guest towels and soap.
A tabletop tree is trimmed with nautical ornaments from Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and beyond, draped with a marine rope "garland" and topped with a starfish.
Beneath the Tree...
Packages wrapped in simple brown paper look festive when tied with twine or jute ribbon and adorned with holly, cotton, pine cones and handmade candy canes. Twisting the rope into sailing knots (such as the carrick bend shown below) adds a fanciful nautical touch.
Brown paper packages tied up with string...
The Master Bedroom...
An oversize evergreen wreath, splash of greenery on the mantle and gold and burgundy coverlet transform the master bedroom into a cheerful and cozy retreat.