Use your senses to get your home prepared for Christmas

September starts tomorrow, so there’s only three months to go before that holiday season rolls around again. We’ve prepared a guide which can help you use your five senses to get your home prepared for Christmas.

Sight

Hang a wreath on your front door, it’s welcoming to holiday visitors and sets the Christmas mood before you even enter the house. Introduce fairy lights, tea lights and candles throughout your home – the magical twinkle lifts your mood every time you enter a room. And not forgetting a Yuletide centrepiece; it often takes the form of a traditional Christmas tree which everyone loves, but perhaps experiment with tree branches to hang those brightly coloured baubles. Silver birch is readily available and the white, textured bark works really well.

Smell

Certain fragrances just conjure up that Christmas feeling; pine, spiced oranges, frankincense and myrrh. Introduce smells into your rooms by using candles, room infusers, pot-pourri etc. Soap, bath oils and bubble bath for those long soaks and treasured moments of holiday relaxation. If you have a real fire, keep some nice logs or foraged pine cones beside it – throw one on the flames from time to time to fill the room with a gorgeous woody aroma.

Sound

Dust off those vintage Christmas 45s! If you don’t have a record player, do what we did and get Spotify. There are thousands of Christmas tunes and ready-made Christmas play-lists. All you need is an online device – smart phone, tablet, computer, even your TV – that you can hook up to speakers.

Taste

What’s Christmas without food and drink? Gingerbread, mulled wine, minced pies, Christmas cake, eggnog and all the roast fayre. It’s a time for treating yourself – perhaps over indulging a little! Put a hamper on your pressie list… or buy yourself one. They’re often filled with seasonal items you don’t see during the rest of the year. Alternatively, find yourself a nice basket and add small luxury items that you see in the weeks & months leading up to Christmas. You can then dip into the basket of special treats over the holidays (providing you’ve not been cheating and raiding it beforehand!). There’s nothing better to make the day seem a bit special!

Touch

It’s always cold at Christmas – unless you live in the tropics or southern hemisphere. Stock up on woolly blankets, fluffy sheepskin rugs, and fleecy cushions. We love a crisp, chilly Christmas or Boxing Day walk with the dog, but nothing beats snuggling up indoors in front of the wood-burner with a mug of hot chocolate afterwards!

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Home Tones: Christmas Red & Green

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Many of us have heard the sayings, “Red & green should never be seen without a colour in between” and “Red & green should only be seen upon an Irish queen”. We generally concur with this regarding interior decoration… except at Christmastime of course, when these two colours come into their own. This traditional pairing somehow captures the mood of the festive season. From Santa’s outfit to berry-laden holly, fir trees, poinsettia, candy canes, pretty packages, candles, baubles and trimmings… and not forgetting the robin red-breast.

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Dressing your windows for Christmas

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The way we dress our homes for the holiday season is a big part of the Yuletide fun. Showing others that you’re taking part in the celebrations is a great way of joining in with the festive mood.

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Where to start

Whether yours is one of the many luxury new homes around the country or an older period property, there’s nothing more off-putting than dirty or grimy windows at any time of the year. So, the best place to start is to make sure your windows are sparkling clean inside and out.

The next thing is to decide if you want to decorate just the insides or make the most of the outside of your windows as well. Obviously this will come down to practicalities as in many cases it might be difficult to get to outside windows that aren’t on the ground floor.

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Materials

If you can put decorations outside it’s a good idea to let nature help you. You can use holly or other similar classic natural winter greenery which you know can withstand the outdoor conditions.

If you plan to use lights or other electrical equipment outside it is essential to check that they are suited to the purpose and will pose no threat or danger in wet or windy conditions.

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Indoors

Whatever the size of your windows, let your imagination run wild!

There are many ways you can decorate the inside of your windows – have some fun with it.

If you have a property with old fashioned windows such as sash windows – you can make them look great with just a little fake snow and glitter. Carefully applied in the right way this can result in a really authentic, classic Dickensian Christmas card look.

More modern windows with large panes of glass can provide a blank canvas for a whole range of ideas. Spraying glitter materials through stencils or other cut-outs can work just as well as using elaborate and potentially expensive lighting set-ups.

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Tree

One thing that can’t be beaten for maximum effect is simply placing your Christmas tree in front of the window. This not only means you can leave curtains or blinds open to show your neighbours how lovely your tree is, but it also gives you some privacy too.

Christmas is a time of fun and festivity – so get involved this year!

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Etsy List: Hello December!

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Pinch, punch, first of the month! We promised ourselves that we wouldn’t mention the ‘C’ word until December was here. We’re ready to join the throng in checking out what’s on offer around the web this Christmas.

We’re starting our search with Etsy; one of the best places for vintage or hand-made, indie gifts and seasonal homewares.

Hello December!
Curated by H is for Home

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Christmas decor