The festive season is nearly upon us, why not make this Christmas extra special this year by bringing a little extra yuletide joy to your home.
Interior Designer, Benji Lewis* offers effortlessly elegant but chic ideas to create a wonderful warm atmosphere.
“The key to creating an elegant Christmas setting means dedicating a little extra time and effort to transform your home into a truly festive experience.” says interior designer Benji Lewis
Here are Benji’s simple interior Christmas Décor ideas that will get you into the Christmas spirit:
How to decorate a stairwell:
- Using imitation fir tree branches, entwine these down the length of the handrail on the staircase but don’t be mean with them or else you’ll end up with a look that’s meagre, I recommend these: artificial-pinus-pine-branch
- You can add strings of battery charged fairy lights into the mix to cast a festive glow, IKEA do good ones: IKEA LED
- If your staircase is wide enough, place battery charged pillar candles in storm lanterns on alternate treads, I’m a fan of these: OKA Pillar LED Candle
Decorating your fireplace:
- Keep the fir tree branch theme going and position a bountiful number of these along the mantelpiece.
- Include fairy lights or festive votives like these: Anna + Nina Starry Tealight Holder | Liberty
- If you have a mirror or painting hanging above the fireplace, add some fir tree branches on the top
Creating a beautiful tablescape
- Consider using elegant glass candle holders of differing heights so that ambient light isn’t just at one level
- Line the candle holders with greenery for additional glamour
- Make your guests feel special by placing name card holders at each place setting
- Choose a colour scheme and stick to it, white is always going to be good at Christmas, add metallic for extra festive vibes
- Include bowls of treats, it’ll keep your guests enjoying the party spirit for longer
LightingDécor
- Make your candles colour co-ordinate with your overall colour scheme
- Don’t contain thoughts to pillar candles only, round candles are cute and include randomly placed tea lights too
- Put your tea lights on mirrors castors, the mirror effect will create reflective pools of candle light
Go Foraging
- Looking for what nature provides - sprigs of holly with berries and rosemary made into a wreath, a basket of pine cones, and mistletoe hanging with a red ribbon from the ceiling are simple and easy to do
- Cyclamen in pots are charming, red poinsettia are good for giving seasonal colour and amaryllis in a glass vase look splendid
Christmas Décor Colours
- Brown is the popular colour this year, matched with gold, it looks great
- Use clear crystal glass to add sparkle, even better use vintage crystal glasses – they feel beautiful to hold
Home made crafts:
- Add a sprig of holly into your napkin ring; once you’ve pushed napkin through the ring, push the holly sprig through the ring to sit on top of the napkin fabric
- A basket of fir cones is seasonal – I prefer them au naturel rather than sprayed but if you like additional festive bling spray them gold
A Christmas tree alternative:
- I love a citrus fruit tree, even better if it’s in blossom, the scent is fantastic, with a lemon or two hanging from the branches
- Deck the branches with fairy lights
- Add festive decorations the same way you would to a Christmas tree
*Benji Lewis is a well-established British interior designer with extensive experience working on residential and commercial properties both at home and abroad. These include flats and studios, town and country houses, listed properties and commercial spaces such as the redesign of London’s Universal Studios offices.
His Zoom That Room appointments are conducted in an approachable and friendly manner and this coupled with a finely tuned intuitive design capability have combined to “virtually “ move Benji onto an increasingly more significant international platform. Benji is happy to offer a gratis mini zoom for those interested in experiencing his service offer.
Since creating and launching Zoom That Room, Benji has conducted multiple virtual bespoke consultations for individuals in the UK, US, Paris and Australia.
Benji Lewis trained at the KLC School of Interior Design and worked for Bonhams Auctioneers and a major Interiors house in London before successfully setting up on his own in 2004