From spring holidays such as Easter or Passover, to Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah, there are many opportunities to display holiday decor in the home. While each holiday usually requires different color palettes and themes, there are general holiday decorating guidelines that can help any home look like it belongs in the pages of a magazine.
Holiday Decorating With Color
For many people, decorating for any holiday requires the use of very specific color palettes. For example, Easter colors are traditionally pastel tones, while Christmas colors are always red and green. However, for a sophisticated home decor, these colors should be tweaked for best results.
Before decorating for any holiday season, homeowners should take a good look at their existing home color palette. Holiday decor should enhance these color tones, not compete with them. While traditional holiday color palettes may work in one home, these hues may be completely wrong in another.
For instance, in a room with an olive green and brick red color scheme, adding bright red and green Christmas decor would look garish and out of place. Likewise, in a home filled with blues and yellows, traditional Christmas colors are not the best holiday decorating choice. Changing the traditional red to cinnamon, burgundy or even raspberry may be more appropriate, depending upon the color scheme in the home. Christmas green may become olive or even sage for a more cohesive home decor. Adding silver or gold to the holiday decor brings sparkle and holiday glamour to any space.
Fall holiday hues need not limit themselves to orange, gold and brown. While these colors may work in some homes, tweaking them slightly may work better in others. A home decorated with modern, bright hues may not look right when muted autumn colors are introduced. Instead, using lime green, tangerine or sunny yellow may be more appropriate.
Spring holiday colors should also blend with the existing home decor hues. If pastel tones do not blend well with the existing home color palette, deeper jewel tones may be a better fit at Easter or Passover. Or, a classic color combination such as creamy white and metallic gold may be sophisticated finishing touch for a traditional setting.
Holiday Themes in Home Decor
Pumpkins are traditionally used as home decor for the autumn holiday season; they show up in home accessories and are carved into jack-o-lanterns. Likewise, Christmas trees are the traditional way to bring holiday spirit into the home. With holiday accessories available in styles ranging from rustic and vintage to modern and sleek, homeowners need to ensure that they blend with the overall decor of the home. Holiday accessories should be chosen with the same care as those items displayed in the home all year.
As a general rule, a home with a modern or contemporary flair should not display Halloween or Thanksgiving decor in a country or rustic style. While some contrast in textures is desirable, homeowners need to keep their overall decor in mind when choosing holiday accessories.
Instead of a traditional straw cornucopia on the Thanksgiving table, perhaps a modern rendition of that piece made of aluminum window screen would be more at home in a contemporary setting. Country-style holiday decor may be more at home in a cottage-style interior, while sophisticated items may look best in a formal, traditional space. Matching the holiday accessories to the style of the interior decor is an important way to create a cohesive space, no matter the time of year.
Teri Larsen - Professional Interior Designer, Freelance Writer, Executive Editor of Metro Women Magazine, Mom of 2, Artist and Generally Creative ...
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