More Christmas Decorating Tips

Create a Beautiful Home for Christmas

Decorating my home for Christmas is one of my most favourite things to do.  So here are a few more of my festive inspirations to make your home beautiful this Christmas…

A Winter Welcome

Give bits of ribbon left over from present wrapping a new life as sweet tree decorations.  Or use them to decorate a garland or wreathe to welcome winter guests.  The ribbon colours and patterns don’t need to match exactly, as their simple shape will tie the look together.  Begin by knotting the ribbon in to simple bows around a few inches of floral wire.  Next twist the wire to secure the bows to tree branches indoors or out. 

Hang from the Chandeliers

Decorate your light fittings with sweet hanging decorations and fill with foliage like mistletoe, holly and ivy.  

Visions of Sugar Plums

“The Night Before Christmas” comes to life with this fabulous festive fruit.  Pile the sparkling fruit in to a bowl for an easy and whimsical festive centerpiece. 

Festive Fruit is available from www.butterflylane.co.uk

Jingle Bells

Deck the door knobs with hanging decorations, to spread festive cheer throughout the home.  

Deck the Halls 

This wreath chandelier looks grand and difficult to make, but it couldn’t be simpler or more stunning.  Just take two wreathes and beautiful satin ribbon, tie bows and hang. 

By Candle Light 

Candles create a warming and festive glow to your home.  Stock up with church candles and elegant tapers to stack on your mantelpiece, coffee table or sideboard for a stunning result.  

Have a look at our candle collection from Butterfly Lane.

www.butterflylane.co.uk

Fairy Lights

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without fairy lights, inside and outside!  So I couldn’t live without my battery operated lights over the festive season.  Wrap them around your wreath on the front door, over pot plants or hedges to give a festive twinkle all night long.  Or use inside your home and drape over your fireplace for a cosy yet glamorous look. 

Battery operated fairy lights are available from Wilkinson’s.  

The Butterfly Lane Christmas collection is now available to buy online.

www.butterflylane.co.uk

A Stylish Christmas

Christmas can be a rather stressful time, what with organising Christmas dinner, presents, and worries of the Christmas Tree, it's no wonder that the thought of decorating your home for Christmas can be something of a chore.  That's why I thought I would take you through some tried, tested, and above all, easy tips to create a stylish Christmas.  After all Christmas should be merry!  

In my humble opinion Christmas decorations shouldn't begin and end in the sitting room alone.  I am a huge fan of spreading the festive cheer around the home.  Granted, this takes a little more work but it is so worth it.  

The Hallway:

Understated and chic.  Plain foliage and tea lights look gorgeous. 

A tree, real or fake, is a lovely warm welcome for your guests.  Even a small one perched on your side table will do the job nicely.

A garland hung over a mirror adds even more festive charm.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a garland flowing up the staircase.  Here are a  couple of our favourites...  

The Sitting Room:

The sitting room has to have the festive wow factor, however elegant and subtle.  Think warm white fairy lights adorning the tree, stunning ornaments and flowers should set the scene and colour palette.  Red, gold and silvers are traditional, however mix with greys and whites for a stylish look.

The main focus in any home at Christmas time is the tree.  I love the gentle twinkling of the fairy lights when it becomes dark outside, it is cosy, relaxing and a real focus in any room.  The key to a fabulous show stopping tree is not to be stingy with the fairy lights, pack it full, then you can always be more sparing with the decorations...not like this jam packed one below! 

Fireplaces scream out for decadent decoration, whether it be a garland, church candles or ornaments.  

If you have a mirror over your mantel piece the candle flames are exaggerated and look just stunning.  You could even hang a wreath from your mirror.  See my wreath tips here.   

Children's Bedroom:

Let's face it, Christmas is all about the little ones, so why not trim up their bedrooms in true style, so they wake up and nod off to 'thoughts of sugar plums dancing in their heads'.  I love a traditional look in children's room, so wooden train garlands draped over a tree and cute knitted ornaments do the job nicely...and of course decorations that they choose themselves!   Last weekend I helped my four year old nephew choose a tree and decorations for his bedroom and I was delighted to find some fabulous Christmas tree and icicle shaped fairy lights which he adored and looked so pretty on his tree.  Here are some gorgeous child friendly trees for bedroom and playroom inspiration...

Colourful and fun...especially for a beach house

Colourful and fun

Traditional

The Kitchen:

The kitchen is the heart of the home, especially at Christmas time, with the smell of mulled wine simmering on the stove.  It is tradition in my family to always have a tree in the kitchen, in fact the kitchen is the main focus of our festive cheer as it is the place we spend the majority of time cooking, eating and chatting.  So with this in mind, with have a great selection of festive fruit to hang from the tree and a gorgeous fruit garland to drape over a dresser.  

Festive Fruit from Butterfly Lane 

Christmas Kitchen Collection from Butterfly Lane 

Fill jars with decorations

Fruit Garland

These sparkling bay trees also look gorgeous placed in pairs on a worktop.  

Sparkling Bay Trees

Little Extras:

I love to fill bowls and jars with baubles to add an understated Christmas look around the home.  This works well on a coffee table or sideboard...

Fill kitchen jars with sweets for expectant visitors.... 

My top tip of them all is to pop on some carols and warm up some mulled wine on the stove, the smell alone will get you in the Christmas spirit and ready to decorate your home from top to toe!  

Let us know your top Christmas decorating tips...

We Love Wreaths

I am ashamed to say that my little blog has been neglected over the past few weeks, as Christmas fever at struck Butterfly Lane HQ.  Not only have we been busily wrapping gifts and decorations for customers but we have been attending Christmas event after event, but I am pleased to say that yesterday saw the last bauble wrapped and glass of mulled wine guzzled (on 'work' time anyway), so I am now embarking on the last few pre-Christmas days to spread some Christmas joy from the blog...and get my home Christmas ready of course!  

Christmas is by far my most favourite time of the year.  The perfect opportunity to be extravagant with your home decor, add some sparkle, shimmer and everything in between.  It is officially time to Deck the Halls, an event at Butterfly Lane HQ which I am almost ashamed to say takes a good few days to assemble.  Well, I told you I am slightly over the top with my decorations.  

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the obligatory trees, baubles and festive food, however, one thing that can be organised at the beginning of the festive season is your Christmas wreath and garlands, these are a great way to get creative, whether you use real foliage, fruits, pinecones, baubles or fake greenery, here are some of our favourites...

Wreaths traditionally hang beautifully in splendour from your front door or gate to welcome guests, but they also look amazing inside your home too.  Glistening bauble versions do just the trick inside your home and you can use different shades to complement your colour scheme.  

I am someone who buys a lot of things in three's to decorate a home.  Whether it is three identical jars, candle holders or in this case wreaths...it just looks so good!  This dining room definitely has the 'wow' factor.  

Let's face it we will all be spending a lot of time in the kitchen over Christmas and therefore I think it's always a great idea to trim up the space for the festivities.  I always have a Christmas tree in my kitchen, full of glistening fruits and precious decorations, along with  a garland draped over the dresser.  It really does get me in the Christmas spirit, if the bubbling aroma of mulled wine on the stove doesn't create enough joy!  With a kitchen in mind, fruit wreaths look so stylish hung against a dresser or door, and the pine cone version below is just gorgeous too!  

Why not go against the crowd and opt for a square wreath!  I love this homemade one below...

As I'm sure you've picked up from my other blogs I'm all about fairy lights, so my penchant comes in to full force in December, white lights twinkling in trees, indoor and out.  I could not live without my battery operated fairy lights this time of year, especially to thread them around my front door wreath!

What is your favourite wreath style?  

A Perfect Space For Little One's

Children clearly change the dynamic of a home, not only in noise levels and the scattering of toys (they have so much stuff!), but also with the styling and organisation of your space.   I'm talking about storage!  It's obviously not possible to confine toys and general kiddy stuff to a playroom or bedroom, so in my most recent project I've been thinking about how to make a home family friendly, whilst still being stylish, elegant and organised.

I love this image to the left.  The stylish dining room still screams 'adult', but the little chairs and desk is an ideal space for colouring and craft time and an area for homework.  By using simple storage boxes for pens and papers the children's desk still has a grown up feel.  Love the chalkboard too for family lists!  

The below image is so stylish, clean and simple, and is also a great space saver and storage area for your little ones vast amount of stuff.  I think every child would love a bedroom like this.  Who doesn't love a ladder right?  

Don't get me wrong, I love an all out baby wonderland for a nursery.  I cannot get enough of soft cuddly toys, pastel shades and mobiles.  But these nursery's are so chic and understated, and I have fallen in love with them.  The grey and white in the below image is so subtle and calming.

Simple and elegant, this bunk bed filled room is just gorgeous!  The subtle taupes with the pale pinks is stunning.  The chandelier and porthole style mirrors give it a grown up charm.  

The sugary tones in this room are beautiful against the white back drop.  The sparkling chandelier gives that grown up influence once again. 

Children should have a stylish space too!

Our Little Butterflies department will be launching in 2013 and if you are interested in our design service please email us on info@butterflylane.co.uk. 

A Little Inspiration Required

I have been lacking quite a lot of inspiration of late.  Maybe it's due to the 'renovation' meandering along at what seems a glacial pace, as builders continue to let us down, which continues to push the project back and back.  My dreams of a Beech House decadent Christmas seems to be spiralling in to non-existance.  

Log Delivery

But on a positive note, next week sees the fitting of our log burning stove in the sitting room, so the copious amounts of logs that were delivered a few weeks back will be getting used pretty sharpish now the weather has turned wintery.  We were planning on having a log burning stove in the kitchen too, but our lovely stove expert convinced us not to, as we have a gorgeous and ornate surround that will be ideal for an open fire.  So he will be fitting the grate and most importantly disconnecting the gas to allow for an open fire.  I cannot wait! 

Most rooms in Beech House, apart from the kitchen and bathrooms are ready to decorate, we are just waiting for a few messy jobs, like the kitchen and bathrooms to be transformed before we put the finishing touches on the rooms (brick dust and builders  might well wreck our light and airy scheme!).  

I am still entirely focused on having a home that flows. Working with a limited colour palette of neutrals will mean that the house (and any home) will have one style, will flow effortlessly from room to room and will appear bigger as a result.  Obviously pops of colour can be introduced using accessories.  But what can I say, it's the Butterfly Lane way!  

I have managed to find a few images for every room in the house that have ignited my inspiration this week.  Have a look below...

The Bedroom:  Clean, crisp and elegant.  With hints of shimmer in the textiles, mirrored furniture and strong black accents, this is a calm retreat.

The Entrance Hall:  Light and airy, these rooms create a sophisticated and welcoming entrance to your home.  The creams and soft greys look just stunning.  The dog is a cute addition too!  

The Kitchen:  Sophisticated and simple.  The marble just screams luxury.  

The Sitting Room:  I just love the cool greys and beiges against the clean white.  The stone fireplace is a stunning feature!  This room screams less is more, with simple paintings hung on the wall with great effect, and the TV (which lets face is the bain of any room design!), tucked neatly above the fire place so you can hardly see it! 

I hope you are a little inspired by the images I have discovered this week,I know that I am!  

If you require more inspiration visit our online boutique to discover gorgeous home accessories to lift your home!  www.butterflylane.co.uk