Home For The Holidays

The approach to the house and the front door is one of the most important parts of my holiday decor. When family and friends gather I want them to feel festive as soon as they pull up at the house…

It starts with as many soft white lights as I can muster across the front. The bushes and trees are draped and wrapped in hundreds of them! Much to my children’s amazement (and my husband’s dismay) I add more and more lights each year. 

Up the steps to the porch, which is draped by in a real fir garland, and to the front door - the entrance to our home and our very own winter wonderland.

The once faded green front door has been updated with a lick of Farrow and Ball (256) Pitch Black – a theme I have experimented with on some interior doors to great success (Pictures on that project to come in a future blog!). The new black now gives the house a touch of class and looks sublime against the green foliage.

I framed the entrance with 2 x 9ft pre-lit Christmas Garlands – again from Costco - I have truly lost count of the amount of these I have around my home. I added symmetry by updating two tired old plastic planters with some black spray paint and 2 Emerald Green arborvitae trees that now accompany the lanterns that that wouldn’t look out of place from a scene in Charles Dickens ‘Christmas Carol’.

  Christmas is a sensory overload with the twinkling lights, tinsel and decorations to stimulate the sight and the aroma of festive fragrances to stimulate the sense of smell. So as I am decorating my own front door I go for as many interesting pieces as I can find to keep visitors entertained while they wait. 

This year I decorated my garland with a mixture of faux hydrangea's & large Burlap Bows from JOANNS and gold feathers with burlap Spirals from Walmart. I get soooo much value from the ribbon at Costco – I truly believe it is the holiday decorator’s equivalent of the everlasting gobstopper. So far I have used it on my stairs, my front door, and my fireplace and still have some left over for wrapping a few gifts…. The wicker hearts are from England and are a fond memory of Christmas’s past and my old local garden center that used to have some amazing niknaks – I miss that place dearly (note to self – perhaps they will export). The variation carries just enough ‘busy’ to keep the eye interested without overcrowding so it retains that elegant feel.

And….. (TOP TIP) in anticipation of the festivities that wait beyond the front door – I spray the garland with a hint of Mulled Wine and Cinnamon fragrance.  

To finish off this look, I have a beautiful green and cream striped door mat, personalized with our initial, from Frontgate, which is the most amazing quality. It is so thick I have to take a step up to get on it. I had already painted the front porch deck with Farrow & Ball, Ball Green (75) in the summer. This shade of really reminds me of the quaint coffee and antique shop fronts from an English Cotswold Village. 

Merry Christmas..... Nicola Jane xx