Decorating your house for the festive season needn't involve tinsel. Eoin Lyons on what the best dressed houses will be wearing
CHRISTMAS DECORATING
Threadbare carpets, tatty linen and washed-out walls are the last things you need when you're entertaining over Christmas - but who'll know if you just turn the lights down and go for the "atmospheric" look of a few judiciously placed candles or mood lights.
If you do want to spend money on doing up your house for Christmas, think before you splurge on expensive new fairy lights. You might be better off updating your permanent light fittings or buying fresh bed linen. Careful spending at this time can ensure you reap the benefits well into the New Year. Then greenery and a little inexpensive red fabric can go along way.
DRINKS PARTY
'Tis the season for the at-home drinks party, so make sure you're a well-prepared host. The ideal party drink is something that doesn't taste too strong but still makes people a little merry. Drink cocktails - they will get everyone into the swing of things quickly.
Time is especially valuable at this time of year, so consider hiring someone to help with the food. Some of the best finger food we've tasted came from Claire Hanley Catering (01-8780410).
Create little corners for private chats. They can have focal points such as an occasional table with a candle, flower and an ashtray.
If you want your house to smell good, avoid sickly cinnamon, and go for woody, spicy scents such as a L'Occitane candle. Unless it's very cold and wet, people tend to venture outside. You can heat the garden with a line of braziers and light it with lanterns and glass jam jars filled with tea lights.
CHIMNEYPIECE
To decorate a chimneypiece in an inexpensive way, gather some branches from the garden and pick up small pieces of conifer when buying your tree. Stand them upright in tall, water filled vases or lay them on the mantle itself, layering them so that the cut ends show as little as possible. Then intersperse pussy willow, available from a florist, and nestle a few simple ornaments in between.
A traditional way to do things is to set holly and ivy around the edges of the mantle, anchored with tape. Add red bows or pine cones for contrast. A mantle could also be decorated with three to five flowerpots containing topiary trees or white narcissi and red amaryllis.
Another idea is to spray-paint three to five galvanized watering cans bright red, put festive bows on the handles, add water, and fill them with branches of the season such as pine or berried holly. Place apple candleholders between each of your potted plants or watering cans: to make them, use a knife to hollow out a cylinder shape in the centre of each apple (don't cut all the way through) so it can hold a nightlight.
Pictured right, gathered around a silver reindeer candleholder from the Far Pavilion in Bray, Co Wicklow (01-2762533) are Christmas tree branches and Ilex berries from Flora on Exchequer Street in Dublin (01-6772751). Kinsale Candles gold candles can be found at supermarkets countrywide.
Alternatively, spend a little more and have a florist create something spectacular. Costelloe Flowers in Dún Laoghaire (01-2841864) is particularly good at this kind of thing, as is Jungle Flowers in Malahide (01-8454633) and Rush, Co Dublin (01-8430630). Jungle Flowers also makes chic wreaths. We've used one (above right), made from painted wood and feathers, as a coffee table centrepiece.
THE TREE
There's fun to be had choosing and hauling your tree home, but Garden Works in Malahide and Clonee (01-8450110) will deliver a tree to your door and fit it in a stand.
The key to decorating a tree is coherence - so choose a few categories of ornaments and stick with those. Go through your ornaments and see what you've got and what you need. Start with strands of tiny white lights, then add the background ornaments.
Interior designer Laura Farrell decorated her tree (left) with small red-feathered birds from Galleria on Chatham Street in Dublin 2 (01-6794381) and cherry lights from Dunnes Stores.
TABLE SETTINGS
A failsafe Christmas table is made up of a white antique linen tablecloth (find them at Jenny Vander, 50 Drury Street, Dublin 2); wine glasses with tall stems, white candles and white plates. Add some festivity with groups of fruit - place apples or bunches of red grapes randomly about the table. The gold beaded place mat and charger are from Dunnes Stores, nationwide.