Thursday 17 December 2015

Preparing For Christmas

Christmas is quickly approaching and I am feeling more festive than ever. From day one of being back in England from my travels I have wanted to start decorating my Mum's place to get it feeling nice and festive. 

If you know me well, you know I am a huge fan of Christmas and over the years I have also become a lover of interior design. So, come Christmas time and all I want to do is decorate, decorate, decorate! 

With this, over the last week or so I have spent my free time wandering the shops in Brighton and collecting a few decorations together; as well as getting a small Christmas tree, and then adding some finishing touches with a few ornaments I bought whilst in the U.S. 

I didn't want to make my Mum's apartment too over the top in festivity, but I wanted to decorate it in a way that it would feel warm and cosy, with a slight Scandinavian touch, and of course with a little special Christmassy feel.

I now happily feel I have achieved this, and thought I'd quite like to share my ideas on this blog.


Hanging from the door handle is a small Christmas tree ornament I got from Starbucks in Santa Monica; which was in fact too heavy for the tree but I quite like it hanging from the door handle like this.


This bowl is filled with some lovely Frankincense scented potpourri from Next. The succulent I brought back with me from the U.S, as well as the jug containing Gypsophila decorated using a sprinkle of glitter for a festive touch. 


I love hanging decorations from anywhere possible - for example the light switch in the top left of this photo, to give a small festive touch. The cute Christmas jumper draped over the chair is from H&M. A Christmas jumper is a must have every year, and this one is very cosy with some added sparkle! 


Another favourite of mine, and especially at Christmas time is fairy lights. I am over the moon about these I found (hanging from the mirror) from a small independent shop in Brighton; which tie in very nicely with the candle holder in the centre of the table.


Candles are wonderful all year round, and definitely so when its cold outside at Christmas time. They help to create a cosy, warming atmosphere to any room. The scents for candles this time of year are my favourite - from pine and gingerbread, to almond and sugar cookie...I love them all! I currently have a small yankee candle burning called 'snow love' which smells incredible! I also always like to have an advent candle (to the back of the table). Then to finish I've put some cinnamon sticks in a small trinket jar; cinnamon is another winter scent I love.


This mirror is an addition I brought back with me from America, and placed above hangs some decorative mistletoe - a very traditional ornament for this time of the year (bought from M&S Home).


Now to the tree! This year my Mum and I decided we only needed a small tree, which we wanted to keep quite simple. 

I used the fairy lights I bought back with me from America and bought a selection of mix and match decorations from Zara Home - I love the home-made feel to them. I also got a simple white star for the top which I decorated a little more by wrapping around some grey ribbon; I feel this helps it stand out.


I covered the base of the tree using some hessian material which I then secured tying a bow using the left over ribbon I used to decorate the star. I used some more cinnamon sticks in another little trinket jar here and added a dusting of christmas confetti around the bottom of the tree.


Above shows the pretty Zara decorations that I love a lot.


As well as the interior decor, I've also started wrapping some presents which I also enjoy very much and get quite excited about in fact! I wanted the style of wrapping to keep to the simple Scandinavian style similar to the decorations around the apartment. The stockings above are from a small independent shop I found in the Lanes in Brighton. I've reused some gift bags I collected in America and finished off using plain white and brown paper, then some grey, cream and silver ribbon.


I added some candy canes to the smaller gifts for a cute finishing touch.


The gift tags I bought from Paperchase which I feel is another lovely finishing touch!


Thank you for taking a look at this post on my decorations and preparations for Christmas this year. I hope you've enjoyed this little insight and that this may even help inspire you with getting ready for Christmas!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas! 

All my love x







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