Holiday Decorating from Nature — Ideas Abound!

How lovely to create trees, as well as home decorations, from natural materials. Why not organize a Santa’s workshop with your children or friends as your elves? Magazines abound with delightful ideas—many easy. And whatever your home’s decor, naturals will enhance its beauty at this special time of year. After all, we have plenty of inspiration from our ancestors who relied on the woods around them for boughs and berries at this time of year.

Naturals bring fresh beauty to your tree:

Create a garland from natural and inexpensive burlap, make little rings of cranberries, and gild walnuts or use them as they come—these are some of the delights featured on this tree from Good Housekeeping Magazine.

• A simple but magical idea I have used for years that makes a tree breathtaking: stems of fresh baby’s breath placed into open spaces on the tree. The effect is the look of a fresh snowfall—without the flocking! The baby’s breath dries to a lovely natural-linen shade.

• Small bundles of cinnamon sticks are again a very simple natural—and right in your kitchen cupboard

• Dried apple and orange slices combine in many ways for garlands and ornaments. Follow these directions and your own imagination. You can also purchase dried fruit slices.

• Pinecones, of course, can tickle your imagination. I love them as nature made them, but you can paint or gild them if you prefer.

• Strips of natural linen or cotton fabric applied to an ornament base make very elegant trimmings. Save the scraps from your sewing projects, and your tree is not only natural but displays the heritage of your family.

• Thymes Limited has come up with a botanical ornament that will give your tree not only natural beauty but forest scent. Imbedded in wax are berries, pinecones, and pine needles. In addition to making your own tree special, it is a nicely packaged hostess gift. You can order your own here.

• A tree so trimmed is gorgeous in any setting—whether it be your main attraction or a smaller tree in a dining or family room. For a beautiful and traditional setting—Hooker Furniture’s classic Estate Collection Tier Console table with its mellow black finish of rich mahogany solids and veneers offers the perfect touch.

Centerpieces for your tables:

• I once followed the old-fashioned tradition of making pomanders by inserting many, many cloves in an orange. They looked wonderful, but my fingers were a bit distressed. Just as impressive, make patterns in oranges and clementines, using far fewer cloves. They are also more artistic and imaginative! A bowl like this lined with vintage linen and filled with pomanders is the very essence of a natural Christmas. Add some sprigs from your tree, or holly or mistletoe.

• Combine the beauty and lovely fragrance of cedar with sprigs of holly—a traditional combination and a lovely surrounding for a Christmas candle display. When using greens with candles, always take precautions that the greens are fresh and not flammable!

• Another charming way to light your Christmas—place candles in simple glass jars, wrap with a natural like pieces of bark, and add a tie with a decorative twig.

• Flowerpots with bouquets of greens have added appeal when massed along a table, or placed about the house on end tables or bedside chests. Inside the pot, place a jar or glass filled with water to keep the stems of the greens moistened.

• ‘Tis the season to make the most of displays of fresh fruit. What is more beautiful than a bowl filled with apples or pears, nuts, and sprigs of evergreens? Truly nature’s bounty.

• And don’t overlook plants—making a display of small plants is always impressive, and inexpensive when compared to buying fresh flowers. For dining, keep your displays low and unscented. But on a console table in a foyer, for example, you can be much more extravagant.

How wonderful these displays would look in a dining room, or on a table like this one from Sanctuary Collection Refectory Table.

It almost seems as if it were designed with holidays in mind, when you want to gather all your family around its ample space and heritage lines—echoing times when gathering greens and nature’s bounty was the very essence of holiday times.

Natural wreaths for your home:

Your choices are only limited by your imagination. Craft stores have the makings for wreaths, and you can choose greens, or berries or pinecones—any number of natural materials—like these suggested by Martha Stewart. Some are quite elegant and easy to achieve, like a wreath from a variety of ferns. And mistletoe is not limited to the kissing spot—it makes an enchanting wreath as well.

And our versatile friend the pine cones should not be overlooked for the makings of a natural, wholesome wreath with vintage appeal.

Berries are colorful additions to wreaths—or make stunning ones using them alone. Cranberries are a good choice, and a black florist’s pin to attach them to the base is a stunning combination. For a fragrant wreath, select rosemary as your base green. You are in nature’s workshop, so be as innovative as you like.

Wreaths traditionally are hung on doors or walls—often over mirrors for dramatic effect—or in windows. But wreaths also work wonders as centerpieces or displays on all manner of tables. Fill the center with a candle display or flowers, for example. And you can make your wreaths in a variety of sizes to bring a fresh touch to every room in the house—even your office setting or guest bedroom.

The panel bed from the Corsica Collection might inspire a natural wreath nearby. Made of acacia solids and veneers, it has a natural, sun-washed feel much like the island for which it is named.

Bringing visions of nature inside:

Many of us have snow in the air and on the ground. But whether you do or not, you and your guests might still enjoy the gracious snowfalls in this video, which can be rented for seven days. As snow flits down, as if outside your window, you listen to lovely holiday music. I suspect folks will gather round the entertainment center with a cup of eggnog and enjoy the great outdoors without heavy coats, boots, and mittens. A setting for your view of nature’s miracle—no two snowflakes are alike—the Adagio Collection home theater with its rich, dark finish, makes a cozy environment.

Have a wonderful natural holiday, bringing your own creativity to the materials that abound around us. At this time of year, their beauty is heightened as they take center stage in decorating our homes.