Are you someone who looks forward to decorating your house during the Christmas season with glee? Or do you look at it as another daunting task on your to-do list? If it’s the latter, it might be because you are left feeling uninspired by the decorations that you normally put up.
Consider the standard Christmas decorations: green and red coloring, reindeers, Santas, tinsel…
Perhaps it has all become a bit tired now?
It might be time for a move towards a more modern, sophisticated Christmas decor at home. In this piece, we will give you some inspiration towards decorating your house in a way that makes it feel different to any other holiday season you have lived through.
We will run through ways in which you can ditch the super colorful decorations of the past and achieve a softer, more relaxing vibe at home this Christmas time.
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Modern ornaments for the Christmas tree
Forget the plastic baubles! If we are aiming for an elegant decor this Christmas, we need to set our sights on something a little more fancy for the tree.
A traditional green tree can look particularly eye-popping if propped up by a supporting cast of silver Christmas ornaments. From simpler snowflake and bell designs to more complex engravings, there is a choice of silver ornaments for all tastes.
You can even take it a step further and decide on ornaments engraved with ‘Christmas 2020’, just so you know exactly when you first used them come future holiday seasons. This definitely adds a personal touch that is not usually found with standard baubles and tinsel.
At this stage, you might be tempted to stray with complex sculptures of bears and red/green candy canes, but keep in mind that we are aiming for a contemporary and understated design this year!
Silver is a great way to achieve this feel. However, mixing it up with the occasional gold ornament can add depth to your tree.\
Softer lights
Maybe your family has always gone for the traditional colored lights at Christmas. One look at the tree or the outside of the house always leaves you blinded in a flood of red, green and yellow light.
If you are aiming for a more tranquil design this time around, consider using softer, white lights instead of colorful ones. These give a more relaxed feel, encouraging members of the family to take a breath and keep calm. As opposed to the chaotic feel of colored Christmas lights, white ones can certainly take things down a notch and make your home more elegant.
Bonus points if you can find white lights joined by string or another soft material! The traditional plastic and metal adjoiners can look quite rough when viewed close up, so you would be better off with string fairy lights.
Replace the tinsel
Tinsel is potentially one of the Christmas decorations that would seriously detract from your efforts to create an elegant vibe. It tends to be shiny and rough to the touch – the opposite of the contemporary theme you are aiming for.
In its place, consider garlands made out of velvet. Burgundy is a sensible choice of color here, since it pays tribute to the standard Christmas red, but feels more warm and lowkey.
You could also opt for garlands made from wooden beads. These would add some extra character to your Christmas tree and make a nice change from the usual baubles and tinsel!
Extra ideas for a modern Christmas decor
We have covered some of the main things you can do to achieve a contemporary feel this Christmas, especially when it comes to decorating the tree.
However, there are so many ideas to play around with that we thought it would be a good idea to make a quick list for inspiration purposes:
- Replace your outdated wreath. A green pine wreath with holly and berries is a standard decoration in many households. You could make something a little different this year by using eucalyptus and dried berries to capture a ‘minimalistic’ version of the standard wreath. It retains the magic of the original while working to give your home a more understated feel.
- Create mini Christmas trees to put around the house. Consider creating tree-shaped or pyramid-shaped pieces of wood and painting them with a minimalistic effect.
You can see that the decoration will not take you too much time, and in return you will have plenty of mini Christmas trees to place around your home!
- Get creative with your tree trunk cover. You might be used to using a mat or cloth to cover the base of your Christmas tree, but have you considered how to make this look more modern? You could place your tree inside a large woven basket or another rustic design that helps to bring your home up to date this Christmas.
- Keep things asymmetrical. A symmetrical design is the hallmark of something mass-produced and dated! If you decide to make your own wreath like the one suggested earlier on, work to make it look homemade and ‘rough around the edges’.
