You’ve survived Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday — now you can relax and enjoy the holidays. But, not until you’ve decorated your home and hearth.
While the days of traditional décor — greens, garlands and holly — are far from gone, they are now competing with trends that encompass other cultures, personal tastes and even celebrity trends (to wit: Michelle Pfeiffer’s viral tree from 2023). The ways in which to adorn your home for the season are as varied as the gifts on the wish list. Here are a few to consider.
We encourage readers to shop local this season, so take these ideas into consideration and consider exploring businesses like GardenWorx Riverhead Farm & Garden, Shade Trees Nursery, Verderber’s Nursery & Garden Center, Clarke’s Garden and Home, White Flower Farm, touchGOODS and our handy annual gift guide.
Portal and Porch
If your front door is a canvas or backdrop for a holiday wreath, you’ll want to select one in proportion to the size of your door. Conventional wisdom says it should cover about two-thirds of the door: a wreath 24 to 26 inches will give visual impact on a standard 36-inch door without overwhelming it. Nothing says “classic Christmas” more than a simple balsam ring with a red ribbon and some pine cones, but there’s a plethora of options that can truly express the personality of a home and its inhabitants. Increasingly, wreaths include textures, textiles and objects, other naturalistic flora and fauna, exotic greens such Oriental Cherry Norfolk Pine, elements of field and garden such as this one from Perigold.com, or a combined botanical and fabric design such as the Red Velvet Live wreath from Williams-Sonoma. Artificial trees have come a long way, including prelit styles made for the porch. Pencil trees — a thinner style of tree — work well on smaller porches or as sentries greeting guests at the entry. Use small green trees, such as mini boxwoods and potted evergreens to create a mini-forest tableau on your porch and steps.
Yards
While you’re considering the door, also take in the larger tableau of your porch and yard (and maybe leave behind the oversize lawn inflatables!) This is an opportunity to think beyond the classic nativity scene if that is your tradition and think like a set designer. Strands of pretty twinkling light garlands, meteor shower lights and vintage-style C9 colored bulbs are some popular options for framing and illuminating a space. Solar pathway lights in the shape of trees can line a path but also provide many points of light in an elegant and minimalist lightscape, as do these garden solar globes. if you want to give your yard trees a pop of light, consider hanging solar spheres from the bare branches.
Hearth & Home
There’s a minimalist décor trend making the rounds for the holidays, using simple garlands or boughs, Nordic touches such a wood and fabric, simple sprays of cedar, olive branches with fairy lights, or other leafy branches, or mixing greenery with things you might have in your own garden — dried hydrangeas, alliums or pampas grass. Or if you are celebrating the season with a tree, consider one that is spare of ornaments and tinsel — adorned only with white lights, such as the one [un]decorated by actor Michelle Pfeiffer last year, which garnered more than 94,000 likes, and still trending this year, says houseandhome.com.
Conversely, also trending is a return (as if we ever left!) to a nostalgic and cinematic holiday tableau: think Wes Anderson meets Nancy Meyers, where fun colors and shapes meet soft and fuzzy textures. The key is mixing classics, whimsy, some pops of color with mixed patterns, and a heavy dose of homemade and hand craft. Pinterest and TikTok are chockful of examples from fans.
Don’t forget the lighting! Candles, yes, but also consider options such as these hanging LED-powered starbursts from Pottery Bar, which combine organic forms and twinkly cheer and are suitable for indoor and outdoor covered areas. Mercury cracked glass globes provide warm glows on tabletop or uplighting on the floor (battery operated). Both options work in either minimalist or maximalist themes.
After you finish decorating, your only other worry should be how long to leave up the lights. There’s no conventional wisdom on that — the National Fire Protection Association’s National Electric Code recommends 90 days — but as long as your neighbors don’t mind, why not keep them up as long as they make you happy? No matter your decorating style, it’s a good idea to consult a reliable source such as the National Fire Protection Association for a fire-safe holiday.
