FESTIVE CHEER ANYONE??? CH R I STMA SIF Y ING T H E HOU S E
This time last year I began my editorial by mentioning the many challenges and mixed emotions that Christmas 2024 brought with it. And to be totally frank, not much has changed. Mortgage rates are still high (albeit a little lower than last Christmas), the cost of living squeeze seems to be almost as tight as it was, and more than ever, hatred and bloodshed abound in the land of Jesus’ birth. It seems almost glib of me to witter on about how best to make your house look fabulous at Christmas.
That being said, you could argue that a good antidote to these grim times is to throw ourselves into the Christmas spirit as best we’re able, while trying not to over-stretch our limited resources. And the good news on that front is that apparently, if you run a 5 metre set of lights for 6 hours a night it will cost you less than a pound a month. A bargain. Mind you, in my own case I think I’ll be in for a bit more of a bill, as when it comes to Christmasifying the house I do rather tend to over-indulge. Let me explain.
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Every year we at Biddell Towers (as it’s laughably refer red to by our musical theatre buddies) embark upon an expedition the like of which Bear Grylls would be proud. Usually, on a Sunday af ternoon around the beginning of December off we trot to one or more garden centres and / or home stores in search of the per fect addition to the Chr istmas house. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a few tree decorations, a gar land or two for the stairs. We once went to the Festive Gif t Fair at the NEC and came away with, among other things, a door stop compr ising
3 gr inning reindeer
standing precariously on each other ’s shoulders. I should probably say at this point that we don’ t actually have a door that needs propping open.
A few years ago it came down to a choice between a five-foot-high singing Santa, an equally tall lantern that sprayed fake snow and also played tunes, and a hanging model of a bi-plane piloted by Rudolph himself singing “ Santa Claus is coming to town”. And what did I do? You’ve guessed it . . . I bought them all !!!!!
When we were last at the Boldmere Christmas festival, freezing cold and soak - ing wet, I noticed an outdoor tree, emblazoned with built in lights, being sold by one of our fabulous local traders. “ That would look amazing in our front garden !!!” I said to my wife. “ But you already put lights along the fence,
in the
Eucalyptus tree and the shrubs, and we do now have 4 Chr istmas trees” she helpfully reminded me. A good point, well made – however I bought it anyway.
I t’s not that good taste is total ly to be abandoned at Chr istmas (although some would disagree in the above-mentioned cases), but the rules of good inter ior design can cer tainly be relaxed.
So . . . real or false, themed or random, uncluttered or stuffed to break ing point? I’m talk ing of course about the tree, and it really is up to you. There is no r ight or wrong answer. For many years now I’ve always had a real tree, and am happy to put up wi th the inconvenience of a few dropped needles in exchange for that wonder ful smell of pine when you enter the room each morning.
As for whether to theme it or not, well I suppose you really should, tak ing two or possibly three colours f rom your decor and major ing on them for your tree ornaments and other assorted bits and bobs around the room. But here once again I have to admi t to being a non-conformist. My tree is a completely random collection of ornaments and baubles of every shape, size and colour, collected over a number of years f rom cities and countr ies we’ve visited, or that I ’ve bought just because I l ike them. The crowning glory of which is a somewhat tousled silver and gold cardboard star that my elder daughter (who
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HOMES & INTERIORS J O H N B I DDE L L -
I N T E R I OR S E X P E R T
John Biddell - John Char les Inter iors
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