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Joyful Christmas decoration ideas for 2024
The festive season is a little way off yet, it's true, but here at House & Garden it's never quite too early for our thoughts to turn to Christmas decorating and all the ways to bring a little extra joy to our homes. Mince pie and mulled wine (figuratively) in hand, we've been looking back over our absolute favourite Christmas decorating ideas for every room in the house, and we think the ones we've found are rather special.
Our archive is full of elegant Christmas wreaths to greet your guests as they arrive, opulent table settings, and of course the jolliest baubles and Christmas tree decorations to set off those carefully collected Christmas gifts. Whether you're planning a traditional festive season full of red, green and gold, or prefer something a little more contemporary (we do love a tree full of kitsch ornaments, as well as alternative colour schemes such as blue and brown), our gallery of inspiration is sure to have something you can bring to your own house. And if this really isn't your style, then we do have a rather lovely gallery of Christmas decorating ideas for minimalists that might just do the trick...
Christmas decoration ideas for 2024
1/34'A midwinter ritual in this part of Somerset is to wassail,' explains gardener Sean Anthony Pritchard, as he decorates his cottage for Christmas. 'All these streamers and ribbons that you see strung up in the cottage go on to decorate the apples trees and orchards to encourage a strong harvest.' The house is also filled with flowers from forced bulbs, including narcissi and hyacinths.
2/34'I think I might be post bows on Christmas trees,' laughs Amanda Brooks, adjusting strings of handmade gold paper leaves and glittering acorns around the menagerie of glass owls, foxes and pheasants on the tree in her guest cottage in the Cotswolds. ‘This year I'm going for more of a woodland theme. I don't think Christmas should ever be too tasteful. Where's the fun in that?’
Christopher Horwood3/34Brown and caramel shades are firmly having a moment, and we love the paper stars in shades of ivory and brown used in this Christmas shoppable scheme. You can get brilliant kraft paper stars from one of our favourite sources for decorations, RE Found Objects.
Owen Gale4/34Marbled paper chains and bespoke stockings from Tapisserie add a sense of fun to Skye McAlpine's Venetian palazzo at Christmas - a charming way to decorate a mantelpiece.
Paul Massey5/34The bannister is a classic place for a swathe of Christmas decorations, and we love the traditional option here at floral designer Paul Hawkins' house in Chelsea. "“It’s all about the heavy grouping,” he remarks. “Much better to have a few surfaces heavily decorated than bits everywhere.” The bannister is decked out in tartan, oversized cinnamon sticks, dried fruit and dangling larch branches from faux flower specialists Peony.
Paul Massey6/34The traditional red and green Christmas scheme goes Scandi in the heavenly holiday home of designer Marie-Louise Sjögren on the Stockholm archipelago. Evergreen wreaths and arrangements are enlivened by the bright crimson candelabra from Svensk Hemslöjd and glamorous amaryllis flowers.
7/34Taking inspiration from the soft colour palette, folk art influences and natural elements of Nordic style, Ruth Sleightholme and Rémy Mishon have added decorative festive details to elegant rooms furnished with antiques for their latest Christmas shoppable scheme. The bespoke garland made from winter ivy costs from £25 a metre, from Poppy Sturley.
Owen Gale8/34Amanda Brooks got her Cotswold farmhouse ready for Christmas with a garland framing the mirror, tall candles along the mantelpiece and stockings hanging in front of the fire.
Lisa Flood9/34A pine garland wraps around the beam in this cosy Wyoming cabin. The whole space is lit only by the lit-up Christmas tree with its twinkling fairy lights, and the crackling fire in the log burner.
Owen Gale10/34Pomegranates are a quick and easy way to give the festive table some colour, as Amanda Brooks demonstrates at her Cotswold cottage.
Mark Fox11/34Duncan Campbell and Luke Edward Hall opt for a more-is-more approach when it comes to decorating their Cotswold cottage. Silka Rittson Thomas of TukTuk Flower Studio added foliage to the mantelpiece, with two wreaths on either end. The couple adorned the greenery with baubles in all shapes and sizes, collected over the course of their relationship.
Michael Sinclair12/34At this former rectory in the West Country, foraged Christmas decorations and salvaged materials enhance the sense of a house that has been made suitable for modern family life, while retaining its Victorian character. At Christmas, the family gathers pine cones and branches of old man’s beard to decorate this room at the front of the house, which has walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’.
Owen Gale13/34No need to wire in chandeliers – hang some candelabras up with ribbon and give them some (LED) candles to create mood lighting in an instant, as Amanda Brooks has done in her Cotswold house.
Andrew Montgomery14/34The tops of cupboards, cabinets, bookcases and wardrobes are fair game for draping foliage and garlands over, as our decoration team has done in this scheme filled with folk furniture.
Lucas Allen15/34The hall in print maker Cameron Short's restored Georgian home leads to the back office with the workshop on the left. The hall itself is eclectic and full of vintage accessories such as the 'Bonfield' sign which is an original from the shop which Cameron has turned into a workshop. The bunting hanging across the hall is perfect for vintage style Christmas decorations. Make your own using a craft punch like this one from Woodware.
Michael Sinclair16/34Pedro da Costa Felgueiras, an expert in historical pigments, uses sparse holly branches to decorate the mantelpiece of his East London house.
Paul Raeside17/34Paper decorations can make any room feel festive, and don't reject streamers for being too naff. Bright and cheerful, they're an easy and high-impact form of decoration, as this Christmas scheme by our styling team demonstrates.
Mark Fox18/34The dining room at Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell's Gloucestershire cottage is a kaleidoscope of colour, with more foliage by TukTuk Flower Studio, arranged in drapes with glittery mushrooms nestled below.
Christopher Horwood19/34‘Lichen’ by Farrow & Ball provides a lovely backdrop for subtle metallic decorations in this shoppable scheme, including tin decorations and a garland made of spoons. In the foreground, a candlestick holder from Jess Wheeler adds a golden note. If you want something more elegant than full on shiny metallics, the weightier, antique finishes of bronze, brass and tin are incredibly stylish.
20/34Simple garlands of origami stars slung across a hallway, as our decoration team has done in this shoppable scheme, are understatedly festive.
Martin Morrell21/34Walls in ‘Chocolate’ by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint provide a muted backdrop for the natural greenery of a Christmas tree and mantlepiece foliage in Jeremy Langmead and Simon Rayner's 17th-century farmhouse. The gold decorations on the tree highlight the frame of the portrait behind, while the foliage above the fire is kept undecorated and natural.
Martin Morrell22/34Garlands of fresh seasonal greenery decorate the chimneypiece in this oldest part of the house, where a carved oak spice cupboard dated 1715 is set into the thick stone wall. The greenery is abundant, with pops of red from seasonal berries.
Paul Raeside23/34Paper stars are the star of the show in this Christmas shoppable scheme which demonstrates how beautiful paper decorations can be. You can make your own or find similar at Layered Lounge.
Rachel Whiting24/34Eschew traditional colour schemes at Christmas and go for something moodier and more elegant. Hanging paper birds against a simple backdrop of blue and green make this dining room scheme feel elegant yet still joyful.
25/34Christmas at her restored farmhouse in Cumbria provides Annabel Lewis, owner of specialist haberdasher's V V Rouleaux, with the perfect canvas on which to display her talent for artistic embellishment and dazzling decoration. In the hallway the red-berry and faux-fruit garlands, both from VV Rouleaux, add cheerful colour. See the rest of her Christmas scheme here.here
Paul Massey26/34"Greenery is a wonderful way to add to your Christmas decorations," says interior designer Carlos Garcia. "The tradition of decorating with foliage is intended to ward off evil spirits, so deck your halls, mantelpieces and staircases or place greenery above tapestries and paintings. Use branches of varied conifers, holly and long strands of ivy to create a wonderfully festive environment, and add fern leaves and dead tree branches to create a realistic woodland still life. They are sustainable, and you can either add them to your compost heap or burn them in the fires after using them, which releases a beautiful scent."
See Carlos' guide to decorating your house for Christmas, along with the full feature on his Norfolk manor house.
Dean Hearne27/34In December, Lulu Benson welcomes her extended family to Neidpath Castle in the Scottish Borders, where they celebrate the season with reeling and feasting in the vaulted medieval hall. In keeping with the vast setting, huge candlesticks and hanging arrangements of greenery set the scene for dinner.
Anders Schonnemann28/34Christmas decoration for the minimalist. In this sitting room designed by Rose Uniacke, floral designer Nikki Tibbles of Wild at Heart has created arrangements to complement the simplicity of the interiors.
'We incorporated elegant statement arrangements, that were clean and sophisticated,' says Nikki. 'For both arrangements, we've used a base of Scots pine, soft grey pine, soft grey eucalyptus and asparagus fern. On the mantelpiece we've added flowering white jasmine and white euphorbia, while the grey vases have been padded out with lichen branches and eucalyptus buds.'
Michael Sinclair29/34A traditional Christmas scheme from our decoration team shows off the power of traditional jewel tones, setting evergreen foliage against rich red upholstery.
Rachel Whiting30/34'I have always favoured traditional but pared-down schemes that look natural, light and fresh,' says Ben Pentreath. 'For me, the most important thing is to bring greenery into the house. I don't believe in buying lots of shiny, glittery imported stuff that's just going to end up in the bin.' On the chimneypiece of his Dorset home are holly and ivy that gathered from nearby woods.
Paul Raeside31/34Our decoration editor Gabby Deeming hand-painted the patterns on to these plain cardboard baubles from RE, mixing them on the table with coloured-glass 'dew drop' baubles from The Original Pop Up Shop.
Handmade origami stars (find out how to make them here) and crepe streamers finish the look.
The 'Da Terra' plates from Unique & Unity are combined with pink glasses and Stamperia Bertozzi 'Blue Waves' linen napkins from Summerill & Bishop
James Merrell32/34'I decided to avoid the traditional green garland here,' explains florist Silka Rittson Thomas of her pomegranate mantlepiece. 'We wired together the pomegranates and lit them with tea lights. It looks like an old Spanish still-life.'
33/34At her restored farmhouse in Cumbria Annabel Lewis, owner of specialist haberdasher's V V Rouleaux, has festooned her front door with pine boughs and bows, which lead down to two giant log baskets hung with ribbon.
Michael Sinclair34/34At Christmas, Studio Indigo founder Mike Fisher thinks nothing of entertaining 50 people at Ven, his eighteenth-century country house in Somerset. The grand entrance hall has a suitably huge tree, and the gallery is decorated with swags of foliage - an idea that can easily be applied to bannisters as well.
