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Cheery Welcome

Prepare your home for guests arriving this Christmas with these ideas from Jill Evans

People often ask me how to cheer up their interiors in readiness for the Christmas season onslaught of house guests. Home owners may think their house looks ‘tired’ if it has not been touched for some time. But to an outsider it probably looks much better than they think. However, some things can easily be done to improve it from an aesthetic and a practical point-of-view, without it costing the earth.

Concentrate on areas such as the living room where your friends will spend the most time. Move what you have around and it will look quite new. Totally rethink how the furniture is placed in the room bearing in mind how many of you will sit in the room at any one time and establish the focal point of the room which could be a fireplace or the view from a window.

If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace then Christmas really is the time to make the most of it, whether it is a real one a woodburner or a fake fire. A new hearthrug makes the fireplace even more welcoming, while an interesting willow log-basket adds wonderful natural textures and shapes especially when full of logs.

If your sofa is looking rather the worse for wear, you could buy a large blanket or bedcover which should hopefully hide the whole sofa. With just a few new cushions and a fairly ruthless review of your existing cushions, it should look most inviting. Plain cushions piped in a contrasting colour look very smart and help to pull the colours in a room together especially if you pick a predominant colour from your curtains or blinds and edge them in the colour of the new sofa cover or an armchair.

It may sound drastic, but you could try to remove virtually all bits and pieces from flat surfaces, just leaving a favourite or two. lt will leave more room for all that comes with Christmas guests in the way of glasses, plates of mince pies and chocolates… as well as being easier to keep clean and tidy. There are always charity shops for those items that you can bear to discard, but store the remainder and review on Twelth Night quietened down. With or without the glow of a fire, the warm flattering light of table lamps helps everyone relax and feel their best, so a couple of new lamps for the side tables would help enormously In general, lighting ought to be inconspicuous, with simple modem shapes or else something that is very beautiful and almost a work of art in its own right. Several excellent Devon companies can help with either design and there is always the large Swedish online store for simple, inexpensive styles.

Whilst on the subject of flattering light. it does not have to be Christmas to splash out on candles, but it is an excellent time to buy some new ones. Two massive multiwick candles really make a design statement, whilst standard candles in an array of different Candlesticks all grouped together create a lively sparkling splash of light. Dreamglow in North Devon, makes classically beautiful ivory triple-wick church candles for candlesticks.

There is something very luxurious about a new towel, especially if it is white, and the same can be said for white pillowcases. So, for a guest bedroom the easiest way to make it feel special is to buy two white pillowcases, possibly antique ones that look and feel wonderful, and two big white towels for the bathroom. They should do the trick, regardless of the décor.

For Christmas decorations, concentrate on just a couple of statement pieces. One large decoration in the hall is sufficient to create a real welcome, which could be the tree itself or a large hanging ball of greenery. You could also have a trailing arrangement above the fireplace or window in the living room and a centrepiece on the dining table. If time is limited, just cut long straight pieces of evergreen and lay them overlapping down the centre of the table with the cut ends to the centre, but make sure the leaves are not wet. lt looks very dramatic and artistic, especially with ivory candles. Once your guests have left, you can put your feet up and quietly enjoy your home, knowing you are ready for future visits.

Photographs: Marks and Spencer, Clearview

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