How to decorate your home for Christmas Scandinavian style
This time of year is when I feel most excited about Scandinavian design. Something to do with the ‘Scandi’ way of life just seems even more perfect and idyllic at this time of year. I’ve been steadily adding some new Christmas decorations to my collection and I wanted to share my thoughts on how to decorate your home and tree this Christmas in a simple Scandinavian style.
- Keep it simple – keep colours, style and your theme simple. Choose white, naturals and green for a truly Scandi look. You can add a pop of red for extra festivity or sparkly silver or gold. Use, natural materials such as wood, cotton, linen, wool and foliage.
- Create a welcoming hallway – this is the first space to greet you or your guests when you enter your house. Add a Scandi Advent star on your door or a festive Christmas wreath.
- De-clutter the area where your Christmas tree will stand – box up and clear away any extra items in and around where your tree will stand. Make all the focus about the tree. Leave plenty of room underneath and around the tree for all the presents. If possible, place your tree in a basket or wrap the base of the tree in linen, sacking or brown paper for a more natural finish.
- Add twinkly, sparkly lights on mantelpieces, around mirrors, outside and in your hallway. They don’t just have to adorn your Christmas tree.
- Add your own personal touch. Make it all about you and yours or your families style.
I’ve been working on a few simple Christmas decoration ideas to bring the Scandi vibe to your home and wanted to share them with you below.
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Glitter feathers – I’ve found a new love of feathers this year as we are developing a woodland theme at home for our house which nestles beneath a thick woodland. Our house is called ‘Woodside’ and we are adding little nods to the woodland throughout our house. I’m making a Christmas wreath for our door and want to add feathers into it.
Dip the ends of the feathers in watered down PVA glue and then dip them in glitter – silver or gold looks lovely.
Allow them to dry on the radiator and then tuck them into the foliage of your wreath or into a natural or white pot and use them to decorate your shelves.
2. Mini paper upcycled book bunting – I will be draping paper bunting onto my tree instead of the traditional tinsel from my childhood. This is easy to make yourself, or you can buy it online from shops like Etsy.
It’s a charming Scandi way to decorate your tree, mirror or mantelpiece.
3. Cornflour clay Christmas decorations. There are endless patterns, shapes and sizes you can make, but I love the simple star shape. They are also a lovely decoration to make with children. I like to press leaves into them to emboss the pattern of the veins from the leaves into the stars, or press other patterns from fabric, or textures into the shapes.
1/2 cup cornflour
1 cup baking powder
3/4 cup water
- Mix the cornflour, baking powder, and water in a medium or large pot over a medium heat. Stir all the ingredients until the mixture starts to thicken, about 2-3 minutes – it should look like the consistency of mashed potato. When the mixture begins to thicken into a smooth texture, remove from heat. Immediately form the dough into a ball and place into a glass bowl; cover with a damp cloth to allow the dough to cool slightly.
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees.
- After a few minutes, when dough is slightly cooled to the touch, knead the dough gently. Feel free to add more cornflour if you feel the dough is too sticky to knead properly.
- Roll out to around 0.5cm thick.
- Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Very gently, lift the shapes out and transfer them onto a prepared baking sheet covered with parchment paper
- Use a skewer to poke a hole in the centre at the top of each decoration.
- Bake at 175 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on your oven. Keep checking that they are not yellowing.
- Turn the sheet 180 degrees halfway through baking time to ensure even baking. If edges start to curl up during baking, gently tap down until flat.
4. Pine cone garland – collect pine cones from a walk, add a touch of gold paint or glitter and string them into a garland. They look lovely on a Christmas tree but can be hung throughout the house.
Have fun and enjoy giving your home a Scandinavian feel this Christmas. Don’t forget to add any photos of your home as you make it Christmas ready onto Instagram and Facebook and tag #myscandichristmas.
Anna x