25 Days of Holiday Decorating
By
Kelly Tomas
This holiday, decorate with coastal style. Try our design ideas―one for every day of the season!
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Punch Up Your Palette
Use seasonal pillows and throws to add festive accents to a room. Bring in more color by wrapping packages in coordinating paper and hanging wreaths with generous lengths of ribbon.
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Reinvent Your Chandelier
Trim the fixture with evergreen sprigs and silver balls hung with red ribbons of varying lengths. Lighten the mood by skipping the heavy linens. Use chargers instead of place mats or tablecloths, and casually slip napkins through rings.
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Streamline Decor
Holiday trees need not be over-the-top. Make yours pretty with sparkling white lights and metallic glass balls. In this modern home, the tree complements the living room’s sleek furniture.
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Add Some Sparkle
For a subtle, shimmery look, decorate with white and silver balls. Make a festive centerpiece by placing extra ornaments in planters on your table.
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Keep Decor Simple
Add swaths of greenery and a centerpiece of ornaments for a touch of holiday spirit in any room.
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Go Beyond the Interior
Place a Christmas tree on your patio or deck, or near the pool, and play up the beach theme with sea-inspired strings of lights and blue and white ornaments. Or, instead of hanging yards of white twinkle lights, scatter lanterns around your outdoor space and let them provide more holiday glow.
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Outfit Extra Spaces
/Coastal touches such as nautical ornaments and stockings with images of sailboats highlight this tiny pool house’s year-round decor. Tiny spruces in red pots decorate the coffee table, and swags of garland wrap around the loft area’s nautical rigging.
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Adorn Your Windows
Suspend wreaths from windows to welcome the season and your holiday guests.
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Display Fresh Flowers
Simple flower arrangements of fresh blooms can turn an everyday dining room into a festive holiday gathering space. It’s an easy decoration that won’t require off-season storage.
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Hit the Beach
Use your beachcombing finds to trim the tree or front door, or even decorate wrapped gifts. Tie shells into place with floral wire and, if necessary, supplement your fragile finds with items purchased at shell shops. Attach a large sea star to the top of the wreath instead of a bow for a statement-making front door.
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Go for the Gold (and Silver, Too)
A metallic-and-white display blends easily into a room that’s sparse in color. Spread gold wire mesh and silver beaded garland across a mantel. Fill galvanized tins with blooming paperwhites. For a finishing touch, intersperse glitter-dipped pinecones.
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Create Your Own Garland
Homemade garland adds a festive touch to the bedroom. Loop rope through sea stars and tie a simple knot to hold them in place. Drape along the end of a bed or atop windows where you’ll be sure to see them.
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Decorate Your Bed
Hang stockings at the end of beds to save mantel space. Fill with treats on Christmas morning or every day of the season!
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Fill Your Fireplace
If you have a nonworking fireplace (or if it’s simply too toasty for fires in your locale), fill your firebox with a centerpiece instead. A mix of greens, sea stars, shells, and handwoven Nantucket lightship baskets brings the sea indoors.
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Coordinate Your Gifts
Use coordinating wrapping paper to match gifts to your holiday decorating scheme. Boats and ship’s bells ring in the season, and primitive accents lend folk-art flair to this living room.
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Warm Up Bedrooms
Throw red-and-white quilts over beds to provide cozy comfort on Christmas and all winter long.
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Bring Decor Outdoors
Opt for casual over froufrou when decorating for the holidays. On your table, pair a tray of pomegranates with green or teal mason jars or large wine bottles.
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Get Creative With Displays
No fireplace? Try hanging your stockings on an old cherry-picking ladder. When the china’s taking up table space, display holiday cards in a glass cabinet.
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Abandon Traditional Colors
Dramatic green, pink, and blue trees embellished with whimsical sea creatures prove a welcome departure from red and green. Bright green feather wreaths and gaily wrapped packages scattered about the room continue the unconventional theme.
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Celebrate With White
Pair translucent and silver accessories with a sea-inspired fixture for glamour and elegance.
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Fashion Your Own Tree
Create a Christmas tree of cut branches adorned with white and silver ornaments for a quick holiday arrangement in any bedroom. It’s a festive touch that especially shines against minimalist decor.
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Don’t Forget Tradition
Bring in some of the established elements of Christmas and give them a coastal twist. Decorate a fir tree with shells and bleached sea stars. A Christmas favorite, poinsettias bloom not only in red, but also in beachy shades of pink, yellow, and white.
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Design A Sea of Gifts
Incorporate shades of the ocean in your present presentation. The dazzle of a decorated tree doubles when paired with shimmery giftwrap in silvers and blues. Instead of bows, tie on seashells and palmetto leaves.
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Unite with Color
With such a stunning gabbro stone fireplace, the mantel needs minimal embellishment. Match crimson candles to the ribbon used in the fresh fir wreath to establish your color palette. Intertwine the ribbon with the candles to enhance the burst of color.
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Bask in Fresh Greenery
A staircase becomes the center of attention when adorned with fresh greenery and flower-laden hanging vases. Arrange tropical flowers in glass sconces to bring sprays of color to the banister. Fill hurricane lamps with sea glass and candles to brighten steps and cast a welcoming glow. Use scented candles to add warmth and holiday cheer with seasonal fragrances.
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By Kelly Tomas Kelly Tomas