Yes, it’s that time of year – time to start planning your festive decor and tablescape
This incident made me wonder who designated Christmas as the deadline of the year and, crucially, why we all go along with it. The pressure to have your home a certain way on 25 December is immense. It begins with the reasonable desire to have sufficient food and presents under the tree and spirals out from there. Christmas is not a national emergency but it can often feel like one.
Regency sofa in velvet from DFS
I thought this was just an Irish thing. Apparently it’s not. According to a recent UK survey by the sofa company DFS, 32pc of respondents considered buying serious items of furniture for Christmas and 42pc planned to refresh their cushions and throws. While 24pc rearrange furniture to make space for guests, 50pc deep clean their homes in advance. An overwhelming 94pc wanted their larger furniture items delivered by Christmas.
Christmas decoration from Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic at Dunnes Stores
Hugh Wallace, the architect best known as judge on RTÉ’s Home of the Year, is moving house. He plans to be in by Christmas with his feet under a new extending dining table from EZ Living Interiors’ Heritage collection. The table (€1,499) in oak and oak veneer is a solid citizen with chunky legs.
Wallace worked with EZ Living Interiors in choosing the timber: “The quality is absolutely fabulous and the design is rustic. It’s like the old table in a farmhouse kitchen.” The table arrives flat-packed but he has no intention of putting it together himself. He’ll avail of the delivery and assembly service.
Hugh Wallace
Wallace describes himself as a traditionalist at heart, but draws the line at a real Christmas tree. “Definitely fake and preferably pre-lit,” he says. “The last one did us 15 years.” He enjoys the slow process of cooking Christmas dinner and the time it allows to get the table ready. “I like a beautifully presented table so you can have a couple of hours enjoying the food.” The day itself, he admits, can be bittersweet. “Christmas is odd because it’s full of memories and some of them are sad because there are people who are no longer at the table.”
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The Heritage Collection from EZ Living Interiors
For Cairenn Foy, interior designer, taking out the box of decorations is deeply nostalgic. “It’s like opening a box of memories. Each one comes with its own history and unwrapping them is a ritual.” She puts up the tree as soon as real trees become available. “It goes up in the front room in late November and I keep the heating low.” When her kids were younger, they used to bake a gingerbread family and hang them in the window on invisible strings. “Over time, the warmth of the fire releases the scent of cinnamon.”
Christmas from Kilkenny Design. Photo: Miki Barlok
As Foy sees it, Christmas ads and movies have a lot to answer for: “We’re fed a version of perfection, and perfection doesn’t exist. It might exist in the movies, but it doesn’t in real life. Christmas doesn’t have to be like that.” The key is to keep it simple and find what works for you. “I dress the fireplace with layers of foraged foliage, dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks. Tea lights aren’t expensive and even plain glass jars can become pretty candle holders when tied with a ribbon. Apart from that, everything I use is from the year before. You don’t need to buy excess stuff.”
Christmas decor from LNH Edit
“Start decorating now,” says Laura Nolan Horgan of LNH Edit. “Do it early and enjoy it. There’s so much more to Christmas than just one day.” The Christmas offering at LNH Edit leans into the current trend for stripes and bows: “Bows are everywhere. It’s unbelievable. Ours have stolen the show already. We’ve always done a Little Bow print – there’s something so girly and nostalgic about it.” A white tablecloth with little red bows (from €78) and napkins (€32 for a set of four). Combine it, if you dare, with a Bonbon vase (€18.50), a small cracker-shaped vessel in red and white stripes.
Christmas from Meadows and Byrne. Photo: Miki Barlok
“The combination of bows and bold stripes really works,” Horgan says. “I love a stripe! Bold stripes are amazing. I don’t think they’re going anywhere. They’re an easy piece to bring into an interior that will bring it right up to date. We have them in all colours. We’ve worked hard to create pieces that have longevity and that work all year round, not just for Christmas.”
Christmas from Kilkenny Design. Photo: Miki Barlok
Speaking of longevity, LNH Edit has collaborated with Timeless Celebrations to create re-usable Christmas Crackers. These are mind-bogglingly expensive – a box of six crackers costs €175 – but very sustainable. “They’re made in Ireland by Aoife McHugh from our bow fabric, lined with stars, and have a Velcro fastening system. They come with a box of pops and pull apart with a satisfying crack. You put your own little treat inside and can personalise the cracker for your guests.”
Tara O’Connor
Like life, Christmas doesn’t always go as planned. Tara O’Connor of The Designed Table often gets asked to provide an emergency tablescape: “I get a lot of those calls during Christmas week. Mostly, it’s due to circumstances beyond people’s control. Maybe a family member comes down with the flu and they’re suddenly hosting. Or they have everything planned out to the last place-setting and then they find out that two more guests will be joining them for dinner,” she explains. “They just want me to take the pain away.”
Burgundy Stripe Collection from The Designed Table
A tablescape-in-a-box, which includes tablecloth, placemats, napkins and napkin rings, won’t remove all the stress but it will ensure a presentable Christmas table. “Everyone loves the ease of them. All you have to do is unbox it and set the table. It’s the ultimate one-click solution,” says O’Connor. A tablescape-in-a-box in her new Burgundy Stripes collection ranges from €450 for a 6-place setting to €750 for a 12-place setting.
The components are also available separately: tablecloths (from €195); a runner (€85); and napkins (€72 for four) in muted burgundy and crisp white stripes. “It’s a yarn dye, not a digital print. The dye is woven right into the yarn. I love the quality of it and you can use it all year round.”
O’Connor has been known to ferry last-minute tablescapes to Dublin homes or have them couriered to Cork or Limerick on Christmas Eve. “I wouldn’t see anyone stuck for Christmas. I’m from a retail background – my father had a supermarket – and we’d be going in on Christmas Day to help out with turkey emergencies.”
See dfs.ie, ezliving-interiors.ie, cairennfoyinteriors.com, lnhedit.com, and thedesignedtable.com