Let It Show

Ring in the holiday season with the new, the old and the natural

By Genevieve Knapp
CTW Features

Image courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

Gigantic inflatable snow globes haven't quite caught on, and it's probably because there's no reason to update these perfectly satisfying swirling snow toys. There might not be any reason to buy the latest dancing snowman either. With a little time and effort, old decorations can be more beautiful every year, and if they're not quite turning your house into a holiday home, maybe natural decorations are the solution.

Ki Nassauer and Sue Whitney, the founders of JUNKMARKET, have made a career repurposing and rethinking decor and furnishings. The pair have been editors-at-large and columnists for Country Home magazine since 2003 and just published their second book, "Junk Beautiful: Room By Room Makeovers With JUNKMARKET Style" (Taunton, 2008). Here's how Sue Whitney does the holidays.

Taking time to wrap gifts can make them more memorable and save on wrapping fees. Whitney uses recycled materials like brown mailing paper, vintage yarns, typewriter keys and old holiday cards to turn gifts into works of art. Rather than writing names on presents, the mother of four thinks of a wrapping "theme" for each of her children. The kids find their personalized gifts by the color and style of the package. "Sometimes I think they like the wrapping better than the gifts!"

Vintage odds and ends are fun to find and easy to use, but dragging your burgeoning collection of miniature Santas from the basement might not be so simple. "People tend to spread their collections out all around their house," Whitney says. "The best way to make a statement is to put them all together in one place if you have the room.

"I tell people not to decorate the whole house because that's two overwhelming," Whitney says. Pick the major areas where your family is going to spend the most time or where you are likely to have guests. And pay special attention to the entryway, since it makes the first and last impression everyone.

"A good tip for the front entryway is to think more about winter than Christmas. You can remove the stuff you put up for the holidays, but it's nice to have something on the front entryway that can stay."

An evergreen tree helps bring nature indoors. So why not let your tree go au natural? "For my holiday tree, I use a lot of dried flowers and pine cones. I use some fresh hydrangeas, and that makes the tree really full," Whitney says.

"Fresh sprigs are more natural to me than shiny bobbles." The tree is always the focus of holiday decorating, according to Whitney, and she says you can spruce it up by getting a smaller tree in a funky bucket and putting it somewhere unexpected. The tree skirt is another place to get creative; Whitney made one out of an old army blanket with the tips of neckties as a border.

Natural law applies to outdoor lights as well. Whitney says hanging lights on every bush sucks energy and takes more time than it's worth.

"It's easy to forget that what goes up must come down, and we should really focus on spending time with our family rather than going overboard," Whitney says. "Because there is such at thing as too much Christmas."

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