Get Your House Ready For Christmas

Xmas is very much a household event for all of us and will begin on Xmas Eve as we all head over to midnight mass at a nearby chapel. Then it definitely gets going pretty early on Xmas Day as soon as the young children get up to discover a half-eaten carrot and reideer footprints on the ground by the open fireplace. All of us unwrap our large pesents, eat smoked salmon and sparkling wine, and have a old fashioned turkey meal with all the extras at 6pm, and then a delectable Christmas pudding that my mother produces using a family recipe - it’s fat-free but moistered with lots of booze. The dining room table is invariably stuffed with food but I also love to brighten it in order that it appears really luxurious and alluring. I take advantage of an modern combination of old and new pieces - everything from vintage candelabra to gold and silver bangle napkin rings, as well as plenty of vibrant baubles.

One area of the house that we like to really go to town on with decorating is in the hallway. We of course have a lovely wreath at the door ready to greet visitors. When they step indoors they are greeted with the smell from our scented candles - if they are lit - or of not, they can drink in the aroma from a number of reed diffusers which we dot around the hall. They are great for areas like this - which tend to be unoccupied or unattened for lengthy periods - because they do not rely on a flame for fragrance and can therfore safely be left to get on with doing their job of introducing delightful aromas to the hall way. The rest of the hall is festooned with glitter and tinsel. We hang it from dado rails and picture rails to really convey a Christmas image. Another unusual thing we do is take a branch from a tree and hang it in the hall way with ribbon. We decorate the  branches with baubles and tinsel and then hang our Christmas cards from the brances. It is an old Italian family tradition and makes the house fell really Christmassy.

The rest of the house gets the same jolly treatment with adornments draped over the mantelpieces and up the stairways to ensure that everywhere looks nice and jolly. Scented candles play a big part - we love the gorgeous ones produced by true grace candles and yankee candles. We’ve lived here for 11 years and have made it really homely. When the estate agent showed us around, the house was divided into four down-at-heel bedsits. It was also the scene of a notorious crime of passion in which someone was shot on the first-floor landing. With the help of  local builders we knocked down partition walls, removed kitchenettes and shower rooms and stripped away layer upon layer of paint. Incredibly we uncovered a host of original features, including Lincrusta wallcoverings in the hall and stairwell, a copper-panelled fireplace in the living room and a plaster frieze with cherubs in the conservatory. Although the house was built around 1835, we think a sea merchant bought it and spent a lot of money updating it in high Victorian style.




The author is owner of The Scented Candle Store which supplies a range of candles as well as other home fragrance products like the reed diffuser