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How to Decorate a Room With French Finery for Christmas

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There are a lot of festive trends for 2011 that are worth noting if you want your home to look festive and contemporary but one of the most popular this year is going to be the “decorating in French Finery” trend. This is a very formal and opulent look that is a bit retro but also very classic.

Technically it is a shabby chic look. Most things are painted white but walls should be a pea green or a very light yellow. Second hand crystal chandeliers are part of the look as are tall mirrors with window pains. Lace, white chenille and curtains with tiny fringes or prints are also part of the look.

Objects are also showcased on tall Greek columns, that are also painted white and interspersed through the room. Faded chintz chairs and tall painted cabinets help this look come for life. Candles, in white metal lantern cases, also complete this vintage look as do gilded framed portraits of deceased members of the family and pillar candles surrounded by boughs of greenery.

It is also very traditional with this look to place plaster or ceramic busts about the place. To make these busts look more in tune with the holidays try wrapping green and red velvet Christmas ribbons around the subject’s necks.

Rooms done up in French Finery very often feature a Fainting Couch. This is as chaise lounge with a floral print that has a side table that is also covered in the same floral print. A crocheted throw and a few Christmas cushions in green and red complete the look. Usually a framed mirror is hung over the fainting couch and augmented with a big Christmas leaf.

The best Christmas tree for this look is the spiniest and most skeletal spruce you can find that is then gently flocked with fake white now. Decorate it with many yards of thick sheer gold ribbon that are intertwined with very tiny white Christmas lights. You can h harmonize the entire effect with a natural cedar garland that has been spray painted gold. This tree does not have the usual ornaments on it. The idea is that the tree looks wrapped in gold ribbon.

This type of room should have its own formal wrapping dining table. This can be a table that is rate and old and shabby chic in style but painted all in white with touches of gold.

How to Decorate A Room for Christmas in Mid-Century Scandinavian Style

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Decorating a room in mid-century Scandivian style is one of the cheapest ways to go if you want a look that is unique for Christmas. Basically it entails buying almost everything that you need from Ikea and the color scheme is very simple: black and white with touches of red. It is a simple Scandinavian take on the “Tuxedo look.”

Start with a completely white room. Paint everything white including the floor, fixtures and add a faux white fireplace frame to the room. Put a black and white striped carpet on the floor and accent it with black and white vases, freestanding plastic tables and bit black utilitarian look chairs in either black or Christmas red. Lamps can be made of paper and freestanding or pendant style. White candle holders can be set on the mantelpiece for a chic yet cheap effect.

As long as they are all identical little glass tea light olders in black and white lined up along the mantel greatly compliment this look. You can alternate black and white holders or get striped candles.

At Ikea you can get the landmark white pedestal tables designed by Finnish designer Eero Saarinen. His pedestal has a base of cast-aluminum .Originally designed in 1956 it is still fashionable today and gives your room a bit of a space age effect.

Pendant lamps in plastic can also make amazing looking fashion statements. Look for lamps designed by Paul Henningsen. His many layered Snowball pendant swinging lamp has been around since 1924 and is much imitated by many designers. It looks like e a large white pine cone. He also designed another model that looks more like a round artichoke that has had it’s leaves open. Both are very festive in spirit and landmark objects of art that are also very functional.

To complete the look be sure to place big wool Christmas stockings in black and white along the edge of the fake fire mantel. Inside the fireplace feature presents wrapped in all white tissue paper wrapped with red and black ribbons. Above the mantelpiece you can put a giant minimimilast wreath. This can be unnatural or fake but the idea is that it must look as trim and compact as possible to compliment the mid-century Scandinavian look. A company called Fresh Florals makes an all black wreath that is wrapped in black ribbon that is made out of twigs. Make sure that the twig wreath that you choose is quite thick and well twined or it may not suit this style.