How to Decorate Place Settings in A Cranberries and Cream Themes for Xmas

The secret to decorating your home in a cranberries and cream theme for Christmas is to combine rich red accents with cream colored linens and bone colored china. You can get beautiful linen tablecloths made out of red striped grain bags that have been recycled from McInnis Antiques and similar online places that recycle this type of fabric. The idea is that your entire table-setting is created from white and crimson colors.

When setting a table be sure to add tall cranberry colored candles. Make them be in the scent of cranberries if you can get them. Liz Beloton and Rebecca Tanquera who have written a book called Table style use repurposed rustic linens as table cloths and add recycled tart molds to create this type of look.

If you collect ruby red glassware now is the time to showcase it on your table. Heavy porcelain goblets also look nice as part of this type of décor.

One nice touch is to freeze a ring of cranberries inside a tubular cake mold. You then set candles in the ice and let it melt slowly on the table. If you like you can just sprinkle cranberries across the table in a random pattern.

Another innovative centerpiece is to take tall vases and simply fill them to the hilt with sugar and cranberries. This is a sexy centerpiece that also looks great with a crimson poinsettia cutting or bundle of crimson or green calla lilies sticking out of the top.
Invu Drapery and Ikea are companies that sell very nice drapes and curtains in cream and cranberry colored patterns. You can also mix and match drapes. Try pairing velvet cranberry hued panels with cream colored chiffon drapes. The opposite effect also works well. Pair crimson colored sheers with heavy cotton or satin drapes in a cream color.

Cream colored lace pillows interspersed with cranberry colored ones also look lovely and help update a couch to make it look more Christmas-like.

There are all kinds of place settings on the market that have that crimson red handle. Mother of pearl handled table ware also goes nicely on crimson colored napkins.

You can easily make cranberry garlands and string them from a chandelier. Cranberry garlands can also be used as tie backs on curtains. You can also burn cranberry and vanilla scented incense to make your home smell even more like a luscious cranberry and cream dessert.

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

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.