Holiday Decorating Can Cast A Warm Glow All Year

(ARA) - "The psychology of holiday decorating has changed dramatically, beginning in the fall of 2001," according to Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a consulting firm based in Stevens, Penn. that specializes in trend forecasting. "Following 9/11, we saw how powerful decorating can be in communicating personal values and feelings," she says. "Today, more and more households are creating new decorating traditions, connecting family traditions from the past and bringing them into the present."

This return to traditional values is seen not only in choices of holiday decorations, but also in home decorating and what we choose to surround us. It's not by accident that red, the color of Christmas, has risen to the top of the home fashion palette. It is the warmest color in the spectrum and it casts a rosy glow on everything -- and everyone -- in its path.

The December holidays -- Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa -- are an ideal time to redecorate. They are when daily routines stop and friends and family pause to gather together to celebrate tradition. They also mark the end of one year and the beginning of another. Resolutions to spend more time with family, to relax more frequently, and to carry the holiday spirit into the coming year, are what Danziger says are on people's minds as these seasons approach. Why not set the stage for success in these resolves?

No decorative element warms that stage more completely, more easily or for less of an overall investment than wallpaper -- especially if it is grounded in red. Using just such a pattern of gilded scroll designs on a red background, we added immeasurable richness to a traditionally styled living room that has an expansive fireplace and mantel.

The wallpaper is from the Kenilworth collection by S.A. Maxwell Company. The companion border from Kenilworth adds just a touch more gilding near the ceiling. To top it off with the perfect traditional accent, we added crown molding, which can be purchased to the exact measurements of a room at most home decorating stores or a local lumberyard. We painted it to match the mantel and painted a round, flea-market table in the same cream color.

A diminutive Christmas tree, placed on the table, is set against a fireplace screen that is wallpapered in a different pattern from the Kenilworth collection. It features blooming roses against the same red background.

We wrapped votive candleholders in leftover scraps of the wallpaper, and we also cut squares of the rose pattern to insert into the cover of a CD featuring our favorite songs of Christmas. We give one to each guest. It's a gift that will join their own future Christmas traditions and also re-connect them with the current season.

For a less formal living room, we chose three complementary patterns in the Antiquities collection from S.A. Maxwell. Broad, alternating stripes of two shades of red reach up to a pattern of floral bouquets above the chair rail. As a finishing detail, like beading on a beautiful dress, we added a coordinating bouquet border along the ceiling.

The stripe pattern is also used to wallpaper the panels of a room screen. A screen is a wonderful way of hiding a gift-wrapping area in a room. Everything is accessible, but out of sight. Not incidentally, leftover scraps of any of these red wallpapers are ideal for wrapping gifts.

Screens are both functional and decorative. When a fireplace screen or a room screen are wallpapered, they integrate the walls with the room and become part of the interior furnishings. They can be moved from room to room, like a work of art. And, they can easily be re-wallpapered to give any décor a quick pick-up.

Because holidays are a time for pleasant reminiscence, hang some photographs of past seasonal celebrations on the screen. Later, when the tree comes down, store the old photographs away along with the decorations, ready to carry on the tradition the following year.

Meanwhile, all year long, curl up by the fire and bask in the glow of your warm and wonderful new red room.

To locate a retailer in your area that carries the Kenilworth and Antiquities collections from S.A. Maxwell Company, call (847) 932-3700 or visit www.samaxwell.com on the Internet.

Courtesy of ARA Content