Holidays: why not dress your abode up, too?

Halloween is over and it's almost time to decorate for the Holidays - hurray!  I don't know about you, but my Christmas decorations go up in earnest the day after Thanksgiving - boxes and boxes emerge from storage and it takes me days to complete.  I've always loved this time of year:  dressing up, wrapping gifts, sharing seasonal cocktails with friends and reveling in how "accessorized" my home feels!  

Always on the lookout for unusual and beautiful approaches to table settings and interior & exterior decor for this celebratory time of year, I've found some wonderful examples:

Charlotte Moss, an A-list designer who is also November's pop-up editor for House Beautiful magazine, designed this beautiful table scape, above.  It could work equally well for Thanksgiving as Christmas. 

 Carolyne Roehm, the uber-talented designer, writer, gardener and much more has this take on a Holiday centerpiece that looks so modern but almost colonial, somehow.

 You can almost smell the turkey in this traditional, antique-filled room.

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Who says Holiday means red and green?  (I prefer copper, myself!)  Turquoise and shades of cream/gold looks so inviting!

 Charlotte Moss' take on overflowing mantel abundance....

Colin Cowie, party planner to the stars, uses one of my favorites:  a mountain of unique ornaments in a beautiful, simple bowl or piled in a large vase.  Determine a palette and shop for ornaments that complement at Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel or the wholesale florist (your designer can help you with that!). 

I love these 5 essential entertaining tips from Mr Cowie:

• Serve a signature cocktail (I like it simple: Champagne with some frozen cranberries dropped in the flute)
• Play great music; take your best cocktail playlist and add 20% Holiday tracks
• Set up food stations:  charcuterie (there's that Francophile, again!), smoked salmon rye bread (with Vodka cocktails), etc.
• Assemble a colorful guest list - mix it up
• There's no such thing as too many candles!

• And one from me:  be sure to have everything ready in plenty of time to sit down and have a glass of wine before the guests arrive.....

Designer Stephen Sills suggests metallic papers and Kraft paper-wrapped packages - with gorgeous ribbon, of course.

 An over-the-top mirror Christmas tree by David Stark - just, wow!

Copper antique glass, copper-painted feathers, glass cherry blossoms and twinkly lights. 
 

Luscious gold and kiwi green jazz op the table, again from Colin Cowie.

Beautiful pieces from Juliska, Calvin Klein Home, Barney's, etc.

Whatever your palette and however you decorate for the Holidays, have fun and hope that this doesn't happen!