As my home is filled with vintage frippery, it'll come as no surprise that when it comes to decorating for Christmas there are many nods to the past.
I love this time of the year, in all its maximalist glory. I don't do minimal, and for me Christmas is all about going OTT. It's about using all the fairy lights, lighting all the candles and cosying up on cold winter nights.
As a fan of vintage decor, I like to use this throughout my festive scheme from the antique baubles on my tree to pampas grass and peacock feathers in my fireplace garland.
I have spent years collecting antique baubles, with some dating back to the 1930s. My favourite ones are antique mercury glass; at one time you could buy them in car boot sales for pennies. Now though the prices have shot up as they have become highly collectable; the most sought-after are concave designs.
Mercury glass is also known as silvered glass, but it doesn't contain either mercury or silver. It's actually clear and mould-blown into shape before being coated with a silvering formula on the inside. Over the decades, this becomes foxed, and gives them a beautiful aged look.
Anyone who collects glass baubles will know only too well how fragile they are. Despite every effort to pack them away safely each year I always end up with a few casualties.
I'm not one for a real tree - I've never been able to find one that keeps it's needles longer than a week! I have a pink one that I bought when my children were little; but after 15 years I decided it was time for it to go into semi-retirement and treated myself to a navy blue tree.
It reminds me of the tree my grandparents had when I was a child in the 1970s.
For my garland I have used a base of greenery and interwoven fairy lights, winter foliage, vibrant faux peonies and feathers.
I've also attached large glass baubles across the arch of my fire surround.
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