Interior Design with
Julia Luttrell
Let there be light
Here’s how to combine some of the elements you may already have in your
home, to create a magnificent display that “implies” a fireplace. This
spectacular visual effect suggests that welcoming warmth and will be the
brilliant focal point in your room that ignites the festive spirit of
the season.
Place an existing hall, console or sofa table, under the most decorative
large mirror you have and locate them both in an area of your home that
you wish to feature.
What we want to achieve is the general shape of a fireplace and we will
create this by suspending pine boughs, at various lengths from the edge
of the table at either end, using hemp twine to tie the boughs together.
The hemp twine is a decorative feature, so you should first spray both
the hemp twine and the stems of the boughs, with a light misting of gold
spray paint.
- First, attach a pine bough to a length of hemp twine. Let the bough
hang vertically off of the left side edge of the table. Stretch the
twine horizontally across the tabletop and tie another bough at the
opposite end, to hang off of the right side edge of the table.
- Repeat this process several times, allowing the boughs to loosely fill
the sides of the table, from top to floor, which should take perhaps
three or four boughs on either side. Do the same thing, running the
twine from front to back at either side of the table, but use fewer
boughs, perhaps only two or three this time.
You can now weave a string
of tiny white lights throughout these boughs. They will surround and
illuminate the decoratively wrapped and creatively stacked gifts you
will arrange under the table. A garland of cedar and holly should then
be casually draped across the table front, to integrate with the pine
boughs and visually ‘connect’ both sides of the arrangement.
You will be adding a few oil lamps to this display, so a shimmer of
organza can be loosely folded and draped over the table at this point to
soften the effect of the lines of the hemp twine. Set the oil lamps in
place and arrange at either end of the tabletop, a collection of
interesting Christmas bulbs to sit in a nest of cedar boughs. This will
camouflage much of the wiring for the lights.
As a final centrepiece, a pyramid of pillar candles should be arranged
in the middle of the table, on candleholders of dramatically different
heights. Along with the oil lamps, this blaze of glory is the star of
the show, which will create a festival of lights glittering and dancing
in the reflection of the mirror.
To draw the eye upward and provide balance to your display, hang a
magnificent wreath that is rich with enough detail to make a substantial
design statement on it’s own, directly onto the mirror. This can be done
without damage by using a special peel-and-stick picture hanger
available at any hardware store. It can later be removed without leaving
any mark, but make sure you ask for the right product.
For a final flourish, lightly drape an additional garland around the
mirror frame as well and there you have it, an interesting visual
display that suggests a fabulous fireplace, but with the festive
firelight inside out!
