I love the concept of a "color story," especially when it pertains to a decorative statement. The holiday season is one of the only times that most Americans decorate their house (or at least a main room), changing the overall feel of the home. I prefer an array of whites, while others love that traditional red, green and silver feel.
One of my favorite Christmas color schemes comes from a sweet Danish home found on From the Right Bank. Le Journal de la Maison profiled the home with its regular decor (view more photos here), and I can't quite decide which way I like it better!
The holiday colors in this space are complementary to the light, Danish design, with dashes of dark maroon and evergreen peppered between vast expanses of bright white, mocha and olive. Just enough dark to balance the brightness of the rest of the space. It feels like a little Birchwood forest in the winter. See more photos of the home all decked out for Christmas on From the Right Bank.
What is your "color story" this year?
(Image: Lantliv via From The Right Bank)


Sprout Side Table
Someone needs to work on their photoshop...
That looks like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.
I love that tree. It's totally something I would pick.
Since I have dark purple walls, I bought a white Christmas tree - made from feather - at Bouclair Home.
(Picture: http://www.bouclair.com/content/holidays2012/?language=en&string= and click the Neutral tab).
But then I went to Lowe's to buy Christmas minilights on a white string - and I walked out with the minilights AND a dishwasher. When I say I walked out, I meant it literally - since I drive a Matrix, I was able to take it home with me right away.
The tree was nice but the feather were falling off and I really worried that it would not survive having the branches collapsed and reopened too many times, I returned it. I also thought that treating myself to a dishwasher was enough money spent. So I am back to a regular small real tree. I picked one that I thought was not overly full and it was a bit crooked - because I thought nobody else would buy it.
Because I am the kind of person who gets teary-eyed over the Ikea commercial in which the old desk lamp gets left at the curb in the rain.
Oh, @CanadianMango, how sweet! I'm teary-eyed reading your post!
That tree looks like the one we had last year... love it.
I love sparser trees, which were the norm when I was young, and ones whose branches lay horizontally, as opposed to a 45° angle -- they are prettier to decorate.
I like those particular colors; Christmas or not. The tree; guess that's one way of acknowleging that it's Cristmas w/o having the place look like SantaLand was trucked in.
Gorgeous.
If I painted my house walls all white the way the Scandinavians do, it would be stark and institutional. It must be something about the light up there.
I also love those bare floors but I don't understand why they don't get stained and dirty without a finish.
The original post is really worth a view.
I like that Scandinavian house, but it's way more spacious than mine, and although it's pretty, I think living with all that white -- especially when it snows -- would feel very cold. (But decorations always look best in spacious airy places.)
My color story for this holiday season is mixed. I use colored lights (my partner's preference -- I'd like white ones) and my ornaments are mostly crystal, silver and gold snowflakes and stars, plus some peacocks and a few colored ball ornaments for contrast. But my dining table is different, with Santa Yoda and a 10 inch tree covered with birds. My foyer has a manzanita branch (natural) with white "satellite" ornaments and gold star garland icicles, plus some glitter infested silk flowering quince branches (about the same color as the cinnabar-colored Asian goddes figure next to it.) And a bonsai Christmas tree inspired by the Martha Stewart one featured here in the past. (Home Goods tree modified to make a better shape then decorated...)
Maybe next year I will cut back and also keep a more cohesive theme going... or not!