Top tips for a cosy Christmas home

I love Christmas, it's the excuse I need to inject some bejeweled colours and sparkle back into the home

I decorate my home from top to bottom. With some simple and stylish touches that can set the scene and guarantee that home is the only place you'll want to be this holiday. For instance, adding a new berry-coloured carpet could immediately transform a room and bring that cosy Christmas feeling into your home.

The Hall

Welcome your guests in style by giving your hallway a touch of Christmas. The main living areas tend to get all the attention, the hallway is often overlooked.

It is, however, the first place that you will receive your guests and family so don't leave it looking bare. Add a real or artificial wreath on the door, adorned with hot pink roses and rich heather shades. Alternatively, use real limes and lilac Hydrangeas with clusters of baubles, birds and tiny wrapped presents with contrasting ribbon.

The hall should make a big statement. Add a focal point with accent of strong berry colours and if space allows add a console table with a mirror hung above. A berry, or wine-coloured carpet is really impactful and will make a great statement as it's the first thing your guests will see upon entering your home.

Decorate the mirror with a homemade evergreen hand tie of foliage from the garden or off cuts from the Christmas tree which will add the instant fragrance of Christmas.

Finally, fill any remaining glass vases with leftover baubles in red, plum and aubergine to finish off the look. I buy large affordable packs of baubles from supermarkets or DIY sheds. Then I interspace them with a few special baubles to achieve the look on a budget.

I secure a stair rail garland to the hand rail, made from a series of artificial garlands, secured in place with wide satin ribbons that hang down inbetween the spindles, all of which I recycle each year.