12 Styled Days of Christmas with West Elm

 I’m delighted to be taking part in Teri from The Lovely Drawer and West Elm's 12 Styled Days of Christmas alongside some fab blogging ladies (you can see all the posts on Teri's blog and Front + Main, the West Elm Blog). Christmas is my favourite time of year and I really enjoying making it (quite literally) as special as I can for my family and friends. I start planning my Christmas colour scheme in about August and get more excited from there. Christmas is a time for traditions and we each have a role to play, mine is always setting the table for Christmas dinner. Dinner is usually held a my parents house, my mum will get new bits for the table and I’ll arrange everything usually with the help of a sister and an expresso martini. Last year we started a new tradition, we had Christmas Eve at my house, I cooked Mary Berry’s fish pie and served Amaretto sours and this year we plan to do the same.

My original inspiration for this table was a girls breakfast/lunch but as I started to pull it together I realised that I’ll probably recreate something very similar for Christmas Eve. When it came to picking my West Elm items I wanted to choose pieces that firstly I loved but were versatile enough to be used throughout the rest of the year. All tables need a centrepiece so I went for this gorgeous Brass Faceted Lantern. Layering textures and patterns are really important to my styling so I added this Embroidered Dot Runner to my basket. Napkins are an essential for a well laid table these Metallic Linen Napkins in rosette brought in the rosy pink colour I was after. Finally I have long admired cut glass tumblers in various stores but these pink Decorated Pink Hobster Glasses are the best I have found, they are the perfect weight and size for water or a cocktail. 

I always have grand plans to DIY everything when I start a project like this but with a new baby my time has become limited so came up with two simple decorating ideas. First I created an undone wreath to circle the lantern, I formed the main shape using pomegranates and plums picked up whilst doing my weekly shop and then added heads of chrysanthemums in two colours to create a tumbled feel. Chrysanthemums are great as they are really cheap, last for ages and come in so many different colours. I also included the heads ornamental cabbages (from a bouquet my friend gave me) and I couldn’t resist these awesome protea’s picked up at the market whilst Christmas shopping. This ‘wreath’ took me about fifteen minutes to put together and looks wonderful – it can easily be assembled a day before you need it and you can eat the fruit when you’re finished.

My second and slightly more complicated DIY are the crackers (I’ll share a full post) last year I bought really cheap but pretty crackers took out the rubbish cracker gifts and replaced with little gifts I picked myself . I have done the same again but as I couldn’t find the colour crackers I wanted I covered some cheapies in brown paper (this was the paper my glasses came wrapped in) decorated with a little glitter glue and tied rough linen bows. I think they look beautifully rustic and it means a basic cracker can be elevated to something really special.

Putting this post together has got me even more excited for Christmas now! For the next few weeks I plan to immerse myself in Christmas carols, gift wrapping and bedecking any surface I can in fairy lights. 

A huge thanks to West Elm for sponsoring this post and Teri for inviting me to share my Christmas table. All photo’s, styling and opinions are my own.