This holiday season, why not bring winter white inside your home, using snow white, ivory and a glint of silver to add pizzazz to the festivities?
Whether your family holiday is Christmas or Hanukkah - or both! - white and silver will see you through (with the addition of sapphire blue for Hanukkah). As the years progress and the urge to introduce new color schemes and themes emerges, white and silver will remain relevant, easily adaptable and complementary to other hues.
"The serenity of white brings an elegance and simplicity to holiday decorating," writes Tricia Foley, author of "White Christmas: Decorating and Entertaining for the Holiday Season" (Clarkson Potter, $22.95). "It provides a crisp contrast to fresh greenery, sets a subtle backdrop for shimmering gold and silver accents and evokes a timeless beauty."
And even though color ideas change from year to year (remember mauve velvet ribbons?), winter white and silver will mix with any fresh holiday trend of the new millennium, as well as provide a beautiful background for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
The following is a roundup of decorating ideas that require minimal effort, yet will transform your house into a joyous holiday home.
Ye merry entryway
Roll out the white carpet right from the start with a welcoming sight. Live evergreen swags frame the front door, or circle the porch columns, with a sparkle from silvered pine cones, packages of opalescent snowflakes wired throughout, and a strand of white twinkle lights.
A little light magic? Run a string of blue lights around the base of bushes by the front door and blanket the tops with a net of twinkling white lights.
Luminaries lend a dramatic touch to the walk or driveway, but what a pain with the sand and the bags! Joe Pasternak, holiday designer at Feeney's garden and home accessory store in Feasterville, suggests a $40 string of the new electric luminaries for the walk or driveway - a string of 10 white or brown plastic "bags" will cover 30 feet.
Mantel and shelf magic
Stoke up the fires of imagination, for nothing adds warmth to the holidays like a decorated fireplace. But all too often, those of us lucky enough to have them only use the mantles to prop greeting cards or tack up stockings. The mantel can be the focal point of a room. (As can an eye-catching picture shelf or windowsill in city apartments where there is no room for even a tree, let alone a fireplace.)
