Toronto Star article: Go beyond red and green for your own hue-filled holiday

Another article was published in the Toronto Star this past week:

Go beyond red and green for your own hue-filled holiday

(originally published on November 29th, 2010)

It’s that time of year again — the music is playing, glitter is everywhere and holiday decorations are out in the stores. However, it’s not just your traditional gold, reds, greens and silver. You might have noticed the purple and teal decorations at the Bay’s Queen Street store or the hot pink decorations at Canadian Tire.

Even trees have been going the non-traditional route for a while. You could always get a green or white artificial tree, but now you can get other colours, including black. You can even get a tree that doesn’t look like a tree, if you’re John Galliano. The British designer is decorating Claridge’s Christmas tree, which is a fantastical underwater design with coral, sea horses, sea anemones and jellyfish.

The trend of using non-traditional holiday colours has been on the rise for while. Kim Vallee of At Home with Kim Vallee thinks it’s due to the increase in open-concept living.

“One of the reasons is because I believe more people live in open spaces or smaller spaces and they don’t want their decor to clash.”

Designer Kimberley Seldon suggests the surge in popularity is due to the increasing variety of ornaments in the holiday aisles.

She says, “With the abundant choices available, today’s consumer is no longer limited to a few traditional options. Design magazines and television shows have unleashed a growing desire to decorate the home in a way that is ‘photo ready’.”

So how you do add some non-traditional holiday colour to your decor without incorporating coral and sea horses? Vallee suggests pulling an accent colour from your decor and using it throughout your holiday decorating scheme. That way, the colour will automatically coordinate with your existing furniture and accessories.

Seldon offers another option. She says, “I always advise clients to build a good collection of basic ornaments such as white, silver and champagne. Then, it’s relatively easy to add colour to the mix. In fact, when I want to add a new colour like teal, I will simply purchase 24 teal ornaments and place them front and centre. When they are mixed with my good basics (white, silver, champagne) they steal the show.”

This year’s hot colours? Vallee likes blues. “Purple used with blue. People don’t think about it but it’s a nice combination. There’s navy and light blue. You mix some old and some new to update the look instead of replacing all the ornaments.”

Seldon points out there is a lot of choice, especially for the adventurous, “This year we will be seeing plenty of big colour options — pink and green is a fresh and lively combination. Blue and silver are always popular. Lavender has made its first appearance in the last couple of years and it can be a great choice married to silver and white. There’s going to be some drama too — look for black and gold to show up in the magazines. We are all ready for some glamour.”