We all decorate our gardens, hallways and living rooms for Christmas. But there’s one room where all the magic happens that often gets left out, and that’s the kitchen. The average host spends over seven hours chatting to friends and family as they cook on Christmas day. So how do you make your kitchen feel festive?
Well, there are lots of ways, and there’s still time to pick up (or order) a few Christmassy bits to make your kitchen sparkle.
Create a Christmas shelf
If you have open shelves or a glass fronted kitchen cabinet, you could create a festive display. To make your decorations pop, try adding a range of different items, colours and textures. For example, combined with wooden ornaments and Christmas crockery, LED lights work a treat.
Make your table the star of the show
Most of us will have carefully placed crackers on the table, but what else can you do to make your dining table extra Christmassy? Our favourite theme is anything natural such as trimmings from the Christmas tree, pine cones, dried oranges and handmade wreaths. You could even lift some of the baubles from your tree and scatter them against a crisp white linen tablecloth for a classic look.
Bring out the Christmas alternatives
You can purchase some lovely matching aprons, oven mitts and tea towels this time of year. Best of all, there are designs to suit every budget from Joules’ 12 Days of Christmas attire to Matalan’s festive elf set. Of course, if you’re good at sewing, you could make your own.
Let there be light
Nothing says Christmas than the warm glow of candles. Our advice, though, if you love your candles as much as we do, is to purchase soy ones. Soy candles are better for the environment and have a lower melting point than paraffin wax, and so they burn for longer. They also have a much cleaner burn, which is even better. We recommend visiting Notonthehighstreet.com for a sumptuous range of spiced soy candles from winter berries and gingerbread to orange and cinnamon.
Miniature Christmas trees
If you pop along to your local garden centre or DIY store, you’ll be able to find miniature Christmas trees. We think these look particularly nice sat on a window ledge or in the middle of a kitchen island. A sift of icing sugar over the treetop completes the winter wonderland look!
Stove Top Christmas potpourri
Introduce the scent of Christmas to your kitchen with handmade potpourri that you can also gift to family and friends.
You can let your imagination and senses run wild by using almost anything that is dry and will not spoil. For example, dried citrus and apple slices, cranberries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and pine needles work wonderfully together.
To use your potpourri, simply fill a small saucepan with two or three cups of water, add your dried potpourri ingredients and simmer on a low heat. Just don’t forget to check on the water level from time to time.
Remember, you can usually reheat potpourri two or three times, and so you can use it for those New Year celebrations too.
Paper pinwheels
There’s something magical about paper pinwheel decorations hanging from the ceiling or wooden beams.
Although red, green and gold are traditional festive colours, you can buy them in any colour to match your kitchen interior. For example, this muted Christmas tropic collection from Dunelm works well with painted kitchen cabinets.
Play some festive music
If you have an Alexa, ask her to play a selection of Christmas songs in the background as you prepare food for your guests. It’ll keep everyone in good spirits and make cooking even more enjoyable.
Final thoughts
We hope we’ve given you some ideas on how to make your kitchen more Christmassy this season.
However, the important thing, of course, is spending time together with those you love. So, from everyone here at Vale Designs, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
