5 Minimalist Ways to Decorate with Christmas Foliage

Looking to celebrate this Yuletide season in a simple, streamlined, and minimal way?  While Christmas decorating and restraint rarely see eye to eye, there are ways for them to collaborate and agree to compromise.

The easiest is to focus on using fresh foliage.  Stick with the greens.  Lots of it.  Eucalyptus, ivy, cedar, boxwood, olive branch, juniper, pine, willow, moss, tillandsia, succulent – you have plenty of options to choose from.  While Christmas flower arrangements are truly festive, it’s a challenge to come up with a “minimalist” look with them given their showy silhouette and bright colours.  So, go back to the good ol’ green.  Fresh (or even faux) greens.  With lush greenery as the base, you can just add easy-on-the-eye ornaments to create a merrier and more inviting look.

Here are some ideas to help you do that festive makeover in a more restrained manner.Go neutral.  Decorate with neutral colours or muted hues like whites and creams.  For a touch of that Christmas sparkle, you can mix them with champagne gold or silver.  For your Christmas tree, polish the look with a wicker tree skirt or a burlap ribbon garland.  For your wreath, stick with a mix of greens with touches of white or cream.  For your Christmas candle, consider a glass bottle filled with water and your choice of leaves (fern, rosemary, magnolia).

Go natural.  Instead of the usual plastic, glittery ornaments, you may use natural wood or straw decorations.  Try to look for wooden bells, coconut shell stars, carved wood icicles, wooden craft beads, twigs, and clay Christmas tree ornaments.  You can also use foraged branches, berries, driftwood, pinecones, and more fresh greenery.  Your backyard may be the perfect place to find natural materials for Christmas decor.

Go white.  Plus silver, if metallic is a must.  Combining white and silver with greens lends a modern yet still organic and minimalist vibe.

Go monochromatic.  If colour is a must, go ahead and pick one.  Just one.  Say you choose red; you can spruce up your dark green tree with solid-coloured red ornaments only.  A single red ribbon on your bare green wreath would suffice.  You can also use thin red ribbons to hang those wooden Christmas trimmings.

Go bare.  Less is more.  You have the option to simply go bare and straightforward and see the beauty of fresh foliage without the need for unnecessary, or even wasteful, embellishments.  A long green garland over a window or on top of a cabinet can already dress up your space for the holidays.  A plain but lush green wreath can already pack a punch, especially when placed in an unexpected place like the backdoor or with a mirror as its backdrop.  A half-wreath is also a chic, minimalist choice.  You can also consider adding a potted Norfolk pine to the vanity or entryway console table.  Or decorate with pinecones and sprigs and twigs inside a mason jar.