Festive decorating does not have to begin with adding more year after year. A living room already has its colours, art, furniture and favourite possessions. P S Design looks at how a few considered changes can shift that familiar setting into celebration without disguising the room beneath festive decoration.
Project Name: Living Room for the Festive Season Without Redecorating It
Studio Name: PS Design
Colour provides an easy starting point. In one living space, an olive-green sectional is paired with cream armchairs traced in graphic black lines, while rust, blue and ochre appear across the rug, ceramics and artwork. Flowers can pick up these existing notes, while a few brighter cushions or a generous arrangement on the coffee table can sharpen the palette for an evening of entertaining.
The home’s decorative pieces can do much of the work. A colourful rug beneath a console, sculptural ceramics, stacked books and fresh flowers already provide enough visual interest to build upon. Rather than bringing out an entirely separate festive vocabulary, these everyday pieces can simply be rearranged and given more prominence.
Lighting changes the room after sunset. A sculptural brass ceiling installation can provide the metallic note usually associated with celebration, while wall lights and smaller pools of illumination keep the atmosphere intimate.
Textiles offer another quick shift. Patterned rugs, curtains, upholstered armchairs and cushions introduce colour without disturbing the architecture or larger furniture pieces. Even a study adjoining the living area, with its coral sofa, patterned rug and bookshelves, can become part of the gathering.
For P S Design, the most convincing festive living rooms are not transformed beyond recognition. They simply turn up the volume on the colours, textures, art and details that already give the home its personality.
