What’s Your Holiday Style?
Our founder digs deep into her virtual box of holiday décor to reconcile her conflicting strong opinions about how to use color at Christmas.
The other night while at a Christmas party, the host shared with me that he loves the vintage-style, colored lights he grew up with—literally.
After years of using an old string of lights from his family home, he was able to replace the worn-out (and likely dangerous) relic this year, but found a modernized version of the exact same style to do so—keeping his light preference intact.
The host, Tom Walker’s, lights
One of the most iconic Christmas trees in America, the tree in the Rockefeller Plaza (a tradition which began over 80 years ago by Italian immigrants), was lit this year with over 50,000 colorful lights, and topped with a Swarovski star. Full-on color is certainly the choice of whatever team is behind this ongoing tradition. :)
“Rockefeller Christmas Tree” by Kimberly Vardeman
On the opposite end of that stage-managed spectrum, my husband and his two brothers grew up decorating their annual Christmas tree by “clustering” all of the ornaments in one space, purposefully ruffling the feathers of their design-minded mother. So, when I commented about a home in our neighborhood that went all out using the color palette of purple and green, covering much of their yard in a display that demands attention whenever we drive by, I felt super judgy and told my husband there should be rules for holiday colors and lights before realizing I sounded like a grinch. Since that first look, I’ve settled into the fact that everyone experiences color, holidays, festivities, in their own way.
My way—the most neutral of palettes—might even be considered lackluster. In fact, this year our tree is decorated with just white lights, no ornaments since they're still in storage after our recent move. But I am really loving it. To me it feels calming and zen, but also bright and happy. But to others, it might look the opposite of festive!
Mallory’s Tree
So, I am curious about Christmas color preferences, and thought I’d conduct a poll to see what style prevails! What is your holiday style? Answer here!
—Mallory MacDonald, Founder of Maxwell Creative
Our top creative at Maxwell Creative, Mallory is the driving force behind the company’s neutral palette (a background and a mentality that lets our clients shine!) and the ever-growing facets of our Color Study.
