When it came time to decorate her home for the holiday season, Michelle Pollock, decorator at AMR Design, was stumped. “With the mid-century style, the whole point of it is to be really clean and minimalist, and I found it super hard to decorate,” she says. Instead of fighting her home’s overall aesthetic, she embraced it and looked to an earlier time period for inspiration.
Focus on entertaining
“Usually, even if you Google mid-century Christmas, you see drinks, there’s a fireplace, a fire’s going, it’s about entertaining, cocktail parties.” Pollock recommends keeping that spirit in mind and setting up a tray of drinks and cocktail glasses, perhaps with a few ornaments sprinkled amongst them, to create a festive look.
Re-think the traditional trimmed tree
It’s also a misconception that you need to go all out with classic elements like a fully decorated tree – Pollock’s all white Christmas tree doesn’t have a single ornament on it. Instead, she’s opted to keep the tree simple, and place a bowl full of ornaments on her dining room table.
Incorporate seasonal phrases
If images of reindeer and sleigh bells aren’t your cup of tea, a great way to incorporate the holiday spirit into your home is through typography. Pollock designed decals with holiday phrases that were placed on mirrored and glass surfaces, as well as light up signs placed on a credenza in the living room, for a subtle homage to the holiday season.
