Christmas tree | The Daily Norm

Dec 18

Christmas Comes Home: St Petersburg Palace

Christmas is in full swing. Ridiculously there’s only a week to go! While that makes me panic ever so slightly, the best tranquiliser is to switch on some Christmas carols (or Nigella Lawson’s Christmas series on TV…oozing pure aesthetic) and sit in the warm glow provided by my beloved Christmas trees. Last week I shared with you my new kitchen-inspired carrot-laden scheme. Today I want to take you to frostier quarters, where elegance reaches an all time high: my tree inspired by a St Petersburg Palace.

Replacing the annual real tree whose needles played havoc with my cream carpets, this year we have introduced a new 7ft snow sprayed false tree adorned with warm lights and begging for the fake polar-bear throw which is wrapped around the base of the tree and provides a wonderful soft landing for all those gold and white presents. On the snowy white branches, I added golden fern leaves for embellishment, and thus set the scene for my favourite ever set of decorations: an abundance of whites and golds and blues of every shade, all in homage to the glory and opulence of a Russian Christmas.

Choosing Russia as a theme meant a stark contrast to the interior design of the bedroom setting which is very Mediterranean in feel. But what better way to get cold blue and warm gold into a tree theme than to translate the tones of a Mediterranean beach into the frosted splendour of a St Petersburg Palace. With its onion-roofed houses, night-sky baubles, glass whales, white nutcrackers and elegant Russian dolls, I love the way this design has pulled together. It is the ultimate bedroom tree and a true delight to both see out and see in these festive wintery days.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2017. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Dec 12

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Christmas Comes Home: The Kitchen Tree

I am ashamed to see that the last post on my blog is entitled “An Autumn Overview”. It’s shocking testimony to the fast passage of time. Now in mid-December, the comforting glow of Autumn leaves have been replaced by ice and snow. But December brings with it a very joyous respite from the arrival of cold in the form of the festive season – simply my favourite time of the year. And while work has largely prevented me from hanging out on The Daily Norm, it has not precluded me from that most important of annual tasks: decorating the Christmas tree.

Regular readers of The Daily Norm will know that I love Christmas decorations, to an almost obsessive degree, and while I always make a few small tweaks to my scheme as each year goes by, I enjoying taking out the old familiar decorations year on, year out. However, this year, as if in celebration of our return to London and the house redecoration that accompanied it, I’ve shaken things up a bit in the Christmas decoration department.

The modernist black trees of old went into black bags, and out came an altogether more traditional look. Sage and forest greens now host warm oranges, berry reds and a little silver and black (a small nod to the modern surroundings). Glass carrots and green glass mushrooms bring something of a culinary vibe, while ravishingly regal cheetah heads sit proudly upon their festive boughs. And as if to complete the animal theme, underneath the tree, fox furs and presents round off the scheme with a cosy but finessed twist.

And that’s just the lounge. In the bedroom we’ve gone all white and frosty, like a scene from Dr Zhivago. But I’m going to save that until next time…

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2017. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Dec 15

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Reinventing the Ribbon: My Christmas Trees, 2015

As a largely self-appointed Christmas tree expert (although to be fair, I was the official House of Fraser Christmas decoration expert in 2014 don’t you know…) the festive season is always a busy time for me, and that is just with the four trees that spring up lovingly in my house. But this year, I had the charge of some additional 18 trees for my employment, as well as my parents’ tree back in the UK, bringing this year’s efforts to a grand total of 23 trees. That’s a lot of baubles, lights, prickly branches and this year’s addition – ribbon – to contend with. Is it any wonder the Daily Norm has been so quiet of late? But finally I am in a position to share some of the fruits of my labours with you, my dear readers.

Rather than focus on each tree in detail, I have instead decided to bombard you with a post full of photographs showing decorative detail. The trees featured largely comprise those in my own new Mallorca home, all four decorated in a unique and individual scheme of their own. But also featuring are a few of the trees I put up for my employer. Across the board, and as I have already mentioned, the newcomer of the season has been ribbon.

I was always a big fan of tinsel, despite its reputation as protagonist of the 80s, to such an extent that some would almost declare its adornment today to be “vintage”. However, my mantra has always been that anything is better than the draped strings of beads of the 90s, and for this reason, tinsel, which glitters and sparkles from every angle has always been a feature of my trees. But tinsel is scarcer out here in the Mediterranean, and when a chance visit to a local florist saw me rummaging in big box of multi-coloured ribbons like a child on Christmas morning, I was hooked. For the way it can crumple and crease, wave and undulate, hang in loops and in haphazard formulations across a tree, I was a tinsel-man transformed. And now all of my trees feature this truly versatile construct, in every colour and texture. For me the result is a level of elegance which my trees have not reached before and which, when coupled with branches fully loaded with baubles both monochromatic and patterned, round and cutely shaped, produces a truly festive display, both at work, and at home.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Aug 10

Like snow in summertime

You’d have been forgiven for thinking that the photos below, taken the other day, showed freak climatic conditions – of snow freshly laid on olive trees ripe with fruit, freshly laid in the middle of the summer. But on closer sight, another thing becomes noticeable: the startling contrast between icy white and vivid summertime greens, not to mention the rich rusty coloured ground which had largely escaped a white covering, nor the cerulean blue sky glimmering brightly under an intense sunshine.

Rather than snow in summer, these photos show one of the most interesting sights which can currently be discovered on the road from Valldemossa to Deia in Mallorca: olive trees densely sprayed in a covering of chalky white, their fruit still intact beneath it. Why this winter coat has been applied I have no idea: I can only guess that it is some kind of insecticide applied at the crucial time when the olives are almost ripe. Whatever the reason, the colour contrast presented is undoubtedly striking, and as ripe an inspiration for my camera as the juicy round olives steadily growing on those white branches.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Dec 23

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The Daily Norm’s Christmas Tree of the Week | No.4: Traditional Glamour

It’s appropriate, I think, that the last of my four Christmas trees to be featured on The Daily Norm should be the most traditional and glamourous of the lot. For in these final days before the great day of Christmas itself, what better way is there to reflect on the abundant design bounty of the season than to revel in decorations which are, in their traditional character, a real nod to the lavish spectacle which sits at the centre of this season of plenty.

Yes, my final tree is the tallest of the lot – at just over 7 ft it almost touches the ceiling of my modern flat, and leaves no space for a fairy to sit atop. But asides from this notable absence, the tree is in every way a homage to the traditional colours and exuberance of Christmas, while retaining a sleek and at times eccentric twist. The design of this tree is very much dictated by its location. Set within my hallway, it has to be narrow enough that it does not become un-passable in the fairly tight space of my hall. But it also has to be big enough and abundant enough that it impresses upon a guest’s arrival – after all, it is the first sight which will grace visitors to my home in this merry season.

Meanwhile, the design of my hall also leans towards the traditional, with its broad book shelves, floor to ceiling art work and framed old adverts, and various paraphernalia which would suit the most traditional of studies – an antique typewriter, a leather arm chair, a barrister’s wig and so on. So in attempting to fill my space with Christmas cheer which fits seamlessly within the scheme of my hallway, I have not only gone for the traditional Christmas colours of red, green and gold (which also feature in the surrounding artwork); I have also matched up the library theme with the addition of some very quirky little decorations such as gold stags heads, armchairs and even this year’s magnificent addition – baubles shaped to look like a framed Da Vinci (thanks Liberty’s!). These slightly more unusual features are then filled in with plain sparkly baubles in shades of rich forest green and perfect berry red, while the whole tree comes alive with glittering gold baubles and tinsel.

Despite being a tall narrow tree, this vertical pillar of festive abundance is probably my favourite of the lot, because in being almost overloaded with bauble after bauble of glittering glass spectacle, it is as over the top, as plentiful and as generous as the season it is dressed up to celebrate. Happy Christmas everybody!

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2013 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The Daily Norm’s Christmas Tree of the Week | No.1: Scandinavian candy (daily-norm.com)
The Daily Norm’s Christmas Tree of the Week | No.2: Citrus Sunshine (daily-norm.com)

Dec 11

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The Daily Norm’s Christmas Tree of the Week | No.2: Citrus Sunshine

Designed to complement the sunny orange shades of my office which is appropriately named “The Orange Office”, this week’s Daily Norm Christmas Tree of the Week is a burst of citrus sunshine bringing with it all of the essence of a sunny mediterranean shore in the midsts of an otherwise wintery Christmas season.

With its vivid yellow and orange baubles, this christmas tree scheme sits well within a season whose cuisine is alive with spiced citrus scents, but loses none of the vibrancy and freshness of a summer’s day. That nod to the summer is referenced in the hints of cerulean blue, reminding of a clear summer’s sky and the vast blue waters of the mediterranean sea, but the orange and yellow sparkling glittery reindeers nod back to Christmas again, in an evocation which is the height of festive kitsch. The playfulness introduced by my reindeer is accompanied by the jovial multi-coloured forms of metalic robots, only to be offset by the rich regality of purple flashes, which reflect the wealth and abundance of the Christmas season. And all this is tied together upon the branches of a contemporary black tree, sparkling under two sets of yellow flashing fairy lights, and balanced out by ample strings of glittery yellow tinsel.

My “citrus sunshine” tree is a perfect example of how both playfulness and modernity can be achieved within the traditional Christmas season, lending a contemporary air and so blending perfectly with the sleek surroundings of an office environment. Of course such a traditional set up will not be suitable for every setting, in the same way that a traditional fir tree may look out of place in a modern flat. But the best thing about Christmas is its ability to adapt its joy-giving decor to all environments, ensuring that wherever you go or live, Christmas need never be absent.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2013 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The Daily Norm’s Christmas Tree of the Week | No.1: Scandinavian candy (daily-norm.com)
My Scandinavian Forest – featured on the House of Fraser Blog (daily-norm.com)

Dec 4

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The Daily Norm’s Christmas Tree of the Week | No.1: Scandinavian candy

Christmas time is finally upon us, and with it my home has, as annual tradition dictates, metamorphosed into a festive wonderland befitting the season. For there is nothing quite like the sparkle of fairy lights, the twinkle of glittered baubles, and the Nordic smell of an authentic fir tree to import the feeling of Christmas wonder into the home. In recognition of its power to transform a humble dwelling, I always indulge in abundant homage to the season, installing not one, nor two, but FOUR christmas trees into my home, one for each room of the house. That way, wherever you walk inside in my little London flat, the spirit of Christmas will never be more than a few metres away. In fact upon entering my home and standing in the hallway, you are greeted with the sight of some three of those four trees stood majestically installed in each of their respective rooms.

What with there being four trees, and four weeks left until Christmas, it seemed only proper that I should focus on one of each of my trees each week as I share my Christmas decorations with the world. And for the first week, I would like to share with you what is my newest tree in a scheme of annually recurring decor, and with which I have incorporated all of the fragrant fancy that comes with a real tree, ditching the fake white tree which used to decorate my bedroom.

Tree No.1: Scandinavian Candy

It was after installing my little Scandinavian Forest on my chest of drawers last year, a composition which nodded to the traditional Christmases which the Nordic countries do so well, that I realised that the fake tree which previously stood alongside it no longer fitted the bill. Yearning always for a real tree, and with the plastic white tree turning a progressively unattractive shade of yellow, I decided to go the full hog this year and opt for the real mccoy – a 7 ft Norwegian fir tree, now decadently decorated with decorations of white, green, turquoise, and by way of incorporation with the hints of pink in the paintings which hang in my bedroom, a touch of candy pink too – hence the name I have given to this scheme: Scandinavian Candy.

The biggest change from my normal decorative schemes came with my decision to ditch tinsel in favour of a more traditional paper chain. I always apply tinsel almost as a matter of course, but when I did so on my real tree, it lacked delicacy, and made the tree look altogether more clumsy. So out came the paper, the glue and the scissors, and the result is a tree which is garlanded and shaped by paper chains, but not swamped by them.

Well that’s more than enough talking from me. Time for the tree to shine through photos. Gosh I can smell its fragrant pine needles as I type…divine!

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2013 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

My Scandinavian Forest – featured on the House of Fraser Blog (daily-norm.com)

Nov 30

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My Scandinavian Forest – featured on the House of Fraser Blog

I interrupt this Paris broadcast to bring you important news of my feature as a Christmas tree decorating “expert” on an article in the House of Fraser blog this week. For those of you located otherwise than in the UK, House of Fraser is one of the UK’s biggest and best known department store brands – what Macy’s is to New York, House of Fraser perhaps is to London. And so to be chosen as an expert tree decorator and to share my best tips for decorating the perfect Christmas tree with HOF audiences this Christmas is something of an honour, and a thrill.

Regulars of The Daily Norm, and readers from the last two years will know that when Christmas comes along, I embark upon an extensive decorational operation which does not stop until each of my 4 Christmas trees and various Christmas installations around my home are complete. This year’s decorational festivities are only just commencing, and you can expect an abundance of decoration-themed posts soon to come. But so thrilled was I to have my “Scandinavian Forest” featured on the HOF blog this year that I thought I would kick start my 2013 Christmas commentary a little early.

The Scandinavian Forest, featured in the HOF blog, was an idea which I introduced last year when, asides from decorating the main tree in my bedroom, I seized upon an idea to install a host of smaller accompanying decorations along the surface of my chests of drawers. From a small central tree adorned with little birds, paper lanterns and miniature mugs featuring illustrations from Tove Jansson’s Moomin adventures (straight out of Finland), this idea grew and grew so that by the end, I literally had a forest of small little white and turquoise trees accompanied by a variety of woodland animals and felt snowflakes and baubles littering the ground. As these photos will hopefully demonstrate, I have decorated my little forest with zeal. All that now remains is to put up the large tree which will accompany it. Watch this space for that.

In the meantime don’t forget to check out the House of Fraser article. Right, back to Paris….

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2013 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Dec 18

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It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas – Part II

Christmas isn’t just about the festive spirit outside of doors, although as I demonstrated yesterday, in London, the tangible celebration of Christmas evident all around certainly helps to get one in the mood. But it’s indoors, in the home, that the real heart of Christmas beats a unified rhythm with the yuletide spirit, and personally, I cannot get enough of the constant reinvention of my home in its Christmas guise, from the comforting glow of my Christmas trees at the break of a still dark winter’s morning, and the spirited twinkling dance of fairy lights to the jig of Christmas pop playing on the radio, to the reflective flicker of candlelight as the day draws to a close, and my home is lit exclusively by the staccato movement of my tree lights and the red warming glow of my candles lit in almost every room.

In fact so fervent is our love for the ambience given off within our Christmas-decked home that my partner and I have a moment, just before going to bed, when we play some choral carols or, even better, monastery chants, emulating a Christmas straight from medieval times, and with that soothing soundtrack, set about sitting, calmly in the subdued light of our Christmas trees, watching the lights and sparkle dance and flicker around the room. It’s almost epiphanaic to meditate amongst such warm Christmas tranquillity, and is almost certainly my favourite time of the day.

Now I’ve already shown you my Christmas decorations in two posts a few weeks back (links below), but this post is, I suppose, further reflections on a theme – my almost poetic interaction with the yuletide spirit manifesting all around me both in words and pictures. Moving to the latter, posted here are some further glimpses of my Christmas expression around my home. I start with my Scandinavian forest, an oasis of calm, an installation of little small Christmas trees intermingled with cute forest animals – I’ve noticed that this simple, white Scandinavian style has really hit it off in London this year with all its woods, and whites and an emphasis on nature. I love nothing more than lighting these beautiful sparkling silver tealights amidst my forest, creating in so doing something akin to a magical Narnia-like wonderland which comes alive under the candles’ gentle flickering.

Talking of candles, one of my favourite parts of Christmas has to be decorating the table, whether it be for the big event on Christmas day, or for a small meal in the run up to the 25th. I usually incorporate as much foliage as I can, including oranges and pine trees, red berries and fir cones, and then set amongst the foliage many candles of different shapes and sizes. Then I like to leave the candles to burn gradually down, lighting up the foliage around them with a warming winter glow.

Moving on to more of my decorations, here is another homage to the Scandinavian Christmas, where the fusion of a glitter covered tree hung with delicate glass baubles appears to emulate droplets of ice hanging in a snow-covered forest.

I also love these photos of my Christmas lights out of focus. One of the great advantages, to my mind, of being dreadfully short sighted (and there aren’t many) is that if you look at a tree having taken off your glasses, the lights blur and intermingle with the sparkle from the nearby tinsel and glittery baubles – it creates a blur of light which is sensational to the eyes, and these photos almost replicate the effect.

Finally, I close my post with a selection of miscellaneous shots, from the lights upon the fireplace of my family home where I will be spending Christmas this year, to the oversized paperchains which my partner, mother and I were making over the weekend (they’re uber fashionable this year, we hear). Check out too the understated extravagance of my little diamond-covered Eiffel towers (fake diamonds, sadly). London may arguably be the capital of Christmas, but there’s always room for a little Parisian glamour to compliment the excesses of the festive season.

Righto, I’m off to share a moment with my Christmas trees now… until the next time, hope you’re enjoying the run up to Christmas!

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas – Part I (daily-norm.com)
My Christmas Wonderland, Part I (daily-norm.com)
My Christmas Wonderland, Part II (daily-norm.com)

Dec 4

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My Christmas Wonderland, Part II

It’s day two of my Christmas decoration posts, and today I’m sharing my two “glamour” trees, a stonking-great cornucopia of exquisitely sparkling, extravagantly baroque, exorbitantly lavish Christmas decoration, the crystal-encrusted gems of my yuletide collection, decked out with the kind of elaborate ornamentation which only this exorbitant festive season will allow.

Venetian-Parisian Glamour

In my lounge, which is itself a homage to Parisian chic, decked out in black and white with splashes of vivid cadium red, my contemporary black tree exudes the spirit and sophistication of a European masquerade ball, with sparkling silver Venetian masks interspersed with glittering red Eiffel towers. My favourite baubles are those of transparent glass which have a small glass chandelier inside. They looks amazing when lit from behind by my steadily flashing pure white lights which enhance the sparkle throughout my tree.

Traditional Splendour

From continental glamour to traditional splendour, my new kid on the block this year is my lavish new hall-way tree, a suitable Christmas spectacle to greet guests to my home. This tree is bedecked with every kind of indulgent frippery, from gilded Louis XV arm chairs and glittering masks, to sparkling dragon flies and red old fashioned telephones. Amongst my favourite curiosities which have made their way onto this tree, I love my very appropriate festive London 2012 olympic mascots dressed in their beefeater and soldier uniforms, as well as my simple red baubles painted with Christmas puddings. The more unusual decorations on this tree are bound within a unifying theme of red, green and gold, reflected in both the lighting and the monochrome baubles, all of which combine to give great balance to this tree.

Finally, all the golden glamour of my hallway decorations is reflected in this little installation created on my sideboard – a panoply of gilded treasures with ruby red crackers, all culminating to create some festive fun which is deliciously exuberant. That’s my Christmas all over.