Christmas decor tips from interior designer and owner of Chambray Tea, Caroline Lewis.
By Caitlin Farmer
Chambray Tea was a lifelong dream for owner Caroline Lewis, who opened the home decor store in downtown Bishop in April.
Lewis has decorated area homes and businesses for Christmas for 12 years. Lewis and her team begin decorating the homes and businesses the first week of November each year, she said, and they spend multiple days decorating each client’s space. She generally works with about 20 clients a year.
Throughout her years of decorating client’s spaces, Lewis has developedgo-to tips for Christmas that lend to every space.
“I’m not a theme person,” Lewis said. “If I do a tree this year, it won’t will not look the same next year. It will be different. Whether it’s just changing a little bit of the ribbon or changing some pillows around or but nothing will look the same. It may be some of the same, but we will freshen it up to where it looks new every year.”
Use what you have
When decorating clients’ spaces, Lewis said she tries to use items clients already have, like lanterns and bowls — even if they aren’t traditionally used as Christmas decor — to maximize the budget.
When shopping for Christmas decor at stores such as HomeGoods, Walmart or Target, Lewis said she never looks in seasonal aisles and focuses on finding centerpieces that could be used year round.
“Lanterns are always pretty. You can always do a lot of fun things to some pretty bowls,” Lewis said. “Just a pretty wooden bowl or a clear bowl, put ornaments in it, just be creative.”
The key to making those items look festive for the holidays is to update the accents with ribbon or greenery.
For garlands, Lewis said her clients prefer a simple and clean look, so rather than over embellishing them, she adds a simple bow to the end of the garland and gold bells.
“Ribbon is key,” Lewis said. “Just freshening up some ribbon or some pillows and adding fresh greenery to anything is the best thing in the world.”
Fresh Eucalyptus from Trader Joe’s tops her store’s Christmas tree, adding a fresh look to the artificial tree.
Go-to greenery
Fresh greenery is a Christmas decor staple this year, Lewis said, and an inexpensive way to add warmth to a space. Her go-tos are magnolia, Cryptomeria — also known as Japanese cedar — and Leyland cypress.
“Go to your backyard, go to your friend’s yard,” Lewis said.
The scent of Christmas is something people want to incorporate into their space, Lewis said.
“The smell of fresh greenery, like the Frasier fir that we have in here, that’s what you smell. I think people just like to smell,” Lewis said.
New approach
There has been a shift from traditional to transitional decor, Lewis said, by using monochromatic decor with one standard seasonal hue (such as all red, but not red and green together) or non-traditional shades, such as blue.
Lewis said monochromatic trees have been a big trend for Christmas decor this year. While there are still some multicolored trees, Lewis said the approach is more simple and focuses on colors in one family, such as blues or earth tones.
Bohemian style has become increasingly popular, especially among younger people, Lewis said, and can be incorporated by adding pieces of pampas grass into artificial trees and choosing items with wood tones. Mix your metals, too.
“Whether you’re doing hardware in a kitchen or if you want to put them on a tree, you can mix some coppers and some silvers and some golds and that’s OK,” Lewis said.
Lewis said this is the approach she takes to clients’ spaces, she uses their personal pieces to incorporate their character into the space, instead of her own.
“Make it fun and make it you,” Lewis said. “Make it your character, make it a reflection of who you are.”
How I wrote the story: I went to the Chambray Tea store and interviewed owner Caroline Lewis. She showed me around the store and we discussed her approach to decorating clients’ spaces and she showed me examples of her tips throughout the store.