Mix things up this holiday season by introducing black and white into your Christmas color palette.
Design Star season 7 contestant Britany Simon and designer Brian Patrick Flynn worked together to add an updated, graphic look to an Atlanta home's traditional holiday decor by including strong, contrasting elements of black and white.
From the over scale fabric poinsettias on the Christmas tree to the mix of black-and-white wrapping paper prints, the color combination makes its way around the living room in both a strong and subtle manner.
Designers often add both graphic appeal and colorful updates to hardback books by covering the books with coordinating fabrics. To incorporate black, white and red into the living room, each book was covered with stripes and gingham. By keeping the palette holiday centric, but using patterns meant for year-round use, this ensures the books can remain out once the holidays have passed.
To add holiday flair to the living room's year-round sofa, pillows and throws are layered on and the end tables are decorated with ornaments for a festive, seasonal touch.
Throw pillows are an instant way to add holiday flair to your furniture. As the holiday season rolls in, this living room's sofa is given a quick and easy Christmas makeover with large metallic silk pillows paired with smaller ones featuring a wintry red, white and black plaid pattern.
Fillable clear glass lamps offer the opportunity to change up the look of your task lighting seasonally. In order to bring black, white, red and metallic flair to this living room's pair of lamps, an off white drum shade with a thin band of black detailing was added. The glass body was filled with a combination of red, gold and silver ornaments. Once the holidays pass, the lamps can instantly take on everyday appeal by switching the ornaments out for something different.
Tree skirts offer another opportunity to play with black and white through pattern. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, it's likely the tree skirt will remain bare and you'll be able to see it more clearly. Once covered up with gifts, the skirt will lose its presence. Consider using black mixed with another holiday accent color, then bringing in accents of white through wrapped gifts. This will ensure that your skirt will still remain part of the overall design.
When updating your holiday palette with black and white, it's not necessary to stick with black and white prints specific to the holidays. To dress up this wingback chair, a red and white check pillow was paired with a graphic black and white throw blanket. This look also works for everyday use.
This fireside gift wrapping area continues the black and white theme from the floor to the fireplace and into the Christmas tree thanks to a graphic rug, handmade stockings and a tree decorated mostly with black and natural-toned ornaments.
When it comes to choosing a holiday tree skirt that's a bit less expected than those featuring reindeer or snowflakes, consider plaid or tartan. Not only do plaids and tartans evoke a wintry feeling, but they also bring in a masculine touch which can keep your overall holiday decor as appealing to men as it is to women.
Since the gift wrapping area was designed to be heavy on black and light on white, the tree is dressed mostly with black and natural toned ornaments. This results in a more subtle aesthetic. The played down approach allows the room's main feature, a lighting installation piece over the mantel, to remain the focal point of the space.
For strong, graphic impact, Britany created a lighting installation from three cardboard letters and industrial globe string lights. Once illuminated, the trio of letters instantly becomes the room's main focal point. To balance the intensity of the bright white, black was used heavily in other areas to keep the color scheme balanced.
A little bit of black and white goes a long way. Britany had four custom stockings made for Mom, Dad, daughter and son each featuring a subtle or strong use of black and white.
In order to add pops of color and black and white on the fireside gift wrapping area's mantel, Britany filled three clear glass apothecary jars with tiny gifts using wrapping paper in shades of red, black and white.
Dress up your fireplace this season with small cypress or juniper trees in bold colored pots. If choosing a black or white pot, consider adding a few metallic or red ornaments to the tree. Use a red or green pot for a big punch of color, and use ornaments in black or white to keep the color scheme flowing throughout the tree.