Merry and bright with a coastal Christmas

Decorating your home in calming, tranquil blues will lend a calming, serene feel...

With blue tones often associated with the ocean and clear skies, it makes sense to embrace these beach-inspired hues at Christmas time. With festivities falling into our summer season, most of our time is spent at the beach. It’s natural to bring these blues of nature indoors when we’re celebrating.

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas being stressful for many of us, decorating your home in calming, tranquil blues will lend a calming, serene feel – the ideal medicine for a busy time! It’ll tie in with those sun-soaked beach days, sandy feet and long hours of sunshine.

As you decide which blues you like, you can explore all of the tones that are on offer – from bright aqua like Resene Freelance, to the energetic Resene She’ll Be Right or the dusky element of Resene Moby. With the options endless, one guarantee is that there’ll be a blue for you.

A crisp, upbeat blue in Resene Cut Glass is a hue that will boost the energy in the room, refreshing and energising, like the sea. This shade coats the floor and tongue-and-groove wall, ensuring a light, serene base from which to layer your Christmas theme in varying levels of darker blue tones to master visual contrast.

Look beyond your walls and floor when being creative. Get your artistic juices flowing with paint, scattering the blue tones across furniture and accents such as vases, bowls, throws and cushions. Keep building your layers to achieve a refined look.

A cabinet can store presents and games on Christmas day, and any cutlery or crockery that you’ll use for your festive meal. Painted in Resene Kumutoto, it’s deep aqua is full of personality and shows how complementary colours lend bright character. The beauty of furniture is that you can bring in multiples tones. Why not opt for a darker tone on the cabinet fronts with a lighter shade on the sides?

Explore your blues further with the bench seat in deep Resene Teal Blue and chair in aquamarine Resene Wishlist. Some accents items are dark and moody but can be swapped out easily for a brighter contrasting colour when the time is right.

Find your inner artist and create your own decorations this year. Crafting them is a festive fun project of its own, transforming your house into a wonderland – a summer version! Swap out the traditional decorations and extend your beach décor theme onto the tree, presents and tabletop with homemade shell ornaments. Their curves sit perfectly amongst the traditional baubles, breaking them up with their unique shape – don’t forget the star at the top! Let the tonal blues flow further onto your gift wrapping, with present boxes painted in tonal blues with impressive effect. Finish with delicate blue ribbons and homemade shell gift tags.

Take the shells and paint a letter on each, spelling out a word that evokes a Christmas meaning. Link each shell with twine to create your garland, hanging it on the wall for a personal touch that emphasises your blue tones. You can even extend this beach theme by painting the guest's name on the shell and using it as a place name for the table.

Touches of glistening gold in the cutlery, the earthy hue of the rustic twine and the timber legs in the side tables bring the scheme down to earth. For another visual break from the blues, the crisp blue of the white couch provides a sharp contrast.

Layering your tones from light to dark blues ground your festive space in a relaxed setting in which to soak up the festive fun.

Project by Vanessa Nouwens. Images by Bryce Carleton. 2021