DECORATING ADVICE : Keep Colors of Christmas All Year

Question: How can I make my Christmas red and Christmas green work all year round?

SUE WESTROM

Answer: Easily, and they can be used together.

Imagine a room that has bright-green or hunting-green walls and brilliant red carpeting. A hunting print that features riders with red jackets on dark chestnut-brown horses hangs by a window. The horses are prancing over a deep-green field. The draperies are made of an equestrian hunting print and are hung on brass poles with brass rings.

When decorating a living room, den or library in the Christmas colors, start with a green-leather Chesterfield sofa. Then find some dark-green and red plaid club chairs. Decorate the walls with horse paintings, hunt prints and maybe an ancestral portrait or two.

If you don’t happen to have an ancestor who was a huntsman, adopt one from a flea market or antique show. A painting found in the stall of an antique bazaar can be cleaned up, restored and reframed.

If you are in the mood for an exciting red dining room, one that is rich in the Christmas spirit, cover the walls above a white dado with rich red wall covering. Cover the floors with a brilliant green carpeting.

Center your dining room with a brass or crystal chandelier. The table should be round and skirted to the floor with a green and white striped tablecloth. The china can be banded in red, and the flatware can be vermeil (18-karat gold plate over silver). The vermeil will always sparkle and give a delightful glow to your table. And for your dining table centerpiece, try a bowl of red, purple and white anemones. Purple, red, white and green always make for a festive holiday combination.

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Q: I’m redecorating my living room. The walls and ceiling are off-white, and the baseboards are white. The draw draperies, which I must keep, are made of sky-blue antique satin and run from the ceiling to the floor.

I have hardwood floors and an 18th-Century button-back, mahogany-trimmed sofa that needs reupholstering. I have two mahogany tables and two crystal lamps.

I will purchase a Queen Anne love seat and two Queen Anne wingback chairs. I need one other chair. What do you suggest? I will also buy a mahogany coffee table and a 6-by-9-foot Oriental rug. How can I tie this all together? What colors would you suggest for the sofa and love seat upholstery, the three chairs and the rug?

HELEN NATHAN

A: You are off to a good start. I like all your classic pieces and your draperies. I suggest you purchase an Oriental rug that is larger than 6-by-9 feet, because I think you need to fill more floor space to give the room balance. On your 18th-Century button-back sofa, I suggest a rich gold/yellow satin fabric with a trim of gold, white and soft blue. For your Queen Anne chairs, choose a print of soft rose-red, light blue and green on a yellow background. Cover your new love seat in a light blue, green and yellow stripe; accent it with some sky-blue throw pillows that match your drapery. Paint your walls a soft yellow and your ceiling a pale blue. The trim can remain white. Your Oriental rug can be a combination of burgundy, beige, sky blue and royal blue.

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Q: I have natural pine paneling in my family room. There are five fairly large windows in the room, so there’s always lots of sunshine. We live in a very wooded area, so I have never covered these windows, but I must do so now, because the room is doubling as a guest room. What type of window treatment would you recommend?

The sofa has an Oriental pattern of bright blue, yellow and green against a deep-melon background. Two wing chairs are covered in a forest-green solid, and I have one long bench with a blue-and-green plaid seat pad. I also have several ginger-jar lamps in the room and one brass standing lamp.

T.R.

A: If you are able to find it, use the same fabric that is on your sofa. You need to bring that deep melon into some other portion of the room. If the Oriental print is no longer available, get solid-melon draperies in either cotton or linen. Then decorate the outer edges with a forest green and yellow braid.