Interior design guru Kelly Hoppen gives her Christmas decorating essentials
If there’s anyone who knows how to decorate a home for Christmas, it has to be the multi-award-winning interior designer Kelly Hoppen CBE.
The homes guru reveals that “Christmas is a special time of the year” for her.
“I love decorating the house with sparkly lights,” she smiles. “It’s just a really nice thing to do – sorting and changing your home.” Hot chocolate poured, we settle down for a chat with Kelly, 64, who tells us that the festive season allows us all to throw caution to the wind and “go for it” when it comes to how your home looks.
Kelly was awarded a CBE in 2021 (Getty Images)
Kelly counts the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and the Beckhams among her clientele (Jack Dredd/REX/Shutterstock)There are, however, a couple of design “musts” that will always stay in her rule book. “I love tinsel – which most people are surprised by – and my tree has to be white.”
Although Kelly, who starred on Dragons’ Den between 2013 and 2015, tells us that she loves to decorate her home “throughout the year”, the festive season is a time when she can have fun with baubles and other pieces, including her favourite – lots of natural accessories including mistletoe, pine cones, fruit and nuts.
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“I love foliage and greenery. It’s fun to go foraging and pick lots of mistletoe and twigs and create things that are just slightly different and feel kind of cosy. Clementines can look beautiful.
“It’s a great time to experiment because it all comes down in January anyway!”
Kelly was born in Cape Town, but moved to London when she was two. After a brief stint back in South Africa where she played in a rock band, Kelly returned to London and started designing at just 16 – quitting school to overhaul a family friend’s kitchen.
The rest, as they say, is history. Fast forward a few decades and she can now count the likes of the Beckhams and Gwyneth Paltrow as close friends, as well as prestigious celebrity clients, who always come back for more of her signature neutral interiors.
“I’m just so lucky to get offered these incredible projects, I’m running so many at the moment. Even after all these years I still get excited about new clients.
“It’s really important to understand people and what they want. I love creating their dreams.”
Earlier this year Kelly, who was stepmother to actress Sienna Miller and fashion designer Savannah Miller during her second marriage to their father Edwin, revealed she’d had a breast cancer diagnosis and shared her breast cancer journey with her followers.
She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), after eight years of avoiding mammograms. DCIS means the cells in the lining of the ducts of the breast tissue had started to turn into cancer cells, but had not yet started to spread into the surrounding breast tissue.
Although she’s been given the all-clear, she has said that she couldn’t believe her “own stupidity” after ignoring routine invitations and called it a “foolish thing to do”. Now, she urges all women to never miss an appointment.
Following her experience, she’s feeling more optimistic about the future. So, when the tree comes down and the wreaths are packed away for another year, how will our homes evolve in 2024?
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Kelly believes that at long last we’ll be truly authentic.
“I think we’re well and truly over Covid and people are now spending way more time in their home. They’ve re-evaluated things, and I think comfort and not caring about what their next door neighbour is doing is key.
“I think people’s choices are real now with people more conscious of cleanliness. So I think we’ll see more wooden floors, marble, stone and tile – and less carpet.”
As for the next few weeks, Kelly admits it’s time to take a break for some festive fun with her partner John Gardiner and daughter from her first marriage, food writer Natasha Corrett.
“We’ll do Christmas at home. Definitely turkey, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, the whole thing – there’s nothing like it.”
Kelly will spend Christmas at home (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Kelly was a 'dragon' on BBC's Dragon's Den (James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)Kelly shares her favourite festive tips for decorating your home
Comfort and joy
Layer your home for winter, bringing all sorts of textures in to create a cosy vibe for Christmas. Rugs, throws, woolly cushions – it’s just like when you layer your clothing and you can keep adding for extra cosiness. Tealights help enhance the mood, too.
Dreaming of a white Christmas
“I’m so busy so I tend to decorate in the same way most years,” says Kelly. “I love wreaths on tables and lots of baubles. I’m into all of these matte and white styles – the sort of ceramic baubles that I’ve designed and I sell on QVC. I love putting a big wreath on the door – that’s the first thing I do – and cover everything in lots of lights. My tree is also always white.”
Tinsel town time
Kelly loves to add a few old decorations from when the kids were little – it’s a great time of the year to look back. “When you have little ones at home you sort of have to give in to certain looks. I like my house to look stylish but then I don’t have little ones running about any more so I can get away with it. People are often surprised to hear though, I’m a big fan and love tinsel!”
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
She also likes to take inspiration from nature. Fill a big bowl with pine cones and pop some lights in there, add some baubles, then some greenery like pussy willow and heather, and some twigs. “I love the addition of fruit and nuts too – clementines look gorgeous. I love going and picking lots of mistletoe and twigs and creating things that are just slightly different and feel inviting and cosy.”
Jingle Bells
Create chunky paper chains from old Christmas cards or if you love neutral, go with white paper. You can drape them anywhere, including down the centre of a table mixed with a pop of colour. Make place cards and have the kids decorate them, and add ribbon and bells. Kelly says, “Consider wrapping your gifts in newspapers, or a much-loved comic like the Beano. One year I used French newspapers and the next I sourced Chinese ones. I love white paper with rope to tie.”
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
“I’m a monochrome, matte black and white type at Christmas but sometimes I fancy a pop of red. If I’m in that mood I have the kids’ older decorations to pull out, like Father Christmas and a Land Rover with a Christmas tree on the back. I’ve even got a Christmas banana one! Such fun for the children.”
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