Cosy, Clever & Christmassy: Architect-Led Ideas to Decorate Your Home for Christmas

Christmas is often the one time of year when you really see how your home works. You bring out the tree, hang the wreath, set the table… and suddenly every pinch-point, dark corner and awkward doorway is on show.

If you’re searching for ideas to decorate your home for Christmas or want to understand how your home supports your festive style, it’s worth looking at both through an architect’s eyes. The way you style your home in December can actually help you plan extensions, conversions or a full remodel that makes every Christmas easier in future.

MP Chartered Architects, an award-winning RIBA Chartered practice in Essex, helps homeowners do exactly that.

The living room Christmas tree: décor that reveals if you need more space

The Christmas tree is usually the “star” of the living room. This year, notice where your entire Christmas tree can go:

• If the only spot blocks a doorway or the route to the kitchen
• If you’re moving furniture into odd places just to fit it in
• If seating feels cramped once everyone’s in the room

…you may have outgrown the current layout.

Short-term decoration tip

• Use a slimmer or corner tree and keep your Christmas tree decorations focused on one or two key areas, not every surface.
• Pull furniture slightly away from walls to create clear, generous walkways.

Where MP Chartered Architects come in

If you’re forever negotiating sofas, toys and trees, a house extension or reworked ground floor can give you:

• A larger, open-plan family space with a natural “tree corner”
• Better circulation so people can move freely between the kitchen, dining and living areas
• Built-in storage, so everyday clutter can be hidden before the decorations come out

Our residential architects design extensions that feel like a natural continuation of your home, with space for a full-size tree that oozes festive spirit, as well as generous seating and all the extra chairs that appear in December.

Hallway wreaths and first impressions: entrance layouts that actually work

A front door wreath and a few fairy lights can transform your entrance, but they’re much more effective if the hallway layout supports them.

When you’re hanging coats and lining up shoes for guests, ask yourself:

• Do people bottleneck at the front door?
• Is there anywhere for guests to put bags, gifts and muddy boots?
• Does the hall feel dark, even with Christmas lights on?

Short-term decoration tip

• Keep the scheme simple: a wreath, one focal console or shelf, and good lighting.
• Use a mirror to bounce the glow of fairy lights around a narrow hall, which will add a bit of Christmas magic.

Architectural opportunities

MP Chartered Architects can help you reshape this crucial space with:

• Hallway reconfiguration or a small front extension to add practical storage and improve flow
• New glazing, side lights or internal glass screens to bring more natural light into the hall
• Sensitive updates to listed buildings, respecting original features while improving comfort and usability

Your Christmas wreath becomes the finishing touch to a well-designed, welcoming entrance, not the only nice thing in a space that doesn’t work.

The Christmas table: when Christmas decoration highlights the need for a better kitchen-diner

Festive tablescapes look beautiful online, but on Christmas Eve, you may be squeezing too many chairs around a tiny table, with people constantly bumping into each other and into the tree.

As you explore each Christmas decorating idea for your table, notice:

• Do you have to move furniture every time more than four people eat together?
• Is the dining area cut off from the kitchen, leaving the cook on their own?
• Does the space feel dark or cramped once the table is dressed?

Short-term decoration tip

• Keep centrepieces low and narrow to maximise elbow room.
• Use candles and simple greenery to create an atmosphere with festive cheer without taking over the entire table.

How architectural design can help

A well-planned kitchen-diner extension or house conversion can give you:

• A bright, open-plan space where cooking, chatting and celebrating happen together
• Room for a large dining table that stays in place all year, not just at Christmas
• Wide openings to the garden, so fairy lights outside extend the sense of space

MP Chartered Architects provide feasibility studies, 3D modelling and technical drawings, so you can clearly see how a new kitchen-diner will look dressed for Christmas before you commit.

Guest rooms and snugs: decorating the spaces you don’t quite have (yet)

For festive charm, a small bedside tree and a few thoughtful touches can make guests feel special. But many homes don’t actually have a dedicated guest room, so visitors end up in the living room or box room.

This year, ask:

• Could a loft be a better guest suite, with more privacy?
• Is an attached garage just storing clutter instead of sleeping people?
• Would older children prefer a separate snug or TV room at Christmas?

Short-term decoration tip

• Use screens, rugs and lighting to “zone” temporary guest areas.
• Add proper bedside lamps, even for a sofa bed, to make the space feel intentional.

Long-term solutions

MP Chartered Architects specialise in loft and house conversions and barn conversions that can provide:

• Calm, en-suite guest bedrooms under the eaves
• Cosy snugs converted from garages or outbuildings
• Flexible rooms that serve as playrooms or home offices in term-time and guest spaces at Christmas

For listed or character buildings, we carefully balance modern comfort with original features, so new rooms feel like they belong.

Exterior lights and garden views: connecting indoors and out

Fairy lights in trees, lanterns on steps and a simple illuminated wreath can create a beautiful festive glow, especially when you can enjoy it from inside.

When you switch everything on, think about:

• Do your main living spaces look out onto the best parts of the garden?
• Are there doors in the right place for people to flow outside on mild festive days?
• Would a garden room or glazed extension let you enjoy lights and greenery more?

Short-term decoration tip

• Frame existing windows and doors with simple, warm-white lights.
• Light one or two key features outside (a tree, pergola or path), rather than scattering lights everywhere.

Architectural possibilities

With carefully designed rear extensions, garden rooms or new homes planned from scratch, MP Chartered Architects can:

• Align living and dining spaces with the best garden views
• Introduce large sliding or bi-fold doors that create a strong visual link to outdoor lights
• Design covered terraces or verandas that can be dressed for Christmas, yet used all year

Your outdoor decorations become part of the interior experience, not just something you glimpse as you take the bins out.

Light, warmth and sustainability: beyond fairy lights

Festive lighting, longer evenings at home and extra cooking all add to your winter energy use. LEDs and timers help, but the biggest gains come from the building itself.

As you:

• String up lights
• Pull curtains earlier
• Turn the heating up for guests

…notice which rooms always feel cold or where draughts creep in.

Short-term decoration tip

• Choose LED fairy lights with timers and avoid leaving them on all night.
• Add thicker curtains or blinds in the coldest rooms and seal obvious draughts.

Sustainable architectural upgrades

MP Chartered Architects offer sustainability-focused design, including:

• Improved insulation and airtightness as part of extensions or refurbishments
• Better-performing windows and doors that still suit period or listed properties
• Layout changes that put the most-used winter rooms in the warmest, brightest parts of the home

That way, future Christmas decorations sit in a home that’s warmer, more comfortable and more efficient by design.

Turn this Christmas into the start of a better home

This December, enjoy exploring your favourite Christmas decor ideas, but also use them as a quiet “audit” of how well your home really works:

• Where do decorations fight for space with everyday life?
• Which rooms feel dark or disconnected, no matter how many lights you add?
• Where do guests feel squeezed in, rather than welcomed?

Those are the spaces where thoughtful architectural design can make the biggest difference.

MP Chartered Architects, an award-winning RIBA Chartered practice based in Essex, can help you:

• Plan house extensions and kitchen-diner layouts that make hosting effortless
• Create new guest rooms, snugs and family spaces through loft, garage and barn conversions
• Work sensitively with listed buildings and character homes
• Navigate planning permission, technical drawings, 3D visualisation and interior design so you can clearly picture your next Christmas in a transformed home

If this year’s decorations highlight that your house needs to work harder for you, not just at Christmas but every day, we’d be delighted to explore what’s possible.

So next December, you won’t be squeezing a tree into the only spare corner. You’ll be decorating a home filled with Christmas spirit and holiday cheer, carefully designed around the way you live, celebrate and relax.