Christmas Styling – Rockett around the Christmas tree

Ding to the actual Dong, if one thing is for certain it’s that we adore Christmas. We also love quirky, original and independent so when Rockett St George asked Peach & Rocks to style the entrance hall of the Peach Palace with a mystery box full of their gorgeous product we were all over it like elves in a pancake factory. You see, this hall was built for Christmas, those Edwardian architects clearly had jingle on their minds when designing this space. A sweeping staircase perfect for a magnificent garland, plenty of floor space for the tree of dreams and even an open fire for the big man himself to make an entrance.

This hall can handle all of the Christmas willing to be thrown at it and let’s face it, anything will be an improvement on last year. With 4 kids 6 and under and a renovation project well underway the sum total of the decs around here was a bowl of Quality Street and an Advent Calendar. At the other end of the seasonal spectrum is Amy AKA Rocks. She is quite literally Queen Christmas, with the ability to decorate, to convert even the scroogiest amongst you.

Here is Peach vs Rocks Christmas 2016!

Peach’s attempt

Rock’s attempt 

So we combined forces for a day of festive festooning, slash a great excuse for a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie!

Getting Ready for our Christmas Styling challenge

One of the most exciting things about this project was having absolutely no idea what we were being sent, a total surprise and Rockett St George did not disappoint. With Bublé playing in the background and a hot chocolate in hand (only marginally too early for mulled wine), we set about tearing open the packages. I am totally convinced that we were more excited opening those boxes than we will be on the 25th (no doubt having to feign excitement opening socks). They were packed full of gorgeous product with two distinct styles: Playful and kitsch for the sideboard styling, coupled with gold and glam for the tree and fireplace. Once our pulses had lessened and the bubble wrap had settled we were off!

Behind the scenes, we were joined by @emmatheflorist  @themizzknits and @jimpoyner

Sideboard Styling

Hands up if you love glitter? Hands up if you love cute and colour? Well this little vignette is for you. Think unicorns, tactile trees and metallic pin wheels, they’re all there along with some foraged sticks from the garden that were wrestled from the dog’s jaws by Emma (yes, we’ll do anything for our Christmas styling challenge!). Let’s skirt around the fact that the doors definitely cannot open without destroying the woodland scene above and lets just enjoy the prettiness of it all…

One Christmas tree, two ways

Rockett St George sent a beautiful selection of gold tree decorations which totally popped against the black of the faux tree that we were using. We coupled these with some beautiful gold leaf and flower garlands, enough fairy lights to warrant a re-wire and copious amounts of delicious smelling eucalyptus and fir branches…

There’s no such thing as “too much”

We also couldn’t resist having a play around with the most beautiful honeycombs and glitter ball lights too. Too much, Whatever!! we don’t think there is anything that cant be improved by the addition of a honeycomb. Whilst we are on the subject can we just talk about wine? This wine is my new favourite, you can keep your Marlborough Sauvignons and your Pinot Noirs, this wine-coloured honeycomb is our new best friend. Who knew that this colour would look so delicious in this room?! Its actually made me rethink the whole scheme in here. Santa, expect a wine coloured velvet chair right at the top of my list this year.

Thinking outside the Christmas styling box

Now we love a Christmas tree, whether it be real or artificial, but we wanted to create something different. Somewhere to showcase decorations that required limited space, money and time. In limps Miriam @themizzknits who in the space of 10 minutes had knitted us a Christmas tree. Yes, you heard right, a knitted tree! After catching her and her broken ankle climbing on a chair to hang it we promptly took over. I know she’s my friend but where there’s blame there’s a claim and all that.

Here you have it, a 2D budget-friendly tree alternative that enables you to truly showcase your baubles and not a dropped needle in site.

The Staircase

You can’t complete our Christmas styling sesh, without tackling the stairs. Miraculously we ended up with not only a little bit of time to spare but also the incredible florist @emmatheflorist at hand, so it would have been rude not to tackle the stairs right? Emma worked her botanical wizardry with sweeping eucalyptus, fern and foraged branches and we threw some fun at it in the shape of disco balls, honeycombs, glitter ball string lights, globes and the obligatory snuggly blanket. It all turned out pretty peachy and smelt delicious too which was a real bonus.

Peach & Rocks Rockett St George top picks.

Naturally, both of us wanted to keep absolutely everything! Here is a list of our absolute favourites, just click on the image to shop the look:

Top Tips For Christmas Styling Your Home

1. Christmas lighting. Its all about creating the perfect ambience at Christmas, so get ready to turn those overhead light off! Pack the room with candles and wrap fairy lights high and low
2. Mixed Metallics. Chuck em all in, golds, silvers, brass, bronze, all in a big festive melting pot.
3. Layer it up. Decorate on all levels, use objects at different heights so that there is always a treat for the eye
4. Seasonal scents. The obvious choice is candles and there are some beautiful Christmas scented ones but they can get pricey. There are loads of ways to make your room smell festive, our personal favourite is to get the mulled wine on (obvs) but you can find more ideas here
5. Bring the outside in. Forage in the garden or in the woods, branches, pine cones, greenery, the more the actual merrier. Who cares about the spiders!
6. Have Fun! First and foremost enjoy it. Don’t get hung up on it being too styled, matchy or instaworthy, grab a glass of something you love, pop some Mariah on and feel relaxed in the knowledge that your house is unlikely to be the best dressed on Instagram but it will be full of happiness.

Thank you Rockett St George, we had a cracking day and can’t wait to share with you part 2 which is our day of table styling. Watch this space.

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As far as the day went……

• Number of mince pies consumed 6
• Number of times we heard The Fairytale of New York 3
• Number of outfit changes by Amy 2
• Number of where there’s blame there’s a claim law suits avoided 1
• Number of expletives used during globe and pin wheel hanging, too many!
• Number of glasses of mulled wine consumed, not enough! pesky school pick up
• Number of laughs, countless.

A HUGE thank you to Jim Poyner for the amazing photos, and copious amounts of experience and patience. Some of you may recognise him form the @nohouserules event. Please do check his website out and remember to please credit if you use any pictures.

This shoot would also have looked nowhere near as pretty without the incredible @themizzknits and @emmatheflorist THANK YOU!