Better Homes And Gardens Essential Olil Christmas Scent

For House Beautiful's 125th anniversary this year, we're digging into some of our favorite spaces from our archive —including, so far, decorator Sister Parish's New York Apartment and the West Hollywood home and studio of designer extraordinaire Tony Duquette , dubbed "the house of a magician." Here, we revisit a piece about Christmas decor from 1983, which was first published in our December issue that year.

Christmas is just over a month away—which means it's the perfect time to decorate your home in all things red and green. Lucky for you, House Beautiful has no shortage of Christmas decor inspiration throughout our archive, including a hand-painted desk from the 1840s that was made over to have a jolly color palette, as well as an over-the-top holiday tablescape. Take a look at the festive spaces for yourself below. Happy decorating!

Read the original story below:

THORNHILL FARM

"Our kitchen is the real active verb of our Christmas preparations"

Christmas, if you look at a calendar, happens all by itself, but to celebrate, truly celebrate, takes direction. And while I like to think of the Christmas trees throughout our house as the exclamation points of the holiday, our kitchen is the real active verb of our Christmas preparations. I bake cookies and biscuits, make boxwood wreaths, put my raspberry jam in small baskets, my homegrown herbs in larger ones to give as gifts. On the kitchen tree we put our sheep cookies and spiced pears, oranges, lemons and limes, embroidered with designs of cloves. The scent is delicious. Years ago I painted a red border around the kitchen windows and doors, just because it's my favorite color, and now at Christmas it seems to add to the festive air. When the table isn't quite so laden, we have Christmas teas there. The blue and white ticking cloth is for any season, but I only use the red one at Christmas. And I take my Christmas frivolities very seriously. I play the role, I dress for the party. And yes, there is a unisex Santa Claus every Christmas Eve in Maryland at Thornhill Farm.

OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS

Creating a Christmas scene can involve a Santa Claus collection such as this one populating the red and green painted secretary, but it doesn't have to. Sparkle and shine can stem from a pine cupboard full of copper molds framed in a garland of greens, or a bank of tin graters illuminated with votive candles. "We think of Christmas as a time to show off the things we love and live with all year," says the owner.

This 1840 painted desk, made in Wisconsin by a Norwegian craftsman, opens its doors to a host of papier mâché and folk art Santas. Casting a warm light on the scene is a lamp with a sheep carved by Larry and Paige Koosed. Copper molds, made in England and Scotland and collected over a 20-year period, fill a pine cupboard located on the balcony. When guests walk in the front door they are greeted with the glow of candles beaming behind tin graters, which are arranged on top of a New England cobbler's bench with its original coat of red paint.

Editor MARY EMMERLING

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