The countdown to Christmas has officially commenced and the pub is now in full festive mode as our team of magical elves are hard at work in creating special memories for all our customers and overnight guests who are spending time with us.
This really is our favourite time of year, so in preparation for the big day, we caught up with neighbouring business, Moutan, to ask Julie and her team for their top tips and trends on filling our homes with festive joy. So, if you’re looking for inspiration then settle down and read on…
This is truly our favourite time of the year, says Julie, and nothing gets us more excited than the thought of everyone wanting to fill their homes with flowers, foliage, beautiful decorations and fabulous aromas. It’s a time when the team here at Moutan can play with textures and colours and it’s a delight to be making wreaths, table arrangements and planted gifts for our many customers.
Christmas is hands-down our busiest time of year with the team working non-stop, so it’s always such a thrill to see our floral and plant arranging masterpieces feature on social media – this time of year really is the perfect time to show off our homes and what could be better than filling them with beautiful florals!
Mix up your home interior festive look with faux and fresh
We have some beautiful Christmas decorations in store (at our Odiham, Hartley Wintney and Farnham stores), from sparkling glittery baubles to faux garlands. Our ranges of faux flowers and foliage are so realistic that we like to mix and match, which helps to keep arrangements looking their best throughout the season and for years to come! Use big glass vases or traditional urns to really showcase these beauties and use a mix of textures to bring the wow factor to your home dressing.
The smells of Christmas
Your senses are on high alert when you enter the Moutan store, thanks to the ensemble of aromas that greet you when walking through the entrance – a mix of fresh-cut flowers combined with Plum & Ashby festive candles and room fragrances and the ever-popular St Eval Candle Company Christmas favourites, which are simply breathtaking; if you haven’t tried an Inspiritus or Figgy Pudding candle we really think that you must – they’re like Christmas in a tin! So, when dressing your home for Christmas, try to use products that address as many of the senses as possible. Smell is such an important sense and so easy to achieve using fresh foliage, room sprays, candles and scented pine cones.
Fancy a festive overnight stay in Odiham? Book a room at The Red Lion and get into the Christmas spirit.
Our festive potpourri, dried fruits and spices are another terrific way to fill your home with the heady scents of Christmas – think cinnamon, nutmeg and spiced oranges. These fragrances can also be used in bulb planters and table arrangements, it’s so important to us to incorporate this extra layer of sensory experience, which elevates our collections from a simple planted basket to something quite special.
Top trends this festive season
There’s a huge trend in floristry at the moment for using dried flowers and grasses and we’re sure to see this creep into this year’s festive wreaths and arrangements too! Hydrangea works well and dries very nicely so if you grow these in your garden, think about keeping some of the heads to add to your own arrangements. Allium and seed heads, such as poppies, also work really well.
If you’re keen to understand the on-trend colours before heading out to update your selection of decorations, well it has to be pink…and also blue, so that’s two colours you can build into your colour scheme! Think pale pastel pinks and blues with aged silver or gold, this is such a beautiful colour palette to work with!
Having said that, you just can’t beat the classic colours and nothing can beat green and red! Freshen this up with splashes of gold, warm yellows and copper to keep your look on-trend.
Coming soon to Moutan
We can’t wait to welcome you into our festive grotto of floral delights and gifts, but if you’re keen to know what to expect in our stores over the coming weeks, you can look forward to bulb arrangements – we have some already, but you’ll see more and more as the season moves on, cymbidium orchids, stalks of fluffy cotton (just like snow!), amaryllis, paperwhites, and ranunculus. Plus we stock a wonderful array of gift and stocking filler ideas, including the beautiful Bramley range of skincare, which use 100% natural botanicals and no nasties, and an array of Charbonnel et Walker chocolates, the iconic London chocolatier, established in 1875 and is endorsed by the Royal Warrant.
Book a festive break and come and immerse in the Christmas spirit, here in Odiham. Why not pop into Moutan and pick up something delightful as a gift or to dress your home with.