Christmas indulgences 4: warming spices

Rich, warming spices are great colour combinations any time of the year, but especially at Christmas. The wonderful cocktail of colours brightens homes of all styles, from traditional to contemporary and can include an abundance of festive decorations or none at all and still look in keeping with the time of year. Think along the lines of mulled wine warm reds, Bucks Fizz full of flavoursome oranges with pops of lemon twist and on-trend turquoise and you'll have a beautiful eclectic mix of colours within your home!

Bright, bold and striking, this style of interior decoration is not for the faint hearted or those who prefer a more traditional approach to colour combinations, however, if you want to be individual and move away from tradition this design style will be right up your street, so to speak! Colour clashing along with the use of an abundance of textures and materials knocks on the door of many styles and yet with balance and cohesion the style creates a superbly different interior which you'll either love or loathe!

Team ruby red cushions with plush purple, teal curtains with lemony chairs and floor-lamps shades, add large rugs with a zebra stripe and faux fur throws and you'll begin to see the style take shape. Don't be fooled into thinking that it's easy to achieve this look because it takes far more than throwing soft furnishings into a room! Think about each piece carefully and how it relates to a partner or area of the room.

Although the colours that you choose can be any try and keep them within the same tones or you could end up with a blaze of colour which has no real definition or distinction – the pieces will all vie for attention and as such can become very confusing to the eye and cause an almost claustrophobic and intimidating colour scheme which isn't welcoming or relaxing.

The style of Christmas decorations you use, if you choose to use any at all, also need to be different from the norm. Create your own décor by enriching your soft furnishings with jewels and embellishments – for example long beaded tie-backs for curtains, sequins, faux jewels and embroidery can be used on cushions and throws. If you have a tree decorate it with baubles and spangles in the same colours as your furnishings, yellow, teal, purple and red.

For more inspiration then why not browse through our Christmas Shop.