Christmas indulgences 5: silver sparkles

Adding silver sparkle to your home is a great way to bring in a touch of festive spirit without having to go overboard. With a wide range of festive styles to chose from silver can be teamed with numerous other colours to create stunning décor or used on its own to bring stylish touches into your home which ooze elegance and refinement.

This majestic colour doesn't have to take second place to gold and for many is far more subtle in its looks. It's is also an excellent colour scheme to go with this year as it harnesses the latest design trend of incorporating metallics and natural elements into your interior design style, sitting comfortably next to both muted and bright colour schemes. If you want to decorate your home using silver try a different approach from the spangles and glitz.

Lean towards the muted tones of brushed silver rather than high gloss. If you have brushed metal curtain poles try and use these as a source of your colour scheme, that way you'll have a balanced and harmonious look. Choose to veer away from a traditional fir tree and go for twiggy branches large enough to display in pewter or ionised metal containers place on large rugs. Drape twinkly plain white lights through the branches, to add a touch of sparkle to the room include a few elegant silver ornaments, and let the display speak for itself in terms of refined style.

Keep your festive décor simple for maximum effect; by all means add hang matt coloured baubles from wall lights but nothing brash or gaudy. Use contrasting coloured tiebacks on your curtains and replicate the style and colour on embellished cushions and throws. This type of festive décor is also ideal for bedrooms. Select a colour, or colours, from duvet cover sets to use as your festive colour scheme; again go for refinement with a few carefully chosen ornaments rather than quantity.

Add twinkly lights to your headboard or draped over your curtain poles – choose one or the other rather than both, otherwise you run the risk of making your festive décor look cheap and tacky. Silver sparkles can work exquisitely well in traditional and contemporary interiors just as long as you make a focal point of your display (in the same way as a Christmas tree) and aren't tempted to keep adding more ornaments – stylish simplicity is the key to success.

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