15 Ways to Re-Deck the Halls with Designer Eddie Ross (2024)

The first step to preparing for the holidays? Picking a palette that speaks to you—not just Yuletide tradition. "Christmas colors clash with most interiors," says designer, blogger, party host extraordinaire, and editorial director for Rue La La, Eddie Ross, who suggests enhancing your rooms' existing hues instead of defaulting to red and green. In his own dining room, a tablecloth sewn from Tricia Guild fabric sparked the color scheme. Ross and his partner, Jaithan Kochar—the marketing director for Grange Furniture—echoed the bold turquoise with blue tapers and glass ornaments atop brass candlesticks. They painted the walls here (and throughout the house) White Dove by Benjamin Moore.

(Teal ornaments, from $18.99, The Whitehurst Company, christmaslightsetc.com)

"I don't want some Rockefeller Center-size fir to impose on my day-to-day," declares Ross, who nevertheless made a grand gesture by placing multiple mini-trees throughout the house. This one, on the library's demilune table, jibes with the room's palette. The table is also flanked by English club chairs, 1960s Ethan Allen sconces, and midcentury intaglios.

(Candy canes, $2.95, hammondscandies.com. Pillows, $185, lacefielddesigns.com)

1. Less is more. For the living room's tree, Ross and Kochar limited themselves to basic glass ornaments in a handful of shades: blue, green, and gold. The presents beneath it benefit from a similar restraint. "You live with the packages until you give them away," Ross points out. "Why not have them match?"

2. Don't overlook the obvious. Bare windows offer the ultimate blank canvas; the couple took advantage of it with wreaths of juniper and blue spruce, mounted using adhesive hooks (3M Command hooks, $9 for three-pack; amazon.com).

3. Poinsettias aren't the only Christmas flowers. An eye-opening alternative? White amaryllis tinged with green.

4. Create continuity with judicious pops of color. One bowl of ornaments and another of wrapped candies, plus hardcover books and a soft throw, repeat the tree's blues and greens.

In this photo: Ross found the living-room sofa at Salvation Army and re-covered it in linen from Calico Corners; the coffee table came from Goodwill. Both hold their own against a mahogany-veneer sideboard that dates to the early 1900s. Kochar's uncle gave the couple the zebra-hide rug.

1. Work what you've got. Ross started with the accessories that always sit on this ledge: the 1940s clock in the center and the matched pair of hurricanes at either end.

2. Embrace asymmetrical symmetry. Moving inward from the hurricanes, he added objects that mimic each other, sort of. Note how the candlestick holding the textured gold ball is roughly the same height as the standing reindeer, though their shapes differ. Ditto the prone deer and the brass cup of paperwhites.

3. Throw a major curveball. Next, Ross introduced items—the framed portrait and loving cup—that don't even pretend to parallel each other. The purpose: Infusing the whole scene with energy.

4. Fill in the blanks. The designer tucked gold garland throughout the arrangement. For a final stroke of genius, he draped glass beads from elk antlers hung on high. "The silver and gold strands help the mixed metals seem intentional," Ross says.

In this photo: Ross purchased the silver-plate hurricanes at Costco, the deer figurines at Michaels, and the stockings on Etsy. The elk antlers are over 100 years old.

"It takes minimal effort to press cookie dough in a mold," Ross says. He nabbed these German springerle molds at flea markets. You can order similar ones from mycookiemold.com.

Recipe: Springerle