How to decorate your home for Christmas like Bec Judd

9Honey interiors and style expert, Rebecca Judd, shares her exclusive tips for elegant Christmas decorating at home.

Author, model, business owner, presenter and mother-of-four Bec Judd knows how crazy things can get during the holiday season. She shares her personal styling tips with 9Honey Homes, so you can steal her secrets and bring the wow factor into your space these holidays.

Bec runs through everything from what's hot in Christmas tree decor to the cutlery you need on your table so you can spend more time with family than fussing over decorations. She even tells us her "signature scent" she always has burning in her home.

The Christmas tree

Bec loves things “ordered and perfect” – but realistically, that’s not what the holidays end up being. At all. It's a time to surrender to the beautiful chaos, so when it comes to Christmas tree decorating, she puts family first.

Bec with partner Chris, and their four children.

"I kind of let the kids do it," Bec told 9Honey Homes. "I like things orderly and symmetrical and perfect, so when I let the kids do the Christmas tree there’s a part of me that slowly dies inside, going 'ooh it’s not perfect'."

But her four children making memories with the ritual of decorating their tree is far more special than a perfect-looking tree.

Bec made headlines in 2016 for her unconventional Christmas tree after posting a photo to Instagram.

The "very Scandi looking," minimalist tree "made of recycled branches" swiftly divided the internet and received a bit of backlash.

But Bec wasn’t phased. "We’ve used it every year for the last four years, and will be using it again."

If you have a regular fir, Bec has some decorating tips to keep things sleek yet festive.

"What I’m loving right now are more monotone trees," explains Bec.

Bec references an all-white or lush green tree that then makes use of tonal ornaments.

"Not multi-coloured with stuff everywhere – because that would make my head spin – pick two colours and that’s it. But go big, think more is more, just all in the same tone."

For example, a white tree would work well with pink and champagne tonal decorations, according to Bec. Keep the colours clean and simple – but add lots and lots of decorations where the whole tree is covered and lit up in baubles, "so you don’t actually see the branches," Bec adds.

The final touch are white LED fairy lights. "They’re really easy to use, super practical, and don’t use much energy, so I chuck those on my tree."

The Christmas table

Two things and you’re set for wow factor: Magnolias and gold.

"The large Magnolias, with big massive branches in large, beautiful vases might not be the most practical, but far out, they look incredible," says Bec.

She was inspired by a friend’s decorations. "I was at Christmas lunch once and they had these magnolias all through the house, it was just stunning."

For the other accents and table decorations, go gold.

"Always go with gold," says Bec. "I just love gold cutlery. I think white plates and white crockery paired with burnished gold cutlery and gold salad servers is beautiful." Matte (not glossy) gold is her top pick.

If you like to party al fresco, Bec has the tableware that will make the meal.

"There are some amazing jugs and goblets made of plastic, but look like glass. They’re totally over the top but they’re actually quite thick and it looks so cool," she says, adding that they’re perfect for kids to handle.

"They’re so extra. I’ve just gone and bought them from a Melbourne homeware’s store, so I’ve got the huge big crystal jugs and the crystal goblets that are plastic. They come in clear, but also a beautiful teal and dirty rose pink that would look dreamy with gold cutlery."

The rest of the house

Bec says she can’t go past the impact of a beautiful wreath.

"We always have a wreath on our front door – you can’t go wrong with a massive wreath," she told 9Honey Homes. "I think in any kind of style, you can either do a really branchy one in a silver, gold or champagne, or you can do the traditional big bushy dark green one that’s sprayed with white for snow."

Once inside, Bec says she is "conscious to have some beautiful candles lit through the day so the house smells really nice. I use Diptyque Baies, which is berries in French, but that’s my go-to signature house scent."

But it's not just about scent and glittering colours, it's also about a feel - and music is the perfect addition.

"I make sure I’ve got the Baies on and I always have music playing in every room in the house," Bec says.

"I’ve got some amazing gold vases – they’re like gold metal vases – so I just have those throughout the house with big, beautiful magnolia in them. This means in every room there’s a focal point."

While this sounds very merry and elegant, Bec knows it isn’t the traditional Christmas route.

"It’s kind of my take on Christmas. I don’t really do the traditional mistletoe or the holly. I prefer a lot of foliage. I think foliage is good because it’s green, but when you put it with the gold vase it gives it that festive vibe."

How does Bec store her Christmas decorations?

Must like the rest of us.

"I just chuck it all in a box labelled Christmas decorations," Bec laughs. "Chuck it all in and chuck it in a linen cupboard. And then get it out 12 months later. That’s all I do."

And if you were wondering about that branch-only chrissie tree – "you can swivel the branches around so they’re all facing the same way, then the Christmas tree becomes really skinny and you can just chuck it in a cupboard. It’s easy to store. It flattens out." 

Bec is an ambassador for Chadstone Shopping Centre, who are making Christmas shopping an experience for the family. You can visit Santa at his new workshop and discover talking reindeer, hourly snow falls, a marvellous Christmas tree and Santa himself. It's just a bonus you can grab everything you need to decorate your home for the holidays, too.

Listen: Maggie Dent, author educator and parenting guru talks to Deb Knight on the Honey Mums podcast about why we should find humour in raising kids:

https://omny.fm/shows/9honey-super-mums/maggie-dent/embed?style=artwork