6 Clever Ways To Decorate With Flowers This Christmas

"Refined yet wild" is Kitten Grayson's tagline. Together with her colleague, Harriette Tebbutt, a former interior stylist, she's dressed tables for an eclectic client list that boasts Proenza Schouler, Giorgio Armani, Nike and Bobbi Brown. They have a knack for creating bountiful displays bursting with romance that somehow never feel ostentatious - so who better to advise on how to fill your home with tastefully festive floral arrangements this Christmas than the starry duo? Here, they share their decorating tips with Liberty.

Rework the wreathe

A willow wreath base is a beautiful canvas for delicate dried flowers. Wild and natural with pops of festive colour, it's a change from the traditional green fern, and looks joyful on a brightly coloured front door. All naturally preserved, these will last from year to year (play around with a few added ingredients for a fresh look next time).

Focus on the fireplace

The focal point of any room, a fireplace is the perfect opportunity to hang garlands of festive foliage. Keep it simple with mixed green leaves and branches, lit with twinkling fairy lights, or hang with jewel-coloured dried flowers - hydrangea heads make perfect natural baubles – for a more impactful display. This year we have been inspired by Dennis Severs’ historic house in Spitalfields and for a recent installation at London’s JAMB, we used a rich mix of hydrangeas, rosehips, berries and pink peppercorns, finished off with hot pink paper garlands, for a look we like to describe as ‘Dickensian kitsch’.

Relegate your tinsel

Banish the plastic in favour of decorations made from dried flowers and fruit tied with wire, twine or plush velvet ribbon. Oranges, sliced or studded with cloves, bring a traditional scent but give license for vibrant citrus colours.

Dress your table

We love filling the house with something fresh, bright and vital when it’s cold and dreary outside. Plant up a variety of seasonal bulbs and plug plants and cover with moss - we love them in wicker containers or large china bowls. For Alexa Chung’s recent Thanksgiving dinner at the London Edition, we created a modern take on the traditional Christmas table votive using a range of retro blooms such as ranunculus, chrysanthemums and carnations, in a palette of red and hot pink. Super effective aesthetically but simple to execute, the key is using stems of varying lengths for an eclectic and contemporary look.

Just look up

Branches suspended from the ceiling bring a dramatic yet cosy woodland feel to a Christmas dining room. For a recent installation at our friend Jackson Boxer’s restaurant, St Leonard’s, we created an abundant hanging arrangement interspersed with foraged foliage, dried flowers, grasses and mistletoe. For a simple at-home version, though, we’d recommend suspending a large branch (about the length of your table) from the ceiling using hooks and fishing wire and from that, hanging bundles of mistletoe and lengths of velvet ribbon.

Loosen up

A big bunch of scented paperwhite narcissi, tied with ribbon, is a heavenly winter present. Add foraged lichen branches, foliage and berries for a more robust and dramatic arrangement.