Drifts of the white stuff, the smell of cinnamon, a crackling fire, and a pile of beautifully wrapped presents - this Danish family’s Christmas is a yuletide dream come true.
Signe Nordal and her partner Rasmus bought their home in the forest because they fell for its rural location. Now, the light-filled space serves as the ideal backdrop for Signe’s quirky, mismatched style, combining ethnic homeware from her interiors business with Scandinavian design and plenty of colour. Festive cheer comes courtesy of something as simple as bowls of dates clementines and cinnamon sticks.
SIGNE’S CHRISTMAS STYLE
1. Brew a pot of your favourite tea, pour into glass mugs and add rosemary sprigs and a vanilla pod. This will fill the air with a delicious, seasonal scent.
2. Make a beautiful outdoors snow candle holder from layers of hard snowballs. Assemble them in circles and place a chunky candle inside. They look lovely and Christmassy out in the snow with the candles flickering inside.
3. Make one big Christmas decoration for the centre of the table. This year I’m making mine in a large rustic wooden bowl, lined with moss, with a large candle in the centre and surrounded by decorations made by the children.
4. Don’t forget to serve nuts. In Denmark, like in Britain, we fill bowls with different types of nuts to crack and eat them with mandarin oranges and fresh dates.
5. Make a snowy landscape. If the snow doesn’t make an appearance, it will help to compensate. This is fun for the children: Bjork made ours from a metal tray and added cotton wool and spruce twigs for the elves to play in.
6. Decorate the table with multiples: I like to have a forest of matching candlesticks, for example, and a collection of glass fruit bowls of different heights filled with treats always looks pretty.
Signe Nordal runs the family business, Nordal, with her sister Mads Nordal Petersen. The shop sells a range of homeware from the Far East.
Plenty more festive ideas for gifts, food and fun in December's issue of The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe now.