NorthShore Magazine: Holiday 2021
NORTHSHORE MAGAZINE
December 2021
Text by Victoria Abbott Riccardi
Photography by Elise Sinagra
Three North Shore Designers Share Their Advice for Festive Holiday Florals
“For many people, decorating their home for the holidays is a cherished tradition, which can be made even more magical by incorporating fresh flowers. Live blooms bring cheer and a dashing elegance to front halls, kitchen islands, mantels and dining room tables—the main areas people dress up for the holidays.”
Simple But Elegant
Floral designer Sandra Sigman, owner of Les Fleurs in Andover, also says her clients prefer a cleaner aesthetic regarding holiday florals. “People have a lot going on with their holiday decorations, whether it’s the Christmas tree that’s blinking, mantel decorations, wreaths and boughs, so they want something more neutral.” For her own holiday table, she continues, “I do all winter white—white amaryllis and flowering paperwhites—and then I add silver Brunia, eucalyptus leaves, and accents of princess pine, which is really soft and doesn’t shed.” She’ll also create a tablescape of three small “Charlie Brown Christmas trees,” each anchored in floral foam hidden by moss on its own tray and then adorned with tiny pinecones or vintage glass balls. She then intersperses cordial glasses filled with cut paperwhites among the trays of trees. “It’s an easy do-it-yourself look.”
For Sigman’s clients who want florals in their kitchens but not big arrangements for space considerations, she goes small. “I’ll make a whole vignette with little wreaths for the kitchen windows made from eucalyptus, seed pods and princess pine and then fill small mercury glass, votive-like holders with greenery and white florals, like Ranunculus, to sit on the windowsills.” She creates similar vignettes outside people’s homes for the front door, urns, and columns flanking them. The mixed greenery she uses for the urns shows up in the door wreath (or swag) tied with the same gorgeous ribbons wound around the columns. Jumbo pinecones in the urns get stacked in a corner by the front door to pull the look together. “People are like, ‘Oh, my gosh, yes, yes,’ as everything evolves. So, you’re not just putting a wreath on your door.”