If it's Christmas, it must be red. Or purple. Or black. When it comes to decorating your house for the festive season, the only rule is to throw out the rule book, say designers. For Jim Marvin, a US design guru for the past 30 years who has designed for many Christmas events at the White House as well as themes for indoor and outdoor spaces in Hong Kong, the best advice is to free your inner colour genie.
'Colour, colour, colour - All things bright and beautiful is a wonderful theme,' advises Marvin. 'Follow your heart when it comes to colour. As a designer, I do not like too much co-ordination with the colour scheme of the furnishings. Christmas is a time to explore colour and express your thoughts and be daring.'
Designer Andy Tong has more than a decade of experience in decorating huge venues such as Harbour City and smaller home projects. He also advocates taking the lead from your own taste when it comes to colour. 'For colours and style, you can follow the fashion trend - although it's rather eclectic at the moment - or you can use colours that reflect your character,' he says.
The tree
When it comes to decorating your tree, take inspiration from Europe, where the tradition of bringing a fir tree into the home at Christmas time began.
At this year's Tendence show in Frankfurt, Germany in August - one of the biggest interior design trade shows - trend spotters predicted that Oriental and Russian-inspired blues and purples would predominate in Christmas decorations this winter, along with the ever popular and more traditional reds and whites.