Comfort Zone

Decorating your home for the holidays can be a stressful affair, especially if you are planning to entertain and want to impress your guests. But when do you trade off tradition for trend, homespun for high style, or should you even try?

Several local interior decorators say that if there is one time of year when you should rely on your own instincts, this is it.

"The holidays are so personal to people, and [the season] lasts for only six weeks, so I say do whatever feels good to you in your house or on your lawn," says Kathy Venier of Details, an interior design firm in Lexington. "If it's flashing lights or Santas coming out of every little opening, you are entitled to celebrate and have fun within the traditions that have always made you happy."

Still, these professionals can offer some decorating guidelines that even the most seasoned tree trimmers will find useful. First among them: Your holiday decorations do not have to match your decor.

No one expects the ribbon you string around the tannenbaum to complement the draperies or your ornaments to echo the china pattern. But if you are a stickler for continuity or want a look that's more seasonally subtle than Santa's Village, then go with white lights everywhere, silver balls on the tree, or single-ornament themes, like branches bursting with snowmen.

Decorators also advise using natural materials as much as possible. A live tree is a must for its shape and scent; a garland draped from the mantel or in swags on the staircase has got to be real, they say, and wreaths on doors or windows should be made by nature, not man.

Eleanor Samuels of Abbott Interiors in Newton encourages clients to get personal in their holiday decor by showing off ornaments collected through the years or inherited from parents or grandparents. And children's drawings and their handmade popcorn strings should be showcased this time of year.

"The tree and decorations should be unique to your household," says Samuels. "I like to go into a home, see what people have used for years and years, and then spice things up." She says she asks her clients, " `What do you want your tree to say this year: country, glitzy, sporty?' And then we go from there."

Exteriors, says Samuels, should be kept simple: a beautifully decorated wreath on the front door, white lights on the bushes, and not much else. "I'm not a big fan of candles in every window, and I have to admit, I dislike those icicle lights. They're just everywhere," she says. "Last year, they even came out in Halloween colors. Now, that's scary."

With the proliferation of the great room, known for its soaring ceiling, larger and larger Christmas trees are turning up in suburban homes. A big tree can be beautiful, as long as there are enough decorations and lights to fill it out and as long as it's not overwhelming everything and everyone in the room.

"If it scrapes the ceiling, and you have to move furniture out of the room to fit it in, it's probably too big," says Samuels. "A 10-foot tree is probably the biggest I'd advise people to get. I mean, you are going to need a really big ladder to put the star on top, so keep that in mind."

Venier, of Details, says that many families are opting for multiple trees around the house, so that the children can enjoy a tree that's more casual and toy-oriented, while the adults' tree can show off valuable trinkets or mom's magazine-ready decorating talents.

"It's not the time of year to say, 'You did it wrong,' " says Venier. "Always keep in mind you are trying to keep in the spirit of the season. It's people loving one another, not criticizing if the `good' ornaments didn't make it out of the box."

And don't do anything too new or experimental if you have older children coming home from college looking to reconnect to family and memories through holiday traditions and decorations. "It'll break your heart if they come home looking for that special something and it's not there," Venier says, "or you didn't put the tree in the spot where it always was."

Venier likes to draw diagrams of her decorations on the bags she stores them in, so she'll be sure to put them up the same way next year.

Frank Roop, a Boston designer recently named one of the nation's top 25 young designers by House Beautiful magazine, says he tends to shy away from the traditional for the holidays, preferring instead to shake things up with color and objects not normally associated with Christmas.

For example, he might buy branches of coral and dye them bright red or blue, string white lights around them, and place them in vases all over the house.

He also likes to incorporate ethnic accessories into his holiday displays. That might mean using ornaments decorated in Indian cloth or objects from the Far East, both of which bring vibrant, unexpected colors to a traditional setting.

But if those ideas don't grab you, Roop says, stick with what warms your heart.

"If you keep it homey and sentimental, you can't go wrong," says Roop. "It's a fun time of year, and you don't have to worry about being serious or chic."