According to Jane Hughes and Melissa Coonradt of Hughes Interior Design, dressing your home for the holidays is more than just the sights of the season; other senses play into the enjoyment of the holidays as well. Oftentimes, fond memories of the holidays are tied to the smell of mom baking in the kitchen. Even if you can’t have a fresh batch of cookies or a pumpkin pie baking at all times, you can use scented candles to bring the seasonal scents into your home.

“Filling the house with warm scents, whether it is from baking or scented candles, just changes the whole environment. As busy as the time of year is, scents help create a peaceful and thoughtful environment so you can have moments to unwind.”

Hughes also notes that music helps liven up the holiday home.

“The season is all about the sights, scents and sounds,” she says. “Playing music, whether it is Christmas music or instrumental, it just really keeps the mood going.”

A few simple design plans can help create a festive home for the holiday season; and creating a warm and inviting setting for your holiday festivities doesn’t have to take hours.

When it comes time to decorate, if you’re looking for something sophisticated and simple, think natural. Some of the easiest decorating mediums can be found in your own back yard. Pine cones, acorns, evergreen boughs and greenery can all make for a lovely display on your mantle piece, as a centerpiece or in window boxes. Hughes notes that it also makes a great family activity for everyone to be involved with. For Thanksgiving, think gourds, pumpkins and nuts for decorative accents.

Other natural ingredients that aren’t necessarily tied to the winter season can be combined to create stunning design features in your home.

“Christmas doesn’t have to be just about red and green,” says Hughes. She suggests filling a crystal bowl with lemons or other citrus fruits and some greenery to use as a festive table centerpiece. And, she notes, greenery doesn’t just have to be evergreen.

“Magnolia leaves are very attractive for decorating. Visit your local florist; they will have a wide variety of inexpensive greenery that you could use for decorating.

“The nice thing about using greenery is that it can remain through the season and can be refreshed and updated with fresh boughs or blooms. That little bit of greenery outside or inside really helps you get through those long winter months.”

Coonradt and Hughes also recommend bringing in additional pillows onto your sofa, or exchanging out the regular pillows, adding a table runner or for a window treatment, adding a few extra panels to the rod that are in deeper jewel tones.

“Warmer colors can just warm the room,” says Hughes. “And when the season is over and you are done with them, you can just store them away for next year.”

To get into the festive mood in her own home, Hughes notes she likes to have more than one Christmas tree in her house and she tries to hang small wreaths on each door.

“If I have the time, I like to bring a little holiday into each room, it could be a floral arrangement, a small topiary or a bowl of scented pine cones, something that gives each room it own special touch.”

Hughes Interior Design is located in the Mabee Building, 29 Church Street and Coonradt and Hughes can be reached at

573-5154, Melissa Coonradt

369-4062.