Decorating & Design
Inspiring Spaces: 3 Gorgeous Holiday Window Displays
Updated on January 26, 2016
Interiors director Meg Crossley shares her favorite holiday window displays and how to mimic the look in your home.
Everyone loves Christmas windows, as evidenced by the throngs of people checking out the displays in major cities across North America. The most notable ones are from high-end department stores like Holt Renfrew and Barneys New York, but I personally like the windows of the small independent shops.
I feel a kinship with the creative people behind those windows, and think they are much like our H&H design editors; they need to create something eye-catching, nostalgic, friendly, accessible, inspirational and most of all, relatively inexpensive. Here are some of my favorite small retailer windows in Toronto this year, with my tips on how to translate the look into your own home.
Type Books is known throughout the city for its gorgeous windows, designed by display artist Kapna Patel, and this year’s Christmas display didn’t disappoint. I have always loved those little vintage houses, especially when they’re clustered together to make a village. It feels like a a snowy European setting, with houses slowing winding up a cobblestone street, cheek by jowl.
With just a few houses and bottle brush trees, you can start your own small village on your mantel. Grow the population each Christmas with new tchotchkes.
Get designer Sarah Hartill’s tips to styling the above festive mantel here!
Always a Christmas favorite, The Paper Place can do more with simple paper cutouts than most. Every year they show off their best oversized paper snowflakes, which are all available to buy in-store.
Incorporate paper cutouts into your home for holiday decor that makes a big impact. The best part? They can be used year after year. Learn how to make our DIY Paper Oak Garland here and get the template here.
Glass domes have the ability to elevate something simple into something special, as seen in The Devil’s Workshop’s holiday window display. Offering an extra hint of glimmer, the jewelry boutique creates a completely nostalgic Christmas scene.
Prop glass domes over items like old books, vintage Santa figurines, acorns, bits of bark or pinecones to achieve the look in your space.