Christmas Decorating Trends 2019 Animal\

Mother Nature Meets Santa Claus in Holiday Looks For 2019

It's July, the pivotal month where Christmas is on the brain with countless "Christmas in July" sales, specials and events aimed at getting you focused on the holiday season ahead. So, in honor of all this "Christmas in July" hype, I'm bringing you a look ahead at the trending holiday looks for 2019. For the latest holiday styles and decorating ideas, I look to Christmasworld, a global show for holiday decorations held annually in Frankfurt, Germany.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Peter Litvai

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Gift Company

Expect the 2019 holiday season to couple Santa Claus with Mother Nature as natural materials and earthy motifs ground the tinsel, faux snow and bling, bling ornaments. Surfaces and structures lean towards nature with grainy, frosty and bark-like textures. Patterns are inspired by nature, including above all, fir trees, deer, twigs, snowflakes, stars and feathers. Wood makes a strong showing in decorative figures. Envision design elements such as wooden trays, candle holders, lanterns, twigs and coniferous wreaths, and hanging decorations in the shape of animals and fir cones.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Designimdorf

Key color stories venture far beyond the traditional red and green with this trend towards natural themes with blue and green surfacing as dominant colors on holiday decor.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Rui Camilo

There are many iterations of this Mother Nature-Meets Father Christmas. The look mixes animal, plants, insects and sea life in colorful, whimsical scenarios: woodland scenes with deer, squirrels and owls.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Krebs + Sohn

Think jungles populated with peacocks, parrots, monkeys, orchid blossoms and palm leaves; meadows with blooms and butterflies and beetles and insects and underwater worlds swarming with jellyfish, corals, seashells, fish, crabs and seahorses.

Here are some of my favorite trending Christmas scenarios to get you inspired as you plan your holidays.

Warm Holiday Lighting:

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Pietro Sutera

Moving lights, wirelessly controlled by an App, bring the figures and objects to life. Warm golden light is visibly taking over from cold white light.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Pietro Sutera

Transparent Christmas baubles filled with light have the potential to be favorite pieces.

Natural Ornaments:

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Pietro Sutera

Christmas decorations merge with real flowers and blossoms, green plants, twigs and succulents and faux flowers and plants as tree ornaments, wreath designs and mantel swags, all enhanced with the scents of candles, room sprays and scent diffusers.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Rudolph Keramik

The color palette pulls in the colors of autumn leaves— red gold and aubergine as well as cinnamon, grey, beige and white with accents of black.

Folklore Influences:

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Peter Litvai

Folkloric motifs mix with patterns in color palettes of yellow, blue and red to create a richly decorated holidayscape with unexpected, humorous touches.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH

Design elements include differently glazed and inscribed ceramics, gift boxes with blue printed and batik patterning, and candles in intense solid colors with gentle grooved designs. In between all this, there are eye-catching elements: paper maché rams and horses painted by Ukrainian artisans, strings of lights in the shape of small lobsters, and a wild band of robbers made of glass that is destined for hanging on the tree.

Minimalist Motif:

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Pietro Sutera

This holiday decor theme is an understated style in pure white, deep black, red gold, and cool grey. It draws influences from Japanese aesthetics to create a calm, meditative atmosphere with delicate materials. Artistically pleated, plaited and folded baubles and stars made of matt white paper make an appearance as tree decorations.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH

Design elements include minimal shapes and simple materials such as chipboard, wire and paper, light wood, matt porcelain with perforated patterns, transparent glass baubles and cones dusted with white snow, ornaments with high-gloss silver or black surfaces, and marbled Christmas tree decorations in black and white, radiate calm.

Eclectic Gathering:

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Rui Camilo

Eclectic gathering is a quirky, vibrant look, full of energy, multifaceted, and intensely colored. The color story includes lemon, pink, mandarin, azure and rosé enriched with gold and grounded with black.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH

This is a look of contrasts with figurative, fanciful and exaggerated design elements. Christmas baubles in neon colors and ombré-effect patterns, others embellished with sequins and mother-of-pearl work, iridescent bird ornaments, dragonflies dipped in gold, and glass jellyfish dusted with gold adorn the tree work together to create a visual feast.

Vintage Opulence:

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Shishi

This Christmas winter wonderland embraces color palettes inspired by the ocean, precious stones and minerals. Dark greens, dark blue shades, light blues, warm golds, bronze and metallic tones, combine to create a mystical, opulent holiday scape. Envision opalescent ornaments in aquamarine and aventurine shades of green with metallic effects, relief work, and patinas inspired by nature. Christmas decorations that are marbled, veined in gold, sprayed with glitter, and studded with pearls are very decorative.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH/Pietro Sutera

Transparent glass decorations in the shape of crystals with a shimmering look, and precious glass baubles with seemingly rusted metallic coatings, create a mysterious and sumptuous effect. Gold bowls and ceramic dishes in the shape of large palm leaves are all part of this exalted style.

Photo credit: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH

For even more holiday decor ideas, check out my Holiday Tour of the famed Stetson Mansion:

For even more holiday decor ideas, check out this blog post.

Karen LeBlanc

Karen LeBlanc is a freelance writer living in Orlando, Florida with many published bylines in magazines, newspapers, and multimedia sites. As a professional lifestyle writer, Karen specializes in art, architecture, design, home interiors and personality profiles. Karen is the writer, producer and host of the streaming series, The Design Tourist (www.TheDesignTourist.com) that brings viewers a global dose of design inspiration with episodes featuring the latest looks and trends from the world's premiere design events and shows. She also publishes a quarterly magazine on design travel that you can read by clicking the link: https://thedesigntourist.com/the-magazine/ Her journalism background includes seven years on-air experience as a TV news reporter and anchor covering a range of issues from education to politics. Her educational credentials include a Master of Arts in Mass Communications from Northeast Louisiana University and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Louisiana State University. Throughout her career, Karen has written and produced dozens of documentaries and videos for educational, commercial, corporate, and governmental clients and appeared in many TV and video productions as a professional host.