Christmas, Neill Strain Floral Couture style

Celebrating Christmas in the style of Neill Strain Floral Couture means an intoxicating immersion into an ambiance of luxurious decorations, hand crafted by Neill and his team into the magic of the season. Neill takes us on a tour of his Belgravia boutique, introducing us to the new trends of 2016 and unveiling the exquisite decorations he has brought back from Europe alongside his bespoke designs.

The Belgravia boutique is dressed for Christmas and we're all as excited about it as are the local residents passing by. Decorating our store for the holiday season is one of the highlight's of our year. Whereas last year we chose an all-favourite traditional colour scheme of red and green, this year we've opted for the new 2016 trends of gold, bronze and copper. Given the Grosvenor competition for the most creative, most festive and most glamourous Christmas Window Displays, Belgravia is already boasting some of the most stunning window designs in London!

The central garland, with tints and tones of gold and bronze, is constructed on gold twigs of Birch, painstakingly attached to create an elegant, down-facing vertical line, intertwined with twinkling fairy lights. The two Christmas trees in the windows we actually made from cut branches of Spruce to give the illusion of a full tree. Richly decorated, these single-sided trees are perfect for filling a narrow or limited space in your home. Gazing at the trees proudly stand our sequinned golden reindeers. Available in small, medium and large, these are one of our prize additions to this year's range of seasonal decorations.

If you can come and visit us please do! We're open both Saturdays and Sundays now and on November 18th, 19th and 20th we are hosting our Christmas Open House. Everyone welcome for mulled wine, hot chocolate and scrumptious cookes and a 20% discount on any seasonal purchases or pre-orders made during the event. Of course, if you really adore our window display, you can vote for us in the Grosvenor competition on facebook, twitter or Instagram as fans' favourite with hashtag #BelgraviaChristmasWindow.

But this blog post is for me to introduce you to the new trends, some new techniques and a general preview of what wonderful decorations we will be creating and selling this season at the boutique and installing in our clients' beautiful homes.

Here we have some sample Christmas trees. The first is a luxury Faux Tree, ladened with layers of baubles, lights and decorations in the current bronze/copper and gold theme. The second is an ornamental tree of gold-sprayed Birch leaves, carefully assembled as a creative alternative to a small traditional tree. The third is the single-sided tree we made with fresh Spruce displayed in our window and ideal for narrow spaces, while the fourth is another Faux Tree sprayed in white "snow" and heavily decorated with exquisite baubles, icicles, bells, glass pine cones, sweets and much more. We also propose majestic fresh trees that I personally select from the farm, delivered to and decorated in your home. Let's have a closer look at some of the exceptionally gorgeous tree decorations I have found for this season.

Part of our Haute Couture range in gold...

And some of our ornate ribbons in new and classic colours which we use to embellish our wreaths, garlands, floral arrangements and trees...

One of the trends for 2016 is mixing natural elements with highly decorative, to create an elegant look that is both organic and festive. Natural wood slices mixed with gold sprayed twigs and cones, the scales or "petals" of pine cones glued into shapes, succulents both natural and sprayed... Here are a few of our candle designs from this theme.

Here ends my virtual tour of the Belgravia boutique depicting some of the decorations and designs we have on display. But this is just a teaser! Our door wreaths and candle wreaths, from 40 cms to 90 cms wide, are absolutely magnificent; densely packed trailing garlands are made-to-measure to adorn the dining table or mantelpiece; exciting plants in captivating containers; handsome bouquets with the finest flowers of the season, and so much more. So make your way over to West Halkin Street and let us transport you to our world of festive Floral Couture, sparkle and glamour, opulence and refinement.

And don't forget to come to our Christmas Open House, November 18th, 19th and 20th.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Florally yours,

Neill x