An understated approach to holiday décor in the country

Growing up in Menands, New York, interior designer Shawn Henderson was always the most enthusiastic member of his family when it came time to decorate for the holidays.

“I’m the youngest of six kids, so the holidays were just huge,” said Henderson, 54. “But I was the one pulling out the fake Christmas tree, putting up the lights and doing all the decorating the day after Thanksgiving.”

Today, Henderson runs a Manhattan-based studio that has designed homes for Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer and Sam Rockwell and Leslie Bibb, among other clients. He did not design sets for “Elf,” Ferrell’s Christmas classic, but his enthusiasm for the holidays would have made him a good candidate for that job as well.

Having brought festive cheer to so many rooms over so many years, Henderson said he has learned a few lessons. The most important lesson of all is that he has learned to relax.

In the past, he experimented with different holiday decorating concepts, ranging from specific color schemes to using all-natural, organic elements. But creating elaborate holiday decorations began to feel like a little too much.

More recently, he shifted gears to focus on holiday decorating that is easier, more personal and cozy.

Henderson recently decorated his country house in Hillsdale, New York, where he celebrates the holidays with his partner, Pino Fortunato, 50, a real estate agent, and their Yorkiepoo, Maximo.

A tree that tells stories

“There were many years when I would actually go into the woods on my property and cut down a Charlie Brown-looking Christmas tree,” Henderson said. “Back in those days, everything was very edited and curated.”

But this year, he took a less studious approach to decorating a tree he purchased from a local farm. He began by winding colorful lights that were new, but had the look of vintage bulbs, around the tree. “Those are exactly the type of lights I used to string around the front of my house when I was a kid,” he said. “They’re super nostalgic.”

Then he added ornaments collected over decades, which stoke personal memories. A ceramic Santa Claus was painted by his grandmother. Mirrored ornaments were made by his friend Maureen Fullam, an artisan. A blown-glass ornament resembling a tin of olive oil, purchased at John Derian, is a nod to Fortunato’s Italian heritage. A kraft paper ornament is a survivor of the year he experimented with recyclable and compostable materials.

“It’s a messy old-school mishmash,” Henderson said with a sense of satisfaction.

A natural mantel

With the tree finished, Henderson aimed for simpler touches around the rest of the living room. “I like to let the tree be extremely colorful, but everything else to feel very natural and blend in with the rest of the room,” he said.

His decorated fireplace mantel, for instance, doesn’t cry out for attention, but the seasonal inspiration is clear.

Henderson added white and green bottle brush trees to one side of the mantel, but only after painting their bases a buff color because he found the original white too glaring.

On the other side, he arranged a collection of pine cones ranging in size, including some found on his property and others carried home from trips. “I’ve been collecting them for years,” he said.

Above the pine cones, he replaced a pillar candle in a wall-mounted brass candleholder with cedar branches, both for visual and aromatic appeal.

Decorative Discoveries

Throughout his living room, Henderson continued to add understated decorations.

On top of a small cabinet, he placed a ceramic model of a church covered in snow, and a pair of felted elves atop a few stacked books. “Those were my mom’s,” Henderson said, which give them sentimental value.

On a side table by a sofa, he added a cluster of green bottle brush trees in a circle, along with pine cones piled in a bowl, and a candleholder made from dried seedpods. And finally, he stuffed large vases with clusters of cedar and eucalyptus.

An inviting entrance

Henderson normally keeps the front entrance of the white 1830s Hillsdale house simple and uncluttered, but for the holidays he adds a few elements to create a festive welcome.

This year, he worked with garland and wreaths made from salal leaves, evergreen branches and eucalyptus, which he ordered from Pacific Garland.

Henderson began by climbing a stepladder and hammering nails into the clapboard siding above his front door in order to drape a 20-foot-long garland around the doorway.

For more greenery, he placed matching small wreaths around the necks of two cast stone greyhound statues. “I do that every year,” he said.

Beside the dogs, he added two tall lanterns with pillar candles. “I’ll light those candles whenever we have company coming over,” he said.

Finally, he hung another large wreath, made from the same greenery, at the center of the front door.

The additions gave the front entrance a lavish look, even though the whole process took only a few minutes to complete.

Consider it a bit of holiday magic, Henderson said. The greenery is beautiful on its own, without the addition of ribbon, lights or ornaments, he noted. This approach also makes taking everything down easy at the end of December, he continued, because there’s no need to deconstruct anything.

“I find it really beautiful to have the decorations up,” Henderson said. “But on Dec. 26, I just want everything to disappear as quickly as possible.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.