Interior: Modern minimalist holiday decor

Talk about chutzpah. Andrea Hunt must buy Windex in bulk. The marketing professional and her husband, who works in healthcare, live in a slick, art-filled white house full of windows with three boys under the age of eight. Yet, not only is the home warm and welcoming during Christmas – thanks to dark, Jacobean-stained hardwood floors and friendly hits of red – it’s also not a hands-off affair.

“With three boys, how can it be?” says Andrea, who adds that the crisp colour palette and streamlined design scheme is great for a family. “Keeping it minimal helps maintain calmness, and open sightlines mean I can keep an eye on the boys. Living in colour feels chaotic.” This explains Andrea’s penchant for restrained holiday decorating: “I like just enough to signal festive,” she says, “but still feel minimal and clean.” 


Red for the holidays
"Red is iconic to the holidays – it’s a happy colour that especially works in an all-white decor scheme,” says Andrea. “You can make a lot of impact with a little red.” And during the action-packed holidays, when her boys are at their most boisterous (whose kids aren’t, really?), this busy mom appreciates all the decorating shortcuts she can get.