Christmas trimming up tips and low budget ideas from Rockett St George and the Mini Moderns plus Siobhan Murphy and others

Jane adds: 'When it comes to decorating my tree, I love old school, warm-tone lights and always opt for green flex as it blends in with the tree beautifully.

“Colour is always a good choice of theme. Last year I went for white and silver but this year, I love the idea of gold garlands, stars and green and gold baubles. Beautiful garlands not only look amazing, they make the thinner branches of your Christmas tree appear thicker.”

For money saving tips, they say: “Forage for cut branches, ivy, holly and opt for paper honeycombs, pinwheels and stars promise big impact.”

Yorkshire born Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire founded Mini Moderns, a hip homeware brand selling their own design wallpapers, fabrics, cushions, rugs and ceramics. They say: “We both love Christmas, always have. We look forward to trimming the house for the festive season and over the years we’ve amassed quite a collection of baubles and trimmings, many of which have specific memories attached.

“They fall into key Christmas looks, including Scandinavian-folky-rustic, retro-colourful and all white. We can never decide which to go with, so when we bought our live-work unit in South East London we agreed that we could have a studio tree downstairs and a living room tree upstairs. We are incredibly lucky to have our little Dungeness beach house, because we can trim that up too. So the decorations go on rotation.

“You don’t have to stick to overtly Christmassy themes to make an impact. One year we bought lots of inexpensive Chinese paper lanterns and hung them from lengths of bamboo cane suspended over the dining table.

“Also, we have a bit of an aversion to red, so our twist on the classic red and green Christmas scheme is to replace the red with rusty oranges. As for DIY, one year we sliced lemons and oranges and hung them from the tree. You don’t even need to dry them out as they dry naturally over the Christmas season, plus they smell amazing.

“Another year we amassed a big pile of pine cones on a forest walk in Norfolk. We painted half of them with white emulsion and kept the other half natural. They look great scattered on the dining table.” Visit www.minimoderns.com

Siobhan Murphy, fashion, Yorkshire-based homeware and interior designer, says: “I got a beautiful artificial tree last year which will probably be used every year for at least the next twenty years. I am going for the same colour schemes using all the same baubles, birds and feather boas as I did last year but I am planning to spray and decorate a few baubles just to make things look a little different.

“I’ve got a new pink frosted tree for the lounge and I’m going to decorate it with silver disco baubles and lots of fairy lights. I usually buy a couple of baubles every year fromLiberty as a treat and I’ve bought some rainbow glitter ball baubles from Matalan this year and I’m treating myself to Elton John, Madonna and David Bowie baubles from Rockett St George.

“My money saving tip is to upcycle decorations by spray painting them. Last year I even spray painted a tree that I bought from a charity shop and turned it into a rainbow tree.” Find Siobhan on Instagram @interiorcurve

Printmaker Nikki Williams, www.theprintlass.co.uk, says: “I decorate our mantelpiece with my own design wooden or paper houses. They are made to be used with fairy lights, so the windows light up and sparkle and are great accessorised with a few tree ornaments. I also like decorating a window or two with white Posca pens. I’ve drawn little houses, baubles and wreaths in the past but you can find lots of ideas on Pinterest. Posca pen drawings will wipe off without too much work.”

She adds: “If I get time, I’ll also make a wreath with foliage from the garden, such as holly, eucalyptus, pine and ivy and last year I added red kale, which has a lovely texture.”

Wil Law, who works for John Lewis, lives in a one bedroom apartment in Wakefield and gives us his tips on small space decor. Find Wil on Instagram @johnlewis_wil

“The beauty of trimming up a small space is that you can make a whole room feel festive quite easily. Any surface you have, like shelving or a storage unit, can become festive with the addition of winter foliage draped on top, decorations nestled in and amongst and Christmas lights wired around the surface to create a cosy glow.

“If you have no room for a tree and still want a festive focal point, collect oversized twigs and display these in a vase with baubles hanging from the branches. Or introduce some neon wall art into your home with a festive motif. The intensity of colour and playful handwriting of a neon display will draw the eye and create cheer.”

Interior designer Georgie Pridden says: “We get our real tree from the Methley Estate near Leeds and the children decorate it with things we amassed over the years. I like to reuse and make-do as there is much waste at Christmas so charity shops are a go-to and I use foliage from the garden and dried flowers sprayed gold. Sprigs of holly, bowls of festive fruits and nuts.

We have a fabric advent calendar which we fill with treats and on Christmas Eve we have a sneaky present opening, just the one, though.”