Wouldn’t it be great if everybody had the same idea of what Christmas should look like? It sure would ease the stress of choosing the decorations for your corporate space. Hey, it’s stressful enough just trying to make everybody in the family happy when it’s time to decorate the tree! I have this vivid memory of my mother in the early 1970’s as she announced that we were only using two different color balls on the tree this year. You guessed it, harvest gold and avocado green. I looked at her at the tender age of 14 and said, “You must be joking!” (Who knew, I would grow up to do this for a living!) She was not. She had every intention of that tree matching everything in our house. Perfectly. And so, it did. And it was …..really ugly! We even had to toss the tinsel. I was sure that Santa had no intentions of stopping at my house any longer.

How do you choose a color scheme or theme for your space? Start with color. Evidently color is an extremely important element in marketing. I recently read in Fortune magazine (August 04) that there is a non-profit organization called “The Color Marketing Group”, put together by reps from such high power organizations as Motorola, HP and Toyota to a name a few. Their purpose? To forecast and even create trends in color for years to come. Toyota needs to know now, what color car we, the consumer will want to buy in 2007. Their answer? A “new” brown they are calling, electric mud! They describe it as ”a deep rich brown that will convey that technology enhances relationships, but does not replace them.“ Uh Huh. Ready for some more? How about the new pink? “Hottie Fuchsia” or our best Christmas friend, red. They will be calling it, “Burlesque Red”. (Oh dear.) When selecting what will work in your space, I suggest you go one of two ways. To keep it simple, let’s call these concepts traditional Christmas and trendy Christmas.

The traditional looks tend to be in the red, green and gold arena. No matter what your finish or décor is, this is Christmas to everybody. You really can’t go wrong. It may not “match”, but that isn’t always a bad thing when it comes to commercial holiday decorating. You want to get a good “bang for your buck”, especially if your space is on a grand scale. You will want to consider the size and scale of every item relative to the surrounding space to be certain it is going to give you that “wow!”.

The other alternative is to go trendy and choose a color pallet that will coordinate and accentuate your interior finishes. Believe or not, you can go wrong here. Be careful to select a theme that will still express the feeling of the holidays or the next morning this is what your tenants will be saying. “What happened to Santa? Where is the angel on the top of tree? Smile. Breathe, and thank them for their comments. And so as it goes, beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder! If you are a risk taker or trend setter, go for it. The ribbons, florals and ornaments are more beautiful than ever in rich tones of ardent greens and golds, bold expressions of mulberry, cranberry and burnt reds. The trend seems to continue in the direction of mixing the natural beauty of botanicals and the glitz of the metallic. You will see all of them used this season including bronze, pewter and copper in all types of finishes – satin, brushed and gloss.

I think I am beginning to sound like I am speaking on behalf of The Color Marketing Group – this is how they influence our buying decisions! It is fundamentally important to stay up with the trends, and maintain a professional image in all of the interior choices that are made in each commercial space. If the thoughts or decisions on what to choose create a sense of stress, the best advice is to choose a professional to help. Most holiday decor companies offer an array of design choices ranging form traditional, contemporary to whimsical and the talent to assist you in your decision. Working with a professional should provide you a turn-key service from initial design concepts, installation, removal and storage. If you don’t want to own decor that will quickly become “outdated” then consider leasing it. It’s becoming much more popular to lease since you can change the theme every few years, and not accumulate outdated decorations.