“I like seeing festive elements all over the place, so that you turn the corner and think, ‘Oh yes, it’s Christmas!’” says Paula. “I do the whole house, including upstairs, where there will be more trailing ivy – it sounds a bit naff, but I use faux ivy upstairs, as I don’t want to run the risk of creepy crawlies coming out in the bedrooms.”
She takes special care decorating bedrooms for her grown-up children – she and her husband have a son, 22, and twin daughters, 20, who return home from university in December. “It’s really sad when your children start to leave home and they’re not there every morning, but it makes it really magical when they come back at Christmas,” she says.
“It’s such an exciting time for children when they’re small, and now it’s an exciting time for me, because they’re home. I never used to do this when they were living here, but now I’ll buy them pyjamas and their rooms will be made and decorated – after years of telling them to tidy their rooms, I now make it like a hotel experience, with a box of chocolates by the side of the bed and a carafe of water. It’s my little ritual because I’m so looking forward to seeing them, but they love it too.”