Margaret Talks Charleston Christmas Decorations

December 18, 2012

Charleston Christmas Decorations

Looking for Charleston Christmas decorations and decor tips? Recently Margaret talked with Charleston’s own Post and Courier for their article Bright Ideas, Charleston designers showcase their holiday decor. Read this article to find out how Margaret and her family decorate for the holidays in their 1905 Old Village home.

Margaret’s best advice for Charleston Christmas decorations?

“It’s not about following decorating trends, but about the birth of Christ and sharing time with family and friends,” she says.

The tree in Margaret Donaldson’s dining room is very personal. The 11-foot Fraser fir is decorated with objects recalling the times of her family’s lives.

There’s the balsa wood circle she received at 12 from her parents’ travels; the clay angel given to her husband, Rob, at age 5 by his godmother; many ornaments belonging to her three sons; and a ceramic bone and silver bell bearing the name “Halle,” the family dog who passed on this year.

“We have never done a themed tree,” says Donaldson of Margaret Donaldson Interiors and a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. “It’s not about following decorating trends, but about the birth of Christ and sharing time with family and friends.”

The 1905 home in Mount Pleasant’s Old Village, where her family lives, was built by her husband’s great-grandfather, Sidney Townley Donaldson.

At Christmas, clay angels that her sons made in early elementary school, 10 to 20 years ago, line the dining room mantel.

Hanging from the mantel are three stockings. One belonging to her eldest son, Rob, was knitted by his great-aunt and is identical to one she knitted for his father.

One belonging to her second son, Thomas, is canvas needlepoint that Donaldson made based on the design of her felt childhood stocking.

The third son, Jenks, used a store-bought stocking until he was 8. Donaldson, overcome by guilt over his not having a special stocking, let him choose his own needlepoint design and made it. Jenks’ stocking is special because he recalls seeing her make it, she says.

Also in the dining room, there is boxwood in silver julep cups and ornaments are paired with other silver pieces on the table. The sideboard holds oil-burning candles once sold in Details Details, a Calhoun Street shop she once co-owned that since has closed.

In the living room, the fireplace is the main focus, where hanging above is a 3½-foot-diameter wreath with a big red metallic bow. The wreath features holly berries, cones and pecans.