For three-time Emmy-winning Hollywood set designer James Pearse Connelly, decorating for the holidays starts in the summer.
“We decorate for the holidays all the time, and it’s typically for television. You pre-decorate sort of in July or August for things that go into that edit and then actually air around the holidays,” Connelly said. “By the time the holidays come around, I definitely had my fair share of decorating.”
Originally from New Jersey, Connelly headed to Hollywood, California, two decades ago to start his career in production design. Now Connelly is the principal designer of Studio Connelly and, with his team, designs sets for some of television’s biggest shows, including "The Kelly Clarkson Show," "Top Chef," "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Voice."
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity:
What is the most unique holiday decor you have designed?
I used to design a show called "Lopez Tonight" for George Lopez. It was a late-night talk show, and he wanted a black tree, which, you know, at the time wasn’t really that common, fairly rare.
I had to really think about how to make that festive and sparkle. And I had a great time with it. I used a lot of different purple and white lights. And that really kind of taught me about how to reach beyond traditionalism, and then really just put a lot of fun with intrigue.
What is your advice to make a holiday tree pop?
This is the first year I feel like Christmas trees in regions are different. I’m constantly inundated with everybody talking about two different styles of trees this year. There’s the Ralph Lauren Christmas tree-like bonanza that’s happening, and then there’s this kind of artsy, playful Palm Springs Christmas tree that’s happening online.
Both of them have different approaches to make it pop. I feel like one unifying way to make a tree pop — just recently that I’m kind of falling in love with — is the larger bulb Christmas light. Forever, everybody always does little white lights, but little white lights are so classic. They’re so reliable and timeless.
If you get to a C7 — that’s like [a] code word for [a] larger bulb Christmas light — I think you can really stand out from the others. And that could be color or white lights, and it’s just saying, let’s lean a little vintage, let’s lean a little nostalgia. And that’s actually a common theme this year. Despite being playful in Palm Springs and colorful, it’s also being Ralph Lauren and traditional by just being a little bit nostalgic, and everybody bringing in these kind of nostalgic, imperfect ornaments to their tree, regardless of the different styles.
What is your advice for someone looking to elevate their holiday table this year?
I believe tablescapes are little mini set designs. They’re basically a small-scale, attainable-for-anyone production design.
I think my advice to anyone doing a tablescape for Christmas this year is: First, see what you have. I don’t recommend spending thousands of dollars on a tablescape. Please start with what you have, and that means with a neutral tablecloth or maybe you have a green tablecloth.
The second piece of advice I have is: Think about what you’re eating. Don’t just start with the theme and then back yourself into it and not have enough room on the table for things. What are you going to serve? Is it like a short rib? Are you having soup? These sort of mathematical, scientific approaches — what do I have, what am I eating — start you off in a good spot.
From there, look at your tree. What do you want to pull out from your tree, to feature your tree, and then build your table around that? I think the best tablescape for the holidays references something else in the home. So, if you have a favorite ornament or like three or four favorite ornaments, or you got new ones for the tree this year, build it off of that, and even bring a couple over to the table and then start building your tablescape from there.
How do you make your holiday decor feel cohesive throughout the house?
I think of decorating for the holidays a little bit like — this is gonna sound a little crazy — but like weather. If I’m gonna make it rain in the house, I’m gonna hit almost as many top surfaces as possible. It’s the railing, hits the mantel, hits the top of the tree, hits the little shelf — everything gets a little dusting of rain or snow. That’s how you sort of think about decorating. What can I apply to the top? And then how does it fall down from that top surface? And from there, I don’t feel like you can kind of go wrong. You’ll hit the right areas, and it’ll all sort of feel cohesive.
What is your favorite decorating trend this year?
Christmas trees in clusters. Gone are the days of like those little metal hooks or strings, or I think like maybe a decade ago where Martha Stewart brought out like the ribbons you had to thread through your ornaments. It’s over.
Now it’s pipe cleaners and zip ties, and if you can just string in like six balls into a cluster and start building clusters. I think that’s such a great trend that I think is going to be here for quite a while with Christmas tree decorating. And I did it last year with groupings of ornaments and groupings of like candle design trees, and I think it’s really fun to play with.