Martha's Holiday Decorating Ideas

For a caroling party at her home in Bedford, New York, Martha stands near a 12-foot Christmas tree from North Carolina. Many of its handmade ornaments have motifs that refer to music or nature; some of them, inspired by Martha's collection of Wedgwood drabware, were fashioned from Paperclay modeling material and springerle cookie molds.

The summer house on Martha's Bedford, New York, property is where the farm's original owner spent the warm months. At dusk, the facade is illuminated with candles and lights.

This tabletop tree stands on Martha's kitchen counter at her home in Bedford, New York. It's placed in a large, ruffled galvanized-metal tray that's filled with artificial snow and finished with a still-life scene of deer figurines.

The mantel and tree at Martha's Seal Harbor, Maine, home are decorated with pinecone garlands and ornaments. The beautiful hand-blown glass balls on the table near the sofa are old fishing buoys, which Martha collects. The stockings are made from ingrain carpet remnants.

At Skylands, Martha's Seal Harbor, Maine, retreat, the porch is trimmed with a garland and giant wreath, studded with gold and natural pinecones, and tied with a gold ribbon bow. Pink rose hips adorn the garland.

This modern tree, which has been placed in Martha's Bedford, New York living room in years past, has lots of full boughs, allowing for many ornaments. Standing in a faux-bois basin filled with deer moss and mushroom ornaments, it's trimmed with owls, polar bears, acorns, pinecones, silver and bronze balls, and more mushrooms.

For Christmas Eve dinner at Skylands, Martha's Seal Harbor, Maine, home, the table is set for six with Art Deco cranberry-glass stemware and American sterling flatware. Italian 17th-century chairs with silk velvet cushions are poised at either side of the table. The Venetian-print tablecloth has Victorian-style gold thread trim.

In Poland, where the Christmas season is seen as a time of renewal, ornaments are fashioned from straw to symbolize thanksgiving for the harvest and hope for good things in the coming year. Eggs represent the promise of future prosperity.

In Martha's former home, Turkey Hill, a small spruce is placed on a table and decorated with green glass balls, eggshell ornaments in shimmering gold tones, and wheat decorations that have been given a burnished glow using metallic powders in a range of hues, from light copper to a deep verdigris. The choice of ornaments is intended as a tribute to Martha's Polish heritage; their colors were chosen to accentuate the room's decorative details, from the gold-trimmed drabware plates to the gilded Federal-style mirror.

Martha and her niece Kristina wrap presents and trim the small spruce.

Martha's fantastical tree, hung with gleaming teal and mint-green apples and pears, is the focal point for a holiday table at Martha's East Hampton, New York, house. The branch is embedded in a large, heavy floral frog, placed in an antique footed bowl, surrounded with green floral foam (oasis), and covered with moss. Polystyrene fruits are wrapped in mint- and teal-green metallic leaf, and they are tied to the branches with silver ribbon. Delicate silver leaves, which are glued to the branches, glimmer in the candlelight.

This light green tree, shown in the green room of Martha's Bedford, New York, home, is not vintage but is several years old. It's decorated with silver and green ornaments and a tree topper made from tinsel stars. The base is covered with a coil of beaded garland.

Delicate beeswax candles are clipped on the the sturdier branches of Martha's Christmas tree in Seal Harbor, Maine. They are only lit when people are in the room.

A French candelabra from the 1930s presides over the mantel in Martha's East Hampton, New York, home during the holidays.

Holiday gifts are trapped beneath Victorian smoke bells in Martha's East Hampton, New York, home.

On the grounds of her Bedford, New York home, giant kugel balls hang from the branches of the farm's old apple tree, which is strung with white lights; a mixed-greenery wreath adorns the corn crib.

In the corner of Martha's green room in her Bedford, New York home, a glittering tree welcomes guests.

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In Martha's Bedford, New York, kitchen, she places little Christmas trees beneath a glass dome.

In the hallway of Martha's Bedford, New York, home sits a gleaming silver tree.

On the front door of Martha's summer house in Bedford, New York, an elaborate bow adorns a wreath made from golden faux greenery.

Sharkey rests amid Martha's holiday decor in her Bedford, New York, home.

Martha decorates one of her buildings on her Bedford, New York, farm with a golden wreath.

A centerpiece of silver and glittered birds makes an elegant statement in Martha's Bedford, New York, home.

During a Christmas brunch at Martha's Bedford, New York, home, a fire burns in the brown room. A grouping of reindeer are placed on the mantel.

A polar bear from Grandin Road greets guests at the eggnog table during a holiday brunch at Martha's Bedford, New York, home.

A gorgeous tinsel tree sits in Martha's home in Bedford, New York.

In the green room at Martha's Bedford, New York, home, feather trees are dripping with icicles.

The animals in Martha's Noah's Ark set are accented with glitter for Christmas in her Bedford, New York, home.

Ivory paper bags laser-printed with Martha's Bedford, New York, farm motif and weighted with sand become luminarias, lighting the way in the snowy dusk to a holiday gathering.

A polar bear -- available through Grandin Road -- makes a beautiful and unusual Christmas decoration at Martha's home in Bedford, New York.