Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays: Natural Home Decorates Blair House and U.S. State Department

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The Blair House’s traditional annual 9-foot Christmas tree is visible to passersby on Pennsylvania Ave. We decorated it in eco-friendly style with natural quartz crystals and LED lights. Photo By Rob Cardillo

Natural Home magazine is proudly participating in the Magazine Publishers of America’s Magazine Holiday Design Showcase at the State Department’s Harry S. Truman Building and the Blair House, the president’s guest house across from the White House. Natural Home decorated the Blair House’s Jackson Conference Room and Jackson Entry; in the Harry S. Truman Building, we decorated the Monroe Room and shared the honor of decorating the Adams Room with sister publication Mother Earth News. The decorations were presented at a December 7 reception hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton honoring the families of diplomats unable to leave their posts for the holiday season.

Natural Home worked with our talented designers—Washington D.C.’s J.D. Ireland Interiors and Denver’s Associates III—to honor the beautiful and historic spaces while conveying our own values of sustainability, artistry and natural beauty. Our simple design honored the beautiful spaces while displaying eco-friendly, handmade, fair trade and natural festive holiday décor.

We incorporated handmade elements we’ve featured in the magazine, including citrus-slice ornaments, reusable gift wrap and decoupaged vintage ornaments. Handmade felted wool doves alluded to the State Department’s goal of international peace and diplomacy.

Christmas trees—traditionally a symbol of peace and unity—also played a large role in our design. Fifteen live trees from nearby Merrifield Garden Center were bedecked with LED lights and handmade or recycled ornaments. We were honored to decorate the Blair House’s traditional 9-foot tree—visible to passersby on Pennsylvania Avenue—with natural quartz crystals and LED lights. We also made a few trees of our own: Our newsprint Christmas tree garnered a lot of attention, as did our recycled cardboard trees, “planted” in terra cotta planters.