A rustic Australian summer Christmas.
Photography by Georgina Morrison. Want to edit like us? Get our Lightroom Mobile Presets here.
Every year, we like to ask the same question: what does Christmas really look like in Australia?
And every year, our answer gently shifts as the landscape shifts with us — the gums, the wind, the early-summer light, the rust of the paddocks and the green-gold canopy beneath the trees.
For our annual Australian Country House Christmas table in 2024, we created two distinct Christmas settings in collaboration with our friends at Grampians Goods Co. and with pieces from Hope & Co. — one styled on the exposed hilltop overlooking the budding summer crop, and another tucked into the shelter of the gum and pine woods.
Together, they form a love letter to what an Australian Christmas actually feels like: warm, elemental, honest, and absolutely beautiful in a way that feels purely unique to our continent at the bottom of the world.
The Woodlands Table — An Australian Spin on Green & Gold
“Christmas in Australia looks like … not snowflakes, cinnamon, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” Sarah wrote when we originally shared this second table. And truly — it doesn’t.
This woodland setting celebrated the classic green-and-gold palette, but filtered it through the uniquely Australian bush: filtered light through gum branches, eucalyptus and pine scented air, crickets starting to peep out, shadows dancing across linen, and that peaceful hush that only happens under the canopy of trees on warm day.
In this setting, we used:
Olive and pine greens, layered with Hope & Co. porcelain and stoneware ceramics, cotton napkins, and vintage Wedgwood plates.
Gold cuttlery and brass candlesticks, threading warmth through the cool shade of the woods.
Grampians Goods Co. recycled wool blankets: Cypress (Antipodean Collection), Wattleseed (Antipodean Collection), and Gold (Heritage Collection) — adding texture to the chairs, and anchoring the colour story.
Provincial Home Living Fleur de Lys Goblets and crisp white linen (stylist’s own) to keep the table feeling fresh, not heavy.
Here, the mood was soft, grounded, and quintessentially Australian — the type of Christmas lunch that lingers long after the plates are cleared, with everyone content to stay in the shade a little longer.
The Paddocktop Table — Rust, Copper & Mixed Metals
“This is the second of three themes we created that afternoon,” Sarah says, “the paddock setting on top of sown soil — designed to fit perfectly alongside Grampians Goods Co. blankets, mixed metals, and our earthy stoneware Hope & Co. ceramics.”
Golden hour out in the paddock is an entire mood of its own. As the sun slips behind the hill, the whole paddock glows in rich rusts, browns, ochres, and copper tones — the real colours of a new Australian summer, edging its way into Christmas.
For this setting, we played into that warmth with:
Copper, brass, gold and silver — “I mix gold, silver, brass and copper all the time,” Sarah says — and on this table, they harmonised effortlessly.
Natural bush elements, including spray-painted gum nuts, copper-coloured dried leaves, and of course the humble pinecone.
Hope & Co. ceramics in stoneware, with earthy whites and cream glazes.
More gorgeous Grampians Goods Co. recycled wool blankets – Cabin (Heritage Collection), Treacle (Herringbone Collection), and Terra Rossa (Checkered Blanket) wrapped around the chairs and draped across the table, ready for the inevitable cool change that sweeps across the hill from the south coast after sunset.
“We wanted to capture rich rusts, browns and copper in the first of our tables for you,” Sarah says, “an ode to our summer season Christmas.”
And as the light dipped — soft, warm, exactly the way you hope Christmas Day will be — it truly felt like the perfect place to sit in the chilly night air with a Grampians Goods Co. blankie wrapped around your shoulders and a glass of something cold in your hand.
What ties these two scenes together is the same heartbeat:
Christmas, for us, isn’t sleigh bells or snowfall. It’s golden paddocks, mixed metals warmed by the sun, GGCo. blankets pulled tight against a gentle evening breeze, and Hope & Co. ceramics made from Australian clay.
It’s the reality—and the romance—of an Australian summer Christmas.
We hope these scenes inspire you to create something beautiful, thoughtful, and uniquely yours this season.
