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Most people do a little decorating for the holidays, but for Bunny Williams it’s a major undertaking. Ms. Williams, the Manhattan interior designer, likes to focus on the mantelpiece — or in the case of her Connecticut house, which has five fireplaces, all five mantels.
每逢節假日，大多數人都會在自己家里稍作布置，但對于邦妮·威廉姆斯(Bunny Williams)來說，這就是一項大工程了。威廉姆斯在曼哈頓做室內設計師，喜歡在壁爐架上下功夫。她在康涅狄格州(Connecticut)的別墅里有五座壁爐，也就有五處壁爐架可供她打理。
“I have things on the mantel that I love,” said Ms. Williams, 70, who recently designed a line of stone fireplace surrounds for the British company Chesney’s. “But at holiday time, I take it all off and start over again. Every year, I try to incorporate something different while using some of my old favorite things.”
“我會把自己喜歡的東西放在壁爐架上，”威廉姆斯說。她現年70歲，最近為英國奢侈壁爐品牌Chesney’s設計了一款石砌壁爐架。“但是在節假日里，我會把它們都拿下來，重新布置。每年我都會試著融入一些新東西，同時搭配一些我最喜歡的舊物件。”
There are conflicting schools of thought on how to go about creating a composition. “Some people are very symmetrical; some people are not,” Ms. Williams said.
在怎樣布置壁爐架的問題上，人們分成了截然不同的流派。“有些人很注重對稱美；有些人則不。”威廉姆斯說。
But whether you prefer a balanced composition with pairs of objects or a free-form configuration, there is one principle that holds true, she insisted, “You need some things with height: Overscale is better than under scale.”
但是，不管你是喜歡裝飾品成對擺放的平衡布局，還是自由隨性的不規則造型，有一個原則是不變的，她堅持這么認為，“你需要一些有高度的東西：超大號的飾品比偏小的飾品更好看。”
Ornamental trees are an obvious choice, especially around the holidays. The ones Ms. Williams found at the Silverleaf store in the flower district were made out of sparkling leaves set in silver urns. “These are just fabulous,” she said, explaining that the color gave them a glamour above and beyond that of the average green topiary.
裝飾樹顯然是個很好的選擇，尤其是在節假日期間。威廉姆斯在曼哈頓花卉區(flower district)的Silverleaf精品店找到了一些。它們由閃閃發亮的葉子和底部的銀色小甕組成。“這些樹真是太漂亮了。”她說，并解釋道，這種色澤能夠賦予它們特殊的魅力，超越了一般的綠色修剪植物。
She was also drawn to a cluster of silver-colored birds dusted with glitter, she said, because “glittery things make a room look festive.”
同樣吸引她的還有幾只身上灑著亮粉的銀色鳥兒。她說自己之所以被它們吸引，是因為“亮晶晶的東西能夠讓房間顯出節日氣氛。”
But before you add sparkle, Ms. Williams said: “Start by layering garlands and greens. They can be real or artificial.”
不過，在你準備為房間增添閃亮元素之前，威廉姆斯說：“你可以先用花環和綠色植物營造出層次感。植物可以用真的，也可以用人造的。”
A five-foot-long artificial garland, like the one she found at Jamali Floral & Garden Supplies down the block, would be nice with little pine cones, she suggested: For fullness, “you’d use two of them on top of the mantel.”
一條五英尺（約合1.5米）長的圣誕花環——比如她在賈邁利花卉與園藝用品店(Jamali Floral & Garden Supplies)找到的那款，搭配上小松果效果會不錯。她建議說：為了讓布局顯得飽滿，“你需要在壁爐架臺面上裝飾兩條這樣的花環。”
If you want to add fresh flowers, she said, you might use something like the metal-wire flower-holder with glass bud vases that she found at Ronaldo Maia Flowers. “It makes flower arranging very easy,” she said. “You put a flower in each.”
她說，如果你想點綴一些鮮花，就可能需要用到插花容器，比如她在Ronaldo Maia Flowers物色到的那款帶有幾個玻璃花瓶的金屬絲花架。“它能讓插花變得非常容易，”她說，“你可以在每只瓶里放一朵花。”
You could also incorporate an unexpected element, Ms. Williams said, like the sea grass deer she found at Mecox, on the Upper East Side.
威廉姆斯說，你還可以融入一些意想不到的元素，比如她在上東區的Mecox店里找到的那款海草鹿。
Or for a more polished look, try adding a collection of mercury glass balls. “Mixing these with mercury Christmas trees would be very contemporary,” she said. “You could do a mantel with no greens, and all mercury and votives.”
或者，如果你想打造更加光鮮的效果，可以嘗試點綴一組水銀玻璃球。“把它們和水銀玻璃圣誕樹搭配起來，會顯得很有現代感，”威廉姆斯說，“你可以不用綠色植物裝點壁爐架，而完全使用水銀玻璃和許愿蠟燭。”
The only rule is a simple one: Don’t be afraid to experiment.
唯一的規則很簡單：別害怕做嘗試。
“A mantel is like a blank canvas,” Ms. Williams said. “You can do so many things with it.”
“一座壁爐架就好比一張空白的畫布，”威廉姆斯說，“你可以在上面盡情發揮。”
