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.
每逢节假日，大多数人都会在自己家里稍作布置，但对于邦妮·威廉姆斯(Bunny Williams)来说，这就是一项大工程了。威廉姆斯在曼哈顿做室内设计师，喜欢在壁炉架上下功夫。她在康涅狄格州(Connecticut)的别墅里有五座壁炉，也就有五处壁炉架可供她打理。

“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.”
“我会把自己喜欢的东西放在壁炉架上，”威廉姆斯说。她现年70岁，最近为英国奢侈壁炉品牌Chesney’s设计了一款石砌壁炉架。“但是在节假日里，我会把它们都拿下来，重新布置。每年我都会试着融入一些新东西，同时搭配一些我最喜欢的旧物件。”
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.
在怎样布置壁炉架的问题上，人们分成了截然不同的流派。“有些人很注重对称美；有些人则不。”威廉姆斯说。
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，不管你是喜欢装饰品成对摆放的平衡布局，还是自由随性的不规则造型，有一个原则是不变的，她坚持这么认为，“你需要一些有高度的东西：超大号的饰品比偏小的饰品更好看。”
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.
装饰树显然是个很好的选择，尤其是在节假日期间。威廉姆斯在曼哈顿花卉区(flower district)的Silverleaf精品店找到了一些。它们由闪闪发亮的叶子和底部的银色小瓮组成。“这些树真是太漂亮了。”她说，并解释道，这种色泽能够赋予它们特殊的魅力，超越了一般的绿色修剪植物。
She was also drawn to a cluster of silver-colored birds dusted with glitter, she said, because “glittery things make a room look festive.”
同样吸引她的还有几只身上洒着亮粉的银色鸟儿。她说自己之所以被它们吸引，是因为“亮晶晶的东西能够让房间显出节日气氛。”
But before you add sparkle, Ms. Williams said: “Start by layering garlands and greens. They can be real or artificial.”
不过，在你准备为房间增添闪亮元素之前，威廉姆斯说：“你可以先用花环和绿色植物营造出层次感。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.”
一条五英尺（约合1.5米）长的圣诞花环——比如她在贾迈利花卉与园艺用品店(Jamali Floral & Garden Supplies)找到的那款，搭配上小松果效果会不错。她建议说：为了让布局显得饱满，“你需要在壁炉架台面上装饰两条这样的花环。”
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.”
她说，如果你想点缀一些鲜花，就可能需要用到插花容器，比如她在Ronaldo Maia Flowers物色到的那款带有几个玻璃花瓶的金属丝花架。“它能让插花变得非常容易，”她说，“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.
威廉姆斯说，你还可以融入一些意想不到的元素，比如她在上东区的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鲜的效果，可以尝试点缀一组水银玻璃球。“把它们和水银玻璃圣诞树搭配起来，会显得很有现代感，”威廉姆斯说，“你可以不用绿色植物装点壁炉架，而完全使用水银玻璃和许愿蜡烛。”
The only rule is a simple one: Don’t be afraid to experiment.
唯一的规则很简单：别害怕做尝试。
“A mantel is like a blank canvas,” Ms. Williams said. “You can do so many things with it.”
“一座壁炉架就好比一张空白的画布，”威廉姆斯说，“你可以在上面尽情发挥。”