LARRY WALSHE: The only way to enjoy Christmas dinner is under a festive canopy

Forget decking the halls, it's time to deck the ceilings! For there's been a real game-changer that has taken festive table decorations to the next level, quite literally: the Christmas canopy.

These fabulous installations float like beautiful, fragrant clouds of flowers and foliage above your guests, creating a visual impact without taking up any valuable space on the table.

A mere tree in the window and a wreath on the door somehow doesn't quite cut it any more. And there's so much to love about a festive canopy.

It gives the illusion of lowering the ceiling, which effectively frames your table, adding drama while providing warmth and a sense of welcome.

That creates intimacy, too, meaning no matter how many people you've got round for Christmas dinner, it's going to feel cosy and extra special.

Fairy tales: Jana Markova's magical decoration. These fabulous installations float like beautiful, fragrant clouds of flowers and foliage above your guests, creating a visual impact without taking up any valuable space on the table

These canopies can be as minimalist or as bountiful as suits your home and your personality.

A gnarly looking branch, brought home from a walk, once hung with lights, some basic foliage and a few baubles, will create a beautiful silhouette.

A more elaborate canopy can be made using lots of different foliage, including fresh pine and eucalyptus, which will smell as divine as it looks.

Canopies do need some careful consideration, though. You've got to screw them securely into the ceiling or there's every chance they'll come crashing down on to your guests — and your festive glassware.

And make sure any foliage is securely tied in — you don't want granny inadvertently choking on a holly berry.

However, if the idea of tinkering with the ceiling puts you off, then you can easily look at draping berries and green foliage from light fittings — a modern chandelier would make a great frame. See the panel on this page for my tips on how to make your own.

The most spectacular canopy I've ever done was for an intimate wedding for 30 people, which covered the entire ceiling. I had a team of 15 helping me wire tens of thousands of blue delphiniums into the installation — it took us five hours, but the result was simply breathtaking.

Christmas cracker: Charlie Galsworthy with her stunning canopy. These canopies can be as minimalist or as bountiful as suits your home and your personality. A gnarly looking branch, brought home from a walk, once hung with lights, some basic foliage and a few baubles, will create a beautiful silhouette

On that occasion we used fresh flowers, but don't be afraid to use fake, as long as they're good quality. My rule is always that you should only use artificial flowers when people aren't going to be able to reach out and touch them — which no one can if they're hanging from the ceiling.

But for Christmas I think green foliage and red berries work best of all. You just can't beat the classics.

Here, Sadie Nicholas talks to five women who are just crazy for their Christmas canopies....

Visitors gasp at my display 

After borrowing a wooden hoop and taking advice from a florist friend, Charlie Galsworthy, 38, was inspired to make her very first canopy.

The make-up artist, who lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two children aged ten and six, says it cost about £85 to make and is packed 'with baubles and crystal decorations in white, gold and antique glass, black velvet ribbons, fresh fir, berries and two types of eucalyptus'.

Tealights on the dining table beneath illuminate all its sparkly bits and cast pretty shadows.

'My son and daughter love sitting at the table and gazing up at it,' Charlie says.

She adds that visitors are equally impressed, with typical comments of: 'Wow!' and 'What's that above your table?'

'The only downside is that it's already starting to go a bit crispy due to the warmth from our underfloor heating, but as long as no one touches it it'll stay intact until Christmas,' Charlie says.

Fairy grotto with the wow factor 

In contrast to the traditional decorated fir wreath that Jana Markova made last Christmas, this year's canopy is rather more contemporary.

Colourful baubles and beautiful hanging teardrops in delicate shades of pink, blue and purple make it extra eye-catching, suspended from the ceiling in the conservatory of the family's three-bedroom home in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

'It shimmers with jewel colours, and if you peek closely there are handmade figurines of fairies hiding among the baubles,' says Jana, 43, who works as a nanny and lives with her partner and their two children, Anton, six, and four-year-old Anastasia. 'My children adore the magical theme and I think the cheerful colours represent happiness and optimism, which we could all do with right now.

'Friends and family who visit are wowed by it, and it makes me smile every time I catch sight of the gorgeous colours.

'There's a matching wreath on the front door and a garland around the porch.

'I'm convinced that my neighbours think I've got too much free time on my hands, but I love having a creative outlet.'

Hanging wreath lights up our life 

The ceiling in the kitchen of her Georgian farmhouse isn't the strongest, so Mavourneen Conway's husband, Chris, was more than a little worried when she announced her plan to make a hanging Christmas wreath.

'Fortunately, the dining table beneath hasn't been buried in a pile of plaster and rubble yet,' she laughs, after it was installed.

Mavourneen, 38, works in environmental policy and lives in Norfolk with Chris, also 38, an accountant, and their three sons — Ciaran, eight, and six-year-old twins, Liam and Owen.

'Having seen various hanging wreaths on Instagram, I thought I'd indulge my creative side and have a go at making one using a wooden frame salvaged from an old kitchen cupboard. I added some hops, dried gypsophilia, pine cones, hessian ribbon and shimmering gold and silver baubles.

'Meanwhile, larger glass baubles that I'd kept from our wedding ten years ago looked super pretty because you can put tealights inside. The wreath hangs above our eight-seat rectangular dining table, and our little boys absolutely love it. They insist on the tealights being lit every evening.'

The ceiling in the kitchen of her Georgian farmhouse isn't the strongest, so Mavourneen Conway's husband, Chris, was more than a little worried when she announced her plan to make a hanging Christmas wreath

It smells just as good as it looks

Mother of four Catherine Nix, 50, loves the statement her hanging wreath chandelier makes when you walk into her dining room. 'Because I've used invisible fishing wire [to attach the wreath to a hook secured into the ceiling joist] it looks as though it's magically suspended in the air,' she explains.

Catherine, whose children are aged from 11 to 26 and who lives in Dorset with her partner, a farmer, says she also wanted to make scent a key consideration, so she included conifer, eucalyptus and spruce, as well as whole dried citrus fruit, all fragranced with drops of Christmas spiced oils.

She owns her own company creating home decor and gifts made from dried flowers (myscentedhome.co.uk).

She explains: 'Although I set up my business five years ago, I only made my first festive hanging chandelier wreath two years ago when a bride asked me to make one for her wedding.

'I realised they were a really effective way of drawing the eye upwards. Now, my clients can't get enough of them.' And canopies aren't just for Christmas, either. 'Afterwards, I may take the fruit off and leave the greenery, perhaps adding flowers as we get into spring,' she says.

Mother of four Catherine Nix, 50, loves the statement her hanging wreath chandelier makes when you walk into her dining room

I take a week off to decorate! 

Florist Emma Garman takes a week off work every December to decorate her four-bedroom Lincolnshire home, and loves her wreath chandelier so much that she has two hanging designs.

'Last year's attempt was my first, after we had an extension with a roof lantern, which meant I finally had somewhere high enough to hang one,' says Emma, 46, who's married with two children aged 19 and 15. Emma says her festive canopy couldn't be easier to display.

'My husband used some flat poles from an old wardrobe which he slid into the recess of the roof lantern for the wreath to hang from. It means the wreath can't be too heavy, so almost everything I've used is artificial. There are also hydrangeas, which I dried during the autumn, and pheasant feathers donated by a local farmer.'

Emma's chandelier hangs in the centre of her open-plan kitchen. Over the dining table there is also a permanent hanging branch, but this year she's decorated it with fir and fairy lights. 'It's lovely having decorations at different heights rather than everything on one level,' adds Emma.

Emma's chandelier hangs in the centre of her open-plan kitchen. Over the dining table there is also a permanent hanging branch, but this year she's decorated it with fir and fairy lights

Florist Emma Garman takes a week off work every December to decorate her four-bedroom Lincolnshire home, and loves her wreath chandelier so much that she has two hanging designs

Larry's guide for making a branch canopy 

What you'll need

• A solid beam, or joists you can screw hooks into
• Stainless steel eyelet screws, steel wire and gripples, from DIY stores
• Reel wire
• Wire cutters
• A branch and foliage (forage or buy from florist)
• LED fairy lights

How to do it

1. Screw two eyelets into the ceiling, placing each a third in from either end of the table below, so the weight of the branch will be evenly carried.

2. Run a length of wire through the first eyelet, then loop it back on itself through a metal gripple (a metal version of a toothed plastic cable tie). Make sure there's enough length to wrap it around branch below and hold it at the right height. Repeat with other eyelet.

3. Take the branch, and wrap each wire around it, using another gripple on each side.

4. Press down on gripples with your wire cutters to lock them.

5. Cut off any excess wire.

6. Wrap the branch with battery-operated led lights.

7. Attach foliage by wrapping reel wire around it and then onto the branch.

8. You can add baubles for some extra interest.

See larrywalshe.com and bybloom.co.uk