IN PICTURES | Steal mod Christmas decor ideas from this monochrome home

"We love this time of the year but aren't big on celebrating in the traditional way, especially because our South African summer is so hot. We like to make the season feel special by doing something different with our festive decorations."

In this instance the "we" is stylist and creative consultant Shelley Street and her teenage daughter, Phoebe. The "something different" that she's referring to is a striking monochrome palette that Shelley has fashioned by incorporating cool local crafts with organic elements - a signature that underpins her personal decorating style.

There's no more apt description of Shelley's home than a sanctuary for the senses. We're talking the whole checklist: white sun-drenched spaces anchored by a composed black and white palette, soaring ceilings, nubbly textures, a contented cat dozing on a daybed, large sash windows offering glimpses of a milkwood tree and other tangled greenery, an artful mix-and-match of furniture, artworks and family heirlooms and, from the kitchen, the pleasant aroma of coffee and lemons. Plus, the entire scene is set against the hushed backing track of a radio tuned to a local classical music station.

"I love the monochrome look as well as Scandi design and its association with light wood, so I decided to do a Scandi-Afri mix," says Shelley of her Christmas theme. It seems apt considering her reverence for simplicity that the Christmas tree is a Karoo thorn, its stark graphic form enhanced by a coat of white paint.

"This wouldn't be Christmas, though, if there wasn't something enchanting, so the tree has the sweetest hand-carved wooden birds and papier-mâché baubles that are a quirky take on the usual bling versions," she says.

Shelley's black lacquered turned-leg pine table (a fortuitous junk-shop find) is the focus of the festivities each year. "The starting point of the theme was a collection of black and white plates by local ceramist Martine Jackson," says Shelley. "I love their loosely stylised African-influenced patterns. I also drew on the beautiful wares at Africa Nova - I think Margie Murgatroyd is one of the finest curators of craft in SA."

Many of the table decorations are an eclectic union of new and old, black and white, solids and patterns typical to Southern Africa, and everything underpinned by strong black accents.

Here the subtleties are to be discovered in the layering of materials, tones and textures such as beaded placemats, a coarse hand-woven table runner, bone- and-wood serving utensils with vintage silverware and serving platters. There are also creative surprises, like beaded necklaces used as napkin rings and simple white pillar candles of various sizes wrapped in brown paper.