Real stories · Christmas for the living room in five minutes

The tree is Malcolm's annual battle — the living room now goes festive in five minutes flat

Christmas for the living room in five minutes — that's what this is. I'm 67, and in our house Christmas decorating means Malcolm and the loft ladder, a box of tangled lights, and language unsuitable for December. Every year the tree goes up, and every year the rest of the room just… watches.

What I wanted was the room to feel like Christmas without a second afternoon of ladders.

Then I found the Aurenith set from a British label called York Boutique — four cushion covers in cream with rich red and gold Christmas artwork: a snowman, a tree, Santa and a reindeer, one design each.

The trick is how much room they cover. Cushions sit at eye level on the sofa — the first thing anyone sees from the doorway — which is why swapping four covers changes the whole room in the time it takes the kettle to boil. The artwork has a lovely embroidered look (it's actually a beautifully detailed print, so there's no raised stitching to snag), the covers feel soft rather than scratchy, and each closes with a hidden zip so the swap really is five minutes. Come January, they fold flat into a drawer. No loft required.

Four covers, one hidden zip each, five minutes — and the room the tree used to carry alone suddenly looks like Christmas from the sofa up. In January they fold flat into a drawer.

At £24.95 for all four there wasn't much to deliberate — that's barely a supermarket poinsettia each — and with a fortnight to send them back and free delivery, even less.

They have since survived one grandchildren visit and two of Winnie's afternoon naps, Sandra asked where they were from before her coat was off, and a second set has already been bought as a present for my daughter. It was £24.95 in the sale — nearly 60% off the usual £60.

If your tree also carries Christmas alone, do have a look. The Aurenith set is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 320 households, it comes as a set of four designs in three sizes — and Christmas décor is exactly the sort of thing that's gone by the time you want it.