Styling The Seasons December

Styling the seasons for December couldn't be easier really, it's something we all do, although some of us tend to continue the idea for the rest of the year in some form or another!  Set up by Katy and Charlotte it's been such a great community to be involved with and another thing that I have Instagram to thank for bringing us together. 

Luckily for me as I live in the countryside there is enough greenery in my garden and around where I live to supply me with some seasonal essentials - holly with berries and pine cones. 

So here's what Ive done to decorate the house this Christmas.

I like to group the mercury glass on this old over mantle. The mirror back is great at throwing the candle light back around the room for a soft mood.

I treated myself to some beeswax candles.  I have become a bit candle obsessed and along with a real fire, I like to have some nice smelling ones burning during the day. My absolute favourites this year came from Amalia who writes the blog "these small finds" and can be found on instagram as _apothecary_ .  Amalia found some beautiful blue bell jars from the USA and filled them with soy wax candles, she finds the most lovely containers including the little cake tin ones on my mantlepiece. 

These cookie hearts came from a supermarket in Sweden.  I added a bit of icing to them.  They are called Pepparkakkor and have a lovely gingerbread smell. I included them into my banister arrangement.  Im so happy to finally have a house with open wooden banisters on the staircase, for no other reason than to decorate it in December.

Some of my Swedish lights for the front window combined with the paper stars, bringing a bit of that beautiful place back home with me.

I didn't decorate this gingerbread heart myself, it was already iced with Kurbits decoration from the Swedish supermarket and luckily made it home in one piece.  The top garland is from an online dried flower company and made from cotton pods, I've never seen one before but I absolutely love it.

The design motif called Kurbits is traditional in Sweden and can be found on many things. It is a style of painting normally, based on vegetables and floral organic shapes, it was originally a fertility symbol.  You can find it on the little wooden Dala Horses, embroidered onto clothing and painted onto furniture.

In a nearby village there is a Christmas barn which opens at weekends in December, it is the most stunning Tythe barn you have ever seen and is full to bursting with decorations and presents.  I topped up on a few new pieces like the string of bells and the metal birds.  They also have candles from the candle makers St Eval which are great quality.  The Tythe barn in Haddenham is the perfect place to get you in the spirit and mood for a time of cozy evenings with friends and family, a sparkly and fairy like grotto which can be recreated at home. 

I wish you all a healthy happy holiday with good food and warm drinks to help you relax and have a few days of nesting in your very own grotto. Sending you love and peace from my little village in Buckinghamshire. 

Country Curtains - Divinely Vintage

This week I had the pleasure to work with a lovely lady called Sue from Divinely Vintage.  

Sue has been specialising in curtains for 20 years and certainly knows her stuff.  The main part of her business is in second-hand designer curtains which originally would have been extremely expensive. We aren't talking flimsy ready mades here, but bespoke heavy curtains made for country homes and manor houses, all at a snip of their original price.

You can find Sue's curtains through a number of different ways, theres a facebook page, website, ebay and etsy shops and also several Antique shops where she sells (Ampthill Emporium and St. Martins Antiques Stamford), all the links are on their website.

There are many big designer names in Sue's stock, Colefax and Fowler, Sanderson, Zofany etc. Most of these curtains are lined and inter-lined, and as the weather is now turning colder this is a perfect time to change over from your Summer lights to some serious draught preventing door and window drapes.

Sue stores much of her stock in a listed barn, which it is hoped will be turned into a showroom.  Amongst the beams are piles of gorgeous vintageness, so we had a rummage and took some of the stock outside. 

As this was probably the last of the beautiful weather we were so happy that the sun shined for us this week, a nip in the air but oh so lovely and much appreciated after the rain.

Recently Sue was commissioned to re-home all the curtains from Toddington Manor and this is another of the services she offers, working on commission to find a good home for a used quality item.

Im sure if you read this blog then you are like minded when it comes to second hand, it's not always perfect and even if it seems dated in some settings, it is possible to re-invent a look for it.  In the 1980s the fashion for floral was to have it everywhere, every surface covered, with extra borders and frills, a bit much Im sure you will agree, but take out some elements from that period, like some lovely Designer Guild curtains and put them in a setting with wooden floors and plain walls and you will create a whole new look.

For all the links to see Sue's curtains and outlets go to her website http://www.divinelyvintage.co.uk/ and give a home some old manor glamour.