Country Living

I would love to have a cottage in the country.  A little bolt hole to escape to when I need some peace and quiet.  All romantic of course, with my husband.  Bare brick walls, an open fire and cosy furnishings.  A big bed with a Vispring mattress (I have one at the moment and couldn't live with out it!), Siberian goose down duvet, feather pillows... you get the picture?  Part of my wish list would be; a balcony in the bedroom and a fireplace in the bathroom!  I don't think that's too much to ask for, do you?

Symmetry in decorating

Most successful and elegant interiors keep accessories to a minimum.  An emphasis on using objects in pairs lends itself to a formal feel in a room.

I like to use lighting in pairs; lamps, wall sconces and chandeliers.  Wall art and mirrors arranged in balanced symmetry.  Accessories can include, still life paintings mixed with vintage prints, bronze sculptures, silver candlesticks and framed personal momentos.  Collections look good grouped together and have more impact that way, rather than fragmented around a room.

The bedroom is a great place to showcase symmetry.  See the images below; pairs of cushions coupled with pairs of mirrors and pairs of lamps.  Try it you might like it!

A bright Christmas

To keep you in the Christmas mood, here are some ideas for a 'brighter' Christmas!  I thought the coloured baubles inside the cloche was a great idea so I'm going to copy it and do that in the shop this week.  I have 3 sizes of cloche so I'll use different baubles in each.

Christmas is less than 5 weeks away!!

So there we have it, less than 5 weeks to go.  In my house, decorating for Christmas is like an epic.  As the years have gone on we have more and more places to put garlands, wreaths, Christmas trees, lights.  You name it we've got it.  But all done in a very tasteful way of course!  I'm not precious about what goes on my main tree.  The decorations are a mixture of expensive, everyday and I've even kept ones my children made when they were at school and nursery many years ago.  My own Mother used to decorate the most wonderful and perfect trees I have ever seen.  She never put it up to Christmas Eve and the excitement of this was fantastic.  She would attach each light individually to each branch with a small amount of wire so that it was perfect.  Up until recently she put a red velvet star at the top, that she herself had made when she was a child.  Memories, when I put up my tree, the memories of past Christmases come to me with each decoration I hang.  Christmas always starts on 1st December in our house.  Just in a small way with the advent decorations, which I still fill every year with chocolate.  Despite the fact both my children are grown up and long gone.  The advent decorations and wonderful Christmas smelling candles, cloves and oranges.  This year because I have the shop we've had to start Christmas early there, but it is getting me in the mood.  We have a corner in the shop which I love.  I've put a picture here for you to see.  This sofa and these cushions may make there way to my home for Christmas!

Picture below - A favourite corner of my shop.  Lovely sofa and cosy, warm cushions.  My sister can be found here every Saturday afternoon!!

Soft furnishings and trims

Don't you just love the look of beautiful soft furnishings with fabulous trims?  The trims are what make a well designed room a fabulously well designed room; attention to detail.  It's the small details that make all the difference to the finish of a cushion, a chair, bedlinen etc.  I've chosen a few of my favourites here.  There are two particular, that for me, really stand out.  Both the childrens' bedrooms.  You have the gorgeous blue toile, and it's done with elephants.  How cute is that?  And the monochrome pink and chocolate design; simple but so effective.  Makes me want to have a nursery again!