Not a very humble title but I’m a little stoked to have my bright and fresh country kitchen win the Silver award for CDECA’s Decorating and Design Awards.
I thought I’d share the Youtube video showcasing my cottage kitchen.
Very exciting for me! And I’d like to say a big congratulations to all the 2017 winners.
From my home to yours, I wish you the most merriest of Christmases and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!
Just a quick little note, have you guys seen the Artisto app? My friend, Donna discovered it and I’ve been a little obsessed lately with it. Take a peek at what it did to some of my photos.
And I’m in love with this one of my two cats.
There are different filters so you can different effects and colours. So fun and quite addictive! Enjoy your holidays!
Mantels are one of the best places to decorate for the holidays and if you are like me, you love looking at different ones and different styles to get some ideas for your own.
I’m lucky enough to get to do two totally different ones every year, just for me. Here’s my cottage mantel that I keep pretty minimal and rustic, totally appropriate for the country setting that it is in.
Photo credit: Justin Frost
I used lots of fresh local greenery, some pinecones in a vintage apothecary jar, some antique encyclopedias (which I have sprinkled around the entire place), some sparkly grapevine balls, a birdcage and of course some candleholders. Honestly, this mantel took me all of half an hour to do. Quick, simple and rustic, just the way I like my country Christmas mantels.
Now for my city house, I went with a more sophisticated style.
Some similar elements here, fresh greenery and some dried magnolia leaves (they do last a few years, if you are careful when you store them), some fairy lights and of course candlesticks and candles. I may just tuck in some white and clear christmas balls amongst the leaves, at some point. Pretty, simple and classic, perfect for my home in the city.
After our 15-25 cm of snow this weekend, it now looks just like Christmas here! So pretty but NOT so great for driving.
This past weekend, I got my country log home ready for the holidays (minus the real tree). Have you started your decorating yet? Yesterday, I did my country home’s Christmas urn and the rest of my entrance’s decor. I rarely have a plan for this, I just go where I’m feeling it, and this is the result.
I found these adorable wooden snowflakes at Wicker Emporium last year and I was excited that I fit them into this year’s decor. I kept it pretty simple and rustic with some pine branches, cut from our own trees, my old standby birch branches (from my neighbour’s lot) and some bought cedar branches, as we don’t have cedar on our property.
I added in some red dogwood branches in the middle (from my backyard in the city) and of course, a huge pinecone and a sparkly bow to finish it off.
I also did up my vintage sled and two of the lanterns that I had spray painted black (from their original rusted silver) this summer.
Please ignore all my little wet footprints, everywhere.
Later this week I’ll be sharing my city home’s Christmas urn and I’ll be taking a look back at ALL THE ONES I’ve done in year’s past. Wish me luck finding all those old pics.
What does your Christmas urn look like?
Well, so far I’m hitting a new post every 6 weeks…Yikes. I will be trying to improve my deplorable record in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned…..
As I previously mentioned, my son got married at the end of September at our cottage, it was a beautiful day, sunny and a little cool, perfect when you are doing plenty of eating and drinking ;-).
This wedding was a labour of love and we had many personal touches to make the day extra special for the newlyweds. My new son-in-law shares of love of all things decor and DIY with me, so we kind of went to town on wedding DIY decor.
The rustic and warm table settings got many oohs and aah so I thought I’d share them here with you. Justin, had a very specific vision for them and I just gave him a hand implementing his ideas. I think they turned out beautifully.
They had decided on terrariums for the centrepieces, together with some vintage silver vessels filled with tiny baby succulents.
Aren’t they adorable? We managed to get most of them done with lots of family help, on the long weekend in September. The large terrariums were given to the wedding party as a thank you for being part of this special day and we hope they live a very long life in their new homes.
I think the first thing that was decided upon, was to use burlap runners (hard to see in the following pics). I found ready made ones online but they were a little short for our long wood tables, so I just sewed two together to make it work for us.
The table numbers were printed up on paper that looked like chalkboards and we just inserted them into these budget friendly white frames. The name tags were also printed professionally and placed in “previously loved” wood branch place card holders.
The caterers provided the gorgeous wood boards, and votives and we think that the terrariums looked absolutely spectacular on them.
Together with some beautifully simple white platters and dishes, that pop…. and…VOILA!
You have a simple, rustic yet so interesting and warm wedding table setting.
