Styled photos in catalogues and magazines are often a source of inspiration. I never thought of hanging baubles on a deer horn. I do not know how it looks in the room. For certain, it looks stunning as a close-up picture.

I was not surprised by this out of the ordinary touch after I read that Pale and Interesting was founded by a couple who worked in the magazine, photography and design industries before launching their online store. Their keen eye results in a unique catalogue that teams old with new. I find it quite relaxing to browse their Web site.

Vintage Style Ornaments

The most stunning baubles I found so far are available at this small UK retailer. I see a pattern emerging from my coverage of Holiday decorations. Besides the knitted ornaments and the tweed animals that I bought earlier, the Christmas ornaments that captured most my imagination this year seem to be the vintage style baubles. I guess I feel romantic and cozy these days.

Simple Ways to Deck your Home

I also wish to point the fact that you do not need a big Christmas tree to deck your home for the Holidays. Setting a few vignettes across your home can look stunning. Put your attention on the entry way, the living room and the dining room. The idea is to create a cohesive look by integrating baubles and ornaments into your usual decor. Otherwise, your Holiday decorations may seem out of place.

You can add sprinkles simply by putting on the buffet table your silver footed trays and candlesticks. Then, gather a few baubles on a silver tray or inside a glass container. If you have a tall vase, get an assortment of baubles in a single color. Mix shiny with mat, small with big to add textures and movements to your display.

There are a few ideas that you can explore. I will show more over the coming weeks.

SOURCING:
+ Vintage Style Glass Baubles £6.95
+ Set of Five Antiqued Silver Baubles in a Bag £10.95
+ Set of Two Mercury Glass Tea Light Holders £3.95

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The countdown to Christmas is a fun activity when you live with young kids. You have all November to craft your own. In fact, if you wish to get the advent house or the bucket advent calendar you have no other choice than making your own since they are out of stock at John Lewis. They may get more since you can leave your email but I would not count of that.

For the house, you could start with a paper or a wood house model. Get a good supply of card boards and foam core to add details to the house. Use paint, gift wrapping paper,and small ornaments to decorate every window. It could be a fun weekend project for the family.

The bucket pennants is easier to reproduce than the advent house. Sadly, I am not sure that you will save money by making your own. To make your own, shop for 25 small decorative buckets, look at scrapbooking items to craft the date tags, and find a festive large ribbon.

Feel free to send me pictures of your advent calenders. Do you follow the advent calendar custom? If you follow it, do you put a toy, a treat or an act/goal to your kids?

SOURCING:
+ Christmas Advent House £30
+ East of India Bucket Advent Calendar £25

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After making delicious pies and designing a popular dinnerware line, Sophie Conran created a line of wallpaper for Arthouse. Except for Spectra, which is part of a special line exclusively available from B&Q, all her patterns are traditional. Her main collection should be available through many retailers.

Main Collection

For her main collection, Sophie Conran was inspired by magic of fairytales and her childhood memory of summer where she stayed in a turreted chateau high atop a cliff in the Dordogne. Therefore, the patterns feel vintage and French.

Good news for UK readers, you can participate in a giveaway where five lucky Livingetc readers will win £160 worth of Sophie Conran wallpaper.

Styles from Other Designers

More great wallpapers are produced by Arthouse. The blue and silver Divine paper at the top is an eco-friendly wallpaper made from recycled paper and water-based inks in factories that have environmental improvement policies in place. The yellow paper is the Radiance pattern from the Vintage collection. They are both equally pleasing to the eye.

MORE:
+ photos via Arthouse

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Everyday items can be functional and pretty. I like this brown branch log rack. Susan Bradley designs and produces a unique range of interior and exterior products. She shows us that small storage solutions can neatly decorate our space.

She brings visual impacts to your home without neglecting the functionality of the object. The shelf life series is a great example of how she accomplished this. You can also add your touch. The branch shelf comes with a set of flora and fauna wall stickers to customize the look. Plus, her powder-coated steel racks and shelves can be commissioned in the color of your choice to fit your decor.

If you are interested by her collection, she ships internationally. Maybe you could cross names from your Holiday shopping list.

MORE:
+ Susan Bradley
+ via Oh Joy!

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I think this new toy could be a hit this Christmas. Every parent wants to invite again the aunt who arrives with a playful educational toy. Plus, kids need toys that they can easily carry around inside and outside the house.

The 74 rubber wood blocks are cut in smooth, subtly painted shapes. Kids and adults will be able to draw fun faces, fashion animals or illustrate moving objects. You will find a set of illustrations and the unbleached cotton drawstring bag inside the packaged box. Miller Goodman maintains a Flickr group to bring you more inspirations about what you can do with PlayShapes. The carrying bag is cute and simple.

If you wish to order a set of PlayShapes, you need to wait until mid-November. It will be available on Miller Goodman’s online store (called Shhhop) and from select retailers. You will be pleased to know that Shhhop ships worldwide.

SOURCING:
+ PlayShapes £69.95
+ via Inhabitots

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Everyday items can look awesome in the right setting. I love how Toast’s stylist team repurposed old newspaper as wallpaper and transformed old wooden boxes as storage on the wall. Keeping in mind that these angles were selected for their photographic value, it still shows that creativity and good design ideas, more than money, are essentials for any project.

Toast carries carefully selected food, tableware and kitchenware. But the range is deep enough to make it a must shopping for easy entertaining.

The autumn edition of Toast catalog is filled with amazing shots like those. I am sure you will enjoy them. if you wander what they sell on those pictures, I listed the shown products.

For entertaining and organizing your kitchen:

+ toast jams and marmalades £4.95
+ linen herringbone napkin £7.50
+ coloured handblown glasses £25
+ duralex picardie glasses £9.50
+ handblown glasses £15.50
+ greek pot £39

To make you feel good when you are sick:

+ flannel hottie cover £22
+ sloppy joe hottie cover £35
+ silk velvet hottie cover £35
+ satin quilted hottie £25
+ velvet lined slipper £59

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Looking at the November 2009 preview of Living etc, you really get the feel that warm and rich colors are in vogue. As someone who loves burnt oranges and rich yellow tones, I could not be happier. The more daring can enliven their home with cerise.

As you can see rich vibrant colors are used as accent colors against neutrals. The rise of yellow, which started last year, is still going strong when I look at home accessories. Opposing rich spice colors to dark maroons, grays or khakis will create a more classic look that will last longer.

The good news about what is hot for fall 2009 is that you putting a few accessories can be enough to update your home. Put your attention on getting a few throws, cushions, on changing a lamp base or adding vases here and there. We always need a few throws anyway for the cold months. UK retailer Toast carries this season richly colored blankets and throws in a wool/mohair/alpaca yarn. The nankeen yellow Chunky Handknit Throw is superb.

This trend is not just on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Just look at the last two issues of Metropolitan Home to see that it is also going on across North America.

SOURCING:
+ Mohair Alpaca Throw £125 at Toast
+ Chunky Handknit Throw £125 at Toast
+ Living etc – photos from November 2009 preview
+ Metropolitan Home – cover page photos: Oct. 2009 and Nov. 2009

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More and more designers are updating these old-fashioned tea essentials. They always kept their granny look but like the things at Anthropologie, it is part of their charm. Ruth Cross, who worked with Linda Bloomfield, creates knitted garment and home accessories. Her knitted work is exquisite.

Etsy constitutes a great source for cozies. Knit Storm crocheted adorable mug cozies using a recycled wool yarn. My favorite is the one with hanging “Tea Me!” bag that is hand embroidered onto a piece of off-white felt and attached to one side of the cozy. After discussing with my husband, he is worried that the cozy stands too tall to stay clean. For that reason, I will sleep on it before ordering mine.

One thing for sure is that tea and mug cozies are becoming more desirable by the minute since my cup of tea got cold as I wrote this post.

SOURCING:
+ Ruth Cross
+ Tea Me Mug Cozy by KnitStorm $14 USD

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UK potter Linda Bloomfield creates simple shapes with tactile satin mat glazes and subtly colored interiors. I like her style. Her tableware collection is sold through many art galleries and retailers across Britain. Lucky for us, the US-based retailer Hygge & West, which ships to Canada in top of the Unites States, carries her line.

+ Images via Linda Bloomfield

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Founded by Mark Bedford and Marianne Lumholdt, Mar Mar Co. proposes many items for the home and the kitchen that I adore. The two owners put emphasis on independent designers, without ignoring established design companies.

We all need elegant trivets to protect your dining table when you serve a buffet that you serve hot. For food storage and serving your meal when you have guests over, I recommend:

1. Weck Storage jars 4 assorted jars for £15 – Weck Carafe £7

2. Extensible Walnut Wood Trivets small £15.50 large £25.50

3. Adonde white Stoneware teapot £79

By the way, I first spotted the Weck jars and the water pitcher at Heath Ceramics last January when I was in Los Angeles. I wanted to bring them home but I did not feel like bringing them on the plane. Maybe this year, Santa Claus will put them on my stocking.

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This British cake baker is very talented. I love her style. These cakes are produced by a mom who used to be a textile designer. While taking care of her two daughters, Natasha Collins launched a cake making business called Nevie-pie Cakes. She decorates cookies, cakes and cupcakes using her sculpting and drawing skills.

Natasha impressed me with the versatility of her creations. From a vegetable garden cake up to her dreamy kid birthday cakes, she mixed many decorative techniques to deliver a Wow factor.

The birthday girl requested two fairies, one pink and one yellow. The Fairy Cake is decorated with sugarpaste fairies and butterflies and hand painted daisies. Her lemon sponge christening cake based on the Beatrix Potter story “The Tailor of Gloucester” is adorable.

PHOTO CREDITS:
+ Bird House Cupcakes
+ Gardening Birthday Cake
+ Fairy Cake
+ The Tailor of Gloucester Cake

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Every month, you can get a glimpse at the next issue of Living etc. I say next issue because in Canada, or at least in Montreal, we are always one month behind. I spotted cool ideas for when you entertain.

First, I look forward for the eye-catching tapas prepared by Donna Hay for the October 2009 edition. In case, you cannot wait, the recipe for the Smoked trout and garlic potato croquettes is available on the Flip through Living etc feature. Then, it is the turn of an idea to bring more style to your living room.

Interior designers on TV and magazines are not always right

Designers always try to hide the big flat TV. It always made me laugh when it is from a design show on TV. I saw many ways over the years but none was as striking as this modern wood panel. The effect is gorgeous but the TV is way to high.

Gavin Sykes at Bang & Olufsen explained how to avoid two common mistakes when buying a TV. First, the rule is to measure the distance between where you will sit and where you wish to place the TV. Divide this distance by 4 and you will get the perfect TV size. Furthermore, avoid placing the TV over the fireplace, like you see here. The most comfortable height for a TV is when the center of the screen is slightly below eye level. The reason is that we all drop our head when we relax.

MORE:
+ Living etc October 2009 preview

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