It’s December – yay! Surely this is the month Styling the Seasons was made for! I’ve been so excited about this month’s edition because I worked on it during our wonderful Crafting the Seasons afternoon at Liberty; a partridge in a pear tree, all made from beautiful Liberty fabric.
Even though I’ve been looking forward to putting together this month’s styled surface, the reality didn’t quite work out as I had hoped. I spent all of Saturday in an absolute tizz shouting at myself, at Jules and threatening to throw my camera out of the window; I just couldn’t seem to get the ‘perfect’ shot even though it looked good in real life. I had set up my ‘tree’ on the hallway table that sees very little light and the table top is dark wood. The branches were in a very large glass vase and they were very tall, strewn with lights. I had placed a little stack of pressies at the bottom of the tree on the table. Hours later, I still couldn’t make it look nice on camera. I went for a dog walk and a drink, came home and tried again. Still no good shots. I began to question the styling, as well as the camera (and my rubbish photography skills!). I settled on the best of a bad batch of shots and felt thoroughly unsatisfied – I HATE that feeling, especially after working so hard on something that I’ve been really excited about.
I then sat down at about 10pm and went through some of November’s blog posts and shots on Instagram trying to choose my favourites for my November Review. I began to notice that my favourites all seemed to have something in common, which is a bright, fresh, white background, something I am more and more drawn to theses days – thank you Heather, Soumya, Emma and Teri for the inspiration! I got all excited (does that make me sad – it was Saturday night, after all?!) and realised I had to change my styled surface as it wasn’t balanced enough in height and colour – I needed a white background, surface and vase to allow the Liberty print to shine. I also added some nature at the bottom of the tree to balance out the branches and removed the presents. I have never been one for nature around the home but how could I not feel inspired by nearly all of the Styling the Seasons shots this month, as well as Lou’s #natureinthehome series, Emma’s #gatheredstyle and Sarah-Lou’s use of Eucalyptus around the home? So, I added the pine cones that I collected in the park the other day and wove Eucalyptus around some candle jars. I also moved the tree to the top of a cupboard in our sitting room after loving the same idea in Tamsyn’s November post.
The point is that I love this styling challenge because I learn so much from everybody who takes part and I hope I am able to pass that on to others, especially those who don’t have the confidence to style their homes in the way that they would like to. Here’s what I learnt from this little project:
– Don’t slog a dead horse! If something doesn’t feel or look right, change it up.
– Try to balance your styling in terms of height, texture and colour.
– Ask someone else’s opinion.
– Get inspiration from others and make their ideas your own.
– Don’t give up until you are happy with the results.
– Mess around with different options as you can find something that looks good by accident; the worse thing to do is just stare at it.
– Don’t spend your Saturday nights playing with stuffed birds and pears – it’s not cool.
Anyhoo, this is the end result of my Liberty print makes and December styling; it would make my year if it gives any of you a bit of inspiration…
A partridge in a pear tree.
My partridge is made from Hera and Mauverina Tana Lawn. I also added some Betsy print to the underside of the peg, after seeing Alexis do the same at Liberty (I’m going to make more of those to use everywhere!).
I collected pine cones from the park, whilst walking Otto.
My pears were made from my Liberty scraps box. This one is made from Phoebe and Wiltshire Tana Lawn.
The jug is from Habitat.
I wove small Eucalyptus stalks through twine tied to the top of jam jars for tea lights (I’m in love with the smell!).
I am so excited to see everyone’s styled surfaces this month! Please do share yours on any social media, using the hashtag #stylingtheseasons and tag me and Lotts and Lots so we don’t miss them. Another huge thank you to the Liberty team for having us all and giving us the chance to play in Tana Lawn for hours – as if I needed an excuse!
Katy x
