Styling the Seasons

Another month has been and gone with such speed, which reminds me of one of the reasons Charlotte and I started Styling the Seasons. It’s a chance to stop for a moment, no matter how short, and reflect on the change of seasons around us and think about what the month means to us. It has been so wonderful to see all of your different interpretations of October but also the commonalities; I have so enjoyed seeing you collect leaves, pick pumpkins and decorate conkers. There has been so much beautiful nature in so many of your shots and blog posts and watching your children get involved has been really special too. Thanks to all of you who have posted a photo on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or written a beautiful blog post. Charlotte and I spoke on the phone the other day and gushed about you all and how much you have inspired us! One of the nicest things this month has been ‘meeting’ new people who have shared their posts or shots, which was another reason for starting this blog series. We have discovered such stunning Instagram accounts and wonderful blogs and even a few of the wonderful images were featured on the gorgeous Folkings. Here are links to all the blog posts this month and search the #stylingtheseasons hashtag to see all of the images…

Littlegreenshed / Lapin Blu / Hannah in the House / The Ordinary Lovely / The Villa at Mount Pleasant / Cate St. Hill / Freckled Fennell / Love Lemon / The Planned Adventure / Growing Spaces / The Lovely Drawer / Diying To Make It / Made By Molu / A Quiet Style / Really Pretty Useful / Papermash / Makelight / Celebrate Creation / Daisy Fay / Wild and Grizzly / Geoffrey and Grace / Living in London / Under the plum blossom tree / Katharine Peachey / Lotts and Lots / Apartment Apothecary

To pick a favourite post for October is very difficult indeed but there were a few that stood out for various reasons.

Styling the Seasons - October Review | Really Pretty Useful

I was so inspired by Rebecca’s seasonal table centrepiece. I love everything about it! See the full post at Really Pretty Useful.

Styling the Seasons - October Review | Freckled Fennell

I was blown away by the beauty of the flowers in Sarah’s blog post. The combination of the wild flowers and the antique pine drawers is just gorgeous. See the full post at Freckled Fennell.

Styling the Seasons - October Review | Papermash

What is not to love about the glittery conkers that Lynne created? It’s such a beautiful example of using nature to style a surface. See the full post at Papermash.

Styling the Seasons - October Review | Wild and Grizzly

Lori snuck this in just yesterday but I fell in love with it immediately. The fact that she has included hand printed tea towels and homemade autumn animal biscuits tipped it for me! See the full post at Wild and Grizzly.

Styling the Seasons - October Review | Makelight

Emily’s styled mantelpiece is so creative, colourful and bursts with joy. I also love that her children helped her along the way. See the full post at Makelight.

Thank you again to everyone who has styled and shared. I hope Styling the Seasons continues to give you inspiration throughout November and we really look forward to seeing more corners of your homes and finding out what next month means to you.

Katy x

It has been a busy week as I’ve tried to catch up on all the work I’ve not been able to do over the last three weeks. Now that I am officially off bed rest, life has gone from being incredibly boring to completely hectic in the blink of an eye. Another nicer change has been going out on dog walks again so that I can breath in the new season, kick dried leaves and enjoy wearing my wellies again; it’s quite incredible how much the outdoors has changed in the space of three weeks. This week has been rather beautiful in London, for the most part, with golden, low light and some amazing blue skies. So, I decided that you should look no further this weekend for inspiration than the wondrous Styling the Seasons photographs for October. Not only do they beautifully reflect the change of season, but I love the freshness of a newly styled surface; I honestly think it has the power to refresh a whole room. You don’t need to buy anything new, all you have to do is wander around your home and pick out some of the objects you like best that may not be shining as much as they should be. Bring your favourite objects together and create a new display on one of your surfaces, be it your coffee table, mantelpiece, sideboard or shelf. You could even add some nature – conkers, leaves, foliage, flowers. I promise you, it will be worth it and it’s not as hard as it looks, just try not to think about it too much (there are some more tips for you here). Here’s some inspiration from some of the lovely folk who have already taken part in #stylingtheseasons…

Styling the Seasons - October | @thislittlecorner Instagram

Image from @thislittlecorner on Instagram. Her feed is absolutely beautiful.

Styling the Seasons - October | Lapin Blu

Image from Lapin Blu. Sarah-Lou’s blog post is one of my favourite posts this month.

Styling the Seasons - October | Littlegreenshed

Image from Littlegreenshed. I’m in love with Lou’s home and her October Styling the Seasons blog post is gorgeous – always such inspiring use of nature.

Styling the Seasons - October | Circle of Pine Trees

Image from @cirlceofpines Instagram. Laura’s photographs and styling are stunning (I also really want that allumettes box!).

Styling the Seasons - October | Lobster and Swan

Image from @lobsterandswan Instagram. Jeska’s styling is always effortlessly beautiful and organic and it always inspires me.

Styling the Seasons - October | Cate St. Hill

Image from @catesthill Instagram. I really love this collection of beautiful objects and the colour palette.

There are so many more that I love that you must see by searching for #stylingtheseasons on: Instagram, Facebook or Twitter or visit my Pinterest board, which will take you through to the lovely blog posts that have been written. Have a go, be creative, experiment and enjoy! That sounds like the best kind of Sunday to me.

Katy x

So, September has been and gone and it was definitely a month of two halves for me. The first half was so much fun, full of promise, I had loads of great pieces of work lined up and I fell in love with working from home almost instantly (although I admit I did have a little wobble the first couple of days!). However, I spent the second half of the month either in pain, hospital, or on bed rest after having a double ovarian torsion and haemorrhage. All very scary and I am now precariously propped up on a mountain of pillows in bed, as I type this post, as I had surgery at the weekend. Thankfully, all seems to be well now, I just have to force myself to rest properly so that it doesn’t happen again, which is the risk, and move onwards and upwards…

That brings me on to this month and what it means to me. October is a month of nostalgia, filled with childhood memories.

The first thing that comes to mind is that it is definitely the family birthday month: mine, my sister’s and it was my grandfather’s. Therefore, I have chosen to style the top of a really sweet antique writing bureau that my parents gave to me for my seventh birthday. My older sister, Juliette, had a similar bureau in her bedroom that had exciting compartments and lots of little drawers that I used to rifle through – I was super jealous of it and wanted somewhere to hide all my secret things. When my parents bought me my own, I will always remember seeing it for the first time and feeling such happiness.

I have used a jelly mould because we always had big jellies at our birthday parties, and just because who doesn’t love a jelly mould? The picture above the desk is of me and my little sister, Amy, whose birthday it is on the 22nd of the month. I have styled the surface with Observers Books of Garden Flowers because this reminds me of my grandfather who was an avid gardener right into his nineties and whose birthday it was on the 15th of this month.

The other two things that I think of instantly when it comes to October, and the reason for using the mini pumpkins (one of which I made into a tea light holder for cosy Autumn evenings), is Harvest Festival assemblies at primary school – it is so odd the connections you make as a small child that stay with you into adulthood – and Halloween, which was always one of my favourite celebrations. We always used to get so dressed up and join up with loads of the children in our neighbourhood and go trick or treating. So, so much fun.

What does October mean to you? Charlotte and I would love to know and see your styled surfaces. It is such a lovely thing to stop, reflect and re-style a surface in your home, clearing what was a dumping ground – I promise it will make you smile every time you walk by or sit and look at it so please do join in! Tag me and Lotts and Lots and use the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons – either write a blog post or post on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Happy October styling everybody!

Katy x

P.S. If you would like a bit of inspiration from last month’s amazing Styling the Seasons posts, you can find them all on my Pinterest board. Such a gorgeous collection of posts, pictures and words and so many beautifully styled surfaces, so you must take a look…

Yay! September is here and it is my favourite month of the year! It also marks the official start of our new monthly blog series, Styling the Seasons – hurrah! Too many exclamation marks!

I got back from Skopelos on Saturday night, so I am feeling relaxed, bronzed, happy and full of the promise that September holds. This month always feels like the beginning of a new year for me, unlike January, when I generally feel unhealthy, pale, hung over and overweight (a lovely combination). I am always full of energy and motivation and raring to go at this point of the year and never more than this September because I am beginning a new chapter, having given up teaching after eleven years.

All that being said, my styled surface had to represent all of my enthusiasm for new beginnings this month. So here it is…

I have styled my new String shelving in my home office (the full home office makeover will be on the blog tomorrow). I have included some of the new stationery I have bought, which has become a yearly ritual since I was a child and something I always associate with September. As a child, we often spent our summers in France and I remember that going to the hypermarche on the way back to the ferry at the end of the holiday was always a highlight as I was allowed to trawl the stationery aisles and choose my new pencil case, fountain pen and school bag (Benetton and Chipie were favourites – does anybody else remember those?) for the new school year. I have also added books and magazines, which are a constant source of inspiration, as I foresee September will be spent looking for a lot of inspiration to figure out what direction I am going to go in now that I have left teaching. The plants (I love the trays that attach to the shelving and I can water straight into them) represent how vibrant and full of motivation I always feel at this time of year, as though the slate has been wiped cleaned and I can start afresh. By the way, the two mint plants in the right hand tray not only smell delicious but are a lovely thing to have on or near your desk because you can add leaves to your water throughout the day, or the occasional iced coffee treat with fresh mint is delicious.

So, there you go, that’s my September ‘shelfie’. I can not wait to see your styling and what September means to you. Hop over to Charlotte’s blog, Lotts and Lots, to see her beauteous September styling, too.

Share your photographs of your styled surface on any day this month – use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or your blog, if you have one. Please tag me and Charlotte and use the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons. You can also search the hashtag for styling inspiration from the other wonderful bloggers and creatives who are taking part and don’t forget that Charlotte and I we will be rounding up our favourites on our blogs at the end of this month.

Happy September styling everybody!

Katy x

I’m very excited about today’s post because I have joined up with the wondrously talented Charlotte of Lotts and Lots blog, to start a new monthly blog series, Styling the Seasons. This is doubly exciting because the series is about getting you, our lovely readers, involved!

Charlotte and I discussed how easy it is for a few months to pass without even realising it, unless you spend a lot of time outside and see the changes in nature. We also talked about how the interior of many homes stay the same all year round, except for the odd bit of tinsel at Christmas time.

We would like to challenge ourselves, and you, to reflect more on the change of seasons and show those changes in our own homes, which in turn will help rejuvenate our homes. We want you to choose any surface in your home (shelf, dining table, mantelpiece – it can be a different surface each month) and style that surface with anything you like to reflect the new month and what it means to you and the promise it holds (relaxation, celebrations, family, nature). For example, for me, September always represents new beginnings and my styling will definitely involve new stationery, which is a MUST for the start of a new school year (so deeply engrained after being a student and teacher my whole life).

We would love it if you joined us and styled a surface in your home for September (this does not mean you are obliged to take part every month – just join in as and when you feel like it) and Charlotte and I will do the same and share a photograph of our styling on our blogs on September 1st. Please take a snap of your styled surface and post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (or blog about it if you have a blog) and use the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons and tag both me and Charlotte – you can do this on any day during September. You might want to add a little explanation about how your styling represents the month for you. This way we can find out a bit more about each other along the way.

If you don’t think you have the time/know how/motivation to join in, then we hope you get inspiration from all the wondrous bloggers we have got on board to take part as we know styling can be the most difficult and daunting part of making a home. Just search for the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons and Charlotte and I will share our favourites on our blogs at the end of each month.

Sooooo excited to see your pics for SEPTEMBER!

Katy x

P.S. You can find us here – please tag us in your photographs so we can see and share them: