Styling the Seasons – Page 4 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 2nd December 2015

Styling the Seasons – December 2015

I love the lead up to Christmas, probably far more than the day itself. I love cosying up at home, making, cooking and preparing; those quiet, candlelit afternoons making and wrapping presents – just love it all! Therefore, I wanted the first of those afternoons to be all about setting up this month’s Styling the Seasons.

We went for a walk in the park and I brought home a big fallen branch (with Otto going nuts trying to jump up and steal it from me) and let it dry out for a few days. I painted it white and then strung it up over my dining table (using command hooks stuck to the ceiling) with a bit of help from Jules. I wrapped the branch with sparkly lights and hung a few tea light lanterns. I made a few bundles of herbs from my balcony (bay leaves, thyme and rosemary) and some eucalyptus and myrtle that I bought at the market last weekend. I added glitter to a swan feather that Jules had found in the park and added one glass bird tree ornament. Such an easy thing to do and it was a very happy afternoon putting it together.

Styling the Seasons - December 2015 | Christmas branch | Christmas table decorations | Nordic style Christmas | Apartment Apothecary

Sheep skin on chairs from Modern Rugs.

I sprayed the bottom half of the swan feather with glue and added gold glitter.

On the table itself are the remains from preparing my Christmas branch and some hyacinths that I potted up for the festive season in a vintage jelly mould. I have added sheep skins from the Modern Rugs to the dining chairs for the winter and I love the way they look, as well as how soft and cosy they make my Ercol chairs.

Nordic mini lanterns from The White Company. Make sure you string them up with metal wire, not string.

We had a dinner party the evening after we’d put the branch up and it was so lovely sitting under the lights and candles. The herbs also smell amazing.

Bundles of rosemary, eucalyptus and bay leaves, which smell wonderful.

I have never liked the traditional red and glitz of Christmas in my small home; I never feel like I have enough space for it and it just feels like clutter. However, bringing the outdoors in feels so much fresher and simpler.

Charlotte and I would love for you to join us this month and style a surface in your home to show what this month means to you. Blog about it or post a picture on your favourite social media platform and tag us in so we can see. We can not wait to see all your festive decorations!

Katy x

katy 30th November 2015

STSxMakelight winner!

Wow. What month of flat lay beauty it has been (and I have to say I have become slightly addicted to doing them myself after my initial fear!). There were very nearly 400 entries this month to win a place on one of Emily’s Makelight workshops – thank you so much to everyone who experimented, styled and photographed such beautiful images.

We had such a tough time deciding on the winner (I had a long list of about 50!) but Emily, Ruth, Charlotte and I finally came to an agreement. So, our winner is…

Image by @thevintagehousethatcould

Congratulations to Katie, who writes the blog Thevintagehousethatcould. You have won your choice of Emily’s photography workshops or E-courses! Yay! We loved the combination of soft blues, greys and copper and all the different texture and that bit of sparkle.

Thank you again to everyone who took part. Pop over to these gorgeous blog posts that were written and styled this month:

Charlotte and I are ridiculously excited about your Styling the Seasons posts for December – we will go back to the normal format of a styled surface so show us your Christmas decorations with the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons! I expect glitter, glitz and a good dose of tinsel 😉

I will be back later on this week with my December post!

Katy x

katy 1st November 2015

Styling the Seasons – November 2015

I’m really excited about this month’s Styling the Seasons because both Charlotte and I have really challenged ourselves to do something that we don’t normally do and I, for one, found it really difficult! We wanted to make November special before all the glitz and festive fun of December so we are thrilled to be teaming up with Emily Quinton of Makelight this month. Emily runs photography workshops and courses and is the master of beautifully detailed flat lays so we decided to make this month all about seasonal flat lays. Our favourite November flat lay chosen by me, Charlotte, Emily and Ruth, who also works with Emily in the Makelight studio, will win a place on one of Emily’s workshops in her London studio or on one of her online courses.

In principle the idea of doing a seasonal flat lay sounded wonderful until I realised that I don’t really know how to do them – oops! My issue is that I don’t really know how to do ‘whimsical’; you know, arranging flowers and pretty things for the sake of it. In contrast, I love styling interiors because I know they serve a purpose and they won’t be tidied up as soon as I have finished taking the photos.

I tried five different things, then asked Charlotte for help and still couldn’t figure out what to do. So, I decided to get inspiration from a big, beautiful bunch of flowers and even though I only used three roses from the bunch they did help me come up with an idea.

Styling the Seasons - November | Seasonal flat lay | Apartment Apothecary

Marble cake stand from John Lewis’s Croft collection.

Whenever I think about November, the first thing that comes to mind is falling leaves and walks crunching through them. However, I am not keen on Autumnal colours so I sprayed some leaves gold and scattered dead rose petals to represent dead leaves on the ground. I then used a beautiful marble cake stand that my Aunty Lucy bought me for my birthday and placed three fresh pink roses to represent the last few remaining leaves on the trees, ready to fall.

I hope you like my November flat lay, I have to say I really enjoyed doing it once I had an idea. Maybe I’ll try a few more! Do pop over to Emily’s blog, Ruth’s blog and Charlotte’s blog to see their posts.

We would love to see your November styling either on your own blog or post a picture of it on Instagram using the hashtag #STSxMakelight so we can see it. Entries are open from today until November 29th. We will announce the winner on November 30th and they can choose which of Emily’s workshops or online courses they would like as their prize! SO exciting!

Katy x

katy 30th October 2015

October: A review

October has been such a beautiful month: the light, leaves, colours, blue skies and sunshine. I always look forward to October because it is my birthday month and unlike some I love the coming of Autumn with the chance to cosy up at home, cook warming food and take walks in the leaves.

If you are one of those people that dreads the colder months then Charlotte and I have the perfect remedy. Next month, we are teaming up with Emily Quinton of Makelight and Ruth Garner of Gathered Cheer to make Styling the Seasons that extra bit special. Emily runs fabulous photography workshops and if you are familiar with her work you will know that she specialises in the most beautiful flat lays. Therefore, we would like you all to create a seasonal flat lay that represents November and our favourite will win a place on one of Emily’s workshops, either in her London Makelight studio or online so anyone can take part!

However, before I get carried away with the excitement of all of that, I would like to share with you my favourite post from October. I was so drawn to Heather’s stunning French inspired post, Vicky’s beautiful styling and Kelly’s peaceful scene but I couldn’t helped but be wowed by these hand painted chinoiserie pumpkins – so very beautiful! Thank you Lilian for creating such a stunning styled surface.

Styling the Seasons October review | ling young b | blue and white chinoiserie pumpkins

October’s styled surface by ling yeung b

There were so many other wonderful posts this month, as well as a huge number of images on Instagram that you can find by searching the #StylingTheSeasons hashtag. Do make sure you pop over to these blog posts, too:

Growing Spaces / Refreshed Designs / Janice Issitt Lifestyle / Roses and Rolltops / A Quiet Style / Candy Pop / The Ordinary Lovely / Tea with Ruby / ling young b / Inside Out and About / Makelight / The Villa on Mount Pleasant / Camellia Rose / thevintagehousethatcould / little maldod / Geoffrey and Grace / Cate St. Hill / The Lovely Drawer / Owl and Accordion / Seeds and Stitches / Under the Plum blossom Tree / Mummy Limited / The Cabinet Maker’s Love Tale / Lotts and Lots / Apartment Apothecary

I will be back on November 1st with my seasonal flat lay and more information about our #STSxMakelight collaboration.

Katy x

katy 5th October 2015

Our vintage jumble sale

It’s 10am and I am still very much in my pyjamas, totally exhausted after our Vintage Jumble Sale yesterday. It was so wonderfully busy and buzzy and we loved meeting everyone – such a fun day, set in the most perfect village (I’m totally moving there) and with a gorgeous vintage tea prepared for us by Petal & Feast. Thank you so, so much to everyone who came, bought, drank tea, ate cake and said hello. I desperately tried to take some photos to capture the lovely day but it was too busy most of the time so here are a few (bad) snaps, mostly taken whilst we were setting up, just to give you a taste…

It was quite amazing how within an hour King Edward Hall (the perfect village hall and the stewards were so helpful and accommodating) was full to brim with so many gorgeous vintage homewares and jumble. All of our lovely sellers had so much amazing stuff – I’m almost in disbelief that I managed not to buy anything. I popped round to all the stalls a couple of times when I got a chance and kept on stopping and biting my lip and stuffing my hands firmly in my pockets. So much temptation (I’m totally regretting not having bought a jug from Michelle’s stall, wire baskets from Laura’s stall, some very cute French jars from Amalia’s stall and another jug from Jeska’s stall!).

Petal & Feast did the most incredible job of putting on the most wondrous vintage tea for everybody and it all looked so beautiful! Total vintage heaven and many happy cake eaters.

And, of course, there had to be some sort of floral faffery and Instagram larks going on at a blogger event…

Lastly, a massive thanks to our brilliant sellers who were all so wonderful: Laura, Amalia, Eva, Michelle, Hannah Jessica, Tori, Emily, Bianca, Renie, Eloise and Zoe.

I managed to sell soooo much stuff; I arrived home with just a tea cup and jug left over and a teeny tiny pile for the charity shop and my flat already feels better for it. Hurrah for #BloggersVintageJumble!

Katy x

P.S. Thank you to Dean for being on the door for us and collecting a £1 entry fee that we are going to send off to Save the Children.

P.P.S. It’s now 11am and I am still in my pyjamas and have no plans on getting out of them. Who knew running a stall could be so exhausting?!