When we arrived at The Welsh House last weekend, we were welcomed in by the most beautiful evening light that streamed through the beautiful windows in the cottage. I took the picture below pretty much as soon as I stepped foot through the door.

Over the long weekend we had all the time in the world with no phones, laptops or TV so we spent a lot of time outside with Otto and I took full advantage of the nature that surrounded us. Being able to pick flowers and foliage to fill vases in the house is such a novelty to me and even though we take Otto to the park every day I am far too scared to pick anything from there – I had nightmares about being chased down by the police last May when I dared to pick some Cow Parsley.

I also took along a little craft project to do whilst I was there and I did it without photographing it or worrying about how to style it for the blog, drinking tea and listening to music. Blissful, I tell you.

My trusty helper, Otto, collecting flowers, brambles and foliage to fill vases at Bryncyn cottage.

Anyhoo, as the weekend went on that windowsill that I photographed when we arrived started to fill up with things I had collected from outside and crafty bits and bobs. I decided to photograph it (rather badly I’m afraid – I’m only used to photographing things against white walls!) for October’s Styling the Seasons because it sums up how I feel about this month rather well. For me, October is the true start of Autumn as the leaves start to fall. I’ve always been keenly aware of nature during Autumn probably because a lot of it falls to the ground, ready to be inspected. I have such fond childhood memories of collecting conkers and throwing Sycamore seeds into the air to make helicopters. The light starts to fade and the dark evenings arrive and more time is spent at home nesting, crafting, making, cooking (although, to be fair, I seem to spend all year round doing those things). I love nothing more than a rainy Autumnal afternoon spent crafting at home.

Vintage spindles and basket at The Welsh House.

I can not wait to begin Autumnal crafts this season.

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.

Also, we hope to see lots of you at our vintage jumble and prop sale this Sunday October 4th – hopefully, you can pick up lots of bits to style up your October surface!

Katy x

September has been a good month. The sun has shone, exciting opportunities have presented themselves and we managed to get away for a few precious days to catch up with life.

This month has been made even more beautiful by your stunning Styling the Seasons posts that have been in abundance this month; everyone has been revelling in the change of season it seems. However, there was only ever one post that I could pick as my favourite this month, as it made my heart sing and I loved reading every word. Thank you, Rachel, for such a beautiful and thoughtful post.

The Ordinary Lovely

Thank you to everyone else who took part this month and hopefully refreshed a surface in your home, stopping to appreciate the change of season and how best to portray it in your home. We’ve also loved seeing your favourite vintage finds this month, as we get ready for our Vintage Jumble and Prop Sale that we are holding this Sunday, October 4th in Lindfield (more details here). If you want to come along and pick up some lovely homewares that you can use to style up your home we would love to see you there.

For more beautiful September inspiration, check out these posts…

The Ordinary Lovely | thevintagehousethatcould | Growing Spaces | A Quiet Style | Lobster and Swan | Tea with Ruby | Wild and Grizzly | Lapin Blu | Littlegreenshed | Seeds and Stitches | The Lovely Drawer | Camellia Rose  | Candy Pop | Beautiful Simplicity | Daisy Fay Interiors | The Villa on Mount Pleasant | Humphrey and Grace | Really Pretty Useful | The Cabinet Maker’s Love Tale | Janice Issitt Lifestyle | Ling Yeung B | A Quiet Corner | Owl and Accordian | Mummy Limited | Inside Out and About | Lotts and Lots | Apartment Apothecary

See you back here tomorrow for my October post.

Katy x

Hello! I’ve been away from the blog for the past couple of weeks and I’ve missed you. I hope you have all had a lovely August despite all this awful weather. Before we say goodbye to August there is one thing left to do and that is to celebrate a whole year of Styling the Seasons. There have been almost 500 blog posts written since September 2014 that you can see on our Pinterest board and there are nearly 6000 images on Instagram. Just wow!

As well as sharing my favourite August posts by you lovely lot I would also like to take this opportunity to reflect a bit on what Charlotte and I have achieved this year and why we have both grown to love this styling project that we dreamt up in a park this time last summer. I have gained so much through the wonderful, growing STS community and it has completely changed my blogging life as I have got to know so many of you. It was so daunting when I began my blog a couple of years ago because it felt as if everyone knew each other and I was out on a limb; it could feel a bit lonely as though I was writing my blog but no one was reading it.  Starting STS has been such a brilliant way to get to know other bloggers and creatives and given me a genuine reason to engage with people on Instagram or on blogs. I have made new ‘real life’ friends because of this project, which is quite an amazing thing. Who knew styling a surface could lead to such an amazing support network?

Charlotte and I were always clear that we wanted to meet other like-minded people to share ideas and creative fun, which was realised with our wonderful seasonal events: Crafting the Seasons at Liberty last winter and a floral workshop, Styling Spring at{mine} . We are teaming up with other bloggers for the Bloggers’ Vintage Jumble Sale for our Autumn event. Hopefully, over the coming year we can meet even more of you!

Professionally, I have found so much value in developing and practising my styling skills, which has led to exciting opportunities with some of my favourite brands. I have been so inspired by the styling of others this past year, which has helped me explore and define my own style and I’m so grateful for that.  I always said that when I gave up my teaching job to explore the world of interiors that I wouldn’t make firm plans but wait to see where the journey would take me and remain open to every opportunity that landed in my inbox. That has really paid off and I’m so pleased that I took up Charlotte’s suggestion to meet last summer during her lunch break to chat about working together. It has been such a fun partnership and she is ridiculously creative and inspiring.

Thank you to everyone who has taken part this year and I really hope you have found value in being more aware of the passing of time and change of seasons and reflecting that in your own home. Having lived in London all my life I must admit that until we began STS I was only really aware of the change in weather as the seasons changed; I paid very little notice to nature. I have loved discovering what defines each month in terms of nature, whether it be the Cow Parsley of May or the Lavender of July. And, as ever, I have LOVED tending to neglected surfaces in my home and bringing them back to life with my seasonal styling.

And so, that leaves me with just one last task of this first year of Styling the Seasons and that is to share my favourite styling of August. There were two posts that really stood out to me and look so “August-like”. Firstly, this beautiful shot by Ruth from Gathered Cheer that she took in France.

I also fell hard for this gorgeous styling by Jane of Tea with Ruby. I love the textures and natural colours.

Do check out all of the other posts that were written and styled this month, as well as checking out the #StylingTheSeasons hashtag on Instagram:

The Villa on Mount Pleasant / Refreshed Designs / Beautiful Simplicity / Cate St. Hill / Tea with Ruby / The Vintage Good Life / Seeds and Stitches / Humprey and Grace / Gathered Cheer / Beak Up Crafts / Janice Issit / Candy Pop / The Ordinary Lovely / The Lovely Drawer / Little Maldod / KT Robbins Ceramics / Pink Wellies and Pearls / Lotts and Lots / Apartment Apothecary

We would be thrilled if you join us for the second year of Styling the Seasons. You can either share your styled surface on Instagram or blog about it; you do not have to take part every month and feel free to dip in and out whenever the mood suits you. I will share my September post tomorrow and there’s a little twist next month as we would like you to use your favourite vintage finds in your styling as we gear up for our Bloggers’ Vintage Jumble Sale.

Thank you again for all your support over the last year, we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have.

Katy x