Merry Christmas

Have a lovely Christmas—may there be good food, good company and good cheer.

(photo: tim bjørn for bo bedre)

Christmas

Merry Christmas all — have a lovely one.

(photo by genevieve jorn via my scandinavian home)

Sweetness and Light

Love the natural textures and simple holiday decorations in this Copenhagen home. Timeless. More here on Bo Bedre.

(photo by lene samsø)

Handmade Holidays

A Christmas tree doesn't always have to be an evergreen.


(photo: house of pictures via bo bedre)

Handmade Holidays

These Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies are a sophisticated take on a traditional holiday cookie — and ideal to give as gifts or keep on hand for company (if you can manage not to eat them all). Recipe over at modern wifestyle.

(photo: katrin björk of modern wifestyle)

 

Sponsor Spotlight: The Rhubarb Studio

A warm welcome to new sponsor The Rhubarb Studio on Etsy, where owner Barbara brings a discerning eye to an ever changing selection of beautiful vintage pieces and housewares. The perfect place to shop for one of a kind items for that special someone on your gift list. Have a look at more here.

Buffet

This week's links. Enjoy.

A Stable Home
Take a tour of a beautifully renovated 18th century former stables in Stockholm, now a lovely home with great original details. Love the textured walls and beams. 


Farewell William Trevor
The Irish writer William Trevor passed away last week at the age of 88. Follow the link for a wonderful interview with him in 1989 by The Paris Review.

7 Movies That Will Make You Feel Better About the Future
Interesting list of hopeful movies for anxious times, including one of my all time faves, Wings of Desire.

The New York Times Gift Guide
Get some shopping inspiration for the holidays with this beautifully designed interactive guide — there's something for everyone on your list. 

100 Years of Kitchens
Architectural Digest has a fun video that shows the evolution of the kitchen over the last 100 years. Fascinating. 

Best Food Books of 2016
Smithsonian has an interesting selection of food history books released this year — perfect for any gourmets you know (or treat yourself). Several focus on one thing only (butter, bourbon, candy) while others examine restaurants or food culture in New York. Perfect reading by the fire, with appropriate drink and/or snack on hand.

Roasted Broccoli Salad With Pine Nuts, Raisins and Feta
Balance out the rich festive foods of the holidays with delectable and healthy dishes like this one.  

(photo: bauer media group via my domaine)

Happy Hanukkah

A very happy Hanukkah to you — have a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends.

(cast iron menorah available from Food52 here)

automatism on instagram

Gifts from Sean are always wrapped so exquisitely that I almost don't want to open them. Almost.

(follow me on instagram at automatism)

Simple Pleasures

Spontaneous gifts, for the pleasure of making someone else's day a sweeter one.

(photo by eva varveropoulou for vogue italia)

Simple Pleasures

Making or receiving hand made gifts for the kitchen. This recipe for herbed sea salt from the lovely blog Besotted is perfect for spring house warmings, anniversaries or birthdays.

(photo by miss michelle p. of besotted)

Sponsor Spotlight

Thinking of getting something a little different for your significant other? Black Rooster Decor is having a Valentine's Day sale! This great Star Light Fixture by Nashville artist Michael West is definitely a highlight of the sale, and would be amazing for both guys and gals. Start shopping here. 

Jamie Herzlinger has just launched a new undertaking that's close to her heart — her new space in New York! Located in the New York Design Center, it's a mecca for interior designers. Here they'll find custom furniture and case goods, wall coverings by Studio E, a curated collection of antiques from Linda Horn, period lighting by Carlos de la Puente, beautiful accessories, Persian rugs plus luxury interior design services. Find out more here.

Boxing Day

It's Boxing Day here in Canada, so I'm still on holiday — hope you're enjoying a lovely relaxing day and see you tomorrow. And if you're hungry — recipes for the delicious holiday cookies in the box are here.

(photo by meeta of what's for lunch, honey)

Handmade Holidays

Feeling crafty? This pretty twisted felt garland is the perfect way to while away a cold December afternoon — and you can adapt it to make bracelets and necklaces for holiday wear, too (great for stocking stuffers). Tutorial over here at Purl Bee.

(photo via purl bee)

Good Cheer: The Marion House Book

For this week's Good Cheer guest post, Emma of the beautiful and inspiring The Marion House Book shares a pretty gift wrapping idea and warm thoughts about the spirit of the holiday season.

My favourite holiday tradition is finally getting to slow down and touch base with family and friends again. I love all the festive, high-spirited get together’s before Christmas and savour even more the languorous, stress-free dinners that follow after the big day has come. I tend to favour simple brown packages tied with twine and adorned with fresh cedar or a sprig of winter berries. It doesn’t really matter so much what is inside as long as it shows thought and care. The best present is time spent sharing a meal or sitting in front of a fire with a good group of friends and family and remembering the year that has passed. Happy Holidays to each of you!

— Emma of The Marion House Book

(photo by sian richards)

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This week's links. Enjoy.

Minimalist Movie Architecture Posters
Italian architect/artist Federico Babina recently completed a series of 13 minimalist posters featuring iconic architecture and/or landscapes from classic films — check out ones for Moonrise Kingdom, Star Wars, North By Northwest and Mon Oncle among others.

Art, Prints and Posters 2013 Gift Guide
Great round up over at Design*Sponge of ideas for giving art this holiday season.

Terry Gilliam On Disconnecting
Film director and Monty Python alumni Terry Gilliam talks about the importance of disconnecting from technology regularly as a way of getting to know oneself (and finding inspiration, too).

Quentin Blake Author Illustrations
The brilliant Quentin Blake recently did a series of illustrations for Stylist magazine featuring literary greats such as Charles Dickens, Karen Blixen, Leo Tolstoy and Jane Austen among others. Wonderful.

Bloesem Free Downloadable Wrapping Paper
Irene of the lovely Bloesem blog recently collaborated with designer Jessica Nielsen to create a series of fresh modern Christmas wrapping paper — all downloadable and all free. Such a lovely idea. 

Top Ten Martial Arts Movies
Feeling saturated with all the holiday movies flooding your TV screen? Cleanse your palette and watch one of these classic martial arts movies, including Enter the Dragon (of course), Yojimbo (a fave) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon among others.

Inventing the Perfect Umbrella
Is there a better umbrella out there, waiting to be discovered? Have a look at the latest ideas, including a Japanese inventor's interesting inverted version.

Spicy Chicken Milanese
This recipe from Food and Wine not only sounds delicious, it's amazingly quick to make, too — just 12 minutes. Perfect for a busy weeknight supper.

(photo by trine thorsen with styling by kirsten visdal for vårt nya hem)

Boxing Day

It's Boxing Day here in Canada, so I'm still on holiday — hope you're enjoying a lovely relaxing day and see you tomorrow.

(photo by anders schønnemann)

Wishing you a Christmas filled with joy, peace and warmth. Have a lovely one.

(photo via emmas designblogg)

Holidays at Home

As Roy and Ola Norberg settle in to enjoy the holiday season with their children Theodore, Cornelia and Vincent in their beautiful turn of the century home in southern Stockholm, it's hard to believe it was anything other than the idyllic space they enjoy now. But eight years ago when they purchased it, the house was in rough shape — it was falling down in places and was buried under decades of linoleum, particleboard, carpeting, scary '70s wallpaper and a leaking corrugated metal roof. Taking on much of the renovating themselves, they steadily stripped away all the bad later additions, replaced the windows with authentic ones, added a new tiled roof (discovered in drawings of the original house), replastered the walls by hand and put in new doors, switches, handrails and other details that were in harmony with the age of the house. Now a fire crackles in the original ceramic stove in the living area, rooms are candle lit and the house smells like hyacinths and pine boughs. Happy holidays indeed. More here on Lantliv.

(photography by carina olander)

Buffet

This week's links. Enjoy.

The Art of Friendship
Thoughtful essay by Jessica Vivian Chiu in the Paris Review on what makes a good friend — and takes heart from the unusual decades-long friendship between the writers Sherwood Anderson, Theodore Dreiser, and the sculptor Wharton Esherick, friends for over twenty years, mostly living in different cities.

The Immovable Mr. Darcy
From Intelligent Life: "The grumpy, snooty hero of 'Pride and Prejudice', is about to reach his double century—and he has never loomed larger. What's his secret? We asked seven authors for their verdict, starting with the columnist and novelist Allison Pearson."

Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles in the Air
Feeling stressed about the holidays? Take a mental break with this slide show of tree house photos from the new book by Philip Jodidio.

All I Want For Christmas is You
Really cute rendition of the classic holiday song, done backstage before the Late Night show and featuring Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey, and The Roots playing toy instruments.

Top Ten Time Travel Books
From Albert Einstein to Douglas Adams, author Michael Brooks picks out the best scientific and fictional accounts of an enduringly compelling dream.

Windows on the World
Lovely Vanity Fair slide show featuring photos of the best department-store holiday window displays in London, Paris, Tokyo, and New York.

Workplace Distractions: Why We Can't Get Anything Done
From the WSJ: "Office workers are interrupted—or self-interrupt—roughly every three minutes, academic studies have found, with numerous distractions coming in both digital and human forms." Thought provoking article about how we're all finding it increasingly harder to get things done.

Handmade Holiday Food Gifts
Marisa McClellan, the writer behind the blog Food in Jars, shares 8 of her favourite recipes for food gifts, including Mulled Apple Cider Concentrate, Candied Clementines, Ginger Curry Candied Almonds, Persimmon Chutney and Pickled Cranberries.


(photo of jenny's dining room by nicole franzen via this is glamorous)