Christmas 2017 Home Tour

This weekend was the first weekend in a long time we didn't have to work or catch up on the household chores. I was in my happy place baking, decorating for holidays, gift wrapping, and of course, blogging. I have to say, although I didn't spend nearly as much time this year on my Christmas decor, I LOVE this year's tree the most! 

Picture below: our 2017 Christmas tree, mainly white with black accents, Scandinavian hygge inspired. 

It all started with this Crate & Barrel Frame Console Table. After decorating our cottage top to bottom in a Nordic style, I craved more modern and simplistic furnishings at home as well. I've always made an effort to keep a few pieces of really modern and clean-lined furniture in my primary residence, but their presence was camouflaged by a few more transitional items that set the overall tone of a space. Those were my design baggage. In November after closing up my cottage, I made a decision to start over. I must have got rid of at least ten pieces of furniture and accessories within two weeks - it felt so satisfying to purge! So I replaced the living room rug with the same Bokhara rug in my cottage dining room, in a larger size. I also bade farewell to the quatrefoil mirrored cabinet, and brought home the Crate & Barrel Frame Console Table. 

Picture below: our new 8-foot Christmas tree this year in the living room. We tried something new this year and moved the tree away from its usual location in our foyer. 

Crate & Barrel's Frame Console Table is made of solid American walnut with a 1/2 inch steel tube box frame. You have no idea how happy this table has made me: it's modern, clean, simplistic, and functional all at the same time, not to say it uses honest and quality materials. 

I had a white Christmas tree in mind but then realized I needed an "anchor" colour. No other colour is more elegant and sophisticated to pair with white than black. It's unconventional to do a black-and-white Christmas theme (and a big no-no in Chinese culture). But my heart wants what it wants, so there you have it, my mostly black and white Christmas tree, which was inspired by hygge and lagom. I wanted to keep it clean,  uncomplicated, not over the top but definitely elegant, very lagom that was. 

The hygge factor did shine through with the additions of all these cute felt animals. Can you spot the fox? 

Picture below: a moose in a scarf and ballerina tutu...how adorable and hygge is that?!

Picture below: my 2017 Christmas living room

A more close-up look at the tree.  

Overall black, white and grey gift wraps this year. 

Picture below: 2017 Christmas mantel. Again, I tried to keep it simple. White fur pom-pom and pre-lit Eucalyptus garlands were from the Canadian Tire Canvas Collection. 

I also dressed down the bar cart with fewer things and kept it monochromatic. The bar cart has been in this room for many years, so it's probably time for it to find a new spot in our dining room next year.  

Unlike previous years, this year I also took the Christmas decor upstairs to the second floor hallway. The gold-leaf French bombe chest was replaced with this minimalist style George Oliver Woodbury console table from Wayfair. Btw, the bombe chest is for sale if you are interested. 

I even took up a DIY by using a wire coat hanger and fresh greenery to create a Nordic style wreath. The two pieces of jewel-like ornaments are from Georg Jensen's Christmas Candleholders collection. They were gifts from my bestie in Copenhagen. Lucky me! 

I really really wanted a real tree, but I was also really really scared of bugs and cleaning up the never-ending shedded needles. Keeping a real tree outside on our porch turned out to be a perfect compromise! The smell of this fresh Balsam Fir was simply dreamy. What a refreshing sight! 

Cottage Progress and My 2017 Summer Garden

Past few weeks has seen major progress made to our cottage construction. Not only did we have a roof (woohoo), the interior drywall was also hung and mudded. So this was what our cottage looked like as of last Friday. 

The interiors: guest bedroom door overlooking the dining room: imagine to walk out of the room every morning with that view! The bigger hole in the ceiling to the left is our central AC vent - I specified that location so we wouldn't have cold air blowing over our heads while lounging or sleeping. 

My favourite feature of our cottage has to be this cute loft! Or is it the screened-in porch? The loft can be used as a bedroom but I haven't decided what to do with it yet. 

And this is the view from our porch, straight into the woods. All the photos were taken by our sweet neighbour. They bought the cottage next to us so they will be our cottage neighbour as well! 

Below is the final version of the porch design board. You can see the previous versions here. I took advantage of a summer clearance sale and picked up this navy outdoor Allen + Roth rug from Lowes Canada. The vintage style patio table is from Wayfair. 

I've been searching for stylish nightstands for our cottage master bedroom, but decided take it upon myself to hack the ever-popular Ikea Rast dressers. I am so in love with them!!! The paint colour is BM's Pigeon Grey. Brass bin pulls are from Martha Stewart via Home Depot. 

And the Florence Knoll style sofa was finally delivered last weekend. It was every bit I was hoping for and more, so comfortable and timeless! 

Now onto my 2017 summer flower garden. You can read about what it looked like in the past seasons here. While this constant rain has slowed down our cottage construction, it has been good to all the flowering shrubs around our house. That's just life. We win some, we lose some. This Blue Satin Rose of Sharon grew by at least a foot upward and outward this year! 

See what I meant? 

I failed to turn the LA Dreamin Hydrangea blue this year. I applied the high-phosphorus fertilizer after flower buds came out - maybe that's already too late so I will need to try early in the season next year. 

Not only did they not turn blue, they were pinker than ever, in this vibrant hot pink shade all summer! 

I can always count on my Limelight Hydrangeas to bloom non-stop into the late fall. I kept trimming them so they can focus on growing upward. Both of them are now about 8 feet tall. 

And this was my backyard in mid August - I admit I photoshopped the sky to appear bluer - other than that, everything else you see was what the real thing looked like. #greenthumb

This weekend we are going up to the cottage to do our pre-completion inspection, so I hope to post more progress photos afterwards. 

Cottage Life: Screened-in Porch Design

How is it already late July and we still haven't moved into our cottage?! This year's constant rain is to blame for the slowdown in construction. Right now we are looking at mid August so fingers and toes all crossed for no further delays. 

A key reason for picking our cottage model is the huge screened-in porch. I would be surprised if this didn't turn into the most used space. We will have a lounging and a dining area. As usual, I came up with a few design boards. 

Below is the one I think I am going with, sans the hanging seat. We have mature trees with high canopy surrounding our cottage, so I am trying to keep the overall colour theme to a minimum so it doesn't compete with the view. 

I also really like the plaid rug in the design board below. 

This blue rug adds a touch of colour to the overall neutral space.  

This Scandinavian style conversation set from JYSK was the jumping-off point. It's an extension of the Nordic cottage style from inside out. 

These rattan Paris bistro chairs will form a porch dining nook. I am still trying to hunt down a vintage style metal patio table to go with them. Any suggestions? 

Before I go, I will share some of the flowers coming out in July in my jardin de fleurs. 

Lavender Hidcote Blue

LA Dreamin Hydrangeas - epic fail this year for trying to turn them blue. They issued non-stop flowers in vibrant pink. 

DIY Petunia planters from PC Garden Centre. 

ZZ plant in my foyer is nearly 5 foot tall. Took six years to get to this size. I tried staking tall branches but they are still topsy turvy. Any idea how I can keep them growing upright?

In a few weeks we will be replacing our door sets with these gorgeous Emtek Richmond in French Antique Brass. Can't wait!