Christmas 2017 Home Tour Part Two

Yesterday was my first official day off this Christmas, so I was finally able to catch up on some baking and decorating to ready our house for a whirlwind of Christmas parties to come. 

Pictures below: I call this our "final" state of our 2017 Christmas decoration. You can read about our Christmas home tour part one here. 

The first up was to decorate this year's gingerbread house. Before this week, I had this ambitious plan to bake my own gingerbread cookies and build the house from scratch. With Christmas only a few days away and a ton of stuff still needed to be done, I went with the Ikea gingerbread house kit to give myself a head start. The Ikea kit is a no-frills set which was perfect for me. I always made my own royal icing anyways. 

So here's my 2017 gingerbread house based on the Ikea VINTERSAGA set. Anthony immediately pointed out that the charcoal navy front door looked just like the door paint colour we had at our cottage. Mission accomplished! 

The wreath on the side of the house was a nice touch. It was a royal pain to pipe a very thick tube of icing vertically, but I liked how it turned out. 

I never thought I was a Buffalo Check person until I spotted these cute stockings by President's Choice. I know, it's totally uncool to buy decor accessories from a grocery store. But, I will make an exception for PC Home. They actually carry pretty stylish stuff. 

Look at those tiny brass bells on the stockings...how cute are they?! The black deer head stocking holders are also from this year's Christmas collection, and I got them at 50% off! 

Remember that Serge Mouille ceiling light I have in my cottage dining room? I am so obsessed with it that I ended up getting a floor lamp for our home. This tall and handsome fella arrived just in time for holidays. 

I was having a few very hectic weeks at work leading up to the holidays. I was frustrated and exhausted, and didn't think I would have any energy left to pull off the upcoming festivities. Then yesterday my bestie dropped off this super gorgeous white and burgundy Freesia bouquet for me, gave me a hug and told me I had the energy level of a 10-year old. And all of sudden, all the exhaustion was lifted away from me, and I felt like an Energizer bunny again. I am so grateful to have friends that would quietly listen to my ranting, and do just the right thing for me to keep me back on track. 

Wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas! 

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! 

New Abstract Flower Art By Celine Ziang

I've always wanted a sizable piece of art in my living room to anchor the space. But which style? What colours and medium? Uncertainty was my best excuse for procrastination, and over the years, I think I've perfected the art of it. The search went on and off, until recently I came across Celine Ziang's art. It became clear to me that I was still mostly attracted to the more traditional oil-on-canvas medium, so oil painting it was. 

Picture below: the original abstract flower painting from Celine Ziang Art, 40x40 inches - it looks so small in my living room! Did you notice I also replaced these cream Dupioni silk drapes with the lilac gray ones? It's all part of my 2017 Spring refresh. 

Love all the moody and cooler colours and abstract strokes in this painting. Ordering artworks from Celine was so easy - it was probably the best online shopping experience and customer service I've ever received. She even helped me with a mockup to show how the artwork would look in my own space. If you are in the market for an original piece of art, you can use the discount code amdolcevita15off to receive 15% off and choose from Celine's endless collection of paintings at www.czartdesign.com. 

Abstract flower oil painting #LX38A 

I am still debating whether to frame it or leave it as is. The procrastination goes on! 

Here is a shot of the opposite side of the living room. If I make one more change to this room, I am pretty sure my husband is going to divorce me. :) 

I will be back to write about my recent purchases for my cottage, la maison dans les bois (still trying to come up with a catchier name for it). It's been so hard to buy for a place so far from the city core. 

Life, Lately

Is it just me or this January seems so long that it never wants to end? New year was off to a super busy start after the holidays, but it's all good.

Lately I've expanded my art horizons - in addition to my typical go-to oil/acrylic medium, I've grown to appreciate photography and visual arts more. Here are a few of my favourite picks from Minted and Society6. 

"Time Stood Still" from Minted was the first one to arrive. Artist Maja Cunningham captured a perfect moment with ephemeral colours and lights. 

I was stunned by how unique and gorgeous these Iittala Festivo candle holders were when I spotted them at Illums Bolighus in Copenhagen. 

And again in the Iittala flagship store on Pohjoisesplanadi in Helsinki, picture below. I remembered telling myself that I needed to start collecting them. 

Picture below: Iittala store in Helsinki, Finland.

And collecting I did. I am now onto four pieces, and thankfully, you can still find some 1960s-1980s vintage signed ones in the aftermarket. 

This picture below was taken using my new Canon EOS M10 camera, a lightweight bridge camera between DSLR and Point-and-shoot. It's going to take some getting used to for someone like me who's been using DSLR all my life. The camera takes pretty decent pictures I must say. It's slightly noisier than DSLR under the same lighting, but it's lightweight and agile so I am going to use it more for interior photos. By the way, I don't think I can live without this Diptyque Eucalyptus candle this winter. I am obsessed with this single-note scent. 

In a few days this wallpaper will be installed in my powder room. 

Still debating what type of mirror would go with this charcoal grey and white floral wallpaper, but I am thinking something like this, a Venetian piece?

This was also on my 2017 project list, to replace the island light in the kitchen. Since I don't have the time or energy to do a complete kitchen overhaul, I decided to splurge on this Roll & Hill's 10-light Agnes chandelier. I could hardly wait for it to go up. 

Don't gasp if I tell you I never watched Downton Abbey before. We just started watching it, and half episode in I was immediately hooked. Isn't Downton a heaven for OCD people like me? 

I will be back to write about the powder room and kitchen light.