25 Beautiful Homes January 2017

I feel that our homes come into their own at this time of year. Adding Christmas decorations to our house for the festive season feels like watching it slip into its best party dress. I do love adding decorations, and each year I try to come up with different ideas – my biggest disappointment is that we don’t have a stair banister I can decorate, as our staircase goes up between two walls. I still recall helping my mum decorate ours when I was young, always using fresh foliage, as there were no great faux garlands like the ones you can get now. As you can probably tell from these musings, I like creating natural schemes, but to my chagrin, I don’t have very much in the way of abundant…

I feel that our homes come into their own at this time of year. Adding Christmas decorations to our house for the festive season feels like watching it slip into its best party dress. I do love adding decorations, and each year I try to come up with different ideas – my biggest disappointment is that we don’t have a stair banister I can decorate, as our staircase goes up between two walls. I still recall helping my mum decorate ours when I was young, always using fresh foliage, as there were no great faux garlands like the ones you can get now. As you can probably tell from these musings, I like creating natural schemes, but to my chagrin, I don’t have very much in the way of abundant…

1 TREASURE TROVE Esther trinket box, £29.50, Marks & Spencer 2 PERFECT BREW Dotted fat mug, £15.95, The Ginger Pear 3 FLOAT AWAY Liberty cot mobile, £45, Little Cloud 4 COOL CACTI Succulents tin, £28, Flower Card 5 COCOA LOCO The Wreath chocolate box, £40, Hotel Chocolat 6 PICK UP A PENGUIN Harry cocktail shaker, £35, Habitat 7 FORTRESS OF FUN Build-your-own cardboard castle, £15, Nubie 8 PERFECT SCENTS Orange Bitters candle, £120, Jo Malone 9 CAFFEINE INJECTION Lavazza Magia Plus coffee machine, £130, Lakeland…

1 GOURMET TREAT Il Massimo hamper, £75, Carluccio’s 2 DRINK LIKE A FISH Bottle opener, £8.50, Marks & Spencer 3 FAMILY VALUES Personalised floral family portrait illustration, £94, Notonthehighstreet.com 4 HOP TO IT Wooden bunny shelf, £30, Design Vintage 5 WHO’S THE DADDY? Embroidered bear cushion, £15, Marks & Spencer 6 SWEET STUFF Flying saucers confectionary jar, £12.50, Debenhams 7 TAKE THE BISCUIT All-butter gingerbread men, £10, Crabtree & Evelyn 8 GREEN FINGERS Burgon & Ball Passiflora garden twine in a tin, £8.99, Wyevale Garden Centres 9 THAT’S A WRAP Jack Wills blanket scarf gift set, £50, Boots…

CHEST OF DRAWERS Please can you tell me where Lucy Rutler found the blue chest of drawers in her bedroom (p24, November 2016)? NATALIE CRAIG, BY EMAIL This was a second-hand buy that has been painted slate blue to suit the scheme, but if you are not up to scouring flea markets or antiques fairs, Angel & Boho (0845 200 0723, angelandboho.com) sells a number of handsome options that can be painted in a choice of 20 colours, including Grisaille Foncée, a dark grey, and Noiret, a near-black hue. The pieces can also be supplied in a colour of your choice at no extra cost other than the paint itself. Have a look at its apothecary chest (right), H94 x W118 x D48cm, £695. Swoon Editions’ (020 3137 2464, swooneditions.com) charcoal-coloured Dawson…

UNIQUE HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Detached country villa, built around 1880 LOCATION Near Skellefteå, northern Sweden ROOMS Hall, sitting room, kitchen-diner, utility room, cloakroom, study, three bedrooms, bathroom PURCHASED 1997 PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘We lived in an apartment in Skellefteå before,’ says Maria. Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year – I’ll start planning decorations as early as October,’ says Maria Markstedt, whose timber-framed Swedish villa is almost 500 miles north of Stockholm. ‘I go out into the woods near our house and gather mosses, lichens and branches of spruce, as I like my decorations to look as natural as possible. After that, I’ll set to work making cranberry garlands, decorating with mosses and making tiny fir trees out of the branches I’ve collected, which I’ll set out all around the house in little glass…