Simple yet pretty Christmas / party table ideas

With only a few days to go before the holidays I thought I'd share some beautiful inspiration for creating a rustic Christmas table - or simply a lovely winter party table for friends and family! I love the idea of a natural white or grey linen table cloth or rough wood table decorated with foliage from the garden, with flowers and berries providing the only dash of colour.  I'm taking inspiration from these pretty, yet simple displays.

 

Pictures:
1 + 2:  A Quiet Style in collaboration with West Elm - see more of the lovely shoot here.
3: Hus o Hem - the entire post is full of beautiful inspiration (piled red apples anyone?).
4 + 5 + 6: Table inspiration from Swedish shop Artilleriet (see more here).
7 + 8: Call Me Cupcake - how delicious (and pretty) does that gingerbread cake with cream cheese and cranberry look?

get the look with these stonewashed white and light grey table cloths. 

This holiday I also hope to be tucking into this mouthwatering cake. And perhaps Thomas Kellers Chocolate Souffle. Mmmmm!

What'll be your favourite dish over the holidays?

If you're looking for more inspiration today  - check out 8 beautiful rustic gift wrap ideas? Or maybe pour yourself a coffee (or steaming mug of glögg?!) and take a scroll through the Christmas archive and Christmas / Party Pinterest boards.

Or if you feel like skipping the parties and heading to somewhere beautiful and remote this December, I'm thinking this pretty cabin in the Faroe Islands could do the trick?

Back tomorrow with the final post of the year (so soon?). Have a lovely day!

PS Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and mails about my new book- and for the pre-orders - it really means a lot to me! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as have writing it. I'll be back in the new year with more details! 

A beautifully simple DIY Christmas candleholder

I love this beautifully simple DIY candleholder idea, how pretty for a side table or the guest bedroom this Christmas?

Viennawedekind.com

See the full tutorial here.

I'll be back shortly with a fab home tour  - so make sure you pop back with a cup of coffee in hand! 

Oh and there are only a few hours left to enter the give-away to win a cordless vacuum cleaner from Electrolux. Hurry!

8 beautiful rustic gift wrapping ideas

One of my favourite parts of Christmas is the gift wrapping. I absolutely love finding new ways to make presents look pretty under the tree. A few years ago I cut branches of holly and slipped them under brown string - I have to admit it was soooo prickly, my poor family couldn't fully appreciate the beauty of it)! I still absolutely love the idea of wrapping presents with natural items - simple brown paper and string, or even muslin and decorating with whatever is in the garden (without thorns!)- pine, skimmia, thyme, eucalyptus. And the presents smell lovely too. Here are my favourite eight DIY rustic wrapping ideas:

What do you think? Is there something outside your door you could use?

These lovely ideas are from:

1. Nåde-studio
2. Made by Mary - visit page for tutorial and more beautiful Swedish ginger biscuit inspiration.
3. Mur lifestyle
4. Local Milk - visit page for tutorial and more lovely christmas decoration ideas.
5. Hege in France  - Click over to see Hege's three beautifully simple christmas wrapping ideas.
6. Local Milk - Stunning Christmas inspiration including a cake, wreath and wrapping!!
7. Le Fork
8. Fox in the Pine

If you're quick there's still time to pick up brown paper, paperbags, and white paper. Plus hemp cord, rustic mesh ribbon online. Source brown string at your local DIY store or nursery. The rest can be foraged! 

Oh and if it's a present you're after - I love this DIY idea (perfect for a last minute gift too!). Or how about hyacinth's wrapped in newspaper?

More Christmas inspiration here and on Pinterest (where I'm madly pinning away - isn't there so much wonderful inspiration this year?!).

PS tomorrow I'll be participating in the live twitter #ElectroluxChat chat tomorrow (Friday 18th December) at 4pm CET (#ElectroluxChat- come and join us, there's a fab prize for My Scandinavian Home readers on offer too!).

A monochrome Danish home with Christmas touches

Hello there, how're you faring up this week?! I think I've got just the home to bring you a little mid-week calm! It comes in the form of Henriette Bach's cottage in Holte, in the Northern outskirts of Copenhagen. Henriette is part owner of design firm Nordstjerne, which creates beautiful items for the home. Henriette favours a minimalist approach to decorating, carefully selecting items she loves, including treasures collected on travels and of course items from her company. She's also inspired by nature which you can see from the abundance of sheepskins, and natural elements. I love the subtle Christmas touches too. Let's take a tour....

Photography: Nicoline Olsen shared with kind permission.

So serene!

Is this your kind of style?

Items I know and love: Sheepskin, Sofa from Eilersen, cushions/ pillows Day Home, Danish Christmas ornaments and dark grey stocking from Nordstjerne, Bestlite floor lamp, Bestlite wall lamp,  I love the light grey cashmere blanket, source a similar beautifully soft one here. 

You can see more of this lovely home and read a full interview over at BoligLiv.

Other links I love today:

Don't miss this pretty Swedish Christmas inspiration from Residence magazine.

I had the pleasure of visiting this Danish home briefly last summer (it was fabulous) - I'll always love these images of it in the snow all decked out for Christmas too.

How pretty is this Christmas tree? - it reminds me of my girls decorating the tree a few years ago. I've finally got around to putting a few cosy touches to my sitting room too (over on Instagram)...

Comfort food of the day.

I'm so happy with the posts I've got lined up for the rest of the week - including a Scandinavian gift wrapping guide, a fab give-away, some lovely festive home tours, plus some very exciting news....I look forward to hanging out with you!

Have a lovely day!

A simple yet cosy festive Nordic home

It's the simple things in life that make all the difference don't you think? This morning I'm typing away next to my new Candle carousel, the deers dashing around in circles over the heat - so lovely!  This Danish home belonging to Lisbeth Assenholt (owner of Barkshop) beautifully captured by Frederikke Heiberg, is full of simple, subtle Christmas details - a bundle of mistletoe hanging from a door frame, skimmia in a vase, little paper ornaments hung from handles, or a shock of red berries in a ceramic vessel. What a cosy, festive space!

Photography: Frederikke Heiberg shared with kind permission, Stylist Pia Olsen. Featured in Femina.dk.

What a lovely home, don't you think?! It's truly brightened up the start of my week.

I've noticed it's really popular in Scandinavia to hang garlands of flags in the tree. If you'd like to do something similar but would prefer not to use your country flag how about this pretty gold flag garland?

Lisbeth sells a whole array of beautiful Scandinavian Christmas decorations (I'm not kidding, I think they're the nicest collection I've seen this year!) here (the site is in Danish but there's always google translate!).

Items I know and love from Lisbeth's home: Fancy finger cushion /pillow, sofa from Bolia.com, Normann Copenhagen table,  grey Snowpuppe lampshades over dining table, wishbone chairs, sheepskin chair cover, sheepskin throw, Spear grey wallpaper.

Read the full article and see more pics of Lisbeth's lovely home in Femina.

Other homes captured by Frederrike include this lovely apartment in Copenhagen and the home of a danish designer.

Have a great start to the week!

PS Don't forget today is the last day to receive 30% off these fabulous Christmas pressies by One Must Dash!

Beautiful, simple Danish Christmas DIY inspiration

It's Friday (woohoo!) and a big day in our household as we'll be heading off shortly to watch my youngest daughter in her 'Luciatåg' (St Lucy day or 'festival of light' celebrations) at nursery - so lovely! After the singing we're all treated to pepperkaka, saffron buns and a steaming mug of glögg! Now that's the way to start the weekend (make mine a strong one!). Today's Christmas inspiration comes courtesy of Bjørn Johan Stenersen who blogs wonderful images, DIY inspiration and recipes over at 2 at home (part of Danish magazine Bo Bedre). I love the simplicity of these decorations, perfect inspiration for the weekend!

Bjørn Johan Stenersen -  2 at Home - Bo bedre shared with kind permission.

I love the 'back to nature / less is more' approach (you may have noticed from my Christmas archive!), many of these items are homemade - if you feel like getting craft this weekend check out the tutorials here  and here (in Danish but Google translate comes in handy!).

More links I love this weekend:

Don't miss this Danish home belonging to Anne Langhoj, beautifully captured by one of my favourite photographers Tia Borgsmidt (see more homes captured by Tia here, here and here).

Simple yet stunning Christmas ideas you can make at home this weekend:

A pretty wreath and candle display
A foraged Christmas triangle wreath
Circular wreath with white candle

And finally - could you imagine spending the weekend at this cabin by the sea on Vega island in Norway?

I'll be back tomorrow with an exciting Christmas gift reader offer for you - so make sure you stop by!

Have a great Friday!

PS I loved hearing your thoughts on the 'dark' home trend in the comment section of yesterday's post!