Chrissy Inspiration...

Skipping around blogland this week I noticed most of you are already getting into the Christmas spirit and begining to decorate your homes. My home is already so chaotic I usually don't like to even think about Chrissy decorating till the 1st of dec. I do however LOVE this time of year and after my little trip into the city on monday and seeing all the stunning shop window displays, as well as this months cover and feature story in Australia's Home Beautiful magazine I'm INSPIRED!

There are so many Christmas "styles" now it seems you have more and more choice each year. Gone are the days of the traditional red and green schemes. My BFF Pru dedicated her whole Christmas colours to hot pink and silver last year. I'm not that brave and as you well know a rather traditional girl at heart.

More and more Australian's are embracing our way of life at Christmas time and decorating accordingly. As most of the population are descendants from somewhere in the northern hemisphere a traditional winter style christmas was what had been passed down through the generations. The trouble with that is there is a 90% chance christmas day will be 30 degrees celcius + therefore cooking turkeys and whatnot in a hot oven is highly inappropriate.

Ever since my grandparents passing we started a new Christmas tradition with my family and only cold foods are on the menu. This includes loads of king prawns, fresh oysters, cold ham and turkey as well as a sumptuous variety of salads. And lets not forget pavlova with fresh fruit and lemon tart for dessert.

I absolutely LOVE the images above and I was SO excited when I saw this cover and feature of Gaynor Groome's home in the december issue. Mz Groome is the owner of yet another French treasure of a store in Sydney called Shades of Pale. For more incredibly beautiful pictures from this feature please visit my blog sista Ness at Marley and Lockyer but people who can, should definately buy the magazine as the computer just doesn't do these inspiring images justice.

This is exactly how I will be decorating my home this Christmas. It certainly encorporates my true love for French design as well as completely capturing the essence of the Australian climate at Christmas time.

Light, cool and whimsical are words I would best describe Gaynor's Christmas decor. I love the traditional colours of green and red but I love the complementary mix of white and silver. Although every other month of the year I am definately a gold person and love my gilded accents, at christmas time, I actually prefer silver as it is definately more of a cool colour. This year I will be banning all gold from my tree and all tinsel must go too lol.

One of my most favourite things about Gaynor's christmas decor was her linen stockings on the mantle. Last year was the first year I encorporated alot of linen in my christmas decor. Linen is fastly becoming my new best friend. I can't get enough. I now have chair covers, chair pads, curtains, placemats, a tablecloth and hopefully soon a new sofa all in raw linen.

It's just so earthy and airy. A table grouped with linen chair covers, a white tablecloth, white cotton napkins with red monogrammes and a clear vase with olive branches screams a summer christmas to me. A dash of duck egg blue couldn't hurt either ;)

The company where Mz Groome purchased her gorgeous stockings from has a fabulous website with an extensive range of heavenly linen and cotton products. Flora and Ceres monogrammes are based in Victoria and ship all over Australia. They are a company where you can buy that special personalized gift you just can't find anywhere else.

I will be placing my order this week and this is my list...

I want 4 Xmas stockings, all unique. The stocking above will display the letter J for my husband.

I want the star for my daughter...

And the stripes for my son.




Finally I'll take this one with a red monogrammed A.




I'm also LOVING this small santa sack!




As well as this outstanding idea for an advent calender.




I also feel I HAVE to have this apron as I hate cooking without one and it will look FABULOUS hanging off my new bakers stand lol :)




Just before I go I wanted to quickly show off my first little purchases for the season. A gorgeous ceramic handpainted "elves boot" from Me & Mo and a little russian doll from Myer for my tree :)

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to read about your Christmas inspirations.