The bathroom is a sanctuary within our home where we can slow down, ease tension and restore our equilibrium. Taking time to create rituals and savour small moments helps to create a sense of structure as well as opportunities for self-care.
Regardless of size or layout, a bathroom should be a beautiful space that inspires and nurtures as well as being functional. Soft tones, muted colours and natural materials can help a bathroom feel calm and minimal whilst exuding warmth and comfort.
Create a serene and restorative bathroom with our: reclaimed bath boardand accessories.
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A Simple Spring Table
Spring brings longer, warmer days as nature begins to unfold. After months of cold temperatures, it is a time to open windows, usher in the breeze, and sounds of Spring and embrace a new season at home.
Whether you are hosting leisurely brunches or intimate dinners, Spring is a wonderful time to create a beautiful table and share a special meal with family and friends. Creating a comfortable and inviting atmosphere at home is just as important as the food being served. When it comes to gatherings, keeping everything simple and thoughtfully executed, from the menu to the table is key. We prefer to use a neutral palette as the grounding base when planning a table across the seasons. Colour, texture and pattern can then be layered in as desired or brought in through food and florals.
Creating a simple spring table:
Lay the table with the season in mind, incorporating interesting textures and tones, mixing old and new pieces.
Start with a simple runner or table cloth to dress the table or leave bare for a more natural look.
Incorporate natural seasonal touches such as branches or blossom to bring the spring table scape to life. Use a single centre piece or add multiple vessels along the table.
Create simple place settings, adding favourite tableware; ceramics, glassware, cutlery and napkins to add texture and tonal variation.
Personalise each place setting with a small name tag, sprig of foliage or include simple eggs for Easter.
Add candles, whether simple tealights or dinner candles to add ambience for a beautiful and welcoming table.
Include music to engage the senses and create atmosphere.
Dressing a table makes any meal or gathering feel special and is a simple way to bring beauty in to our home and cultivate a sense of joy. Investing in quality, timeless pieces that will last is a good way to ensure things have longevity.
For more Spring inspiration, visit our seasonal board on Pinterest.
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Our Bath Board
Creating beautiful and meaningful spaces at home can nourish, uplift and enhance how we feel and function every day and we seek to design, and source considered pieces that align with this belief. Our reclaimed bath board, which is hand crafted from locally sourced, salvaged wooden boards is a favourite piece from our collection which perfectly resonates with this notion. Uniting function, ritual and aesthetic, it offers a simple way to compose a beautiful bathroom vignette as well as a useful surface to organise bathing essentials for a slow and rejuvenating experience. The perfect way to unwind and reset.
Surrounding ourselves with natural materials is a way to achieve a balanced and peaceful atmosphere in our home. Not only do natural materials root us back to our senses, they exude character and warmth. Living with wood is a way to be close to nature, it brings a tactile comfort to everyday rituals and gives a home a sense of soul so often lacking in this age of mass production. Re-using old timber, ensures our boards are sustainable and will live on, transformed into new functional pieces.
As a way of opening a window into our business and process, we are sharing a little behind the scenes of the story of how our unique bath boards are created…
Starting in our old woodshed at home, each piece of wood is selected and taken to our workshop next door. Here it is measured, cut, sanded, drilled and assembled by hand with care and attention to detail. The unique nature of the wood means that every bath board is different, each with its own character and hand-finished quality that will endure.
Once complete the finished bath boards are taken to our studio above the workshop where they are carefully wrapped and packaged before being dispatched. Our bath boards have been shipped all over the world alongside other pieces from our store and we like to imagine the new homes and stories unfolding around each and every one as it leaves our studio in the English countryside.
We hope you found inspiration here to create beautiful and considered spaces to enhance how you feel and to help you tell your story of home.
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Creating a Meaningful Home
The importance of home and the value it plays in how we feel and function is widely acknowledged and has been brought into greater prominence by events of recent years. Home is one of our most personal expressions and should tell our story, nurture and enrich. Much time is spent considering how our home looks, but how it makes us feel, both emotionally and physically, is of much greater significance. Amongst the flurry of trends and incessant distractions of the modern world, it can be easy to lose sight of our own thoughts and ideas. When our homes centre round values and needs, we can develop our own visual voice and create authentic spaces full of meaning and joy.
Creating a meaningful home
Begin by thinking about what home means to you, focussing on your values and how you want it to feel.
Consider how you want to live in your home, what you need from each space and how you can best facilitate this.
Design for flexibility, planning spaces that can be changed as lives and preferences evolve and consider furniture that works across various rooms.
Take time to look at what you already have and where necessary, edit, simplify and organise to create space and clarity.
Develop your personal narrative and style through visual curation; gathering images, words and objects to create a vision board as the basis for planning.
Look to different places for inspiration such as books, museums or the natural world, rather than relying solely on social channels and search engines. While inspirational images can ignite ideas, filter them through your own lens.
Use favourite paintings, textiles or natural objects as a starting point to inform and build spaces through colour palettes, style or textures.
Incorporate elements of nature to help bring your home to life and connect with the outside world.
Appeal to the senses, considering how your home can engage each sense: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell.
Balance old with new, reusing and buying vintage where possible, prioritising quality, sustainable materials and classic pieces that will endure.
Time and patience are key, plan and furnish your home slowly and mindfully letting each room evolve gradually.
With careful thought and simple changes, any home can become the foundation for a better and more meaningful life. When homes reflect our values, how we live and want our spaces to feel, and we live alongside beautiful things we can enjoy every day, it changes everything. If we create our homes with intention, they will have longevity and serve us, giving comfort, pleasure and sanctuary.
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Winter Flowers & Foliage
Winter flowers and foliage are a simple and natural highlight of the season that make our homes feel fresher and brighter in the darker winter months. Hyacinths, paperwhite narcissus and tall sculptural amaryllis are just a few examples of beautiful winter flowers which bring colour and fragrance into the home when most houseplants are slowing in growth.
With delicate, snow white petals and a heavenly scent, paperwhite narcissi bring much beauty and joy to the home. They are easy to source as cut flowers as well as being one of the simplest bulbs to grow inside. Paperwhites can be grown indoors from late autumn to early spring and their flowers and leaves are stored inside the bulb ready to emerge.
Growing Paperwhite Narcissi:
Paperwhite bulbs – as many as you can fit in your container
Compost
Gravel / small stones
Moss and twigs
Select a container such as a jar, tureen or bowl and fill half way with small stones or pebbles to act as drainage.
Add a layer of soil on top of the gravel and drop the bulbs in with the tips facing up. Cover with more soil and water.
Position in a cool, dark space for 7-10 days to stimulate the roots.
Watch for growth and bring into the light when sprouting starts. Rotate to keep the stalks straight.
Cover the topsoil with moss and stake with some twiggy branches for structure and support as the stems grow.
Water every few days and to ensure the flowers bloom for as long as possible, keep cool and away from direct sunlight.
Consider staggering the planting time to give you a longer succession of blooms to enjoy throughout the winter.
Bunches of foliage or winter branches can also be a wonderful way to create a bouquet or arrangement. Branches can be foraged from your surroundings and arranged simply, adding a sculptural presence to a room whether left bare or embellished with simple decorations.
Eucalyptus is an amenable and wonderfully aromatic plant that can be enjoyed across the home. Perfect as a stand alone display in a vase or combined with florals, eucalyptus can also be used in festive garlands or tied into wreaths. With countless varieties widely available, and the fact that it can last without water, the versatility of eucalyptus cannot be overstated.
Bringing nature indoors and filling corners of the home with plants and flowers of any variety is a wonderful way to add colour and life during winter time. It not only contributes to the look of the room but also changes how it feels to spend time within it. Read our other winter journal posts; a natural festive decoration,a foliage wreath for Christmasand winter gatheringsfor more inspiration or discover our seasonal boardson Pinterest.
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A Natural Festive Decoration
Taking time away from the hustle and bustle of the season to gather foliage, berries and seed heads from the garden and hedgerows is a wonderful way to engage with the outside world and bring nature into your home. Decorating with natural materials does not necessarily require a great deal of effort and need not be expensive. It can also form part of family traditions to be enjoyed each year in the run up to Christmas.
A swag is a layered-up bundle of foliage and is a simpler alternative to a wreath. It can be displayed inside or outside to bring freshness to a door, mantel or wall during the festive season.
Creating a festive swag decoration for your home:
Mixed seasonal foliage such as pine, cedar and fir.
Secateurs
Ribbon, twine or wire for hanging
Embellishments if desired
Gather together fresh foliage foraged from the garden or hedgerows alongside any acquired Christmas tree offcuts or herbs.
Trim with secateurs and layer different lengths into a loose bundle, ideally arranging longer pieces on the bottom and shorter ones on top.
Secure with garden twine or florists wire and finish with a decorative ribbon.
Add decorative accents such as pinecones, baubles or bells, keeping the overall appearance simple and natural.
To hang the swag, create a hanger out of wire, twine or ribbon.
Hang on the front door to welcome guests or display inside to be enjoyed during the festive season.
Creating a wreath is a centuries old Christmas tradition to bring seasonal decoration to the home. Whilst wreaths can be hung upon the front door to evoke the warmest of welcomes, these natural accents also make a beautiful focal point inside the home too. Whether hung above a bed or fireplace or used on the dining table with a candle nestled inside as a festive centrepiece, wreaths add a simple, natural feel to a space.
Starting the season with a walk in the outdoors to gather foliage and natural materials for a wreath with a trusty basket and secateurs in hand, nurtures our connection to the natural world. Adding nature’s beauty in to our home and creating with intention brings creativity into the preparations and can help still the mind amongst the busyness the festive time can bring. Forage in your local surroundings or visit a florist or market to gather materials if you do not have an abundance of greenery nearby.
The beauty of making a wreath is that almost anything goes and you can get creative with whatever materials you have to hand. There is no need for precision, keep it simple, embracing naturally cascading foliage for a whimsical, rustic feel to create an inviting and understated Christmas aesthetic.
Begin by sourcing or creating a ring base for your wreath. There are many different approaches from simply purchasing a twig or wire frame from a local craft shop or florist, to making your own circular structure by bending soft branches and securing with wire. Depending on your ring you can add a moss base before assembling greenery.
Gather a variety of greenery, flowers or other decorative elements combining a mixture of tones and textures.
Cut the pieces of greenery down and arrange in a bundle or fan shape, with shorter pieces on the inside and larger cuttings toward the outside.
Place the bundle on to the wreath and secure by winding wire around the foliage. You can choose to cut the wire as you go or leave attached as you move around the wreath.
Position the second bundle directly on top of the bind point of the wire from the previous bundle and repeat by gathering a mixture of foliage using different combinations, overlapping each bundle as you go. Continue until the wreath base is fully covered with an even distribution.
Weave in some final decorative touches such as flowers, dried seed heads, pine cones or winter berries if desired.
7. To finish, create a hanging loop using ribbon by securing to the back of the base and finish with a bow. A good ribbon can really elevate the look and feel of your wreath.
8. To help keep your wreath looking fresh over the festive season, spray with water every few days.
As winter approaches and the colder months draw in, many of us look forward to spending more time inside with family and friends. Whether hosting small intimate drinks parties, or large family gatherings, connection is at the core. Gatherings are made memorable by the small touches that make our homes and guests feel special and the food that we share with those that matter the most. Simple, intentional details spread throughout the home go a long way towards fostering a beautiful and welcoming gathering.
WINTER TABLE
A well-laid table can elevate even the simplest of meals and is a good way to embrace the season. A limited colour palette creates visual cohesion and the feeling that everything has been put together with care and consideration. Neutral coloured linens and furnishings soften a space and provide a good foundation for colour and texture to be brought in by natural elements and food.
COLOUR & TEXTURE
Accents of silver, gold or copper bring a touch of opulence and layering cushions and cosy wool blankets on chair backs infuses the space with a luxurious and comfortable feel, perfect for special winter occasions. A gentle mix of handmade, old and new pieces, collected slowly over time help to create unique and personal spaces. Gathering versatile, considered items which can be used across the seasons is a good way to ensure things have longevity.
NATURAL DETAILS
Looking to nature for inspiration and incorporating gathered seasonal flowers and foliage provides natural colour and texture and adds a touch of the season. From foliage to flowers, berries to fragrant herbs, plants can be displayed in vases or pots, arranged across the table, shaped into garlands and wreaths or wrapped with twine and velvet ribbon to create simple place settings. Even a single flower or branch evokes beauty and thoughtfulness. Subtle, natural details throughout the home give an elegant, festive feel without being overbearing and can be left in place all season.
CANDLELIGHT
A flickering fire and the soft glow of candlelight imbue a space with warmth and a restful ambience and is especially atmospheric in the darker winter months. Incorporate varying heights by combining tapered candles, scented votives, pillar candles, lanterns and tea-lights to set the tone for a truly cosy gathering. Fairy lights are also magical in winter and can be used around the home.
MUSIC & PLAYLISTS
Integrating music, perhaps a favourite playlist gently playing in the background is another small detail which engages the senses and helps to create a memorable experience. Create your own playlist or save a few created by others.
FOOD & DRINK
Cheese and charcuterie boards are simple to prepare and can act as a decorative centrepiece on the table. Old wooden boards laden with an assortment of cheeses, cold meats, crackers and all the accompaniments add a festive feel as well as forming part of an indulgent winter feast. Similarly, bowls of foods such as seasonal fruits and nuts provide a beautiful, simple form of decoration and celebration and can be left for guests to enjoy. A self-service drinks station with accompaniments can be set up ahead of time and be replenished as needed. Preparing in advance and keeping things simple frees up time to spend enjoying the company of others to the fullest.
Winter is a magical season. Along with the cold, crisp and sculptural landscape and cosy evenings come opportunities to gather family and friends close, share traditions and create special memories. We hope this journal post will inspire simple and memorable winter gatherings in your home throughout the season that foster connection and joy. For more winter inspiration, visit our seasonal folder on Pinterest or read our other winter posts; A Foliage Wreath, Winter Flowersand A Festive Swaghere.
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Discover our Card Collection
Inspired by beautiful, tactile papers and soft palettes, our collection of photographic greetings cards celebrate our love of nature and printed stationery. Each card is designed in our rural studio, printed on thick white textured card and paired with a luxury coloured envelope which gives a special, high quality feel. All materials have been responsibly sourced and are FSC certified inline with our ethos for sustainability.
In an increasingly digital world we hope to encourage others to send a thoughtful message, celebrate special occasions or stay in touch with family and friends. As they are without text, our cards can also be displayed around the home on a mantelpiece, mood board or frame.
Home has never mattered more and creating a home takes time, allowing spaces to evolve gradually and organically. Whilst it can be tempting to rush the home-making process, homes crafted slowly over time, in accordance with the needs and values of the people who live within them are more likely to have longevity. This slow approach supports the values of sustainability and preservation. A thoughtful and unhurried approach to decorating and furnishing the home is more likely to encourage repurposing and buying less but better quality, thus having more consideration for our planet.
If we allow ourselves the time to layer our homes slowly and mindfully, and consider what we truly need, we can create spaces that reflect us and the life we want to unfold within them. Taking time to seek out things that are considered, well made and beautiful rather than driven by trends, reduces the demand for fast, throwaway pieces and rash purchasing mistakes. Vintage pieces are always a good choice, and are better for the environment than buying new. They add character and help to create spaces which instantly feel lived in and comfortable.
Creating a home slowly does not mean moving slowly but rather taking time to plan, consider, iterate and refine, allowing our homes to grow and evolve with our changing needs and the rhythms of our life. We need to savour the process as much as the results, embracing the notion that our homes will never truly be complete. Sitting with an unfinished home requires patience and self-restraint. It is a humble act of acceptance that all valuable things take time to unfold and that the more care invested in crafting a home, the better it will serve us.
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Summer Alfresco
The summer season turns our thoughts to the outdoors, to alfresco dining and creating beautiful outside spaces for gatherings large or small. The term al fresco derives from the Italian language and loosely translates to ‘in fresh air.’ Dining alfresco can resemble anything from a simple picnic or barbeque to a beautifully refined tablescape. It can take place in any outdoor setting, from the garden to more elaborate locations further afield. However it unfolds, alfresco dining is an opportunity to gather together in nature, a time to turn the longer days into joyful nights by making memories around a table of food.
The main reason we enjoy having meals outside is that it’s truly lovely to feel a breeze on our faces, observe trees and plants around us and to make a meal feel just that little bit more special and out of the ordinary. There is much to be said for a simple picnic, in gathering blankets and a trusty basket and heading outdoors for adventures with family and friends.
Beautiful tablescapes can be created using simple crockery, glassware and linens and by bringing in fresh flowers and candles to add ambience. Using thoughtful pieces such as handmade or vintage tableware, full of texture and warmth, creates atmosphere and encourages us to savour our food and the company around the table, affording a sense of permission to linger for longer.
RECIPE | Elderflower Cordial
The soft white lacy blooms of elderflowers start emerging from countryside hedges in June. Gathering fragrant blooms and bringing them in to the home is a wonderful summer ritual. Small flowers and lemon chunks can also be added to ice-cubes, not only being aesthetically pleasing, but also keeping drinks cool.
Ingredients for 2 litres of cordial
25-30 fresh elderflower blossoms
3 medium to large lemons peeled
1kg white sugar
1.5 litres water
2-3 large bottles or jars
Gently shake the flowers and cut the stems but avoid washing to retain natural flavours.
Bring the water and sugar to the boil before adding the elderflowers, lemon slices and peel.
Remove from the heat and cover the pan with a lid.
Allow the liquid to infuse for at least twenty four hours in the fridge or cold, dark place, stirring once or twice.
Strain the liquid through a sieve or muslin cloth, bring to the boil and decant in to bottles or jars.
Store the elderflower cordial in the fridge and use within one month.
We hope this journal post will inspire simple and memorable alfresco gatherings throughout the summer season. For more summer inspiration, visit our seasonal folder on Pinterest.
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