Welcome Christmas 2017 ๐ŸŒŸ It’s the most wonderful time of the year!Hello, friends – Have you started decorating for Christmas and the holidays? Do you go all out with dazzling lights, seasonal colors, and a grand tree? Tom and I are nearly done and, once again, our decor is on the subtle side with a mix of old and new.

This year I selected a theme that is very personal and dear: antiques and the garden. My inspiration came from the garden with many items borrowed from our potting shed. Crusty terracotta pots, vintage trugs and baskets, old watering cans, burlap cloths, jute twines, velvety moss, pinecones of all sizes, and tole botanical ornaments are juxtaposed with period furnishings. I love combining the utilitarian with curated antiques.

Just as in years past, I chose a tabletop tree which has become my signature. Ever since I saw this…

…1848 engraving of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle in the London Illustrated News, I have been obsessed with these elevated little beauties. The article stated that each member of the royal family had his or her own tree atop a personal table covered with presents. Don’t you love it? I find their gesture of giving the tree a place of prominence on a table so civilized.
Immediately following the article, Victorian England soon copied those tabletop creations, making them fashionable and eventually common. When Godey’s Lady’s Book, a popular American women’s magazine, published a similar print (below) in 1850, the craze for household Christmas trees spread to this side of the Atlantic. Most of the early trees were simply trimmed with homemade accoutrements at first, but became fancier as demand for imported German ornaments grew. Eventually the ornaments became bigger as did the trees.

More illustrations of Victorian Christmas trees at Windsor.

BELOW: An early print with gleeful children on Christmas Eve.
Here is our little Christmas tree dressed in a simple but festive way to celebrate the garden. Tom and I decided to set it up among our antiques at Tone on Tone so that we could share it with friends and clients. Hope you’ll come see it!

Let’s check out the details. For the tablecloth, I went with a burlap round cloth in a 120″ size which allows for a lot of puddling. It’s not lined or pleated as I wanted a casual, unstructured drape.

The Fraser Fir is actually sitting in a glass vase (with water) nested inside an old terracotta pot. Around the pot is a Victorian cast iron tree fence dating from the 1880s. Aren’t those little gates charming?

Terracotta pots, originally used to start seedlings, in sizes ranging from 3″ x 3″ to 4″ x 4″ are filled with mini pinecones over a bed of moss. In lieu of glittery wrapped boxes, Kraft paper ones tied with braided twine borrowed from the potting shed give these presents an unfussy vibe.

Sitting under the rare 18th-century architectural wooden swag from a chateau’s puppet theater is a leaping stag or reindeer weathervane from the early 1900s. The patina on this reindeer is just superb. For more on weathervanes, please visit my post here.
Gilded tole flowers, golden glass pinecones as well as copper twine lights give the tree a luminous glow.

Here is another vignette from our shop. An antique toy horse sits on an early Spanish table with faux painted stone top. Under the table is an old French garden basket (not for sale – sorry) that was a gift from my dear friend Gail. With just a few oversized ornaments from Pottery Barn, it looks rather festive. See how I mix old and new??!!

Something I look forward to bringing out every December is this pair of faux boxwood candle wreaths or bobeches.

A Swedish Rococo painted secretary is styled with a small garden trug filled with Nandina berries and foliage plus pomegranates. Gathering from Mother Nature gives your holiday home an organic, fresh feel.

Another antique architectural element is this zinc laurel wreath. I like to include objects here and there that beckon to be picked up and admired.
Speaking of wreaths, this fragrant one currently hangs over our kitchen sink at home – makes me happy staring at it while doing dishes. It also adds a pop of color to the white-on-white palette.
The ribbon is wired burlap in white. Again, I continued the garden theme with the burlap.

More fruit and berries: tiny lady apples dress up a diminutive iron urn while orange pepper berries in a watering can brighten our entry.

What do you think of our Christmas decor this year? Please let me know. For more, follow along on my INSTAGRAM where I’ll be sharing new photos and videos. If you have questions, please email me at info@tone-on-tone.com .Thanks very much for your continued friendship and support.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

xo
Loi

PS – Here is a recap of our tabletop trees from past Christmases. Enjoy!

ABOVE 3 PHOTOS: Last year’s Noble Fir came from our property in Maine. The theme was silver and white.

ABOVE: This tree from a few years ago was decorated in a wintry way with dusted snow, mercury glass and icicles.

BELOW 3 PHOTOS: Another fir from Maine, this Charlie Brown tree was unusually sparse. I went with a woodland theme and layered it with birds, mossy nests with quail eggs, and pinecones. It was illuminated with votive candles.