Have Yourself A Modern Little Christmas

This time of year, right now, is such a fun moment. The moment before the chaos, when we start to anticipate the fun and feeling of the holiday season. We want to start buying presents and decorating our homes. But for the minimalists, finding decorations we like is not always so easy.

Ryley & I buy a real (farm grown/sustainably harvested) tree every year and for years put nothing on it but little white lights. My reasoning was that a real tree is so beautiful on its own and really doesn't need embellishments. But after about ten years of this I have started to grow bored of it and have been looking for new ways to show my Christmas spirit.

However, the idea of cluttering up my home with trinkets and nicknacks is still unappealing to me so I put away my everyday decorative items for the season and replace them with the holiday items. Never very many, just enough to give the feeling of holidays: a wreath on the door, a lumberjack plaid throw on the couch (that my friend Nikki gave to me), maybe some candles and faux fur pillows or throws, my minimal tree and yeah, that's about it. If you're like me and looking for just a few new pieces to add to your Christmas decor, here are a few of my favorite finds so far (a lot of these are handmade items from Etsy cause I like to support small business):

Clockwise from top left: Himmeli Ornaments by AMradio at etsy.com; Christmas Tree by Cardboard Christmas at etsy.com; XL Pouf by theRemakerie at etsy.com (even a modernist can use a little bit of pattern); Elf Candleholders by CB2 at cb2.com; Fred lrg moose trophy by Cardboard Safari at cardboardsafari.com; Branch Menorah by JudaicaDesignsUSA at etsy.com; Auskin Jumbo Beanbag by Auskin Fibre at inmod.com 

Loveable Livable Trends: Reclaimed & Live Edge Wood

I'm not a big fan of trends and don't recommend that people change their style or decor based on a trend or follow them too closely. Trends are just too, well, trendy. They come and go so quickly. So why am I writing a post about trends you might ask? Well, every once in a while a trend comes along that I just love so much that it makes me want to bend my no trends rule just a little. But I have a prerequisite: it has to be something with staying power. Something that I think will remain in style for a lot longer than a single season.

Something very stylish right now that I think has some serious staying power is the trend towards raw, more natural looking wood as prominent statement pieces. I'm talking about the reclaimed wood wall, reclaimed wood furniture and live edge furniture pieces. I love this look! If you have the right space for it, it provides instant texture and character to a space and is one of a kind. What do you think, is this a trend you could get into?

Clockwise from top left: MTH Woodworks Bloom Coffee Table available at woodindesign.com, Hilla Shamia Cast Aluminum and Wood Furniture available at hillashamia.com, Reclaimed Wood Wall from brooklyntowest.blogspot.ca, Live Edge Wood Headboard, Reclaimed Wood Dining Table from brooklyntowest.blogspot.ca

Design 101: Basic Colour Schemes

So I thought it would be fun to include some design tips and tricks in this blog. You know, some rules of thumb that can help a design scheme further along the path to awesomeness. This will be a reoccurring column in which I will share some trade secrets and some need-to-knows.

An important part of design is colour. It sets the mood for a space and we all have a strong emotional connection with colour for better or worse. A good rule of thumb is to think about how you will utilize the space and how you want to feel in it before picking a colour. If you want a certain room to be a space for relaxing, don't pick a colour that you might find jarring or over stimulating (at least not as your main colour). This may seem like stating the obvious, but you'd be surprised how often this step is forgotten. 

My Colour Wheel: a reference guide for colour mixing and matching

If your not sure what colours will work together and which ones just don't look quite right a good place to start is the colour wheel. I won't go through all the uses of the colour wheel in this post - that would take way too long. I will however discuss two of my favorite colour schemes which are also two of the simplest schemes (I'm a bit of a minimalist) called monochromatic and analogous.

A monochromatic scheme is, of course, a scheme based on one colour, or one piece of the colour wheel pie. Black and white can be added to the colour giving a range of tints and shades thereby making the monochromatic scheme more interesting.

An analogous scheme is similar to a monochromatic scheme but instead of using shades of one colour you use two or three colours that are adjacent to one another on the colour wheel and all their tints and shades. Simple and beautiful.

Analogous Colour Scheme

This video by OK Go is a perfect example of both monochromatic and analogous colour schemes (it also makes me want to slow dance with my hubby in matching monochromatic outfits):