Saying goodbye to Styling the Seasons

Charlotte and I began our Styling the Seasons project exactly two years ago by calling on people to take a moment to reflect on the change of season each month and try to style a surface in their home to represent what that month meant to them. The idea came from a discussion we had had over lunch one sunny day that summer after bemoaning how little time we had to appreciate the change of seasons being stuck in air conditioned offices and for much of year leaving home for work in the dark and returning home in the dark, too. We thought it would be a lovely way of being creative, forcing us to spend more time outside and the perfect motivation to clear dumping grounds in our homes.

We asked a small group of our favourite bloggers to help us launch the project and we were blown away by the level of support we received and everyone’s willingness to get involved. We knew from the start that we wanted to use Styling the Seasons as a way of bringing people together and we decided to hold seasonal events during the first year, which was an amazing way of meeting new people and building community. The fact that we can now say that we have made ‘real life’ gorgeous friends because of those opportunities to come together makes me so happy.

Our first Winter event at Liberty of London, Crafting the Seasons – one of my favourite days ever. Photographed by Katharine Peachey.

Two years on we have gained so much from Styling the Seasons but we have decided that it’s time to move on and do something different (not sure what yet!). We hope that it has become a habit for many to take a moment here and there to think about what each month means to them and we would love for you to carry on writing posts from time to time or using the hashtag still on Instagram, as we will, but Charlotte and I won’t be rounding up the images each month or writing a post about our styling each month.

Our Spring event, Styling Spring at{mine}. Photographed by Katharine Peachey.

We want to thank everyone who has taken part over the last two years, come to our events, used the hashtag and entered our competitions. You are all amazing and the sense of community that we have felt and still feel is very real. A thank you also to the companies and brands that supported our events.

Our Autumn Vintage Jumble Sale organised with some lovely friends we made through Styling Seasons. Pics by me.

So, this is not so much goodbye to Styling the Seasons but a celebration of everything that we have gained from it and we hope that lots of you carry it on in one way or another. I will miss much about not hosting this project each month but one of the things I have loved about it most is working with Charlotte – her positive energy, infectious laugh and amazing creativity made this experience so, so fun. Big kisses to her!

Katy x

July: a review

What a strange month this has been: full of joy close to home but horrendous atrocities happening around the world. A confusing and scary time indeed but I’m  choosing to focus on the positives in this month’s review.

We celebrated this month as my little sister got married and had the most perfect wedding. I’ve always heard stories of how all-consuming weddings can be but I hadn’t really seen it up close and personal until my sister took on the challenge of a DIY wedding. Woah. Those stories were true and then some. I just dipped in and out when I could and I still feel like every day of July was taken up by wedding chat, work, plans, hard graft. Thankfully, everything came together on the day and it was the most amazing weather ever and everyone had such a good day (I think Otto enjoyed it most because he got free rein of a field, river and ALL the wedding food he could possibly find/steal to eat) and my sister and my new bro-in-law beamed all day, which is the most important thing.

I hope lots of you have been on holiday this month or spent as much time as possible outside – the sun and heat we had this July was AMAZING! You will never hear me complain about it now I don’t have to work in a classroom all day with thirty teenagers and no windows that open 😉 There have been beautiful summer inspired Styling the Seasons posts this month and these are a few gorgeous highlights…

The Lovely Drawer / Growing Spaces

We Made This HomeJanice Issitt (top image also from Janice’s post)

Do check out all the other posts this month on our Pinboard and the huge number of images on Instagram that you can find by searching the #StylingTheSeasons hashtag. Charlotte and I hope you all have a wonderful August!

Katy x

 

June: a review

Although not the sunniest month, it certainly was a pretty month filled with the promise of summer. Charlotte and I had a very difficult job picking our favourite Styling the Seasons image for June but these peonies styled so beautifully by Janice won us over and she is the lucky winner of that stunning side table from Holly’s House. Congratulations, Janice!

There were many wonderful posts this month, as well as a huge number of images on Instagram that you can find by searching the #StylingTheSeasons hashtag. Do pop over and check out these blog posts, too:

Made by Molu / The Ordinary Lovely / Growing SpacesThe Villa on Mount PleasantGathered Threads / The Lovely Drawer / We Made This Home / The Nice Nest / Under the Plum Blossom TreeLet’s Talk Mommy / Janice Issitt / Three Sons LaterLotts and Lots / Apartment Apothecary

I hope everyone had a good month and fingers crossed July will bring much joy with it too. Please do join Charlotte and I next month and style any surface in your home to represent what July means to you and share on any social media or blog about it. We can’t wait to see!

Katy x

Styling the Seasons – June | Holly’s House giveaway

We are very excited about this month’s Styling the Seasons as we have teamed up with one of my absolute favourite shops, Holly’s House, who are offering our favourite June styled surface an amazing prize of this beautiful copper table! I will explain more about how to take part at the end of this post.

I am also feeling very excited about June as we have lots of nice plans this month including a holiday with friends and my little sister’s hen do. I’m hoping it will be a month full of sun (even though this week is disastrous!) and fun time spent with family and friends. For me, May and June are the best months to spend outside in the UK; the grass is lush and green, the flowers are in bloom and everything looks and feels so verdant and alive. Therefore, we chose to take a little Norfolk holiday during this month and we are staying in a forest cabin amongst the green trees and a wild flower meadow – bliss! I wanted to try and show the ‘green’ that I associate with this time of year in my styling by adding a few new plants to my bedroom, particularly on top of my wardrobe. I have found that this is a great surface to keep plants and I love the way they look instead of the normal rubbish that can build up on top of cupboards. I’m also super proud that my home, as well as this part of my bedroom, features in the newly launched book Botanical Style by Selina Lake so this seemed the perfect surface to spruce up this month.

Styling the Seasons - June | Apartment Apothecary | Plants in the bedroom | Wardrobe plants | Antique nursing chair

I will ashamedly admit that the plant that I had in this brass planter had died so I found this wondrous plant called Muehlenbeckia, which is so easy to care for and can live happily indoors or outdoors. It’s a more delicate (and prettier, in my mind) alternative to Ivy.

Styling the Seasons - June | Apartment Apothecary | Plants in the bedroom | Wardrobe plants  | Antique nursing chair

I also bought a Pilea (second from left) and an Anthurium Clarinervium (second from right), which both have the most beautiful striking leaves.

Styling the Seasons - June | Apartment Apothecary | Plants in the bedroom | Wardrobe plants  | Antique nursing chair

Our favourite styled surface this month will win this stunning copper table from Holly’s House. All you have to do is style any surface in your home – window sill, hallway table, wall, dining table, sideboard – to represent what June means to you. Either blog about your styled surface or post a shot of it on Facebook, Instagram or twitter and tag me, Lotts and Lots and Holly’s House using the hashtag #stylingtheseasons.

Copper hexagonal table | Holly's House

Copper hexagonal table from Holly’s House.

We can’t wait to see your June styling and fingers crossed you could be styling this gorgeous table in July!

Katy x

T&C’s: Giveaway closes at midnight on Wednesday 29th June 2016; Winner will be announce on Thursday 30th June 2016; You must be a UK resident to be eligible for this giveaway; This prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value; No cash alternatives to the stated prize will be offered.

May: a review

As I sit here typing this it could not look less like May as the rain pours down and the skies resemble murky December days but until today it has been a lovely month in a number of different ways. There have been days that have felt like summer, spent with the best of friends, sitting outside and remembering what London in the sun is like. There have been wondrous day trips to the Chelsea Flower Show and Eltham Palace and weekends away in the countryside where Otto could run free and wild and swim in rivers, chasing sticks. There have also been birthdays, including Jules’s that we celebrated over the bank holiday weekend. It will be a month I remember for a long time to come. I hope that you have had a good month and that June holds exciting plans, too.

This month everyone’s Styling the Seasons images over on Instagram and the blog posts have been full of light and pretty Spring flowers and I think Caro’s beautiful images over on her blog The Twinkle Diaries sum up May so perfectly…

Here’s a list of all the wonderful Styling the Seasons blog posts from May:

The Twinkle Diaries / The Lovely Drawer / The Nice NestLittlemaldod / Growing SpacesThree Sons Later / The Ordinary LovelyLet’s Talk Mommy / Janice Issitt / The Vintage House That Could / The Villa on Mount Pleasant / Under the Plum Blossom Tree / We Made This Home / Lotts and Lots / Apartment Apothecary

Don’t forget, you can see all previous posts on our Styling the Seasons Pinterest board. If you’d like to take part in Styling the Seasons next month we have a very special prize for our favourite image from one of my favourite shops, Holly’s House. All you have to do is style any surface in your home – window sill, hallway table, wall, dining table, sideboard – to represent what June means to you. Either blog about your styled surface or post a shot on Facebook, Instagram or twitter and tag me, Lotts and Lots and Holly’s House using the hashtag #stylingtheseasons. Pop back tomorrow to see my June post and to find out more about the wonderful prize we have to giveaway!

Katy x