House Tour: Why every Christmas home should use red!

This is a great example of a gorgeously homely Modern Country Christmas. Let's step inside and see why it works so well....

 Heavenly touches draw your eye everywhere it has the pleasure of landing. It's neutral but that doesn't make it dull in the very least. Why is that? 

I very firmly believe that sprinkles of red add a warmth and vibrancy that is hard to create in any other way. 

It conjures up images of warm cheeks, ruby red lips and shiny apples at the bottom of stockings....exciting, passionate, fun....everything a home should be.

Just try and imagine this home without those magical pops of crimson. Yes, it would be calming, welcoming...but would it sing? Would it call to you the moment you entered, "Come in, sit down and make my home your home"? I think not...

I love using cherry red throughout the year but at Christmas I could hardly bear to be without it.

There's a reason Father Christmas wears red, you know!

Will you be using red this Christmas?

Via Zuhause Wohnen

Book Review: Nina Campbell Interiors

Interiors by Nina Campbell isn't your typical Modern Country Style review. Yes, there are gorgeous pictures aplenty. Yes, it's a gorgeous, glossy coffee table tome. But what really marks this out is Nina Campbell's unrivalled attention to detail.

Nina Campbell is a world-renowned British Interior designer, and rightly so. Elegant, sophisticated and eminently liveable, her designs are utterly timeless.

Interiors showcases eight of Nina's most recent commissions, and takes you on full-scale tours of the completed projects, whilst the text is jam-packed with inspiration that reveals the immense care and attention given to each.

The interiors featured are from every corner of the globe and range from tiny boltholes and country homes to grand New York houses and Chinese mansions, yet all showcase Nina's unique style, and her obvious passion for creating beautiful places.

What I love most about Interiors is the attention to detail. 

No corner is left to chance. 

Everywhere you turn there is depth. 

Nina Campbell Interiors by Nina Campbell (photography by Simon Brown) is published by CICO Books and is available from www.rylandpeters.com 

Somehow, far from leaving you feeling daunted, this is a book that will leave you uplifted, inspired and able to draw on a whole new raft of gorgeous inspiration for your own home.

Get The Look: Neutral Christmas

Welcome to Neutral Christmas Wonderland!

Let's take a closer look at how easy it can be to get this look in YOUR home....

Marks and Spencer

I think overly-designed Christmasses are the antithesis of what a Christmas home is to me: warm, cosy, and welcoming...the very last thing I want to be doing is needing to stop children running around laughing excitedly for fear that they might ruin it all....

Table Fete

....so with that in mind, here's how to create a stunningly neutral Modern Country Christmas that brings your home ALIVE...

These images all show how simple this look can be to achieve. Lots of white, with touches of warm metallics, and accents of greige. Your palette here is key. Try (from top) Dulux White, Farrow and Ball Bone, Little Green Slaked Lime, Autentico Nearly Black for a gorgeously low-key neutral Christmas. 

{t-b: Atlanta Homes, All Things Bright and Beyootiful, The Stir}

A neutral Christmas doesn't mean bland and dull. accents of green with mercury glass keep the scheme fresh and vibrant. If you need a hint of colour then this palette will be up your street: Dulux White, Dulux Heritage Stone Green, Farrow and Ball Down Pipe, Little Green French Grey

{The White Company, The White Company, Pottery Barn}

Homes and Gardens

Don't be afraid to introduce lots of pattern, these soft, Country designs in gentle tones of charcoal and putty, above, look beautiful.

Clockwise from top: A little Christmas tree is a zinc planter on a raw timber console sets the scene as soon as you enter this hall. Little clusters of warm natural materials such as earthenware, wood and deer ethically-sourced antlers create a warm Christmassy atmosphere. Natural accessories are the way to go for consistent and harmonious home; adding focal points, such as this grey-green urn, can add character to bland spaces. Try a gentle palette of greys: Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray, Dulux Heritage Quartz, Farrow and Ball Pavilion Gray, Little Greene Lead.

{Welke, Gerry Williams, I Gigi}

Merry Christmas!

Neutral Christmas Heaven....

Aaaah, now for those of you who love a truly neutral Christmas, 

this is the most magical of homes....

Warm whites, greens and greiges, and natural materials a-gogo...

the neutral Christmas is simple and serene....

On Wednesday, we'll be looking at how you can 

make the neutral look 

your own this Christmas...

Images via Claire Curt

Christmas Cottage Tour

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas....

I can never, ever have too much of it.

Looking at Christmas homes always gets me in a decorating mood. Do you find the same?

I'm a red and gold girl myself, so this particular cottagey delight hits a very definite nostalgic spot for me.....

Welcome to December!!

Images via Country Homes and Interiors

The Perfect Christmas Craft...?

Shiny, pretty and oh-so Modern Country...If you want to make this mind-bogglingly beautiful and yet stupendously easy Christmas craft (could there be a better combination at this busy time of year?), then come on over to the Relics of Witney blog...

...where you'll find a full step-by-step tutorial of how to make one of your very own, written by me!

Book Review: PieMinister by Jon Simon and Tristan Hogg

And now for the third of my recommended books. PieMinister: A Pie For All Seasons by Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon. 

I don't think I've ever posted such a flurry of book reviews before but I've made an exception because, if you're anything like me, and I guess you are if you're a regular reader of Modern Country Style, then you'll be glad for some gorgeous gift ideas, both for yourself and for those you love.

Now, there's plenty of cookbooks out there, and I don't feature them hugely often...but there's some about this book that just shouts Modern Country to me.

PieMinister is also Jon and Tristan's business. These men know their pies. The book takes the quintessentially Country idea of a pie and turns it into something beautiful and luxurious. 

Jon and Tristan aren't afraid to tell you how to cut corners, to bring the humble pie up-to-date by making the most of all Modern technology has to offer in the kitchen.

They manage to do this without taking away any of the countryness...in fact, they somehow manage to inject MORE of the country-idyll-wholesomeness that you imagine should be there in any pie book. You'll see what I mean the moment you pick up PieMinister. Crisp pages, lovely photography and fantastic traditional and varied recipes make this an absolute cracker.

The pie is, rightly, the ultimate winter-warming comfort food, and I think I'd vote this book my ultimate winter-warming recipe book. Unpretentious, homely and yummy. What more could you want for Christmas?

And if you need any more convincing, check out the kitchen 36 seconds into this promotional video I just found for Pie Minister.

Swoon!!