Styling the seasons – November

Styling the Seasons, by Apartment Apothecary and Lotts and Lots :“Reflect the change of seasons and show those changes in your own home, by styling any surface (shelf, dining table, mantelpiece) with something you like to reflect the new month and what it means to you”

For their exciting collaboration with Emily and Ruth from Makelight Studios, Katie and Lottie have asked for a flatlay to reflect the month of November. I have to admit I love a flatlay, as long as I remember that it doesn’t have to be artfully arranged petals scattered ‘randomly’. As much as I love those photos and admire the people that can style them so beautifully, it just isn’t me and that’s OK.
A flatlay photo is a great way to photograph when you live in a chaotic house with three children. You don’t need much space to make it work, it doesn’t take too long to set up and of course zooming in is the friend of the messy, real life blogger. It literally hides a multitude of sins. I have a few places in the house where I can set up a flatlay photo, with different backgrounds. Nano has a beautifully light, white bedroom, with a nice big roof window that is perfect for clean, bright styling. Lady Mck has a lovely, vintage, waxed wood chest of drawers and downstairs we have a dark wood dining room table, although I am always battling the light in this room, even in height of summer. One of my most used flat lay areas for a quick iPhone shot for Instagram is a wooden side table directly underneath our lounge window. It’s not my favourite surface, but is easy to clear and set up while the children are around and chaos is everywhere.

November is a time for hunkering down. For me, it feels like a dark month, when we really have to accept that winter is here and will be here for some time. I close the curtains before I leave to pick up the boys from school, turn on the side lamps and the heating goes on in November. Usually it is also the month that I avoid any mention of Christmas. Grumbling that it all starts too early and everyone should just calm down! However, this year I have decided to avoid my inevitable festive meltdown, as the present wrapping and card writing converges with school events and requests for baking by getting organised early.

One of my favourite things to do at Christmas is decide on how the presents will be wrapped. We always go for plain brown paper and then I decide on a colour scheme for ribbons and string and order my supplies. I love grosgrain ribbon and bakers twine for a simple, homespun look and this year I have avoided the traditional reds and greens for a, more grown up, palette of black and white. I may, also, dig out a roll of the kid’s IKEA easel paper as a change from the brown paper.

My aim is to get all the presents bought, made and wrapped by the end of November, so that I can really enjoy the children’s activities and excitement in December. I have never even attempted this before, so am curious to see if I can manage it.

I styled this in Nano’s room, while he was at school, when we had a brief spell of sun last week, with Lady Mck happily playing around me and ignoring me, until I actually picked up the camera. Then, she realised I was up to something and started undoing all my efforts. I had to abandon until she was sleeping, when unfortunately the light had gone. Thankfully, this room is so bright that I still managed to get some shots I was happy with.