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Text by Mary Forsell •
Photography by Matthew Millman
There’s no better way to brainstorm holiday decorating ideas than to use a
real home, believes Margo Tantau, creative director of Midwest and its Seasons
of Cannon Falls line. Every year, Margo and her crew transform the company’s
River House, an 1868 Italianate grand dame in rural Minnesota.
To highlight
artist Charlotte Lyons’s soft sculpture snowmen and trees, Margo created a
pastel tableau on a mantel, “Layering is the key here,” says Margo,
who contrasted the beige of an ironstone platter against the white of vintage
milk glass. “We kept it spare on purpose to play up Charlotte’s work.” In this
pale, nearly monochromatic setting, a bright ball wreath by artist Elissa
Brenner stands out like a new bicycle on Christmas morning.
hatching ideas
(a) Perching the tree on an old chicken incubator
lends whimsy. Round boxes, gold ribbon, Midori. Rug, Digs. (b) Susan
Guggenbuehl sculpted the prototype for this glittery skater figure out of clay.
sweater weather
(c) and (d) “I made my first snowman from an old
cashmere sweater as a gift,” says Charlotte Lyons. The fuzzy fellow generated
the Sweet Mountain Holiday Collection, which also includes yarn ball
ornaments. (e) Connected by a ribbon, Charlotte’s felt heart-and-home ornament evokes
vintage keepsakes made from sewing box scraps. “I imagined children in a
farmhouse making gifts for their family.”
River House Holiday page
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