Nostalgic Kentucky Christmas with Lee Robinson
Lee Robinson is known for his classic and timeless style, and when it comes to decorating his historic family home – Malvern House – for the holidays, he pulls out all the stops. Designed by famed architect Ogden Codman Jr., Malvern House was completed in 1922. It has been passed down from generation to generation dating back to the 1890s when the great-great-grandfather of Lee’s wife Babs Rodes Robinson purchased the land. Christmas is a time for the family to enjoy a little nostalgia at the ancestral home.
Lee says, “I’m inspired by Williamsburg Christmas decor. I particularly enjoy Della Robbia style decorations, with greens and fruit – think fresh everything. I feel this type of look would have been period-correct for the house. Even the Christmas ornaments are handblown glass, which, again, are period correct (Christopher Radko). Everything a bit nostalgic. Every year there’s room for artistic license. I usually match the ribbons to the rooms, trying to have all wreaths made of pruned boxwood. The needlepoint stockings, the nativity, and a paper Merry Christmas from the 1940’s that was used by my wife’s grandparents here at Malvern. It hangs in the Morning Room.”
Today we will take an exclusive tour of Malvern House, decked for the holidays by Lee Robinson, with photography by Tim Furlong, Jr.
For an elegant, timeless Christmas, Lee has provided so much inspiration! To learn more about Lee Robinson please visit his website, and you won’t want to miss this fabulous video tour of Malvern. For ongoing inspiration and information, please follow @leerobinsoncompany on Instagram. You can read two previous articles on Lee from The Glam Pad by clicking below:
Based in Louisville, Kentucky with an office in Palm Beach, Florida, Lee is preparing for the 2nd Annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach which will be held Saturday, January 26th – Wednesday, February 20th 2019. Mark your calendar!
And if you still have not finalized your Christmas shopping, there is still time… Please see Alison from @cattlebaronincashmere‘s exclusive gift guides for The Glam Pad. You will want to place final orders today!
A Southern Home Christmas
Launched in 2015, Southern Home has quickly become one of my favorite magazines. For those of us who loved and still mourn Southern Accents (which folded in 2009), Southern Home has come to the rescue! “Good design is timeless,” says editor Lynn Terry, who has been with Southern Home since its start in fall 2015. “We feature homes where every detail has been carefully considered.” And just like its sister publication Southern Lady, which I featured last week, Southern Home knows how to keep Christmas well. Today, I will be sharing highlights from their beautiful November/December 2018 issue and more…
This is such a beautiful magazine! For more holiday inspiration, the Southern Home November/December 2017 is still available for sale… Highlights include a home designed by the fabulous Kevin Walsh of Little Rock’s Bear Hill Interiors and designer Beth Ervin’s 1937 Colonial Revival.
For ongoing inspiration from Southern Home, I highly recommend an annual subscription. Single issues and archives can be purchased here, and digital issues are available here. For daily inspiration, please follow @southernhomemag on Instagram. A gift subscription to Southern Home makes a wonderful Christmas present, and for further holiday shopping ideas, please see Alison from @cattlebaronincashmere‘s exclusive gift guides for The Glam Pad… Christmas is just six days away!
Christmas with Southern Lady
For those of us who love timeless and traditional style, it can be challenging to find ongoing inspiration. Three sources I turn to that never let me down are Southern Lady, Southern Home, and Victoria magazine, all produced by Hoffman Media. I have been reading Victoria since it was first released in the late 1980s, followed by Southern Lady in 1999 and Southern Home in 2015. These publications offer the most beautiful classic inspiration throughout the year… and at Christmastime, they truly outdo themselves! Today, I would like to share a little holiday inspiration, courtesy of Southern Lady. We will start with highlights from their November/December issue, followed by a glimpse inside their Holidays 2018 special supplement. They even offer two elegant Christmas books, and for daily inspiration, you will definitely want to follow @southernladymag on Instagram… Let’s take a peek!
Southern Lady November/December 2018
Southern Lady Holidays 2018
Christmas with Southern Lady
Southern Lady on Instagram
You certainly do not need to be southern to appreciate Southern Lady… but you do need to love elegant style! I highly recommend yearly subscriptions and gift subscriptions. You can also purchase a copy of the November/December issue or click here for the digital issue. Christmas books may be purchased via Southern Lady or Amazon. Please follow @southernladymag for daily inspiration.
Southern Lady books and magazines are an excellent Christmas gift idea, and for further ideas, please see Alison from @cattlebaronincashmere‘s exclusive gift guides for The Glam Pad below.
Classic Christmas with Holly Holden
When it comes to classic design, no one does it better than Holly Holden. In 2013, Holly published The Pretty and Proper Living Room in which she shares “old-school secrets for timeless elegance and… the no-no’s to know.” I have been her biggest fan ever since! Holly is an interior designer who in 1989 founded her design firm on the premise that classic interior design transcends trends, and she has developed a loyal following over the years. She recently created Holly Holden on YouTube featuring weekly episodes and tutorials, and she has a PBS series – “You Are Cordially Invited” – which was nominated for a NATAS Emmy Award. In addition, Holly recently began Mummy’s Monday Manners, a fabulous new weekly email newsletter with etiquette tips and forbidden faux pas.
Holly and her husband live in a historic Federal house, Fox Hall, c. 1803, in Farmington, Connecticut. As you can imagine, it is decorated classically and beautifully each year for Christmas. I am delighted to welcome Holly today, as she takes us on a mini-tour of her home, decked for the holidays! Welcome, Holly!
Classic decorating for the holidays is about renewing cherished memories from seasons past, along with creating new memories with my precious family. Our Christmas tree at Fox Hall is the opposite of “picture perfect” (no matching ornaments or bows), and instead, is a medley of ornaments which are now four generations old. Ask me about any ornament, and there is a loving memory attached! I have a red sleigh in my dining room that makes it’s debut each year and reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit… well loved, and far from pristine. But it is treasured because I remember the joy I had when my grandmother bought it for me an eternity ago.
My years living in Virginia have inspired me to embrace old-fashioned, colonial decorations using real fruit (apples, pineapples and lemons) mixed with greens from the garden (boxwood clippings, evergreen, and of course, holly!) to create topiaries, wreaths, and mantle decorations. I fill silver revere bowls, porringers and loving cups with either greens, my spiced pecans, fruit or cookies… the way my mummy did! I also place holly sprigs over paintings, and a piece or two in the snarling mouths of my childhood Chinese Foo dogs. Adding white, red or even pink roses into the evergreens is also very festive. Red ribbons adorn my porcelain foxes and horse sculptures, and I adore how anything silver glistens and reflects the sparkling lights from the tree, the flames in the fireplace and the flickering candles lit in the evening.
My beloved German angel orchestra greets guests in the front hall, and grows in size each year! It is placed underneath a sweet, delicate musical Christmas tree, which, when wound up, magically twirls and sings the enchanting song that my parents shared with me. Christmas is about family, love and peace on earth. My sincerest wishes to all of you for a holly-jolly holiday! ~Holly Holden
I can never get enough of Holly’s expertise! For ongoing inspiration, I recommend following her on Instagram along with Holly Holden on YouTube and Mummy’s Monday Manners. If you don’t already own her book, The Pretty and Proper Living Room, which I reviewed here, you will want to add it to your Christmas list immediately! To learn more about Holly via The Glam Pad, links to my past features are below… Enjoy!
