If you care to experience the warmth and beauty of a traditional Southern home so utterly cherished and honored it feels holy, all you need is an autumn afternoon to savor James Farmer’s new book. It is truly glorious. CELEBRATING HOME (Gibbs Smith, 2022) is richly decorated with heartwarming prose as well as exceptional photography by Emily Followill. Oh, the colors and charming traditional interiors! I want to live inside the shelter of these heartwarming pages. The Southern interior designer, with wit and whimsy, invites us to experience what I can only describe as heaven and nature singing through the seasons.
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CELEBRATING HOME: A Time For Every Season
It was impossible to choose a favorite season or celebration beautifully featured in the book! Inspiring color palettes, menu ideas, tablescapes, and floral arrangements bloom within every chapter.
However, since I am holiday decorating challenged *ahem*, I’m sharing glimpses of James Farmer’s Thanksgiving (at Joe Pye Cottage in Cashiers, North Carolina ) and Christmas (at Farmdale in Perry, Georgia).
CELEBRATING HOME: Christmas Decorations at Farmdale
(IMAGE AT TOP) Can you even? I don’t want to stop studying that beautiful image. The sweetest sized Christmas tree on a table skirted with a Claremont pattern is cozily tucked near the stairs. Garland on the stairwell is a mix of velvet ribbon, sapphire juniper, and sugar pine cones. Goodness, I don’t think I’ll soon recover.
James Farmer’s kitchen table feels timeless and magical with its lime green, vintage brass deer, and old fashioned layered cake. A trio of herb and citrus wreaths are unified with pale blue ribbon and anchor the kitchen window.
For a glimpse of another Christmas table by James, see this:
Wouldn’t you love to be invited into this space? See what I mean about engaging the senses!?!
James Farmer’s pine dresser (below) glows with shelves of petite peach vases and a handsome garland of sugar cones and magnolia leaves. For me, it is suggestive of history and deep humility.
Touches of coral are repeated in a lovely manner, and if you get the book, you’ll understand why.
CELEBRATING HOME was dedicated to the memory of his beloved pet, Samson. See that sweet creature in this clip where James suggests ideas for decorating a console:
What a festive Southern welcome! Magnolia leaf wreaths with citrine velvet ribbon greet guests at the door which is framed with a garland of evergreens, citrus, and ilex.
CELEBRATING HOME: Thanksgiving at Joe Pye Cottage
What inspired the cheerful colors in the dining room at this mountain home? A large rose medallion platter found at an estate sale (see it near the window) with its persimmon, jade, and aqua.
“The Brunschwig and Fils plaid, mountain pottery, and a collection of tabletop items and serving pieces all have a hue, shade, or tint found in the rose medallion platter. Branches of rhododendron add an element of the mountain landscape to the tableau.”
– JAMES T. FARMER III in Celebrating Home
Get ready for whimsy, kittens! A joyful arrangement of produce, herbs, berries, and foliage ignites the imagination and whets the appetite. (The faux bois log planter hails from the shop, Gardener’s Cottage.)
What delicious inspiration, yes? We explored more Fall/Thanksgiving tables in THIS.
I hope you will decide this thoughtfully composed book belongs in your design library! If so, do prepare to feel renewed and somehow energized to embrace each new season as an invitation to CELEBRATE.
Find your copy RIGHT HERE.
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Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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I’m going to add lemons & limes to my greenery @ Christmas this year!! Simple, natural, lovely! (And easy!!)
Author
Each year, I always try to incorporate citrus, but I’m not great at drying oranges for garland, I’ll tell ya that!
Thank you for this lovely post, Michele. I think you might have convinced this Summer Lover, that autumn is not so bad afterall. LOL
Author
Thanks for reading and welcoming all that loveliness from James Farmer. His tables and styling make a convincing case for Fall, but you should see the rest of the seasons in the book! 🙂
The truth is I love every season, but have to be drug away from each one because I’m not ready to give it up yet. I’ll look for his book. Thank you!
Author
🙂