Singleness, Clarity, Simplicity, these are the words that are used to describe minimalism in the home, it gives us vividness and power and lots of joy as it is also a sign of great art according to Richard Holloway.

If minimalism is your resolution for the New Year, it would mean you will intentionally try to live with only the things you really need. Minimalism is freedom from the passion to possess lots of things, it is intentional, it is also freedom from the modern mania, even more freedom from duplicity, it is also counter-cultural, and completely achievable.

Intentionality via Minimalism

Minimalism is indicated by purpose, clarity and intentionality, right at the core of it is the intentional promotion of the things we value as well as the removal of all other things that distracts us from what we really value. It is a lifestyle that forces intentionality, and at the same time, it forces improvements across all aspects of our life.

Freedom from The Passion to Possess

Modern day has brought us into the belief that a good life is determined by the amount of stuff we accumulate, the number of things we possess and therefore most continue to accumulate things they never need. People believe that the more things they have the closer the idea of happiness is and at the end happiness can’t be purchased for your local store.

The idea is wrong on so many levels, we all are too hurried, too stressed and too rushed plus we simply too busy, our homes are too busy, which causes a chain reaction of stressing us, and it’s too busy to provide us with a place of relaxing. Working long hours to pay all our bills, although the debt continues to increase, and we all rush from one activity to the next, while everyone is multi-tasking. Yet do we ever get all done? We always busy connecting with others via our mobile phones, while the real or true life-changing relationships escape us.

Minimalism means we rid of all we don’t need, and we don’t ever purchase anything unless it is truly necessary, which actually means you’ll be able to survive with only a third of what you have right now. Sell it, give it away or simply have it removed. Immediately your home environment is less busy or cluttered it already offers a calmer environment. If it is only the essentials you live with you won’t need to purchase much apart from food, your house remains more organised, and you get on top of your bills as they will not increase, and you won’t make purchases.

Living with less means more freedom, especially financially! Living with only what you need, not the stuff that impresses your friends only the things you truly need offers a lifestyle of less clutter, less stress which ultimately equals more freedom, more time to spend relaxing and more time to truly enjoy live!

We all know of the pressure during the holiday season, maybe most of it placed on ourselves by ourselves, still, we all strive to be the perfect host to both family and friends. Everyone needs to be entertained, need to be spoiled with great eats and of course you want to place a drink on their hand that is worth commenting on. Every year you try a different eggnog recipe, yet why not make this year, that special year where you ignore all the traditional stuff such as Mulled Wine and Rum & Eggnog and replace it with some of the most sensational alternatives.

Everyone loves an interesting drink, it is often a great conversation starter, but most of the time too difficult to perfect and too time-consuming, so here are the quick and super fun drinks you get to serve this year.

Holiday Twist with Coffee

0.5 oz Coffee
1 oz Martini Rosso
1 oz Star of Bombay Gin
1 oz Campari

Stir in all the ingredients into a mixing glass already filled with ice and then fine-strain it into a chilled glass, while the final touch is the coffee bean and orange wheel.

Grey Goose Espresso Martini

Another great coffee themed surprise to served up some deliciousness this holiday season is the Grey Goose Espresso Martini. It is quick to mix and can be served in a number of great ways.

Only three ingredients:
1 oz Espresso
0.75 oz Premium Coffee Liqueur
1.5 oz Grey Goose Vodka

Pour it all into a cocktail shaker and give quite the shake, then double strain it into a pre-chilled martini glass and decorate with mint leaves or spice it up with nutmeg.

Welcome the Grand with a Bowl of Punch

Why make each cocktail individually when you can ready a bowl of it well in advance, forget the Eggnog and rum, it is time to impress your guests with something truly divine.
2 cups Grand Marnier
2 cups Pineapple Juice
4 cups Ginger Ale
2 bottles of Champagne (chilled)
0.5 cup Black Raspberry Liqueur
2 cups Fresh Raspberries

Its quick and easy, since all you have to do is mix all the ingredients in a large punch bowl.

Paper Plane

Ohh, the Paper Plane is one that should not be kept secret till the holiday season, actually you might look for excuses to make and serve this one!
1.5 oz Bourbon
1.5 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1.5 oz Amaro
1.5 oz Aperol

The Paper Plane is again one of those so easy to make that you’ll hardly see it as an extra chore just before the big party, you simply combine all delicious ingredients into a shaker and mix it all up together with ice. Well, there is a whole lot of shaking’ going on, since you need to shake it for around 20 seconds, and once that is out of the way you strain it into chilled glasses and enjoy all the compliments form your appreciative guests.

When someone asks you what design style you prefer, it’s often hard for the everyday person to explain, so below we going to break down and simplify some of the design styles you may have heard of.

Mediterranean

Some key elements in the Mediterranean design style include the layout of the room and how it is built. High arches, plastered walls and tiled or marbled floors are mostly seen in this type of home. Colours include warm, earthy tones; terracottas, browns, creams and golds, and every now and again, a blue or green will be used as a highlight colour in accessories.

Fabrics include scattered cushions that resemble tapestries, woven fabrics and cotton or silk rugs. In the living rooms, you will see big comfy couches with rounded edges with some exposed wood as well as decorative wooden tables showing off simple yet beautiful carvings. Bedrooms feature high poster beds and luxurious linens. No one can deny that Mediterranean-style designs are luxurious and rich and welcome you with a feeling of warmth.

Contemporary

The contemporary design is one of the favourites among young professionals. Furniture has square edges, creating the three-dimensional feeling of colour blocking. Colouring is normally a neutral colour or two, highlighted with something exciting, giving off the rather cliché but perfectly descriptive “pop” of colour. Black and red, grey and yellow, white and blues are some examples. Another characteristic to take note of is that a contemporary design is rather sparse and minimal, with zero clutter, a coffee table will display a fruit bowl or a candle maybe even a magazine or two, but that’s all, and it will be strategically placed, everything is neat and concise.

Rustic

Rustic designs are the epitome of upcycling. Here you will see unfinished wood everywhere, often whitewashed or painted and sanded down, with handmade nails exposed, and copper tacks along the seams of upholstered furniture. The rougher the wood or metal is, the better. Aged tea boxes are used as accent tables, restored shipping chests are used as coffee tables and pallet wood may even clad the walls. Scatter cushions and woven rugs play tribute to your grandmother’s cross-stitch creations while lampshades are indicative of hessian bags.

Traditional

When you walk into a traditionally styled room, you immediately feel like royalty, you might even find yourself craving tea and scones. This design includes rich, dark wooden floors, soft wall colours, top of the range fabrics and heavy wooden furniture. One of the most important things to consider with this design are the curvy, flowing, regal lines. Overstuffed couches are often full of fringed, plump scatter cushions, while windows are framed with heavy yet highly elegant drapes, that normally hang from the ceiling to the floor. The light-coloured walls display mirrors in bulky gold or silver decorative frames as well as beautifully painted watercolours. This is a wonderful design for the antique lover or someone who has inherited china and silver tea sets as this can all be easily incorporated into the design.

Napkin folding is not something new. This decorative art form has been used for centuries to complete memorable table settings. The illustration above is one of the very first traced and was originally published around 1657. Napkin folding is both a hobby and a decorative folding art form used to complete from the most formal to the brightest themed table. It is most commonly seen in the fancy restaurants that often used clean pressed, starched linen napkins to ensure a luxurious look. There are variolous folding techniques and those not familiar with all the folded styles often uses glass, natural or rectangular napkin rings.

Decorative Napkin Folding – Where it All Started

The very first instruction manual on decorative or artistic napkin folding was published by Matthia Gieger in 1639. The German working as a meat carver at Padua enjoyed this hobby for many centuries. But it is also noted that napkin folding was used around 1638 in the times of Roi-Sleil the sun king and Louis the Great. Yet the while shift from neatly folded napkins to the decorative folding art form actually occurred in Florence during the sixteenth century. In Italy it was also the time-period of voluminous clothing at the time, fashion was seen as wealth and one of the greatest fashions of the time was the ballooned sleeves. It is during this time that laying a napkin flat on a plate was no longer in fashion and starched linen napkins became folded in such a way that it could multitask as a centrepiece.

Folded Napkins at Weddings

The folded napkins depicted many forms including natural elements, architectural form and mythical animals. Folded napkins also became a popular gift to wedding guests and the way these where folded personally by an artist would distinguish the quest of the bride from those of the broom.

Eighteen Century Table Setting Requires Specific Napkin Folding

By the mid 18th century in Germany table setting became quite a practice and so did the specific folds of napkins. There was even a school in Nuremberg in the golden age where housekeepers could go to learn the art of napkin folding. It is also in this century that napkin folding became an art form that included table sculptures, folded via precious offered by rulers and butlers where to check that each was folded exactly the same as all others.

Today, napkin folding is mostly performed for formal dinners, family lunches, Thanks Giving or Christmas celebrations. With hundreds if not thousands of napkin folding ideas, any party can unfold into a masterpiece. Starched, white linen napkins are not as often used as before, and many parties now have to do with paper or paper-foiled serviettes, yet still, the variety of colours and textures makes it possible to provide guests with the most wonderful table settings from tropical to classic to formal.

One of the best ways of celebrating Christmas is to ensure your table is beautifully set for the Christmas dinner. It is one of only a few times a year that the whole family are together and for this truly special occasion you can go as creative as you wish, especially if you decide on white and gold.

While the Christmas tree in most homes goes up about one month before, many hosts start planning the layout of the table. An elegant white and gold table is perfect for a large party or just a few family members getting together. It is by far the most affordable option for those on a budget since most homes already have a white dinner set, white tablecloth and white serviettes.

Achieve An Elegant Christmas Look

While table setting and decorations come naturally to some, others need a few guidelines, especially where to start. We follow one of the top designers as she gets going with planning her Christmas dinner table.

1. The heart of the table setting is the centre and once you have a striking centrepiece the rest almost shapes itself around it. If you have glass candlesticks they could be all you need at first, by lining up three down the centre you might be on your way to create a centrepiece nothing short of impressive.

2. Depending on the candlesticks you could plan on getting some scented candles, a hint of vanilla could be great as your guests take their seats, and it could give a lovely aroma to your home even before.

3. With the candles as your main piece, the nicest way to enhance the centrepiece is by using fresh cedar garland between the three candlesticks. Another great idea is low tiny fairy lights twirled in white chiffon. While the main colour of the table is white, it might be quite striking to add some green or red decorations for the effect.

4. Champagne and gold ribbons tied to ornaments are a fantastic way to add elegance to any table, although it is even more striking when used with white.

5. Why settle for only three candles, if you have more add them to the mix and create a true fest of light with smaller and larger candles all complementing each other. A simple tip if short on candle holders is to remember that they can easily be replaced by tall wine glasses turned upside down to give height to candles.

The final touches can be added via the beautiful serviettes, as with all elegant dinner tables the beauty lies in the attention to detail and when it is Christmas you are allowed to go a little overboard.

Great ideas are to make use a special serviette ring as it will be the first thing the quest sees apart from the centrepiece, and it is also the one thing everyone gets to use. Start planning your special dinner party now and have fun with decorating a truly elegant setting.

Before diving straight into inviting all the big bosses over for a formal dinner party, it might be best to first get to know all the tools of the trade. While most think it is all about planning the menu, it is actually a combination of things, starting from the place setting.

Casual Dinner Table Setting

The casual place setting is easy and can be remembered by children although it is important to repeat the setting in the same format to make everyone use to it. A few things worth remembering with the casual setting is that the knife blade should always face the plate since it prevents accidents when the knife is picked up. On the left of the plate is where the spoon, drinking glass, knife and the napkin belong.

Informal Dinner Table Setting

Slight more formal than the casual dining table setting the informal table have a few things added to it, which includes an additional spoon, salad fork, and the napkin moves.
With the few items added a casual setting can be transformed into an informal setting and the napkin can actually go anywhere, and should you wish to serve coffee the cup and saucer should be placed to the right top of the soup spoons. Remember this golden rule all liquids do go on the right side of the plate leaving the left for the solids.

Formal Place Setting

If you want to impress your important guests then the formal place setting also used at wedding receptions are the one to use. The formal place setting is one of the most commonly used for business and home dinners, although the place card is more seen at large business dinners. A few more things are added to the formal table setting starting with the glasses, extra knives, as well as a cup and saucer.

The Royal Place Setting

If it is a complete dinner setting plan you need, then the royal place setting is the one to follow, this is what you would need to use for inviting the royal family. When compared to any of the other settings it involves quite a few extra items, the number of glasses increase to five and include a sherry, red wine, white wine, champagne and water glass. Forks on the left side of the plate include a salad, fish and meat fork while the knives on the right correspond and are joined by a teaspoon, soup spoon and demitasse. The serviette is placed mostly on the left side of the plate, although it seems that again you are free to place it where you prefer. No matter the occasion once you know all the settings you can attend any function and know exactly what to expect, while at the same time you could arrange either a casual, informal, formal or royal dinner at your homebound to impress even the Queen herself.

Ever admired people who throw an artistic look together at a moment’s notice, they often described as the artistic type. It is the person who can create a stunning centrepiece from a few clippings of the plants in their backyard or use a bowl to lemons to brighten the entire room or grab a few shells to provide an eclectic look to any setting. It is these designs enhanced by elements of nature that can also provide an upgrade to the decoration of any room in your home, they cost nothing, or they are most affordable depending on what you buy, and yet they make a world of difference.

Decorating the Table for Guests and Beyond

While most hostesses pre-order a bunch of expensive flowers to ensure the dinner table are sensational, it is often the host using fresh produce that makes a lasting impression. Pomegranates and lemons are easy to dry, so should you use these in a class ball today for the dinner table decoration it could afterwards become beautiful decorations for your corner table or more permanent decorations in a glass vase on the shelf. To dry out lemons or pomegranates, you simply need to place them near a bright window to dry out on their own. Most dry out beautifully and dried produce last for years. The benefit is that you can mix dried produce, so you can continue adding to the selection and add some to wooden bowls, display them in a variety of containers or decorate concrete planters.

The Wonders of the Ocean

It is not only beach houses that can benefit from seashells, but they also make an interesting display in any home. The easy to collect during the holiday and sensational should your next dinner party be a set of white and blue. It’s perfect to freshen up the table or incorporate a fresh feel, while these are reusable and when they, not part of the table decoration they are awesome to use with candles in any other room such as the bathroom. It is one of the most natural elements used in designing. It can be used with anything else and always reminds of the wonder of nature and the calmness of the ocean.

The Power of the Flower

The beauty of blooms and greenery can never be underestimated, and should you feel like having fresh flowers on the dinner table, then do consider drying those afterwards. Dried flowers can be used with fresh flowers or even brighten up by a few clippings of green. For an antique feel to a special dinner setting the dried flowers coupled with lavender are simply sensational, and it adds an element of both nature and simple sophistication. A giant bouquet of flowers still have its power, yet for a classic setting a whimsical fern or few flowers can provide a statement of evergreen, so use the elements provided by nature to theme your next dinner party so you can have some fun decorating the table.