mainstreamimages a library of stock images: festive

Showing posts with label festive. Show all posts

Showing posts with label festive. Show all posts

Christmas hearth and home

As families gather round the hearth, relatives from distant shores and absent friends all come together to celebrate the joy of Christmas. The festive decorations whether antique heirlooms brought down from the attic, handmade ornaments or contemporary trimmings for a less traditional décor all create a focal point that gives life and colour to our home every season.

Choosing the right one is difficult especially when there is so much to choose from - beautiful wreathes made of fragrant greens, lights twinkling in a multitude of colours, ornaments glittering. A resplendent dining room, a glorious meal in a beautifully created décor are also part of the festive celebrations that add to the merriment, joy and cheer all around. From cookies to the Christmas tree, from the ornaments to the chocolates, there are a lot of ways to display your individual creativity.

Below is a selection of inspirational features, gorgeous homes from Mainstream Images and delicious recipes from Photo Cuisine UK. The extravagance of Christmas never needs justification!

Wearing White and Gold for Christmas

With the cold, but oh so festive season approaching, the owner of this snow-white apartment in Oslo is wishing all her beloved friends a very merry Christmas. However, she's sending neither Rudolf nor Santa a jolly rsvp card this year. Instead, any child in the neighbourhood or young family members may stop by for an improvised Christmas workshop or some homemade cookies at her table. Just about a year ago, Oddfrid, a young designer of cool costumes and accessories for films and theatre in Norway, found herself the owner of a slightly tired and well-worn apartment in the Oslo neighbourhood Adamstuen, painted in various shades of ice-cream. She set out to give the place a Christmas present the likes it had never seen before. Almost single-handedly, she has refurbished this bright and classic apartment so that now it almost seems like an extension of her; with a pure and gentle background allowing for cool vintage finds and stylish details. Given that her daytime job is as a designer and artist, the renovation of the apartment has just been one more outlet for her creativity and distinct style... view interior feature

It has to be white

The classic elegance and splendour of a beautifully presented meal in a timeless setting... view food feature

Homemade Christmas with a Bang

At the Bang family home, Carsten, Gitte, and their two girls, Cecilia 14 years and Sofie 10 had become weary of the stylish Christmas where everything must match. Instead, they have embraced a decor with all sorts of colourful Christmas decorations; which assumes that anything fits together. Now, they use as many different colours and keep things as fresh as possible. When the family prepare for Christmas, they start with gluing, cutting, knitting and sewing at the beginning of November. The Christmas cake, muffins and cake figurines are baked to really get into the Christmas mood and get the taste and feel of Christmas. Cake tasting happens while they make ornaments consisting of hearts, angels, banners, monsters and advent wreaths. Homemade Christmas gifts for themselves, each other and the rest of the family are created. Cecilia and Sofie also make brooches out of small pieces of fabric in various colours, patterns and decorate them with beads. With a lot of colourful homemade decorations, the family and their grandparents have a Christmas more exciting and full of fun... view interior feature

A-Z Perfect Christmas Party

Everything you need to make a Christmas a roaring success. From aperitif canapés, blinis with salmon to guinea fowl, panettone to zucchini bakes an offering of new Christmas dishes... view food feature

Christmas tree, handmade decorations...

Let your senses delight in the cosy rooms of the old Smakkegård where the scene is set with a family of four to celebrate the year's big event, Christmas. The pale wood flooring, white washed walls, the white-painted beam ceiling and small-paned windows provides the perfect setting for the imaginative theme for Christmas decorations from nature, for the Christmas tree, fireplace, cookie jar and not forgetting all the packages that can be found under the tree. The scent of pine and clementines tickles my nose wherever you are in the house and you can hardly wait to bite into the sweet smelling Christmas cookies. It rustles in the red embers in the fireplace and you feel the heat quickly, resulting in apple red cheeks. Let your eyes be captivated by the lush green fir, with its simple and exclusive ornaments that invite one to explore around the tree and investigate each hand made decoration... view interior feature

A chic little Christmas

Traditional dishes with modern accents: seafood dishes foie gras terrine and chocolate, almond and toffee cake YUM!.. view food feature

Christmas Special

This St Albans home of a couple who run a successful mail order business is shown in the throws of preparations for Christmas. Many of the decorations are hand painted or custom made including trees balls inscribed with their children’s names. The dining table is dressed with fine wire trees supporting groups of tiny robins and even the front door is wreathed in lights and festive holly... view interior feature

Christmas from distant lands

Nine recipes to tantalise your taste buds, mouthwatering dishes with an international flavour... view food feature

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Driftwood decorations, a beach barbecue, gifts delivered by boat: the Biggs family’s festive traditions are inspired by their love of the coast. The family’s love of water brought them to Totnes, on the banks of the River Dart, but within easy reach of the sea and beaches. When it comes to Christmas water plays a big part in the festive celebrations. “On Christmas Eve, we take our rowing boat down river and drop off presents to friends who live along the bank”, says Penny. “On Boxing Day, we like to get out of the house and head to one of the many windswept beaches nearby”. The beach combed treasures that have been accumulated over the years have become a part of the family’s festive decorations... view interior feature

Christmas by the sea

Celebrate Christmas with delicious seafood: seafood filo parcels fish terrines, oysters, whole fresh food recipes and caviar... view food feature

Here's one I sold earlier

When you visit Kally Ellis’s North London home, you’re guaranteed to be impressed by the flowers. Given that she’s one of Britain’s best-known florists, and her company, McQueens, has styled the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party, you’d expect nothing less, but there’s much else to admire too. From the moment you walk through the door and into the hallway hung with convex mirrors, you sense there’s something different about the place. In the sitting room, on one mantel, huge vases are filled with branches from which glass teardrops are suspended. There are unexpected combinations and attention-grabbing glimpses of colour – a flash of green on the front panel of a coffee table and yellow buttons on the sofas... view interior feature

Tonight it's Christmas

An enchanting and festive lifestyle food feature amongst candle light and gold... view food feature

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Chirstmases be white

Whatever colour Christmas you’re dreaming of you can explore your own individual style to design a celebratory atmosphere for festive entertaining. Whether you choose the classic holly and ivy for a traditional Christmas; a simple decorative setting inspired by the past; a natural and seasonal look achieved by bringing together treasured objects and plants from the garden; vintage candy shop with decorative baubles or a vibrant colour clash, flickering candlelight enhances every setting and makes your home look warm.

Our selection of Christmas homes feature the bright, fun and eclectic with explosions of colour; contemporary homes pairing muted tones with combined lighting and sophisticated subtlety; a modern conversion with creative design ideas; an alternative vintage style with hand crafted decorations and re-cycled crafts to an old fashioned country home where family heirlooms have been handed down through the generations. Each home creates a relaxed environment to gather family and friends to share the Christmas spirit.

Christmas single images

Miss Svendsen's colourful and wonderful Christmas universe

When one enters the Miss Svendsen and her family's home, you are met by a diverse universe of colour, joy, funny and bold compositions. The family consists of Rikke, owner of the shop Miss Svendsen in Vanløse, Tormod a musician and their two girls, Mathilde and Kathrine. Rikke has been gifted with a creative gene from childhood and she has always stood out with her personal and colourful style. Her childhood home was filled with recycled all-natural ingredients and the mindset has followed Rikke her entire life. Rikke has made it one of her characteristics to "make the ugly beautiful" - adding just a well needed small element to create the whole... View feature

Abigail's Party

Entertaining doesn’t have to be a Victorian extravaganza of garlands and tartan. At her East London home, Abigail Ahern keeps it cool with muted tones, strings of lights and flowers galore... View feature

Modern Victorian

Sara a small-business accountant and lounge DJ, and her husband Paul, a director of dMFK Architects, employed imagination and elbow grease to transform a terraced house in south-east London – which had not had an update in three decades – into a distinctly personalised space for themselves and their young family. The couple have extended and reinvented a dated terraced house, using creative design ideas to make their space unique. A glass-walled courtyard, stone ‘carpet’ and wardrobes that appear to float in mid-air are just some of the more unusual design ideas that have been incorporated into their newly refurbished Victorian home... View feature

Children's Craft Christmas

What could be more special than a Christmas filled with handmade decorations and homemade treats made with the children... Here in this Danish house the grownups have been keeping their little ones busy with a Christmas craft workshop. Step-by-step ideas for advent wreaths, small decorations in delicate cups, hanging mini Christmas landscapes, silver bells, gifts with glitter decorations, and a charming brooch for grandma! View feature

Feminine and Modern

The fashion designer Eymele Burgaud’s creations are both ultra feminine and modern, sophisticated and refined. This same frame of mind and subtle lines we can find in her apartment because it also serves as a showroom. Some and a "We were looking for somewhere bright that would combine a place of life and work. When we visited the apartment we found it extremely dark and very 1970s... but we also quickly realised what we could do. We wanted a place full of life, somewhere the gaze can circulate.”The interior is filled with an old club armchair, large white sofas, craft furniture, antiques and a leg of dummy... a little wink at Eymele’s business. Everything is concealed behind large doors and bright white or matte white. “We put a lot of thought to the choice of materials, to keep it all very clean, very air.” At the centre of Paris and its busy lifestyle, Eymele was able to create her own universe where serenity reigns... view feature

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)