Holiday Decorating and Wrapping with Pops & Piaf

After a big week of Holiday shopping and eatin’, we’ve got our minds on decorating the home and wrapping all our new treasures in preparation for gifting. One source of festive inspiration that we look forward to each year is from Pops & Piaf, a fellow small business located in the countryside of Scotland. Amy Convery, the founder, has a knack for charm and a master at bringing the old and new worlds together. Today, Amy takes the time to give us an insiders look and understanding of the beauty and importance behind decorating her home for the holidays and tips for thoughtfully wrapping gifts for each of your loved ones.

Without further ado, Amy, take it away from here!

Pops & Piaf

Creating collections for Pops & Piaf is always rooted in the changing of the seasons in the Scottish countryside and creating a home that is deeply personal, warm and welcoming throughout the year.

Inspired by rose-tinted nostalgia and the art, films and books that give us a glimpse into a world where even the most practical objects are beautiful. I lean into the time honoured tradition that the items that surround us should become heirlooms and that anything I need can be carefully collected, made or mended using the skills I have inherited from those that came before me.

Celebrating Time-Honored Traditions

These small rituals and traditions we practice each year; putting up the tree, foraging for greenery, making a wreath, wrapping presents, setting the table, allow us to slow down and to connect with ourselves, with our loved ones, with our homes and with nature.

They help us brighten up the darkest days of the year, adding comfort, warmth, colour and pattern right when we need it the most. It almost feels like we need the excess so we can appreciate the gift of clearing it all away when the time comes, helping our minds and our homes feel clean, calm and comfortable, ready for a new year.

For a lot of people, this season is the last event on the calendar of the year, it is a time when we can let go of the things that didn’t serve us well and carry only what we need into our future and this change to our homes is the beginning of that process, of letting go of our normal day-to-day lives, of slowing down to spend time together, making ourselves and the world around us less busy and hibernating together so we can come out stronger and ready for everything ahead of us.

Wrapping Thoughtfully

Taking the time to pick out specific paper and ribbons from the drawer for each person is a small act of love, giving them something that you know will bring them joy before they’ve even unwrapped it. There is no greater compliment than someone wanting to save the crumpled remains of the wrapping you’ve chosen for them to use in future projects.

In my opinion, wrapping should represent the recipient first, but secondly, it should compliment your home and all the colours and patterns you would normally have around you so when it comes to laying all the presents out under your tree, they blend in seamlessly to their surroundings for the short time they are displayed there.

I like to think of this pile of presents like a patchwork quilt; each colour and pattern in the paper and ribbon is carefully selected and although they don’t necessarily match and no two are the same, they all complement each other when grouped together as well as looking good on their own. All the paper I have used has the same ivory base colour which helps give it a cohesive look, which means nothing stands out or looks out of place.