{"id":17427,"date":"2022-11-30T10:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T09:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=2909"},"modified":"2022-11-30T12:13:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T11:13:39","slug":"a-vintage-christmas-in-a-georgian-home","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-vintage-christmas-in-a-georgian-home\/","title":{"rendered":"A vintage Christmas in a Georgian home"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Katie Pike\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Juliet Maclay, unlike most of us, is not interested in what\u2019s in the box: the excitement lies, for her, in what\u2019s on it \u2013 because she collects ephemera, in particular packaging. When the boxes are as charming as the examples she displays under the Christmas tree<\/a> in her Somerset home, a Georgian coaching inn, it\u2019s easy to understand why.<\/p>\n

She recognises that she might be in the minority here. \u2018It\u2019s a weird draw,\u2019 she says. The boxes date from the 1930s to 1940s and vary from festive designs from London department stores<\/a>, such as Harvey Nichols, to quirky American pom-pom-topped miniature hatboxes. These, unsurprisingly, are Juliet\u2019s favourite. \u2018The boxes were samples, taken by American hat salesmen to department stores to demonstrate their products,\u2019 she says. She is attracted to the everyday \u2013 pieces that have survived, against the odds, through the ages. She is, she admits, \u2018a cheap date\u2019.<\/p>\n

Juliet can trace her collecting habit through the generations to her grandmother. \u2018Nobody has ever thrown anything away in my family and, though we\u2019ve never owned anything of great value, ordinary items never got dispersed either. We see the beauty in the rather prosaic and my husband David and I have carried on that tradition.\u2019<\/p>\n

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And so in the library, turned into the cosiest of dining rooms for the candle-lit Christmas dinner, the bookshelves are insulated by books collected by three generations of her family. The shelves above the piano in the living room display her grandmother\u2019s Edwardian croquet balls<\/a>, and the cabinet in the master bedroom is filled with Juliet\u2019s childhood toys \u2013 as well as beautiful cardboard boxes. \u2018My grandmother designed boxes for my step-grandfather\u2019s glove business in the 1930s,\u2019 she says. \u2018She had a love of cardboard, which I\u2019ve sort of inherited. It\u2019s a pity it wasn\u2019t diamonds!\u2019<\/p>\n

When it comes to furniture, Juliet\u2019s approach is much more eclectic. \u2018Our furniture tends to either be done-up-found-at-the-dump or inherited,\u2019 she says. \u2018David grew up in Massachusetts and we do have some beautiful American pieces \u2013 such as his mother\u2019s late-Georgian period writing desk in the bedroom, which I use as a very luxurious sewing desk.\u2019<\/p>\n

Junk shops and car boot sales are a great source for furniture and collectables \u2013 plus friends are happy to oblige. \u2018People know we have a predilection for absurd things no one else wants, so tend to give them to us. We now have a family rule: whenever we obtain something new, an object of equal mass needs to leave.\u2019 As David is an artist and son Conor works in props and sets for film and TV<\/a>, there\u2019s no shortage of additions jostling to work their way into the home. \u2018We\u2019re all drawn to very different things and are slightly snooty about each other\u2019s collections,\u2019 laughs Juliet.<\/p>\n

You might also like<\/strong> Dennis Severs\u2019 house: inside a Georgian Christmas home<\/a><\/p>\n

The generous five-bedroom house has, says Juliet, furthered her slight hoarding tendencies. When they moved in 18 years ago with their two sons, Conor and Milo, they were the first people to take the property on in two years. Its last occupants had run it as a pub, as it had been for 250 years, and the ground floor had been left in a perpetual morning-after state from its closing-down party.<\/p>\n

Juliet and David aren\u2019t the types to shirk from a challenge and have gradually restored the house back to life. And while it\u2019s no longer the village pub, they have resurrected the enterprising spirit of the property by opening the former coach entrance as a vintage-style 32-seat cinema called The Roxy.<\/p>\n

Juliet\u2019s favourite room in the house is the library. It was the first room in the house that David overhauled and was based on the panelled rooms of 1720s New England. \u2018The room is especially lovely at this time of year, when lit by candles and a fire,\u2019 says Juliet.<\/p>\n

Christmas in the Maclay household starts with a festive screening at The Roxy on the last Friday before Christmas. The day itself is celebrated with their sons. Fires are lit, New England-style dishes are made, a nod to David\u2019s American heritage, and the tree is hung with antique and vintage decorations<\/a>, many inherited from Juliet\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re Christmas people,\u2019 asserts Juliet. \u2018The boys are 28 and 24 but still approach the season with childlike glee.\u2019 And, rather than hoping to unwrap diamonds, Juliet\u2019s wish list of ephemera is more modest, though possibly a lot less easy to track down.<\/p>\n