WHITE CHRISTMAS
YOU WOULD EXPECT A FINNISH LIFESTYLE BLOGGER TO DO CHRISTMAS WITH STYLE, AND EMILIA RUUSKANEN DOESN’T DISAPPOINT. SHE FILLS HER LIGHT, AIRY HOME WITH TWINKLING LIGHTS, SPICY AROMAS AND CRACKLING FIRES
Every winter morning, Emilia Ruuskanen lights the two woodburning stoves and the many candles scattered along the windowsills of her home. When the surrounding fields are cloaked with frost, everything sparkles and the windows mist up, the flickering flames are inviting and cosy. Christmas gives her the excuse to increase the number of candles even further, the pools of glowing light adding to the pretty, festive scene.
NEUTRAL AND NATURAL
Her home, a couple of kilometres outside the town of Kokemäki in Finland, makes the perfect Christmas setting. When the snow builds up outdoors, she decorates the white, airy rooms with subtle touches, many of them drawn from the natural world. As well as the candles and tealights, Emilia fills vases with bunches of white flowers (anemones and amarylis are favourites), hangs wreaths made from circles of eucalyptus and pine, and decorates the tree with white crocheted baubles.
It’s not surprising that Emilia decorates the house so stylishly at Christmas; her work as a lifestyle blogger necessitates that it looks good all year round. Once husband Timo has gone to work, son Niilo, eight, is at school and daughter Klaara, three, is occupied, she settles by the wood-burning stove to write or take photographs. It is an inspiring and comfortable place to work: her cats, Kylli and Taavi, curl up on sheepskins beside her and her dog Alma waits patiently for a walk.
The family moved into the house when Emilia was expecting Klaara. It had been a grocery store – the kitchen is sited where the shop once was. “My
mother, who was born nearby, used to come here with a can to pick up milk,” Emilia says. The house needed a complete decorative overhaul, a process that took four years. Timo and Emilia set about painting the floorboards and walls with white chalk paint, installing a new kitchen and introducing tongue-and-groove panelling. The style of the building suits old furniture and the couple were keen that anything they bought felt right in the house. “I bought my two favourite pieces – a couple of cupboards that I call the Old Gentleman and the Old Lady – almost by accident,” says Emilia. “We were on our way to Ikea when we stopped off at my parents’ favourite antique store and found them.”
Emilia kept the colour scheme neutral: the predominantly white interior is complemented with natural greys and browns and an occasional dash of blue. Much of the homeware, especially the vases, bowls and lanterns, are sourced from her favourite brand, Tine K Home (a Danish company, now available in the UK at trouva.com), which also favours neutral tones, natural materials and hand-made ceramics.
CANDLELIT CHRISTMAS
Emilia displays the results of her home-making endeavours on her blog and Instagram feed, to a massive and appreciative audience. She keeps the images fresh by moving things in the house around – because everything has been chosen to fit her overall scheme, most things work in different combinations.
At Christmas, she has even more to play with, from tree decorations to wrapping paper and glasses of spicy glögg. And, of course, more candles. “You can never have enough candles,” she says. “They are the spirit of Christmas to me.” »