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Happy Friday and Happy New Year, friends! We woke up to sunshine on New Year’s Day and I ran out to get this picture. I felt like it was a good sign. 🙂 Grab a cozy beverage, and let me catch you up on everything that’s been going on around here!
Christmas was a bit of a chaotic rush this year, despite all my best intentions. Sometimes, it just can’t be avoided, no matter how prepared you are. We had so many little traditions and activities that we wanted to get to, and it really just came down to us not having enough free time to do it all. We didn’t have a lot of big events or holiday season commitments, it’s just that our regular lives, between soccer, school, and work are so busy that there isn’t too much time for anything else these days. But the cookies were baked, the gingerbread houses were built, and the Christmas village was set up. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights, played games, and ate big, overly indulgent meals together. So I’m going to call it a win. I’m definitely happy to be back to our regular routines now, but I have to admit that I’m already starting to plan for next Christmas, just a little bit.
I love a tiny home project. You know, those little tweaks and adjustments that you make along the way, even after a room is “finished” to make it feel just a little more like home. Things like switching out hardware, adding a coat rack, or bringing in a new table for your houseplants are the little projects that really make a difference, and create the layered, cozy home we’re all after. And these things take time. I’ve been staring at a blank wall next to our living room built-ins for over five years now, thinking it definitely needed something, but never quite knowing what. Well, when the time is right, things just seem to come together, and I’m so thrilled to be working with Opposite Wall again to add a few pieces of their beautiful wall art to this empty space. In my eye, Opposite Wall can do no wrong, and I always seem to find exactly what I’m looking for in their curated art collections and their beautiful selection of frames. I’m going to be using the “In a Room” canvas with the “Open Fields” and “Foot of the Hill” prints in their Darla vintage frames, and I think it’s just a perfect little grouping. As you can see, I have everything all measured up and ready to go for when my final piece arrives! And yes, Jack got a new guitar for Christmas, so I’m pretty sure I’m just going to have guitars in all my photos from now on. 🙂
I also love a big home project. We’ve just started on an update to our front hall stairwell and it’s going to be a good one. This is a space that you often see in the background of the dining room, and it’s hard to tell, but it’s actually in pretty rough shape. The plaster walls were covered with paneling at some point long ago and it seems like it was just kind of slapped up there in a rush, so there’s some cracking between the sheets and some places where things just don’t line up very well. We’ll be fixing that up a bit, adding lots of trim, and finally finishing things up with some really incredible new wallpaper to add a bit of pattern and color to this area that was previously a bit dull and sad. This hall is located right in the middle of our home, so I think this project is really going to add a lot of personality to our whole main floor and I’m excited to see it come together! I’ll keep you posted as we make progress on this one!
Speaking of personality, did you see my new striped curtains that I added to the living room/dining room area? I partnered with Curtarra on Instagram for this little update during the holiday season and I love how the stripes brought subtle pattern into these spaces. I’ve been a solid white curtain person for years, and it’s been such an eye opening experience to see how much character and coziness patterned curtain fabrics can bring to a space, even when it’s just a simple stripe. Anyway, I wanted to share these curtains here, too, because I’m just smitten with them. The pattern, the color, the texture, everything. 🙂 You can use my code CH12 for 20% off your entire Curtarra order!
Antiquing Season is officially upon us! I always think of the late winter months as antiquing season. It’s the perfect time of year for cozy indoor activities, and visiting your local antique markets allows you to get out of the house, take a little walk around, and collect a few little treasures to add to your home. As always, I’ll be focussing on creating the perfect balance of old and new in my home, with the goal of creating spaces that feel truly timeless. Using antique furniture, vintage decor pieces, and one-of-a-kind finds is truly the best way to create a home with depth and warmth, and I’ve already starting hunting for the pieces I’ll be adding to our home in 2026. Baskets and ironstone platters are currently at the top of my list for a couple of projects that I have in mind, and I’d love to find the perfect bench for this one wall in our bedroom. I’m not a good impulse shopper, so I always try to go with a list, but I’m working on keeping an open mind, because you truly never know what you’ll find!
NEWS AND FINDS
-Some of you might know that my daughter Kennedy is taking drawing and painting in university with a minor in art history and she’s quite a talented painter. After years of people asking, she’s finally put a website up online and I just had to share her beautiful little corner of the internet. Her paintings are bold and colourful, and just bring so much joy to the world. One thing that she does that’s really need is hunt down beautiful vintage frames to pair with her paintings and the effect is just stunning. You can see her work on her website now! Proud mom over here!
-I’ve always drooled over authentic vintage rugs whenever I’ve come across them, but never really thought they were something that I had access to. I always thought vintage rugs were something you needed to travel overseas to find, or that you would need to shop with a fancy, expensive vintage reseller if you wanted to add one to your home. I was recently introduced to City Rug on Etsy, though, and it completely changed my perspective. City Rug has the most incredible curated collection of vintage Turkish Oushak rugs, all with fast and free shipping. My new runner was on my doorstep within days, and I was absolutely amazed. There’s just something about the authentic texture of the wool underfoot, and the soft, faded colors that is just incomparable. I just can’t get over it and it’s really the thing that inspired us to redo our front hall right away. If you love authentic vintage rugs as much as I do, definitely check out City Rug on Etsy for a super easy shopping experience and an amazing collection of one-of-a-kind rugs.
-Some organizing projects are just so satisfying. I recently had the chance to test out the new Nicetree vacuum bags and now I just want to vacuum seal all the things. The set comes with the tiniest little mini vac pump that fits right in the palm of your hand, but it’s powerful enough to remove the air from the large vacuum seal bags in just a matter of seconds. These bags are perfect for travel, too, and the mini vac pump takes up no space at all in your suitcase. I’ve been organizing my out-of-rotation sweaters and I’ve been able to fit so many in my bins with the help of these bags. Vacuuming the air out of the bags is so fun, and I have my eye on some extra blankets and some curtains I’d like to store away safely next. You can find the Nicetree vacuum bags here on Amazon.
-Have you seen these Mama Mia furniture covers? I have an old wingback chair that is so comfy and just the right size, but unfortunately the fabric is a little out of date and it’s all torn up from past pets scratching at it. Still, I love this chair, and haven’t been able to bear getting rid of it, so it’s been hidden away in a corner of a room upstairs with a blanket over it. When Mama Mia reached out to ask if I’d like to try one of their covers, I jumped at the chance. They have a whole range of covers made specifically for different shapes and sizes of furniture pieces, including one specifically for wingback chairs. The color I chose is called “Marsala” and it’s such a lovely neutral. Shop Mama Mia covers here if you’d like to give your furniture an easy New Year’s refresh too.
-I bring a lot of my houseplants along on shoots with me to use for styling in some of the amazing homes we capture, so it’s really important to me that they always look healthy and beautiful. This year, I’m improving my houseplant game and adding Plant Vitamins to my weekly watering routine and I can’t wait to see the results. The reviews are all amazing and I love that Plant Vitamins is a small Canadian business with a simple, organic product that gets real results. I’m starting wth the Thrive fertilizer for regular weekly watering, and will start to add in the Boost fertilizer as well for transplanting and giving an extra bit of energy to flowering plants. I’ve been thinking about trying these magical little plant drops for a few years now, so I’m excited to see how they’ll work for me! You can use my code CREEKLINEHOUSE for 10% off your order if you’d like to try them too.
-I orrdered these Boston clog dupes to be my slippers and they’re so good! I shared them on Instagram, and it turns out a lot of my friends over there already own them, some of them multiple pairs. Love these!
-These cute blue and white pyjamas are calling my name! I love when people see random blue and white things in the wild and send me pictures just because they know I’ll them.
-Who knew a bedsheet organizer could be so satisfying?
-I’m often so pleasantly surprised by the crazy affordable pillow covers on Amazon and these look so good.
-I’ve been doing a fairly good job of keeping up with my LTK shop page for a couple of months now and I’m so proud of myself. I’ve typically been pretty bad about sharing a complete list of sources for different projects we do and for things you might see around my home, and sometimes it takes me awhile to get back to all the DMs on social media. This shop page is the place I put all my links to everything you see in photos here on the blog and on Instagram. Everything is consolidated there and it’s searchable, which I love. I try to post there most days, so make sure to follow me there so you don’t miss any of my finds and recommendations.
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.