Welcome to our latest Design Insights interview! In this edition, we discuss all things Christmas with the lovely blogger Daan Rot de Launay, from Maandagdaandag. Come on, let’s get into it!

What’s your favourite thing about seasonal style in the home?

The seasons bring a fresh wind in our home. Each season asks for a different approach. When autumn/winter arrives we need our blankets, candles and curtains, when spring/summer arrives we welcome the light and change the colours in our living room. We also add fresh flowers and open all the windows.

In front of our new house we have a big tree, it providing us with a beautiful light and shadows and all the colours changing from crisp green to darker green to yellow, orange and brown.

Show (or tell us about) us your most loved festive decoration!

I wrote a book ’Het hele jaarfeesten’ (All year parties) it was published by Chrisofoor. It is about how to celebrate the yearly festivities in your home with your family.

I have lots of boxes with festive decorations. A lot for Saint Nicholas, Christmas, Easter but also less know festivities like Candlemas or Mid Summer and of course with four kids we also celebrate a lot of Birthdays.

One of my favourite is a wooden light with changeable silhouettes and our Scandinavic Christmas angel candle holder. I also love advent calendars like the one Jurriane Matter made.

The Brabantia product you would #LoveToGive to make someone happy this holiday season?

I fell in love with the bins straight away! We recently moved house and now we have Brabantia bins. I sometimes press them to open just for fun, just to watch it slowly close and I do love the Brabantia garbage-bags with texts. You can say I’m a little crazy fan!

What’s your favourite festive recipe – how can we make it?!

I have this great simple egg recipe. Great breakfast after a night out or the perfect lunch for a long day at work. It’s amazing as you can get rid of soft tomatoes.

For this recipe you need eggs, tomatoes, onions and grated cheese. You put some olive oil or butter in a frying pan then add the chopped onions and tomatoes. Fry until soft, add the eggs and stir and cover with a lid and let it simmer. Lastly, just add some cheese and stir (well not some, use lots!). This is great on sourdough-bread with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Give us your must- know top tip for stress-free entertaining over the festival period! 

When we have guests I love to fill the table with finger-food. It also doesn’t take that much time to make a good soup and buy the best bread, and pull out the yummiest tapenades, french cheeses and vegetables with hummus.

After dinner we like to move from the dining room to our living room and get out a guitar, sit behind the piano and make some music together. With a good cup of coffee, tea or even wine. If you’re not a singing bird like me, pull out a vinyl and listen to some records together.

When it’s just us six, I get a tablecloth and put it on the ground or even the floor, living room picnics are the best and so much fun!

Any top tips on how you recycle your festive waste and make food go that little bit further this holiday season? (p.s. have you seen Bo…?)

We love Bo! Bo fits in our bathroom perfectly and I love the recycling bins! We use the small compartment for paper and the big one for normal waste.

QUICK FIRE ROUND

Homemade or shop bought gifts? A mix! I love to make gifts, like a screen-printed t-shirt or cotton bag.

Guest or host? Guest, but I’m growing some confidence to host a bigger birthday party.

All out or minimalist decorating style?  All out, even more.

Traditional dishes or something new? Traditional, we love our little family traditions like pancakes at Christmas or even on my son’s Jan’s Birthday.

Thanks for the interview! 

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