Home for the Holidays

article by MARÉ BRENNAN photography by KELLY MOORE CLARK

Local floral designer and stylist Taylor Bennett’s life lately reads like a coming of age novel. Boy moves to a big city and finds his passion for design; Boy moves back to his beloved country roots; Boy gets restless and super successful with his design business and moves to the heart of the action; Boy finds ways to bring his nostalgia for Christmas and pervasive love of family, friends and Jesus into every nook and cranny of his pied-à-terre.

To say that 2018 has been a banner year for Taylor Bennett, who is half of the design team, Fine Folks, is an understatement. In addition to countless weddings and events, Bennett has lent BayouLife his considerable talents for styling, as evidenced in our award winning fashion, food and home photoshoots and covers.

Before moving to downtown Monroe mid-year, Taylor was frequently burning up the roads between his farmhouse in Rayville and clients’ events. The designer was offered an opportunity to style one of Christie and Michael Echol’s Baker Building apartments for an Open House that would introduce truly loft-like living to downtown Monroe. That was all it took for Taylor to realize he was ready for a change, cue the music from Greenacres. While the pull of country living is still there, Taylor yearned for something new, exciting, that he could put his stamp on and surround himself with objects that remind him of the people, places and events that have shaped his world.

The designer’s philosophy on Christmas decorations is bold. “I like to keep as much of my house the same as possible, but my goal is to add a little holiday in every place your eye might come to rest or fill a bowl with clove-dotted oranges to impart a scent of the season as you pass by.”

As you enter the apartment, the open concept living room and kitchen are alight with vignettes that carry the ghosts of Christmases past yet feel utterly modern in design. An antique elm, open-shelved cabinet, which Taylor sourced from Woodstock, is artfully arranged with a host of vintage books, found objects, a tortoise shell, and a quilt handmade by his grandmother. On an upper shelf rests a modernist Japanese bowl, a gift from a friend stationed in Japan, which is filled with the aforementioned oranges. Vases, often called into duty during a Fine Folks designed event, are on a lower shelf in a wire basket, ready for their next assignment. Above, a ceramic deer head with winged elm branches for antlers gets its jingle on with a touch of garland interspersed with “magical” twinkle lights. A grouping of intermixed, vintage brass candlesticks light up the vignette.

“If you can’t tell,” says the designer, “I’m huge into nostalgia and everything having a story.”

On the living room wall, a diptych of cows, painted by artist Lissy Sanders Compton, was something Taylor couldn’t live without after seeing them displayed in the St. Jude Dream Home that he helped stage this year.
“Christmas is my favorite time of the year. As a little kid, I wanted to live at The North Pole. So much so, that my parents let me keep a small Christmas tree in my room year round,” says Taylor with a grin.
“I love this quote, ‘The creative adult is the child who survived.’ I really feel that way during the holidays and get my inspiration from my childhood,” explains Taylor, as he picks up a favored children’s book, Donald Duck’s Christmas Tree, which is displayed prominently on his coffee table, a find from Paul Michael Company. “This book inspired my love of Christmas as a child. It’s such a great story.” A large glass apothecary-style jar becomes a snowy wonderland scene that is sure to inspire the imagination of little ones. To the jar, Taylor adds a layer of “snow” along with a tiny snow-dusted tree and a little whimsical house surrounded by battery-operated fairy lights. A stack of Old School board games is at the ready for when Taylor’s frequent guests drop by. Underfoot, a Moroccan-inspired rug from Sleepy Hollow provides the right about of coziness. Holiday-inspired pillows are added for color to the neutral sofa, also from Sleepy Hollow. “I get a little bit cheesy and over-the-top when it comes to the holidays,” laughs the designer.
Taylor’s Christmas tree is a study in nostalgic opulence. “My grandmother and mom would take me to the Christmas store in the mall and let me pick out an ornament each year,” reminisces Taylor as he points out special ornaments like the swimming orca, a nod to his favorite movie at the time, Free Willy. Each bough is loaded with vintage, Shiny Brite ornaments collected by Taylor. Treasured vintage bubble lights were the original ones owned by his grandmother, who gave them to Taylor. Taylor bends down to pick up a cypress knee Santa, he made in 3rd grade. “My friend’s dad cut these cypress knees out of their back yard, and his mom helped each of us in the class paint them that Christmas,” remember Taylor. Beneath the tree, packages are wrapped with care. Taylor loves to use brown craft paper every year and embellish each with a special ribbon, yarn and decoration like a dried orange slice.
New to Taylor’s Christmas décor this year is “The Christmas Story,” hand-lettered on a canvas by artist Kayla Thomas, which is placed prominently above a modern credenza. A stocking is hung with care from wire baskets. Vases from West Elm are livened with simple curving branches of Cypress greenery. Vintage Christmas ball boxes are gathered together in open wire baskets as a design element that adds to the aura of Christmas during a simpler time.

An enormous skylight illuminates three simple evergreen wreaths hung with care above the upper cabinet in the kitchen. An oversized bowl of fresh citrus and pomegranates with sprigs of cedar greenery adds holiday color to the marble topped island.

In his bedroom, Taylor places the emphasis on what the Scandinavians would call “hygge.” Hygge is the Danish quality of coziness combined with a comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being. Yep. That, right there. In the corner beneath a gloriously large-paned window which overlooks DeSiard Street, Taylor has positioned a substantial Cisco upholstered chair, one of a pair sourced from Paul Michael Company. Layered with a chunky, hand knit cabled throw and a punchy holiday pillow, the chair is positioned for capturing the best sunlight for reading, with books stacked at the ready. A ceramic wildebeest head is draped with oversized ivory beading. Here, too, is Taylor’s bedroom-sized Christmas tree, just like from his childhood. This time he chooses to craft his own ornaments using glass balls filled with fresh cranberries and oven dried orange slices hung with twine. Forget the tree skirt; Taylor uses an oversized basket for hiding the bottom of his tree. A collector at heart, the designer loves paintings of farmhouses. His growing collection includes a painting executed by his childhood friend, Heather, and one with chickens painted by his grandmother.

At bedside are stacks of required reading, devotionals and design tomes alike, along with a stylish lamp, potted plant and another of the large apothecary jars filled with a snowy scene. Layered with linen and tactile woven throws and pillows, the bed provides an oasis for the designer to recharge, especially after an incredible Fall wedding season, in addition to designing spaces for Two Dudes Brew & Que and devising a renovation for Christ Church’s lobby.

Above the bed is one of Taylor’s prized pieces of art, a canvas hand-lettered by artist and close-friend Libby Gifford. A usual cotton boll wreath which hangs atop the painting is replaced for the holidays with a simple wreath of evergreen greenery tied with a loop of twine.

Taylor’s wish for Christmas this year is like most of us to savor time spent with beloved friends and family, relishing in the joy of the simplest pleasures of the season – board games with friends, watching from his bedroom window as Christmas lights turn Downtown Monroe into a wonderland, spiced tea to warm hands and hearts, or making Christmas candy and treats with this grandmother. Merry Christmas!