On the outside, interior designer Nathalie Schubert’s New Canaan home is classic Connecticut—crisp white siding and shutters, a cedar shake, gambrel roof, and come Christmastime, a wreath hanging in every window. However, once you step inside, everything is bursting with color and a strong dose of Southern charm. Schubert’s bright, saturated style is no surprise given her 10 years working for Katie Ridder, a New York City interior designer known for her bold use of color, and Schubert’s personal roots in Asheville, North Carolina.
Last year, after launching her own design firm—Niche by Nathalie Schubert—and living in New Canaan for four years, Schubert was asked if she would decorate her house for the Newcomers Club of New Canaan’s Holiday House Tour (media sponsor CTC&G), which raises money for local charities. The answer was an immediate yes. “I do go over the top with my own decorations,” says Schubert. The New Canaan Newcomers Club, who hosts the biennial tour, often pairs homeowners with a design team who do the decorating. But as an interior designer with a sizable collection of holiday decorations, Schubert wanted to do both—donate her house and decorate it—with the help of one key creative partner: Her mom, painter Victoria Cort Hall. “This whole Christmas obsession started with her,” says Schubert. “My mother was basically obsessed with the holidays.”
More than happy to have an excuse to spend extra time with her daughter’s family over the holidays, Hall agreed. The plan was to decorate the house slowly and steadily using Schubert’s extensive trove of ornaments (and a few things pulled from Hall’s collection). But the first order of business was for Hall to procure a carload of magnolia branches in North Carolina and drive them up to Connecticut. “I didn’t want the short, expensive branches I could get up here,” says Schubert. “I wanted big, thick magnolia branches.” On arrival, Schubert and Hall had to soak the boughs in the bathtubs because there were so many.
Magnolia garland on the banister provides seasonal contrast to walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s Borrowed Light. A floral arrangement from Vine by Emily Candee sits on an antique plant stand, which is a family heirloom.
In the living room, two feather trees flank Schubert’s collection of blue and white pottery. A custom sofa is upholstered in a Holland & Sherry wool fabric.
The family’s velvet stockings—handpainted by Victoria Cort Hall—hang by the fire.
Farrow & Ball’s Stone Blue paint on the walls and matching Mosaic House tile on the fireplace inspired the icicle theme in the library. The rug is a custom commission from Temple Studio, and a Roger Arlington wallpaper covers the ceiling.
Nathalie Schubert found the antique mirror at Greenwich Living Design, while the brass reindeer hails from the gift shop of the Biltmore Estate.
Kravet grasscloth covers the dining room walls, while chairs upholstered in Edelman leather surround an heirloom dining table.
Calligraphy is by Victoria Cort Hall.
An oversized nutcracker stands watch over presents.
A pair of nutcrackers are placed among a faux pine garland from the Biltmore Lamp & Shade Gallery and real pinecones.
Farrow & Ball’s Pink Ground casts a warm glow in a daughter’s room, where a custom bed by Charles H. Beckley is upholstered in a Holland & Sherry fabric and dressed in linens from Leontine Linens and Serena & Lily.
The holiday toys are Schubert’s children’s own.
Balsam wreaths from Green Up hang from simple red velvet ribbons in every window. Nathalie Schubert and her mother Victoria Cort Hall ride in Nathalie’s 1988 325i BMW.
With the influx of Southern greenery, Schubert draped the entire spiral stairwell banister in magnolias—a real Southern welcome. In addition to the two fresh trees and three faux ones, Schubert draped evergreens and magnolias over mantels and wove fresh evergreen clippings into every room, creating a “ribbon” of greenery throughout the house. “The smell of Christmas is really important to us,” says Hall. “As a designer I want to have all the senses awakened,” adds Schubert.
Each room’s holiday décor was influenced by the design of the room itself. In the library, for example, walls in Farrow & Ball’s Stone Blue inspired Schubert to create an icicle-inspired scheme with a blue-tinted Arabian fir tree. In the kitchen, the women wove edible elements into the trimmings, including homemade pomanders (an homage to a favorite Asheville restaurant that uses fruits and oranges in their holiday décor). Up in the playroom, a faux tree was more playful with colored lights and kid-proof felt ornaments.
Threaded throughout every room were recurring motifs of birds and feathers, which Schubert says are often found in Southern interiors. The holiday trinkets are also a reminder of Schubert’s hometown. “There’s this little store in Asheville where the owner stocks the place so full of Christmas decorations,” says Schubert. “The day after Christmas, everything’s 50-percent, so if I’m down there for Christmas, I always ship a box home.” Those collected-over-time decorations are what make Schubert’s house feel like home in a deeper way.
While the decorations were extra festive for the holiday home tour, Schubert says “the house was decorated to fascinate the kids,” (ages 5, 9 and 11). “The magic of Christmas is seeing it through children’s eyes,” says Hall. “I created that for Nathalie, and she continues that tradition.” Schubert adds, “You don’t ever want the magic to end.”
