B ight

Inside the colorful world of designer Kristin Nicholas

by Julia Quinn-Szcesuil

he traditional white-clapboard exterior of Kristin Nicholas’s 1751 farmhouse, nestled in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley, betrays no sense of the boisterous visual party within. Outside, there are stone walls, weathered sheds, and pastures. But inside is a happy riot of color, with brightly painted walls, jewel-tone furniture, kaleidoscopic kilim rugs. It’s a fanciful place, an adaptation to the stark and stony winter landscape where Kristin and her family manage a flock of 300 sheep on their farm. “In western Massachusetts, from the end of November really until the end of April, there’s just gray everywhere,” she says. “For all those months you have to do something to make it joyful and happy.”

And so the center-chimney Cape in Leyden that she shares with husband

Mark Duprey, daughter Julia, and a bevy of animals isn’t just the heart of Leyden Glen Farm (whose atmosphere she lovingly calls a “circus”)—it’s a beacon banishing the early-winter darkness.

Color is Kristin’s signature statement, saturating all her creations: textile designs, oil paintings, pottery, knitwear, the hand-painted dining-room walls. When the holidays come around, her exuberant spirit is reflected in every corner, as is her decorating motto: handmade, colorful, cozy, and very, very sparkly.

“My holidays are about color and texture and making things,” says Kristin, whose latest book, Crafting a Colorful Home (Roost Books), was released early this year. “To me, that’s home—having a lot of handmade things around you.”

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT : Lanterns and a birchbark Christmas village further brighten the lively living room; vintage linens and Sherwin-Williams

“Tomato Red” paint jazz up an antique baker’s cabinet; Kristin uses leftover yarn to make festive holiday pom-pom decorations (go to YankeeMagazine.com/garland for instructions); a display of pottery combines Kristin’s own work with vintage pieces.

Our model is open: Mon-Fri 8-4:30, Sat 9-3

The holidays are also a breather for the family after the summer farmers’ markets and the autumn harvest. It’s a chance to savor time with friends in this tightly knit farming community, to recharge before winter lambing begins. Kristin sets an easygoing tone at Christmas, using armloads of greens from the yard, favorite sheepthemed decorations, hand-knitted stockings, and strings of twinkling lights (which stay up until April). Stacks of thick woolen afghans invite a put-your-feet-up mood. Nothing is fussy or hands-off—Kristin wants her guests to relax.

Her love of craft has deep roots. Smitten with fabric as a young girl in New Jersey, she loved the details in her German-born grandmother’s hand-embroidered sheets and afghans. At 13, she spent 50 precious cents at auction for a quilt so filthy her mother wouldn’t let her bring it into the house. With determined cleanings, the quilt was restored; it remains a treasure. Later, in college, she signed up for some textile classes and “the world opened up to me,” she says. Now she designs knitting and embroidery patterns, wallpaper, pottery, fabric, and a line of yarns. Living in a remote corner of New England, she’s had to adapt her business, welcoming students to the farm for classes and retreats, and teaching classes online through the site Craftsy. “I like to teach people that they can do this, too,” she says.

How to Make Kristin’s Birchbark Houses

Using items found almost entirely in the woods (except glue, glitter, and cardboard), Kristin fashions whimsical holiday houses that she likes to give as gifts or keep for herself.

MATERIALS n repurposed cardboard from cereal, butter, or cracker boxes n natural materials: birchbark (from fallen trees, not live), acorns, acorn caps, moss, dried flowers n multipurpose or wood glue n glitter

1. From the cardboard boxes, cut a matching pair of square pieces for the front and back. Now cut 2 matching pentagon shapes for the sides of the house. Cut a length of cardboard for the roof and fold it in half.

2. Assemble a small four-walled house by attaching the cardboard at the seams with glue. Glue on the roof piece.

3. When the walls are dry, layer strips of birchbark siding onto the walls and roof, acorn caps stuffed with a bit of moss for a wreath, moss on the roof, and acorns for a footpath. Apply glitter for sparkle.