When you walk into the Webster Groves home Christina McHugh Ceranna shares with her husband Craig, son Habi, and dogs Jack and Buddy, you might feel like you’ve just been hugged. That’s because she’s made it her goal to create a warm, lived-in space with plenty of loving little touches.
T&S | What initially attracted you to the home?
CC | My husband is from Boston, and we love the old, New England-style architecture and cottagey feel of a lot of the homes in Webster. That’s sort of what brought us to the area. I love the age of our home, and I also love its woodwork and that it has the original doors and floors. It has a good soul.
T&S | What’s your favorite feature or room?
CC | That would probably have to be the navy blue room, because it’s the heart of the home, and it’s where we spend all our time as a family. And in every room we have a different crucifix, each a family heirloom.
T&S | Where do you go for decorating inspiration?
CC | I really like warm, comforting, lived-in, inviting and homey spaces. I don’t want my house to look like it’s out of a magazine. I want it to feel real and authentic. I use a lot of reused plaids and fabrics, and a lot of that comes out of estate sales or someone’s basement. I work with Temple and Hentz, an interior design firm, and with Rand Rosenthal, a landscape designer. He has beautiful trees, plants and shrubbery and is connected to an awesome warehouse in Rock Hill. He also collects vintage antiques and does big showcases a couple of times a year.
T&S | Are there specific places you go to find furnishings or artwork?
CC | I love The White Rabbit, which is just around the corner from us in Webster. They have a really great eye for things that are worn in. So a lot of what’s in my home is vintage, mixing the old with the new. I also really like bringing plants and flowers inside—that’s a big inspiration for me. A lot of the wreaths and greenery are from boxwood bushes in my backyard. I also have beautiful hydrangea plants, pines and winter greens I bring inside. And I do this all year. For example, in the spring, I bring in blooms from our peony bushes.
T&S | Your holiday decorations are stunning! Are the holidays a big deal at your house?
CC | Yes. I’m an adoptive mom, a foster parent, and I’ve also sort of fostered my teenage cousins. So home, for me, means a lot more than a house. It means being able to give love and nurture, and the holidays are sort of a celebration of all of that, of family and connections. And I believe family doesn’t have to be biological—you can create a sense of family with a stranger or a foster child you’re with for just a short period of time.
T&S | Where do you go to pick up decorations?
CC | A lot of mine are handmade, vintage ornaments. But, again, live plants play a huge role in our holiday decorations, and most of our decorations are actually greenery and shrubs.
T&S | I love the bed with the gold garland and coverlet—do you change out the bedding for the holidays?
CC | I did change it for the season. That’s a day bed in our sun room, which is one of my favorite rooms in the house because it’s where we go to read.
T&S | Do you have any particularly meaningful or sentimental holiday decorations?
CC | They’re not pictured, but every year since I was 17, I’ve bought an ornament that symbolizes something significant that happened that year. Our stockings are special, too. Mine was embroidered for me when I was a baby, and I’ve also embroidered stockings for all of my family members, even the dogs!
Photos by Suzy Gorman
