I cannot believe Season 3 of Downton Abbey has arrived — I still haven’t seen Season 2! Of course, since I watched all of Season 1 in less than 48 hours, it shouldn’t be too hard to catch up.

When I saw these napkins, handmade using Liberty of London fabric and inspired by first class airline napkins, I thought, “So pretty and ingenious! But who would ever use them?” Here’s the thing: I don’t think I’ve ever seen an adult eat with a napkin tucked into their shirt in real life. Have you?

Removing wallpaper is a massive job —many how-tos begin with “you can do this” and other encouraging words— but with the following steps, you really can do the job and do it well. Patience, persistence, time, and upper body strength are the major requirements, and a bucket, sponge, and scraper are really the only tools you really need. I’ll say it again: you can do this.

When people find out I work at a flower shop but I don’t like the smell of (most) flowers, they either laugh at what a funny place the world is….or they shove some peonies in my face, saying “But have you smelled these?!? Smell them!!!” While peonies, jasmine, lilies, and narcissus may smell like heaven to you lucky ones, to some of us they merely bring on headaches. Thank goodness, then, for these understated blooms, no less lovely for their lack of scent.

Hypertufa pots — lightweight, homemade, customizable alternatives to cement or terracotta planters — have long been on my extensive list of “projects to tackle once I have space to make a big mess, and a garden hose to clean up said mess”. Someday! Until then, perhaps you’d like to take a run at it, and tell us how it goes…I learned about hypertufa pots in the March 2010 Martha Stewart Living, and I’m so excited by the possibilities.

Perhaps it’s the combination of the holidays and a winter birthday, or the hunkering-down tendency that rainy days inspire, but all I want to do is get pretty things in the mail. If I received a box full of dwarf conifers or perky succulents, I might be content to stay indoors until spring. Garden Design, my new favorite magazine (my friend passed her most recent copy onto me after she read it), has a very helpful feature on reputable mail-order plant companies.