When their Connecticut home is filled with the scent of pine boughs and baking, Leslie and Steven Powell know it's the holidays.

Red and White Christmas Tree

For years, Leslie Powell held her love of early Americana at bay. "We were living in a Victorian house, and I always like to decorate according to the architecture," she says.

Fabric ornaments from folk artist Jennifer Schneeman give this tree - one of the three Leslie decorates each year - Early American flavor.




Hearth in Kitchen

But when a Realtor friend persuaded her and her husband, Steven, to look at a former tollhouse on Connecticut's Litchfield Turnpike dating to 1777, Leslie finally found the excuse to indulge her true passion. "As soon as we walked into the kitchen and I saw those cabinets painted my favorite dark red, it was all over. My husband said, 'Wow, I think we've just bought a house.'"



Colonial Dining Room Decor

"Greenery from the backyard makes the house smell wonderful," Leslie says. Her centerpiece - fresh fruit tucked into a basket of pine boughs - is historically appropriate as pineapples were a Colonial American symbol of hospitality and citrus fruit was a holiday delicacy often tucked into children's stockings. It's also edible! And cleanup couldn't be easier: "We compost all the greens every year."



Redware Place Setting

Even Leslie's everyday dinnerware is inspired by the past: Made by Wisconsin Pottery, it looks like old slip-decorated redware, but the lead-free pieces are food-safe. "We're so lucky," says Leslie. "The house is small, bu that just makes Christmastime feel even cozier."




Colonial Living Room Decor

Leslie's 18th-century style comes courtesy of antiques mixed with bargain finds, like the throw pillows from T.J. Maxx.



Blue Bedroom with Canopy Bed

Yuletide cheer extends to the master bedroom where an antique feather tree ("German, not American," notes Leslie) rests atop a stack of 18th- and 19th-century textiles similar to ones Leslie carries in her shop, Toll House Antiques, and a wreath hangs above the bed. For Early American-style wreaths and garlands.