Meet Margaret Zainey Roux- Fig & Dove Tastemaker
Margaret Zainey Roux is a Lifestyle Journalist and Interiors Stylist whose work is found on the pages of Traditional Home, Flower, Southern Home, and New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles. Margaret and our Founder and Creative Director, Colleen Waguespack, are both hometown New Orleans girls and graduates of the same all-girl high school on St. Charles Avenue, Sacred Heart! Together they have worked on a number of published projects, including a home in the November/ December Southern Homes Holiday issue. As a writer and stylist, Margaret is well known for her selection of beautiful projects and styling techniques- we are thrilled to include her in our Tastemaker Series.
What are some of your favorite Fig & Dove items and how do you style them?
I love how Colleen took the dove, a traditional symbol of peace and hope, and modernized it with an abstract profile and contemporary acrylic composition. At Christmas, I’ll perch a single acrylic dove on the side of a potted amaryllis or paperwhites. At Easter, I’ll secure one to the center of a grapevine cross with white flowers woven through it.
Another favorite is the acrylic stocking holders. I adore an extravagant holiday mantel, but my antique marble mantel is inherently ornate so I keep it fuss-free with fresh greens and garden roses, a few rose-gold glass baubles, and simple Belgian linen stockings. The acrylic stocking holders also lighten up the look and make perfect platforms for pillar candles!
As for year round décor, Logan Ledford hand-painted ornaments remind me of champagne bubbles—sparkly and effervescent! I’ll corral a dozen of them in a glass bowl on the coffee table or scatter a few here and there on different surfaces around the house. I also love the acrylic picture frames. They instantly transform an antique book page, a pressed botanical, or a vintage textile into a unique, free-standing piece of art.
What is your go-to hostess gift?
Who doesn’t love a pretty coffee table book, especially when its inscribed with heartfelt personalized note to the host! My favorite title is Living Floral: Entertaining and Decorating with Flowers written by my dear friend and editor-extraordinaire, Margot Shaw. A fine bottle of wine runs out quickly and a delicious candle burns out fast, but the beauty of a book lasts a lifetime!
What is the one tradition you and your family talk about the most?
As a stylist, I find joy in decorating anything and everything, but Christmas tree decorating is my favorite “project” because it’s a family affair. More accurately, it’s my favorite “production” because, in our house, it’s a two-night process. The Friday night after Thanksgiving, we purchase our tree and haul the decorations out of the attic so that Saturday night we’re ready to roll. I’ll pop a bottle of champagne, make a big pot of gumbo, and turn on the Christmas carols. My two sons (and even my husband!) will indulge me and put on matching Christmas PJs and, if the bribe is good enough, maybe they’ll throw on a pair of felt elf ears or reindeer antlers. In return, I indulge them by letting them put their favorite ornaments up first—the tacky ones they find at souvenir shops when we travel or the ones with their favorite sports team’s logos. Of course, when they go upstairs to bed I head back downstairs to rearrange them!
What brings you the most joy during the Christmas season?
Giving. It sounds cliché’ but finding the perfect gift for someone special gives me such a thrill that I can hardly keep it a secret until Christmas morning! Unfortunately, this prohibits me from doing any early-bird shopping
