Happy Easter!!

We were dying eggs & I thought I'd take a quick pre-pic & share!! (That's my new vintage silver bowl I found at Lucketts last weekend!! :) I was going to attempt to photograph a tablesetting & just didn't get the chance, but see how easy & pretty a bowl full of eggs could be for the centerpiece? And how fun is it to eat your centerpiece? ;)

Have a really happy Easter and I'll be back Monday!!

xoxo,
lauren

Spring Table Setting

A few months ago, I was at the Old Lucketts Store in Leeseburg doing some shopping for a friend when I came accross this (beautiful!!!) set of china for only $64!!!! We had gone all the way out there & hit traffic and the store was closing & they were nice enough to let us in for the last few minutes while they closed up. It was fate. ;) ;) hahaha


There were 6 place settings along with servingware & a pretty little creamer.

I LOVE transferware & was not in the market for new china (my own is in storage!!) but I couldn't pass it up because this is my color (greeny-aqua-gray) and the price was too good to be true. The are by J &G Meakin and are a series of "Romantic England" and feature different castles & estates in England. I went to replacements.com and found that it would have cost me $260 for the set! (Here they are: http://www.thefind.com/kitchen/info-england-dinner-plate)


And, do you remember that I was attempting to use all of my leftover fabric? Well, this aqua linen tablecloth is leftover & was such an easy no-sew project. I just cut it to the right size, frayed the edges & washed it:



And please excuse all my wrinkles. They're usually always there because I can't stand ironing. It takes a very special occasion for me to break out the iron (actually mine's in storage!!) & I knew you'd all understand. (hahaha in my mind I've sort of started to like wrinkles, but I think it's just me convincing myself it's okay not to iron!) Below is a pitcher of mine that I found at a thrift store & just move around all the time:

So anyway, I decided because it's time for Spring, to do a Spring lunch tablesetting and play with all of my pretties:

I like things to feel informal & fun & also to be a happy & realxed hostess, I often make things easier on myself by coralling silverware in little pitchers for a casual lunch:

Below is a pretty little dessert stand that I piled up napkin rings on. It really serves no purpose other than being decorative but you know how I love quirky arrangements & I do love the juxtaposition of the silver & white porcelain, which is what the whole tablesetting is about:

Below is one of my favorite items. It's a pitcher I got from Target. It's just so practical & I love its lines. (I've seen antiques for much more than I paid!)

My husband surprised me with the hydrangeas & I just love them :)

So there you have it. Now, what's for lunch? carry-out?? haha is that ok?? ;) ;)

have a beautiful weekend!!! (and come on Spring!!!)

xoxo,

lauren

ps- check out Seleta's great giveaway this week!!! :)

"Branch In!"

As I looked out the kitchen window yesterday morning, I saw it: Spring!!! The teeniest little lime green buds on the trees had appeared over the weekend!!! (I think it was that 80 degree weather!!) And they're even bigger today. So, it got me thinking of reaccessorizing & one of the easiest & cheapest (I apologize to those that hate that word but i love it ;) ways to do this is to bring in your yard!! (Or nice, unsuspecting parkland/ public property.... hahaha ok I probably shouldn't have said that! but as long as you cut carefully!)



Even right now before the buds have really even started, look how beautiful the branches in the image below (from House Beautiful) look!








To keep branches alive, cut the stem with sharp pruning shears and put them in warm water containing fresh floral food. Floral food helps keep nourished the branches and also keeps bacteria from growing. (check out http://www.stemsflowers.com/aboutflowers.asp for awesome details on different types of plants.) I'm saying to put floral food in the vase because I just learned this great tidbit of info from the site above, but I've always done it without floral food and had luck! (Also, sometimes they wilt for a bit & come back!! odd.)




Below, I love what I think is a maple branch (correct me if I'm wrong!) and how easy it is to do. It's so striking and probably took all of 5 minutes:

Below is (not a branch!) but a snippet of (evergreen) clematis vine from my old house and it was super-easy to do & they lived for over a month!! (I put them everywhere!!)

Here's some flowering quince from Jenna Lyon's apt featured in Domino:

And some more:
Forsythia is one of my absolute favorite things to bring in!!! You can really force the buds with the warm water & they look so gorgeous when they branches are huge!! (My aunt in NJ has a home office that's floor-to-ceiling windows on 3 sides and it's surrounded by forsythia bushes- can you imagine that in the spring?!!! I'll have to get pics from her!!)

Below on the mantle, I used rhododendron branches to fill up the antique pitcher & since then I really hope to have a rhododendron bush one day!!!

And finally, I couldn't resist this beauty from House Beautiful, although I doubt many of us will be bringing in olive branches from our yards this year ;)

Good luck with your pruning & I can't wait to hear what you do with your branches!!!

xoxo,

lauren