A Staffordshire Easter

“Be daring, be different, be impractical; be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers.”

- Cecil Beaton

Well it has been a while, hasn’t it?  Nothing like a holiday table to bring me out of blog hibernation.  My apologies for the radio silence - life, as it were, as well as some good things on the horizon so pardon my sporadic absences.  Never fear though, as an avid IGer, you can always catch me fancying about over there.

In the spirit of good ol’ Cecil, my Easter table this year is anything but practical and safe.  I sort of waited until the last minute, thinking that I would do a rerun of my blue Chinoiserie table from a few years ago.  But in a frenzy of inspiration yesterday, I switched gears entirely. Why not gather all my Staffordshire together in a riot of color to celebrate Easter?  Color me happy.

Happy Good Friday.  Hope your Easter weekend is colorfully happy.

All design, styling, and photos by Emily Vanderputten

kisses,  mrs. V   

 

Entertaining | Mix & Match

People who love to eat are always the best people.

                                                                                Julia Child

There are few things I enjoy more than cooking for others.  Having come from a long Greek line of food pushers, it is simply what I do.  I cook for my family daily and whenever the occasion calls for it, I cook for others.  If you have a new baby, I will bring food.  If you win the Pulitzer Prize, I will bring food.  If you have a death in the family, I will bring food.  If you leave the restroom trailing toilet paper from your shoe, I will bring food.  This is how I celebrate my family and friends, in good times and bad.  Much like my Yia Yia, I show my love through cooking. 

This love of cooking has naturally extended to entertaining. I entertain at home quite often.  Preparing a delicious meal and setting a pretty table thrills me to no end.  I relish any opportunity to raid my china stash.  I have an incurable habit of collecting it so I reason that I should use it as often as possible.  We use my grandmother’s vintage blue willow collection for our everyday dishes, which I have been augmenting since college graduation.  Just last weekend, my mother dropped off my Yia Yia’s blue willow to augment my collection – it was very much like Christmas come early.

The other day I had a few friends by for dinner and set this festive table.  Almost always, I mix patterns and color, just like I do with my interiors.  The pink poinsettias and artichokes are a nod to the holiday season without being overtly Christmasy too early or Turkeyfied too predictable.  No red and green for me, or heaven forbid, brown and boring.  I do appreciate brown, as evidenced in my bathroom, just not in any predictable manner like a Turkey Day table setting.  Instead, you will get a crazy mix of color and pattern at my table, even on major holidays.  I’m frisky like that.

SOURCES:

monogram napkins | Chinoiserie plates | blue Villeroy & Boch goblets | gold chargers | Blue Willow bowls | green Limoges plates | bamboo tray | placemats | silver  | pineapple print | pink candles

Items without links are things that I have inherited.  My holiday tables will be a similar riot of color with a few more seasonal tweaks here and there.  My equation for a frisky, gorgeous table always starts with classic elements. Classic elements, like bamboo, rattan, and silver help to keep the look grounded, while the mix of unexpected color, pattern, and fresh produce keep the look fresh and frisky. 

I encourage you to not only entertain more this season, but to do so colorfully. #colorismyfavoritecolor

In my book, people who love to mix color daringly are always the best people too!

All designs, layouts, styling, and photos by Emily Vanderputten

kisses,  mrs. V

Friday's Flowers and Gratitude

Happy Friday.  Friday for me is always about flowers and spiffing up the joint for wknd festivities.  Momma always gets fresh flowers from the market for her home for the weekend and it is a ritual that I have happily carried on at my home – whether it is picking up fresh cut flowers, cutting something from the yard, or grabbing an orchid when my fancy strikes.

Thanks for the One Room Challenge™ love yesterday.  There is some serious talent and inspiration in the bunch.  Your comments truly make my day.  Truly.  As in I walk around most of the day chuckling about email convos with all my interwebs friends - which can prove to be a little awkward at times.  I find myself referring to so and so during a conversation with my mister or my sister about such and such, and they are usually like, ‘who the hell is xxxx and how do you know her/him?’  Um.  

‘My friend from the internet/instagram/blog/blahblahblah…she/he absolutely adores booze/chinoiserie/art/gold/glitter/brass animals/green/vintage/animal print/tiny weird cat lols and would LOVE this, I must take a picture immediately.’  

This is often followed by a very awkward pause and serious side eye. ‘I’d really rather like to get on with the actual act of enjoying my food/wine or getting to our actual destination already as opposed to you always taking damn pictures of it.’  Rude.

But so’s anyway, I love y’all and mean it.  Just know I appreciate you appreciating my jam.

Have a great one.  I’ll be out searching for ORC shit today with visions of wine plums dancing in my head.

All design, photos, and styling by Emily Vanderputten

kisses,  mrs. V

Living - Patio Perching

Hard to believe that tomorrow marks the end of the Summer for the V household.  Is it me or did this Summer just fly by?!  Thinking the unusually mild weather had something to do with that sentiment but you won’t find me complaining about it.  I’ll take the mild weather any day.  We were able to spend a lot of time on our patio this Summer as a result.  As my IG feed indicates, major patio perching happened filled with loads of simple, seasonal fare and plenty o' wine. 

I hold a soft spot in my heart for the patio/pond sitch as it was one of my first DIY projects.  Long and short of it is that I got a quote for it and the pond alone was in the $20K range.  Um, no.  I can’t afford to pay attention let alone pay that kind of money for a water feature.  So, my mother-in-law and I tackled it ourselves.  I spoke about the project here and here way back when.  I also planted every tree and shrub (almost 60) on my property with the exception of the 3 huge trees in back and a few big pines in front.  I was a busy gal but I saved a ton by doing it myself and now am thoroughly enjoying the fruits of my labor.

It's back to school this week for P so that means more time for me to dream up the next project 'round these parts.

All photos and styling by Emily Vanderputten 

kisses,  mrs. V