Di Mill

Easter Table

I hope you are enjoying your Easter weekend and are having a lovely time with family or friends. I was struggling a bit with how to dress my Easter Table. Although I wanted an Easter theme I didn't want lots of chocolate eggs, chickens or bunnies. This was last years table so I didn't want to go with white flowers again. I finally settled on bright yellow flowers that  I displayed in a collection of silver and teamed them with painted eggs filled with small flowers and jelly beans.

I dragged out all of my old silver and gave it a good polish - not perfect but I don't mind if it's a bit tarnished. Then I picked up yellow lillies and roses at the farmers markets and filled the teapots, sugar bowls, milk jugs, mugs etc. I hand painted a heap of egg shells in shades of yellow, lime green and orange and filled some with jelly beans and some with small white flowers. Simple lime green curling ribbon was wrapped around the napkins instead of napkin holders. We set the tables out on my back deck as the weather was beautful - not too humid or cool. I cooked brunch so the yellow theme worked really well with a breakfast menu. I was really happy with the end result but I was so busy cooking that I had to ask my darling daughter Emma to take some photos...thanks Em.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take care....Di

 

Tablescapes

We had a 30th birthday recently in my partners family and as I was in Sydney at the time, we hosted a small intimate family dinner. I wanted to decorate the table so that it looked special as you don't turn 30 every year.

I decided on a dark grey and white scheme. I don't know if this happens to you but I always find a picture of what I want but then can't buy anything close to it - very frustrating. So I had to improvise. Being in Sydney, on a tight budget and not able to find the fabric I wanted close by ...I resorted to making a runner by hand painting a design in white onto a dark grey cloth and using double sided tape to turn under the edges (no sewing machine available).

 

 

I added candles and fake crystals that I scattered over the table...

 

 

 

...and used beautiful white lisianthus flowers to add some softness.

 

 

 

 

I had just bought some vintage bottles in Tasmania a few days before so I used them as extra vases on the table.

 

 

The napkin holders were a bit trickier but I finally found some inexpensive bracelets that had jewels on them that were perfect. I snipped the elastic that held the bracelet together and reused the focal jewels by threading ribbon through them.

 

And then we come to the cake! I have to say - I don't have a great track record with making gourmet cakes, so I was a bit concerned. I decided to play it safe and stick with chocolate and strawberries:

 

 

I made two chocolate cakes and sandwiched them together with frosting. Then I covered the outside with frosting and added some piped chocolate squiggles and chocolate coated strawberries on top. It was delicious! I used this recipe for the chocolate cake and it has gone into my "best cake" recipe file - everything a chocolate cake should be: rich, moist and light.

 

No matter how often I decorate a table, I always learn something new:

• fabric paint doesn't always look good with one application - this one needed two.
• its always going to take longer to make something than you think!
• making chocolate squiggles by using baking paper made into a piping bag is NOT EASY, even though the you tube video says it is!
• pipe the squiggles onto a sheet of baking paper first and put into the fridge before putting them onto the cake...not like me who tried to pipe them straight onto the cake - not pretty!
• double sided tape does not always work
• chocolate cake and strawberries and very small children result in....mmmm...a mess!

 

 

Take care....Di

Tablescapes

A couple of weekends ago, my close girlfriends and their husbands all come over to my house for an impromptu get together. Normally I know well in advance if I am having a dinner party but this was organised at the last minute. We ordered take away from our local Italian Restaurant so the food was taken care off. I just had to arrange the table.

I normally like to set my table - having researched and thought about it's design for a few days but this time I had to think on my feet. Luckily I live quite close to the Brisbane markets, so I popped in on Saturday morning and bought a few bunches of flowers for under $20. White single bed sheets are always my base cloth and I found a piece of linen that I had never used, so I cut it into 3 even strips and laid them down the table like a runner. Next I placed the collection of flowers into simple glass jars or jugs and then added lemons and candles in between. It looked great and cost under $20 to achieve. I already had the lemons so the flowers were all that needed to be purchased.

I chose a variety of flowers in a yellow and white theme:

Snapdragons...did you ever play with these as a child (or adult :) ) where you squeeze the flower at a certain part so that the blossom opens and shuts like it's talking?

freesias

What do you think?  I hope you are having a great weekend and enjoying some fine wine and divine food with great family or friends.

Take care...Di

My Easter Table

 

As you know...I am a bit of a "Tablescaper". I love decorating a table for a special occasion - actually any occasion: breakfast, lunch with friends or a birthday dinner. I thought long and hard about how I would decorate our Easter table for Sunday. I didn't want to have eggs or bunnies all over it, so I wasn't really sure which way to go. In the end I decided on "simplicity" - a tribute to the meaning of the day - that new life is pure and beautiful in its most simplistic form.

 

I used classic white flowers - roses and lisianthus - in clear glass jars. The jar in the centre is a vintage milk bottle that I purchased, but the rest are recycled juice and pesto  jars.

 

The cloth was a white sheet with a linen look cloth over the top that was tucked under to create a "runner" effect.

 

The crockery was white and the napkins were white linen. I made napkin holders by wrapping string around them and securing it with a small wooden peg. I made the place cards and clipped them to the napkin holder.

 

For tea light holders I used a vintage cut crystal butter dish. It had a beautiful lid so I just tipped it upside down and used it to hold the 2nd tea light.

 

 

 

 

  

 
I wanted to celebrate without spending a lot of money, so everything was already in the house except for the flowers which I bought at our local farmers markets. The effect was perfect and exactly what I was trying to achieve......I loved it. Although it's lovely to have a beautiful table, nothing compares to the table being full of family and loved ones, sharing a meal and celebrating the miracle of Easter.

I hope your Easter was just as enjoyable.

Take care...Di