Today we’ll take a quick trip back in time to a place in France on the outskirts of Paris that inspired a group of artists. These Impressionists painted the winter scenes of Louveciennes and they painted each other, leaving behind the essence and the enchantment of a wintery world.
Continue reading “Monday Masterclass: favorite winter paintings”
Wishing our readers a happy New Year! Looking forward to sharing decorating ideas, design inspiration, and beautiful things in 2022…
Cheers!
For most of us, this Mother’s Day will be unlike any other we have ever celebrated. We won’t be doing the things that we usually do, like traveling, visiting, gathering, or entertaining. In the world of social distancing our tables are smaller and less crowded, but they can still be pretty.
So, the four of us—two sisters (Holly and Brooke), our aunt (Barbara) and our cousin (Kirsten), decided to set our tables for Mother’s Day anyway, using what we have around the house and in our yards. Along with the photos, each of us has written a short note about our tables.
Continue reading “4 Mother’s Day tables during quarantine (using what we have)”
Falling leaves in shades of red, orange, and yellow, country walks, apple orchards, mulled wine, heirloom chrysanthemums, cornucopias, cozy sweaters, planting bulbs, Thanksgiving, pheasants, afternoon naps, sheaves of wheat, plaid everything on these “soft-dying days” as Keats called them…
We hope you are enjoying these November days…
Cheers!
Holly and Brooke
We were honored to design the flowers for our niece’s mid-September wedding at the Old Westminster Winery. The romantic spirit of the vineyards and the glimpses of rural life in the distance were the perfect backdrop for the simple, elegant, and seasonal atmosphere the bride and groom hoped to create.
Our role in this wedding was just one part of a much larger story (I have no doubt the bride will write it one day). Within that story there are two aunts (known for fussing at each other about flowers), a much-loved niece, a wedding dress ordered spontaneously during a flower meeting, lots of texting (dahlias or not?!), lots of laughing, and I could go on.
But, I will let the images speak for themselves because they tell a story of finding beauty in many ways and attention to detail (you will notice a faux butterfly placed in the bridal bouquet and a real one that flew into it). The images also speak to the thoughtfulness of this couple and the community that they brought together for their very special day.
Using an ivory, mauve, sage, and navy palette, we created a semi-formal hand-tied bridal bouquet with garden roses, astilbe and orlaya, astrantia, scabiosa, September aster, seeded eucalyptus, amaranth, cosmos, and dahlias.
The bridal party carried simple tied bouquets of white astilbe, seeded eucalyptus, white orlaya, and jewel of opar.
For the ceremony we hung a garland of mixed greens and hydrangea on a white birch arch and lined the aisles with pewter lanterns and white mums in white washed baskets. The tables at the reception were decorated with farm grown seasonal flowers in simple glass hurricane vases. Hydrangea blooms topped the homemade cakes as well.
Flowers are just one element of special occasions. We think they are an important one, the thing that can be the finishing touch, like the perfect icing on a cake. They have the ability to provide cohesion and meaning too. They strike a chord. They lift the mood. In this case (despite the wind blowing over the statement urn about twenty times), everything came together beautifully, the rain held off, and the entire evening was magical.
Cheers!
Holly and Brooke
(Photograhy by Kimberly Florence)
Elegant Country Style 