"Ye sleeping buds, break
Open your green cerements, and wake
To fragrant blossoming for His sweet sake."
~Margaret French Patton
There is something about Easter that demands colour to me. Brightly coloured baskets filled with foiled eggs. The playful pink of a rabbit's ears. Every shade of blossom that can bud on the trees. Sweet tulips drooping their graceful heads. Easter is a remembering time, a time of new life and new possibility. The beauty of spring awakening out of the cold winter earth, like our spirit awakens with the understanding that one whose face we've never seen loved us with a strength to defy all earthly powers. I feel like the sun shines brightest on Easter.
This year my sister, whose love for colour is a year round affair, leant me a few beautiful pieces from her antique teacup collection. I made the little nest myself and of course there is always an abundance of pink flowers in my house! I hope you all have a lovely Easter!
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost..."
~J. R. R. Tolkien
This week I was looking around my house and realizing how many touches of gold there are in my decor. I love soft creams and muted colours but I also think that to have a touch of gold in a room makes it so much more interesting! Maybe that is why Rachel Ashwell's decor is so captivating. Her rooms are spare with very pastel colours and soft fabrics. The floors are covered in weathered and faded rugs, week old roses sit in a chippy vintage cup, and the walls are usually white. It is all so soft and unassuming -and then there by the window or against a light wall you see... gold! A Florentine gold table will sit quite oblivious to the attention it is attracting and somehow be just the right amount of opulence against this pale backdrop. It fascinates! So many old and lovely things tend to be gold. Gilded frames, ormolu filigree boxes, ornate mirrors with gesso carvings, jewelry and French china. My house is filled with hints of gold...
"Oh, Spring is surely coming,
Her couriers fill the air;
Each morn are new arrivals,
Each night her ways prepare;
I scent her fragrant garments,
Her foot is on the stair."
~John Burroughs
It's no secret that I love pink. I like all shades of pink too: soft pinks in the home and bright pinks in my fashion. I grew up in a room that had the palest pink walls and a bright pink carpet. To this day when I see a picture anywhere that has touches of pink in it - whether they be in the decor, on a dress, or even a shade of lipstick - I am instantly drawn to it. I'm not the only one! Last week my little two year old niece was opening a present and when she pulled away the wrapping my Mum said "It's a pink dress!" and she gasped and exclaimed "That's my colour!". Obviously we start the indoctrination early in my family. :) Nothing is more exciting for me though than to find something vintage in my favourite hue. I used to work at a local antique shop and the owners, my employers at the time, are wonderful friends of my family. They sent me pictures last week of a set of antique French plates that they had just unpacked for their store. Pale blush coloured plates with ornate scalloped edges, heavy gold, and roses. Could there be anything more perfect I ask you? I certainly didn't think so and rushed over to see them. Yes, you guessed it, they ended up coming home with me! The set was very large so I gave a couple plates to my Mum (who shares my obsession) and I have even listed one in my Etsy shop! These are a few pictures of where some of my beautiful plates are now being displayed. I just love them! The curvy venetian mirror was a find from an antique sale back in November that I have only just managed to unpack and hang. I think it is so glamorous. :)
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