Saturday, April 3, 2010

Egg-quisite

Happy Easter to all my readers and blogging friends.  I hope you are all enjoying the long holiday weekend.  For todays post I'm going to share a few pictures of Easter decor ideas, my finished diningroom and a look at Number One Grafton from this week.


I had some friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago.  This was the hostess gift they presented me with along with a lovely bouquet of tulips.  Hmmmm .... interesting choice I thought.... are they planning on staying for breakie??

And then I opened it...WOW... a dozen gorgeous hand painted eggs.  These eggs come from Judy's collection which I had oogled at her house at least a couple of dozen times.  She has a basket which I would guess holds a hundred or more.   


Judy and her husband lived in Indonesia for several years.  It was there at the markets that Judy's penchant for these absolutely exquisite eggs began.

 
The eggs start off as wooden shapes and are handpainted in the most beautiful colours and patterns.  I love love them...  Thank you so much.  And just in time for Easter.  But how to display them?

Anita displayed our pretty and oh so popular silver birds at the store in one of our lovely glass dishes, nest and all.  So I thought wouldn't the eggs look wonderful displayed the same way?

I think a row of these on my diningroom table is quite perfect! Or...

Isn't this pretty?  Simple yet... so very pretty.

You could mix them up, some eggs, some birds and some eggs and birds.  Why not?

 
These sweet little silver birds are quite literally flying off our shelves.  And speaking of my diningroom, it's done, finished, finito... for now :)

 
My new diningroom table and chairs.  I love it!


Favorite new artwork. We have a few more of these in the shop but I don't expect they will last long.


As part of my renovation I had the glass in my built in cabinets changed out to mirrors.  It totally expands the space, since my diningroom is pretty tiny this helps make it seem bigger.  It certainly is brighter.

Looking the other way towards my livingroom.  Want to see it too?

My livingroom is almost complete.  One last thing remains to be done.  See that door to the very right of the room... soon it will be a built in cabinet.  I've been waiting on my carpenter for months now.  He assures me it will be done by the end of April.  Now readers I have one more thing...  I'm looking for your input here :)

All my lovely drapery panels were wreaked by the dry cleaners.  First they shrunk them and to try and fix the problem they let down the hem.  But as you can see it's a mess... we cannot get rid of that crease.  So I need to order new draperies.  And by the way this is at my cost since the cleaners had an "at your own risk" policy. Not happy about that, but I must accept it and move on. 

I am seriously thinking of changing from my off white panels to this pale blue silk and doing french pleats as opposed to the grommets.  Our supplier is going to give me a very good price since we are good customers.  Well, now that you've seen the diningroom and the livingroom... what do you think?  Should I go for it.  I'm thinking yes, yes, yes.  BTW I had a manicure today, see nails above :)

Moving on to more diningrooms and houses getting done, I want to show you the diningroom progress at Number One Grafton.  The soon to be B & B.

This is the diningroom way back in October.  Note the light fixture.  And all those crates on the floor are actually the new windows.

A couple months later and the windows are installed but now we have furniture, furnishing and boxes replacing them temporarily.  Emphasis on temporary.

Monday of this week.  The construction phase is almost over the diningroom has been cleared out with the furnishing allocated to rooms and other areas of the home.  Graeme and Judy were working hard this week and last... Almost ready for guests.  The draperies, blinds and the rest of the furniture, accessories should be in place within the next 2 weeks.  Doesn't it look great? 

 
One last thing, while driving through the PEI National Park last weekend saw a little more wildlife.  Seems to be a weekly occurance for yours truly :)  Notice the sign... Cavendish, Green Gables, that way.

 
He or she was such a poser.  How pretty ... a beautiful red fox out for a spring stroll and photo ops.
Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great Easter Sunday and long weekend.
Susan

15 comments:

Grace @ Sense and Simplicity said...

Well first, I did notice the manicure, so it was definitely a good day to take lots of photos for the blog of you holding things. Well done!

Second, I love your dining and living rooms. They look so fresh and clean and classic and comfortable. I do think the blue drapes would look amazing with the white and the soft blue cushions on your sofa. Mind you if it were me I would totally be doing some kind of trim along the bottom and possibly the leading edge of the drapes you already have to cover the fold lines and change them up a bit. I do think the blue would look amazing though.

Sharon said...

I think the blue would make the space cozier. However, you have amazing natural light with the white!
The mirrored surfaces are spot on. Love your make-over:)

Unknown said...

These were great, really loving the blue. And all your great finds too of course!

Donna @ Paisley and Perspective said...

Wow Susan - this is a jam packed post - I love it!

The eggs really are exquisite! The detail is amazing. I love all of your ideas for display.

Your dining room/living room makeovers are beautiful. I can feel the light airy comfort from the pictures. Very nice!

The drapes - wow I'd be "p.o.'d" with the dry cleaner too. Grrrrr....

I like the blue, but what about doing a band of the blue along the bottom (to get the length) and inside edges? It would be a nice addition of the blue, but would keep the airy lightness of the white. Just a thought. The blue would look great on it's own too.

Number One Grafton is going to look amazing. It's going to be added to my spots to stay in Summerside (that's where it is right?) next time I visit my favourite province!

Hope you have a great Easter!

A Room For Everyone said...

Your dining room made me sigh..it's exquisite. Don't ask me about drapes, I've made many mistakes with window treatments - I'm still trying to remedy them! I do love the french blue though, beautiful..Rachaelxx

Karen Fraser said...

While enjoying my stay here in downtown Halifax, I am relaxing by reading today's blog.

Your reno's look awesome - the dining room and living room look fresh, charming, bright, comfortable and super clean. Luv Luv.

Thanks for sharing Susan. See you soon.

Karen Fraser

Sally@DivineDistractions said...

Love your dining room! Sorry about the drapes. Have you thought of adding a colored band to extent the length, maybe take it up the insides. We've used that technique with great success...looks very custom too.

Kelly Moorehead said...

Susan,
I love the makeovers. I have been watching the progress of your living room and now your dining room. Everything flows so nicely. I would be concerned that the blue panel might be a little much for your small dining room. I was thinking that adding a touch of the blue would be nice. Something like a large panel along the bottom would look fabulous.

Check out this link for an idea
(I personally think these drapes displayed are too long)

http://www.designerdraperies.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PDBB&Store_Code=DD

Kelly Moorehead

DesignTies said...

One word sums up this whole post -- GORGEOUS!!!!!

LOVE your dining room, and adding the mirror to the cabinets was a great idea.

I would definitely go with the blue silk curtains with pinch pleats in your living room. I think they'll look elegant and the touch of shimmer the silk will bring to the room will be perfect.

Love, love, LOVE the seashell artwork with the mirrored frames. I can see why they're flying out of your shop, along with those adorable silver birds :-)

And those hand-painted eggs.... WOW!!!! Your friend is amazingly talented!!!

And the B&B... it's going to be stunning when it's all done. I want to book a room there right now!!

And the red fox is beautiful. How lucky you were to see him!!

Now excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard ;-)

Kelly

Unknown said...

Oh yes it is quite lovely. Stanley?? I believe it is from their continumm collection? Great job!

Nancy@marcusdesign said...

Wow, those are gorgeous eggs, I have never seen any thing like them before! Thanks for sharing :)

DesignTies said...

I look forward to your posts, Susan... I really do! And of course today's post did NOT disappoint! I love how your dining room turned out... and substituting mirror for glass in your built-in was a fantastic idea!!

The first thing I thought of for your drapery was to simply band the blue across the bottom (like others had mentioned)... but then you wrote that the white drapes were gromits. I don't dislike gromit drapes (I have a set in my bedroom), but the idea of French pleats sounds so great... and in that blue silk... that I just had to vote YES!

Before I sign off I just had to say that my current kitchen counters are covered in so much junk!!
Victoria

Sally@DivineDistractions said...

Hi Susan,
I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog, Divine Distractions. I'm so happy to have you as a follower, and I look forward to getting to know you better. Your home is beautiful, by the way!
Sally

Patty said...

Wow those eggs are absolutely gorgeous! Pale blue drapes would go perfectly in that room.

Vanessa@decor happy said...

Your dining room is beautiful and I say go for the blue silk drapes!