A Farm Inspired Easter Table Setting
WORDS:: Chyka Keebaugh
PHOTOS:: Lisa Atkinson
This will be the first Easter at our new weekend getaway, and I am so excited I have a new space to play with.
Our new weekend retreat features a dining room in the entrance lobby. I love this, as it's the first thing you see as you enter the house and it creates such an inviting atmosphere. This is great when entertaining, as it gives our guests a little sneak peek of what's in store when they enter our new home.
Now can I just talk about the floral centrepiece? How gorgeous does it look! Using a simple combination of cabbages, brussels sprouts, white hydrangeas, ranunculus and a scattering of flecked eggs I have continued the ‘Easter in the farmyard’ feel. A set up like this is simple but needs a lot of playing about. For this table setting I have cut the stems off the flowers, meaning that they are only a temporary display for lunch. This may seem wasteful but remember you can always pop them in smaller specimen jars and float them in bowls once lunch is over. While the cabbages and sprouts can be reused and frozen or composted, or eaten throughout the week.
The great thing about this table centre is that it can be done the day before with fresh flowers added at the last minute. Going to the market will really inspire you as there are so many different varieties of local lowers.
Keeping the palette simple with a mixture of whites, creams, and fresh garden greens, is such a nice way to bring the garden inside, almost like the bunnies can come in and join us!
When styling this Easter setting, I took my inspiration from farmhouse style, so the base plates were purposefully kept neutral because I wanted my white leaf plates sitting atop to be the focal point. These particular plates were hand made for me in the south of France (you know all about my plate obsession, right?!) Sitting the white on the neutral really shows off the leaf shape beautifully.
To decorate the plates and incorporate them into the Easter theme, I covered them with a small amount of moss with chocolate nests sitting atop, complete with tiny quail-look eggs filled with chocolate and a scattering of feathers. I love to use tea towels as napkins, as they are a great size and it's an inexpensive way to change up the look of your table.
But what I really love is the cutlery. It is is very special, and guess what? Straight from Ebay! Don’t underestimate the power of second-hand shopping, hit that search button and snap up something that no one else has, it creates a fantastic talking point for your guests as well as adds some rustic texture to the setting. The addition of these modern water jugs gives some height to the table. These jugs are actually watering cans from IKEA that have been reinvented. Their height creates another level amongst the floral arrangement.
Credits: Flecked chocolate eggs in chocolate nest from Simon Johnson. Grey plates by Robert Gordon. Napkins and jugs from IKEA.