Written by : Ingrid

Hello everyone!  Can you believe it is already the week before Easter!  This year is flying by so fast for me – how about you?  What are your plans for Easter?  A big family dinner with turkey, ham and all the trimmings?  Do you decorate your home for Easter?

I love having Easter in the springtime for a change.  In Australia, where I’m from, Easter is always in the autumn, so it has a bit of a different feel.  My kids always hunted for Easter eggs amongst the colourful, fallen autumn leaves in the backyard.  There was often an early frost (that’s right, it’s not always hot down there!)  so they would bundle up in their boots and housecoats over their pj’s and run outside with their little baskets and search high and low for colourful egg treasures and chocolate bunnies.  They are past the hunting stage now, although I’m sure they still love a chocolate egg and bunny or two!

I was intrigued by the origins of the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs, and just why they represent Easter.  Easter, apart from it’s religious meanings, is also a salute to Spring, marking re-birth and new life.  The Easter Bunny was originally called the “Easter Hare” and because hares and rabbits are prolific breeders (UVIC will attest to that!), they became a symbol of fertility and hence a symbol of Easter and the beginning of Spring.   Also, the Ancient Romans believed that all life comes from eggs, and therefore eggs have also come to symbolize Easter and the beginning of new life and Springtime.

The first chocolate Easter eggs appeared in Germany and France in the early 1800’s and quickly spread through Europe.  The eggs were traditionally delivered to good children by the Easter bunny on the night before Easter.  He would hide them either outside or inside the house for the children to find in the morning.  A little bit like St. Nicholas but this one is a furry version with big ears!

As far as decorating for Easter goes, softly does it.  Pastel colours are perfect – purple, blue, pink and yellow, all in the softest tones.  So pretty and springlike!  Add a little nest with some eggs here and there, some pretty candles, some little chicks and bunnies and you have the perfect setting for an Easter dinner.

We have lots of Easter goodies and gifts to help you celebrate this special time of the year and to help you decorate your table.

Thought I’d give you an update on my bumblebees!  Our plan to move them from the birdhouses to their own little bumblebee houses, worked!  They have established themselves nicely in their own little places and guess what!  The chickadees are nesting in the other birdhouses meant for them.  So, our experiment worked and all are happy.  Still haven’t seen the swallows though.  Have any of you seen them yet?

Thought I’d share some pictures I took this morning in my garden between bouts of rain.

That’s it from me for this week.  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter with your family and friends.  I’d be really interested to hear how some of you spend your Easter and what it means to you.  How do you decorate and celebrate?

Written by : Ingrid

Good morning everyone!  It’s a gorgeous, sunny day and it’s wonderful to feel the warmth on the old bones!   I can’t get over how busy the little birds are right now!  My backyard is full of them – eating, bathing, foraging in the freshly cultivated earth and getting nests prepared for their babies.  Have you got an abundance of life in your garden right now too?

One thing I noticed was how many bumblebees I have in the garden this year.  Did you know that the very first bumblebees of the season (those really big, furry ones) are all new, young queens?  The young queens are the only ones from their colony to survive the previous winter.  When they emerge in the early Spring, they straight away look for a place to lay their eggs – usually in an old mouse nest or in bird houses that still have last year’s nests in them.  As I failed to clean out our birdhouses in the Fall, guess where they nested!?  Yep, right in the two bird houses that I usually have Swallows or Chickadees nesting in.  So…. last weekend my husband and I gingerly took down the two bird houses, removed the bases and carefully took out the nests, with the queen bumblebees inside protecting their egg sacks.  Our intention was to transfer the nests into two older birdhouses that we no longer used for the birds, and then place them near to where they had nested before so the bumblebees would find their way back.   If anyone could have seen the two of us, they would have been in hysterics!  Here we were, trying really hard not to disturb a couple of queen bumblebees, and of course, as soon as we gently lifted out the nests, the bees angrily zoomed out and we both let out a yelp and just about jumped out of our skins!  Luckily, the transfer went well and the Queen bees have found their respective nests and all are happy again.  Now we are just waiting for the Swallows to return to the now cleaned bird houses meant for them.  Has anyone seen them yet??

Apart from noticing what’s going on with the birds and the bees, it’s a lovely time for planning and designing your plantings for the outdoors.  At this time of year, some of us tend to neglect the greenery we have indoors.  Over the winter months,  indoor plants can become tired looking and sometimes, we just give up on them.  It’s nice to replace them with fresh, new plants from the nursery but some of the smaller pots are difficult to keep looking nice.   It’s also nice to have fresh flowers in the home too, but they don’t last and often drop pollen, petals or leaves and make a mess.  It gets expensive over time to replace fresh flowers unless you have an abundance of them in your garden to pick from.

You know how much I love real plants and flowers.  I’m sure you all do too.  However, I’m not against a little bit of cheating every now and then and sometimes just can’t resist the many wonderful faux flowers and plants that are available.  They are just SO EASY to care for, and look fresh and wonderful all year long!  We just got a shipment in last week of some wonderful, real looking plants – flowers, grasses and greenery.  I just have to show you how pretty they are.  I’ve even noticed some customers sniffing the gorgeous red and white poppies expecting some fragrance from them!  That’s how real they look!

We have these adorable little pots of white geraniums, white orchids, topiaried tea trees and real-looking lavender.  Perfect for a window sill in a grouping or on your dining table as a centrepiece.

We also have some picks of greens, grasses and flowers which are great for arranging in vases or using as extra special touches on your dining room table as pictured below.   These are very popular Lily of the Valley flower picks and they are really pretty and fresh looking.

We also got some willow branches and screens which are great to fill in an empty corner or even to act as a visual room divider.  They come in different heights and are either white (as shown) or natural brown.   I’m already imagining them at Christmas time with little white mini lights threaded through them…..

It’s also fun to have some fake fruit (real tastes better!) in a pretty bowl on your table.  No fruit flies to contend with!  Ha!  You could really fool them!

It makes such a difference to have a bit of greenery around the home.   The added bonus to having fake greenery is that we don’t have to spend any time on them (except to dust them every now and then!). I get to spend more time in the garden outside on my REAL plants!  Actually, I do have lots of real plants indoors as well, and at this time of the year I can’t resist buying a couple of bunches of tulips or daffodils when I pick up the groceries.

I’d love to know what your favourite flowers are – either cut, bought or fake!  How do you like to bring the outdoors in?  Let me know!

Until next week!  Check out the birds and the bees!

Written by : Ingrid

Well, here we are enjoying daylight saving again!  Hooray!  Doesn’t that one hour make a difference though!  Getting up in the morning is a little harder, but it’s so nice to have that extra light in the evening.  I’m looking forward to warmer days when I can go home from The House Dressing and get into my garden for a couple of hours, eat outdoors and enjoy walks in the warm summer evenings.  I’m also looking forward to summer style eating and cooking again.  How about you?  I know it’s still a couple of months yet before we will be enjoying some real warmth, but with the flowers bursting forth and the birds beginning to nest, it feels like it’s just around the corner!

And with the beginning of a new season, comes new and exciting stock into the stores – clothing, shoes, garden accessories and of course, furniture and accessories for the home.  We are getting new stock in almost every week now, and it’s just like Christmas when we open up all those boxes!

We just got these wonderful outdoor recycled plastic Adirondack chairs.  They are so comfortable!  All you need is some sunshine,  a pair of shades, a good book and a cool drink to spend a few hours in one of these beauties.  At the moment, we have one in blue, one in aqua and one in white.  We also have a white rocking chair, table and footstool.  The range of colours is extensive, and we have samples of all the colours, here at the store.   These chairs are maintenance free, have no splinters (ouch!), are waterproof, strong and durable, don’t need painting and won’t rot.  You can leave them out in the weather all year!  Bonus!  No need to store!

We also got some new summery table linens in.  Lovely colours – blues, greens, neutrals and soft purples.  Some are patterned, some are plain.  We also got some fun pebble mats too, with matching coasters and floor mats.  I love to hear the creative ideas our customers have for these interesting mats!   Some use the floor mats in their bathrooms, some outdoors, some use them in front of fireplaces.  There seems to be no end to their uses!

And nature girl here just loves the new ginger jars with butterfly motifs and these cute little bird feeders and plant stakes.  I can see the “bird feeder” in a bathroom with a pretty piece of soap, or filled with jelly beans or almonds (much healthier!) or even as a place to put your scouring pad near the sink, or spare coins or even your jewellry!!

I’m sure you’d love some of our gorgeous canvas prints that are very reasonably priced!  I love the white tulips and roses, and the birds too of course.  There are so many to choose from, including seaside scenes with boats, pebbles and starfish.

So, have I whet your appetite for some new, Spring goodies?  If you are looking for some new ideas and colour schemes, we’d really love to help you!

Until next time, enjoy the lengthened days and the early Spring awakening of life in our great outdoors.

Written by : Ingrid

Hi everyone – it’s been such a long time since I last blogged.  Life just gets in the way sometimes, and before you know it, so much time has flown by!

Have you all been enjoying this amazing weather?  I sure have but I have to admit, I’ve been away on not one, but TWO trips recently that took me to warmer climates.  One trip was to Mexico for a week with my husband and girls and the other trip was back to my homeland Australia, to spend time with my elderly parents.  On both trips, I was really struck by the amazing colours in the natural surroundings and the brilliant and strong light that accentuated the colours in the landscape.  Of course, I love the tropical plants and flowers and am always amazed at their sometimes gawdy colours and over-the-top enormous leaves.  It’s almost like they are showing off!  Who can blame them really, when they grow in such perfect, warm conditions and in such beautiful places.

It got me thinking about the relationship between the colours and textures in nature and the colours and textures we can bring into our home decorating in the form of furnishings and accessories.  Of course designers have been taking inspiration from nature for ages, but sometimes, if you’re not sure what colours you’d like in your own home you can look to nature to see what colours you are naturally drawn to and go from there.

Some people are naturally drawn to the cool colours of green and blue whilst others love the vibrant colours of yellow, orange, pink and red.   Natural textures and neutral tones are a favourite too, and are often used as a background to the other, more flamboyant colours.

Here are a few ideas and thoughts I had using my pictures from the two trips and pictures of some products we have in the store.

If you love the blues and greens of the tropics,  you can bring these colours into your home with pillows, vases, placemats, rugs and bedding.

If you are drawn to the many shades of coral, yellow, orange and pink that you see in so many beautiful flowers in the Summertime, here are some examples of how to bring these colours into your home.

Of course, during the summer, our inspiration in decorating often comes from the seaside and all the wonderful, natural textures and colours it brings.  Things like pebbles, sand, driftwood, shells, starfish,  textured, neutral coloured fabrics and wicker.

And how could I forget the beautifully coloured plumage of the tropical birds and the vibrantly coloured fish that I saw on my trips! Talk about inspiration!  Here is a photo I’d like to share of a cheeky Rosella parrot sitting on the telephone wire overlooking my parents’ backyard.  He’s holding a stem of seeds and having afternoon tea in the sunshine before a dip in the birdbath below him.  Imagine having all those colours in your house!!  Wow!  Isn’t he gorgeous?

“With glowing heart”, I’m so happy to be back in this beautiful part of the world with it’s soft skies, silvery blue waters and deep green trees.

Enjoy the early Spring and all the lovely colours it brings!

Written by : Ingrid

As this is the last blog post before Christmas day – just 3 sleeps away – Helen and I decided to collaborate on this one to wish all of you a very, very happy Christmas and to share with you some of the decorating we have done in our own homes this year.

We both love to decorate!  Helen has been so incredibly busy with decorating the store as well as decorating several customers’ homes, that I don’t know how she managed to find the motivation to do her own!  I love the simplicity of Helen’s Christmas designs.

Her mantle and tree are subtle, yet elegant.  Her eye for detail is very keen and she sets up her vignettes so that they are balanced in both colour and arrangement.  Helen has used lots of  sparkling clear glass and silver, combined with natural elements like fresh greens and pinecones that she collected on her long walks in the woods with Hana her dog.

Helen’s tree is a pre-lit, narrow, perfectly shaped ornamental tree that she dresses up beautifully to complement the mantle.  It’s full of gorgeous baubles – glass, silver and white.  So pretty and sparkling.   Helen said that next year she would love to have two trees – the one she has set up now with her beautiful decorator theme, and one natural tree with ornaments that she and her husband are starting to collect as a young married couple.

My decorating is a bit different – I have a lot of decorations which our family have collected throughout the years since we were married 30 years ago!  Things that my girls have made and collected over the years and very old pieces that belonged to my husband’s grandmother and mother too.  They are not designer pieces, but mean a lot to us and are like little treasures each year as we unpack them from their boxes to hang on the tree.

Our tree this year is a natural tree that was cut down under the power lines on Salt Spring Island for Cannor Nursery, where we bought it.  It’s really funky and has branches going every which way!  It has 3 leaders, so the poor angel is sitting off centre, which just adds to the goofiness of the tree.  It’s a little bit Dr. Seuss-like.  My husband insists on having coloured lights in the tree, as well as plain white, which I have to admit, look pretty nice!  He also came home last year with old-fashioned bubble lights which add more whimsy to our already loopy tree.

I have a small Charlie Brown tree that I’ve set up in our dining room.  It is decorated with white, green and blue baubles and plain white lights.

I have also decorated our family room/kitchen area in mainly green and white coloured baubles and snowflakes.  My Florist friend, Claudia Logan whose business is called Twisted Tulip, made this wonderful arrangement of greens with red roses, called “the Grinch”.  I absolutely love it!

Every year, both Helen and I and the rest of the staff, find it hard to resist the gorgeous Christmas decorations, ornaments, garlands and accessories that come into the store at this time of the year.  There are still many more to choose from, even this close to Christmas!  Hope I can restrain myself!  If you’ve been inspired to do a bit more decorating before the big day, come in and we can certainly help you with ideas.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing what we’ve done in our own homes.  Remember, we have our competition going (see previous blogs for details) and there are still 3 days to enter!

Have a wonderful, joyous Christmas and a happy and creative New Year!  Best wishes from Ingrid, Helen and The House Dressing Team!

ps.  this picture of Helen, me and my dog Tucker, was taken just before our “Polar Bear” run around the neighbourhood to see all the pretty lights!  We came home to a warming bowl of chili and later, a delicious hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps!  Yummmmmm!