entertaining 101
celebrate spring
When spring's first warm breezes inspire you to embrace the new season, use these decorating ideas to freshen up your rooms.
Spring Centerpieces - Daffodil Delight
Add pretty spring flair to your home with our ideas for centerpieces, door decorations. Bring the cheer of daffodils to your tabletop with a sunny centerpiece or place setting.
Create a centerpiece by stacking citrus, such as lemons or oranges, into a pyramid inside a bowl. Skewers or toothpicks help hold the fruit in place. Fill the bowl with water, and tuck fresh daffodils into the gaps.
Or brighten your place settings by making single-flower posies. Insert daffodils into plastic water vials (available at crafts supply stores) and wrap them with napkins. Tie off with twine.
Change the Furniture
Now's the time to swap that dark wood bench or upholstered chair for a lighter, spring-colored wicker replacement. Bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms will welcome the warm seasons when filled with wicker or other garden-inspired furniture. New white and bright-color towels (and a lightweight shower curtain) will make you eager to start the day.
Decorate
INVIGORATE FAMILY PHOTOS Newfun, colorful, and inexpensive photo frames add spring style to favorite portraits. SUBSTITUTE If you usually have a wool blanket thrown over your sofa for warmth, change it to a cotton quilt pieced in brights. Pack away candlesticks and silk arrangements and replace with clear glass vases filled with pebbles and flowering houseplants. Put a playful paper lampshade on that traditional lamp. FILL THE FIREPLACE Remove the wood and make an arrangement of shells, driftwood and interesting rocks placed in front of a vintage mirror for sparkling reflections. DECORATE THE FRONT DOOR Replace the wreath with a basket planted with sweet potato vine and petunias. It will grow longer and bloom more as the season progresses.
Set a New Table
Delight springtime guests with seasonal tabletop style. Plant wheatgrass and daisies in a natural-root centerpiece bowl. Serve fresh salads on leaf-style plates atop woven placements. Bird-shape glass bud vases and nests with frosted-glass eggs truly say spring has arrived.
Source: Midwest Living