It’s been a marvellous holiday season, and the time has come to denude the house of its festive decor. I often turn to a fairly stark black & white theme in January as a respite from the glorious excess of Christmas, but this year I wanted something different. Scanning Pinterest and some of my favourite websites for inspiration, the dark floral theme caught my attention.
I bought this tablecloth and the coordinating napkins some years ago and have always loved it. It contrasts beautifully with creamware and the vibrant shades of regular and parrot tulips. Earlier in the week, I had picked up the parrot tulips from a green grocer in Toronto who often has them in January. He was most apologetic about their condition – they had something called “water stem”, which results in the stem dissolving under your fingers as you try to arrange them. Most frustrating. He gave them to me at no cost, so I was game to give them a try. A couple of bunches of regular orange and yellow tulips did the trick. I surrounded the parrot tulips with their stronger brethren, held the bunches together with elastic bands, then clipped the stems fairly short. Voila. A bountiful arrangement.
The Juliska Graham Green glasses reflect some of the other colours in the print and the leaves in the tulips.
While I’m sad to see the end of the holiday season, I’m wonderfully inspired by the rich and vibrant possibilities for the New Year. May your year be filled with good health, true friends and exciting adventures. Happy New Year everyone!
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
This is a beautiful idea! The dark tablecloth is a perfect backdrop! I went for a mostly white look last January for the same reason. Seems like a cleansing after the fall tones then Christmas colors. How kind of the the person from the store to give you the tulips at no cost. The arrangement ended up looking beautiful!
Thanks Liz. The proprietor of that store is just a sweetheart – we’ve gone there for years, and their tulips are generally amazing. I’m hoping they have a better run this year. What look are you going to go with this January? Enjoy the New Year!
Your creamware is amazing! The vessel holding the flowers is gorgeous. Why end Christmas so quickly? We are still within the twelve days of Christmas! I’m enjoying it as much as I can.
Thanks so much. I love creamware, and that vessel is a chestnut bowl – quite permeable, so I lined it with a plastic bag 🙂 As to ending Christmas early, I know… very bad… Enjoy the season!
Helen:
I am in love with your cream ware centerpiece bowl! It is stunning. The tulips looked perfect in it. Great idea. While I have a few pieces of cream ware I also use for bulbs, I now will have to look for your bowl. It added so nicely to your table.
Hi Judy! The bowl is the bottom part of the Chestnut Bowl. I normally show it with the top half in place as well, but in this instance I lined it with clear plastic and added all the tulips. So glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by.
Very pretty. I don’t know if I have ever heard of a chestnut bowl. So interesting.
The chestnut bowl is really pretty with the top on :).
Beautiful table with the red flowers. Happy New Year. Sujatha:)
Thank you, Sujatha. Parrot tulips are one of the real gifts of wintertime!
I love the way your white cream dishes look trimmed in lace. A lovely detail!! Beautiful table. What’s for dinner?
: )