Easter Dinner Table Setting

This year I'm Ryan and I are hosting Easter dinner for my family.  It's our first holiday event in the new house and with Thomas.  I'm very excited!!  Mostly to have my family here for the weekend and partly for the chance to use my (I know I should say our but let's be honest I'm more interested in it) china set.  I've purchased a new table cloth which is turquoise and gold and have been researching ideas for table settings and centre peices.  Here are a few beautiful tables to start the juices flowing.  

p.s. Thanks for checking in!  I will eventually get back into the swing of things.  Until then I may have more posts on Thomas than interiors.  :)  xo

Christmas Essentials

I've been so busy with work and preparing for the baby that I have not decorated our house for Christmas yet.  So last night I got to thinking what I have and what I would like to purchase.  Ryan is telling me no more holiday accessory purchases for this year but I think one ore two items (especially since so much is on sale right now) isn't out of the question.  We have a new house to decorate.  Not just one small apartment. 

Here is my list of holiday items that I love and items that I think are essentials. 

I'm not Jewish but I love the look of this Menorah.  It's beautiful and would add elegance to any room or table setting. 

Pottery Barn

For the mantle I'm partial to velvet stockings and the classic Reindeer stocking holder by Pottery Barn.

Decorating the house is one of my favourite holiday experiences.  It brings back memories and gets me excited for the month of parties, parties with friends, family dinners and time spent together. Candles, pictures of family and friends, a warm throw and mercury glass are all essentials in our house.  

Crate & Barrel

Crate & Barrel / Pottery Barn

The table setting is very important.  I had hoped to host dinner this year but my very big belly and exhaustion have held that off for another year.  It would also be breaking our family tradition and not everyone is ready for those changes yet.  Getting married and splitting my time between families has taken some getting use to for all, including me.  :)

Here are my table essentials:

Crate & Barrel

Can you believe I still have not used my china.  I may break it out on Sunday for brunch with friends or for dinner with Ryan.  It needs to be used!!! 

Kate Spade for Wedgewood

I will need to purchase the red table napkins at some point.  Love them! The white serving platters and bowls from Pottery Barn are practical and classic.

Pottery Barn

Another essential in our house is champagne flutes!  We love drinking bubbly.  :) 

And last but not least, this cheese tray from PB is ideal for serving delicious cheese and pate.  My mother-in-law serves a warm cheese dip that is to die for!!  Add a the silver bowl to the tray and voila!  A perfect serving tray. 

Work is a bit slower for me today.  I actually have time to breath and relax which is a good thing seeing that my belly was contracting all afternoon yesterday.  I predict my last 6 weeks to be uncomfortable but very exciting.  Tonight my friends Megan and Paula are hosting a baby shower for me.  It will be great to see some of my girl friends and talk baby items.  :)

Have a great day!! xoxo

Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!


Our pumpkins are ready.  Ryan and I took Friday night to carve a pumpkin each.  He took about 30 minutes and I was at it for hours because surprise surprise I choose a more difficult design. Camera isn't working right now so I'll reveal them later. 


I'm taking it easy today.  Yesterday was a very busy day of brunching with a friend, shopping with my uncle for furniture and hosting Aaren and Mike for dinner.  I served a new appetizer.  Three different types of bruchette.  Cut a french loaf into slices and toast them in the oven.  Add ricotta cheese, chive mixture to the top of one of them and then poor honey over it, ricotta cheese and hot salami to another slice and regular tomatoe bruchette mixture with pine nuts to the other slice.  It was delicious!!  I should have taken a photo but wasn't that organized.  You'll just have to imagine how delicious they looked.  


Have a great Halloween!!  xo

Christmas Day Count down!!

Since we are 26 days away from Christmas, I thought I would finally show you the decor around my living room.  We have never had a Christmas tree in our rental (we are always away  for too many days to keep a tree alive) so I really try to surround us with Chrstimas in other ways.  As the years go on I will certainly add more decor.  For now, I will have to stop spending money on decorations and start shopping for gifts. 

The picture below is the view from my sofa.  

I'm off to finish laundry and shop for dinner.  Ryan has been so good to me by making dinner  almost every night for many weeks now.  He deserves a very yummy meal made by me.  :) 


Don't forget to watch Sarah Richardson's Holiday show tonight at 8pm.  I've already watched it once this afternoon.  Yes, you read correctly.  I'm going to be watching it again tonight.  

Where I would like to rest my head while traveling...

I have been thinking about starting a weekly theme on Fridays.  For weeks, I've been racking my brain on what my topic could be.  Then, it just dawned on me that it would be very cool to feature gorgeous hotels around the world.  I love to travel!  I also love to dream of future vacations.  I think it's fascinating to see how others live.  I don't like to do the touristy thing.  I prefer to see the city like I was a citizen of it.  One of my favourite parts of traveling are the hotels!  I especially enjoy staying in beautiful boutique hotels.  It's rare because they are so expensive.  The few I have stayed in were spectacular.  I thought it would be cool to featue hotels that have stunning design.  After all, this blog is meant to inspire.

First up is JK Place in Florence, Italy.  This hotel features everything I love in design, white walls, black walls, crystal chandeliers, zebra print and a cozy homey feeling.  Maybe it's the idea of being in Florence but I think this is a very romantic hotel.  I can picture touring the city by day and then enjoying a glass (or two) of red wine with my pasta and Ryan.  Absolute perfection!!

All pictures via Tablet Hotels

Ho Ho Ho! Holiday Decor Prep

It's that time of year again!  The holiday season!!  I absolutely love the day after Halloween because it means I can finally start watching Christmas movies, buying decorations, thinking about gifts and start to transform my home into a Holiday wonderland!  :)  I started the process last week with a visit to PotteryBarn, HomSense and Michaels.  My displays are slowly coming together.  I have a few small projects to pull together this weekend and then it will finally start to look like Christmas at the La Rose household.  :) 


Today I want to share with you one of my thrifty purchases.  Normally I shop at PotteryBarn, Restoration Hardware or an equally expensive store.  Yes, I'm still going to these stores but I'm taking more ideas then the actual products home.  Check out the mercury candle holders from HomeSense ranging from $8-$12.  Please don't judge the picture.  I took it 20 seconds before rushing out the door this morning for a work meeting that I was running late for AGAIN! 

Here is the comparison from PotteryBarn.  These are the original that I have lusted over for years but thought were a little too expensive.  They range from $25-$45 (Canadian $). 

I can't wait to dress my console table completely this weekend.  So much fun!!

Happy shopping! :)

Pumpkin Decor

Halloween is just around the corner.  It's my least favourite holiday but nonetheless it deserves some attention.  I think I will like it more once I have children.  I use to love it!  I would get excited about carving the pumpkins and decorating the house with my sisters but now I can't be bothered.  I'm waiting for Christmas!! Less than 2 months to go!

I found some fantastic pumpkin decor and jack-o-lantern ideas from HGTV, Sunset and Martha Stewart. 

HGTV has a tutorial here on how to use stencils to design your jack-o-lanterns.  They provide designs that can be printed out on regular paper.  You pin it to the pumpkin and punch holes around the design to guide you in where to cut out the image. 

HGTV

Sunset

Love the black cats with orange eyes made of small pumpkins painted lacquer black.  This is seriously cool!

Sunset

I wouldn't mind stopping by these candy tables.  Yummy!!

Especially this one!!

Black pumpkins are very cool.  I would never have thought to paint them.  I like this idea and might even do it next year.

I LOVE this idea!  The pumpkins lighting a path is genius!  Thanks for sharing Martha.  :)

The only part of Halloween that I'm very much into is handing out candy to the adorable children.  One piece for them and two for me!  Alright... 2 for them and 2 for me.  :)  Unfortunately we can't hand out candy this year.  We're headed to Niagara on The Lake for a friends wedding.  It's going to a great celebration!!

Plates of plenty!

Since this is the start of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I've decided to type in pink today.  Click here to donate or here to figure out how you can help.


Now, onto my post...


While driving home from an appointment last night I decided to pick up wine.  I deserved a glass with what I had just gone through.  Trust me!  But that's not the point.  The point is I also picked up the latest Food & Drink LCBO magazine.  To my great surprise there is an entire Thanks Giving feauture with MY CHINA pattern.  :)  I screamed when I saw it because it's just so gorgeous!!  It got me excited to host my own dinner this year but unfortunately that's not possible since we have a table that sits a maximum of 4.  :(  Still, a girl can dream.   I hope you love it as much as I do.  Enjoy!  


p.s. I was having trouble with the scanner so I had to take pictures of the magazine spread.  It's the greatest quality but it will do just fine for now.