Creative Living : A Colourful and Hopeful Early Spring Table

I’m bookending winter with this colourful and hopeful early spring table. I last used these gorgeous table treats from Talking Tables at the end of summer. As winter hopefully comes to a close. I wanted to banish the February chill with something bright and cheery for a Sunday dinner.

Continuing my theme of using up what’s left from Christmas . A dash of red felt fun and fresh against the yellows and greens of the first spring flowers.

I have really been enjoying reading Substack’s from established and experienced stylists and interior folk about how interiors have become so bland lately. My home style is always a mix of things I love rather than stuff I can link too. (Nearly) twelve years ago as a new homeowner I devoured blogs and books on interiors. As a trained designer I’ve always had a strong sense of what I love. At the time I was developing and building a family home. The eye and guidance of writers such as Emily Henson and Holly Becker hugely influenced how I set up a room. After years of not seeing their work I’m really enjoying reading their posts and feeling inspired to use what I have and stay true to my own style. Which is a uplifting mix of this and that and collected treasures. A reason I really love using up the goodies Talking Tables have sent me over the years. Is the pieces blend into my own style seamlessly. They have become part of my life.

Even before I started growing flowers as a business. Fresh flowers have always been part of my decoration. A house plant is nice but seasonal flowers from the first daffodil to the last dahlia are better. Flowers change without needing any ‘seasonal decor’. From here on in they will change weekly.

I had to order in these British grown beauties for my regular work at Food, Leigh-on-Sea. They had a full restaurant for the whole of Valentines weekend and wanted to make the tables really special. I mixed narcissi and tulips with catkins from the allotment. They looked good and it was amazing to have fresh blooms again.

I had a second motive for these flowers. I’m getting ready to open the garden once more. I am planning Mothers’ Day Bouquets, Bud Vases (pictured here) and a Get Set For Spring Workshop. I wanted to get ahead with photography so I can share in good time. The garden is still extremely bare, but I have hope.

I have also been working on a new flower re-fill service. I’ve been in development all winter with a wonderful local potter to create one-off vases. I’ll always love jam-jars – I owe them so much. But have been wanting something more to reflect how wonderful the flowers I grow are.

These vases have especially made for my customers. They have a soft creamy white glaze with the softest sheen. They are simple and I want them to be used even when not filled with my flowers. I’ll give you more details soon. If you can’t wait, do get in touch. I have a limited amount available.

With this post, I really wanted to show how flowers can be incorporated into your existing world. The vase I have designed, can be popped onto tables, mantles or side boards without the need to arrange. Mothers’ Day budvases can fill a table without any need for experience and still look amazing. Everything I grow is designed to make everyday things more beautiful with minimal effort. That’s the power of flowers!

For my own reference more than anything. I’m enjoying having a record of what I cooked. For this family meal I kept it basic making lots of lasagnes. One veggie and one meat. This might be a new thing to do at the start of a half term. The joy of having two extra nights of meals prepped has a made half term so much easier!

I used this Veggie Lasagne recipe and doubled the amount of white sauce to use on the meat lasagne. For the meat lasagne, I used my own recipe, which goes something like this. Brown 1kg of good quality mince. Rinse and slice 1 leek, 3 (ish) cloves of garlic, grate 1 courgette and 1 carrot. You want equal amounts of both courgette and carrot . Remove the browned mince from pan and soften the veg for about 10mins on a low heat. Once soft, add the meat back to the pan. Add two tins of chopped tomatoes, a squeeze of tomato puree, a shake of mixed herbs, a dash of water and two beef stock cubes. Add a few bay leaves and leave on a low heat for a few hours.

Let everything sit over night if poss and then assemble and cook the next day. I served mine with a winter coleslaw, supermarket garlic bread and a fresh green salad. For pudding I made this delicious blueberry, almond and lemon cake.

Enjoy! If you’d like to see more of this table in action come and find me on Instagram. If you’d like regular update then sign up for my monthly newsletter.

Candle sticks and holders were gifted by Talking Tables. Flowers, photography, styling and writing all me.