Forcing Blooms & Spring Decor

In the doldrums of winter (although a mild one for Maryland), I decided to bring some Springtime inside a little early by forcing blooms.  I've never attempted this before, but I love learning new things, and this was easy.  I don't like the term "forcing" though--I much prefer coaxing;-)  Hopefully soon I will be rewarded with a vase full of beautiful blooms to cheer up the place.  

I decided to coax Forsythia.  Here's how:

1.  Cut branches from the Forsythia using small pruners & cutting at an angle. 

2.  Placed riverstones in the base of a vase (actually I used an Anchor Hocking gallon canister that I now use as a vase since I broke the lid). 

3.  Add very warm water & flower food & then the branches.  I put the vase out of direct sunlight.  That's it.

After just 48 hrs there were buds!

In 4 days there were bright green leaves emerging:

After 6 days the blooms started bursting open:

I also decided to dress up other plants I have in the house.  Here is a pot of miniature Narcissus that Mom gave me last year.  I couldn't plant them because we hadn't yet moved, so I kept them inside.  They sprouted before Christmas and now they are lush and green. 



 I bought this $2 pierced metal planter at Ikea, and it is perfect to show off the Spring green.

I added a bow to spruce it up a little more.  I've actually had this ribbon since 4th grade.  I used to use this ribbon to make those streamer/string barrettes everyone wore.

And my violets are blooming like crazy.  I had to prune them a bit and get them some violet food. 

 Finally, for Easter I wanted to do a small project since I can't go all out and decorate this year (no time!).  So I made this centerpiece with speckled eggs.  It's simple and I like how it turned out.

  

Happy For Small Victories:-)

Snow today!  We decided to stay in today and complete a few small projects.  We began the day with a man from Gardiner's furniture coming by to install the China cabinet shelves that were missing from our Broyhill delivery.  He also hooked up the interior cabinet lights, so now the cabinet is all ready to be set up with our china.  Now the dining room is complete, and I can't wait to host a family dinner soon.  We have to put a lot of things away in that room, but here's the cabinet among the boxes to unpack.

Then we spent a long time stringing crystals on the living room light fixture.  We had to lay all of the parts out on the floor to organize them.  Nosey Rosey had to see what all the fuss was about--anything new and she is on it:



Here she is with the large center pendant.  She thought it was a toy:



Comet didn't give a hoot what we were doing, but that didn't stop him from trampling all over the crystals.

Humphrey was just happy to explore. 

Because I can't stand on a ladder, Jeff hung the crystals as I handed them to him.

And voila!  Our light is complete.  One more item crossed off our To-Do List, which feels good:-) 

We also hung up our favorite painting in the dining room.  A room doesn't feel "finished" or cozy until the art goes up.  We were happy to get this finished. 

I'll need to start shopping for window treatments, too.  I'm thinking some neutral Roman shades would look nice here, and get matching ones for the kitchen.  The problem will the be 8 foot window in the front of the room.  It might be hard to find the right size, so hopefully I can find someone who can custom make them for us.  I'm not 100% happy with the paint sheen.  In person it is a warm beige and looks way better than in the pictures--in pictures it reads more golden.  It is Olympic's zero VOC paint in "Cracker Bitz."  It is the color of Ritz crackers so that's probably how they named it.  We tried to save money by using the same paint that we used in the kitchen, and it is semi-gloss.  I would prefer matte finish for the dining area.

We've been enjoying our kitchen since we moved in before Christmas, and we haven't been doing too much to the rest of the house lately in favor of smaller organizing projects.  However, that changed tonight because Jeff hung the angel in the front doorway.  I love it!

I'm so glad that he did this for me.  One less box taking up residence here, and one more in the recycle bin:-)  It was kinda funny while he was working on this--I was on the phone with a good friend and Jeff held the peaceful angel in his arms while he was uttering curse words.  It was a stark contrast, and it made me giggle.  Apparently the hanging holes on the back of the statue were too small for the screws,  so he had to be creative and modify it.  Jeff rocks!

Now all we have to do is paint that wall and add a new front door and arched molding around the archway into the adjoining room... a neverending list:-)