A blue and white arrangement for spring sits in a basket on the French Country antique breakfast table. After winter storms in February, the blue skies and bright green emerging leaves on the trees outside the windows are welcome sights. And, another welcome sight is the bright sunshine streaming through the sunspace windows onto the beautiful spring basket arrangement inside.  

? Is it spring without sky blue lobelia flowers? Not at my house. 

Blue lobelia bedding plants are part of every spring for me and after starring in arrangements inside and on my potting bench outside, they are planted in containers on the porch to enjoy all summer. 

This spring, the cheerful blue flowers star in a spring basket that includes more small plants, white ceramic bunnies, and blue bird's eggs. 

Bulletin Board Inspiration No. 1 | Baskets, Eggs, Wreaths

A Paper Series Post

Creating a bulletin board filled with photographs of spring baskets, bird eggs, and wreaths is an inexpensive way to enjoy photographs from magazines, brochures, catalogs, flyers, maps . . .  Plus, seeing collected clippings on a board gives ideas for creating similar arrangements around the house. Take a look at the latest bulletin board arrangement in my house for March, and read my suggestions for creating your own bulletin board arrangements. 

Last fall I rejuvenated an old ordinary bulletin board by painting the cork board ink blue and by applying a gold gel stain to the narrow wooden frame. When I shared the finished look in a post, I promised readers a new series of Bulletin Board Inspiration. Today is the first of several bulletin board inspiration posts, with tutorials included for how I lay out my bulletin boards. The board I created and photographed last November will debut this November. 

French Country Pine Table Refinish No. 2

Water damage over the past two years to my French Country style dining table required refinishing the pine table this winter... for the second time in thirty plus years. The first time I refinished the table by myself, but this time I paid someone else to do all the work with input from me. 

During the pandemic and the historic Texas snowstorm!

A F T E R 

Here is how the table looks finished after stripping the table top to bare wood and applying three coats of special waterproof polyurethane finish. 

Unfortunately for readers who want full details with photos of the process BEFORE, DURING, as well AFTER, there are no photos of immediately before or during the process. I was too busy trying to survive February to take photos. 

However, there are some photos of the before to explain the need for a full renovation of the pine table top. 

Spring Cloche Collection for French Country Style

A new addition to a glass cloche collection came just in time to showcase the collection for French Country style this Spring. Less than a week away, Spring officially arrives on Saturday, March 20, 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere, but fresh bedding plants at local garden centers have been heralding Spring's arrival in north Texas for the past two weeks. 

White Johnny-Jump-Ups (violas) and blue lobelias under the collection of cloches brought Spring to my French Country style dining table as the small bedding plants awaited planting outside in pots on the deck.