Masthead header
April 6, 2013

Weekend Wandering …Vinewood

source

***Be sure to read the comments below from May 15-16, 2013***

The other day when I was writing the post on the Southern dreamhouse, my kitchen choices were down to three.  I ultimately chose the one with the color scheme that fit the overall feel of the (imaginary) house, but I thought you would like to see one of the other choices today…especially since I know how much you all love a good kitchen!  This one was featured a while back in Southern Living….

southernliving.com

southernliving.com

and it belongs to designer, Jamie McPherson.  This wonderful kitchen is in Vinewood, his restored 1852 home in Newnan, Georgia.  So let’s take a look around Vinewood today.

vinewoodevents.com

The house is a real Southern dream house, and even though it is more formal in style than my current home, I could be quite happy living here.  It originally had the columns that were typical of antebellum homes built in the 1850′s, but the previous owners had removed them.  So McPherson and his partner decided to not replace them in their restoration of the home.

The colors inside Vinewood are so warm and welcoming.  Come on in the front door and into the entry hall…

southernliving.com

and then step inside the dining room (the entry is right under the stairs.)  Notice the horizontal plank walls.

southernliving.com

southernliving.com

Wouldn’t you love to have a sideboard just like this one?southernliving.com

Now take a peek in the living room .  If you like that dark green paint, it is called Bronzed Ivy and made by Glidden.

southernliving.com

This fireplace is in the bedroom.  You may have noticed there is a bird theme carried throughout the house.southernliving.com

southernliving.com

Double pedestal sinks and a soaking tub are in the master bath.southernliving.com

And this porch view…positively perfect!vinewoodevents.com

The grounds are obviously equally as beautiful and as detail oriented as the interiors of the house.vinewoodevents.com

Not only has Jamie McPherson helped to restore and decorate this home, but you may also remember that he designed the interiors for the Southern Living Idea House in Senoia (the first one, not the farmhouse.)

southernliving.com

southernliving.com

Here is another kitchen that he designed in Atlanta.atlantahomesmag.com

But wait…I have sort of wandered away from Vinewood, and there is more I need to tell you about it.  Not only is it a wonderfully restored home, but it is also a venue available for renting for special occasion. Yep…the whole thing…and not only the house.  There is a 5,000 square foot horse barn known as The Stables that can be rented as well as another smaller nearby barn known as High Meadows.

weddingwire.com

And now for some fun…Last fall they held an open house at Vinewood for all brides, their guests, and vendors in the area.  Here is a video from that event that you can check out:

vimeo.com

They will be holding a spring one in a few days.  So if you are a bride and in the area, you might want to read all the information here:

paperlesspost.com

I have another Vinewood video you also need to watch …super super sweet – so get your tissue ready.

vinewoodevents.stylemepretty.com 

And last, but certainly not least, you need to read this post on another wedding held at Vinewood.  If it doesn’t give you happy tears, I don’t know what will.  (The story comes below all the wedding photos on the post over at Style Me Pretty.)

stylemepretty.com

Well, I believe I have given you enough assignments for today!  Hope you have enjoyed wandering around Vinewood this weekend.  Isn’t it a gorgeous place?

venues.eptingevents.com

 Enjoy your Saturday.:)

Posted in Designers, Houses, Places to Visit, RoomsTags: , , , , , , , ,
   
say something nice
Nana Diana - April 6, 2013 - 8:45 am

I don’t know how it happened but somehow you dropped off my reader list! UGH- Anyway-I am back and want to tell you this is just a beautiful post! Have a wonderful weekend! xo Diana

Judy - April 6, 2013 - 9:21 am

oh kelly, i sure do remember jamie’s house in southern living. when i purged a lot of magazine’s last year, this is one issue i kept just because of his house! i loved that table used as a “nightstand” in the bedroom. actually, i loved everything about that house!

i had no idea he was the decorator for the other southern living home in senoia. i would have loved to tour that home.

thanks for sharing such a gorgeous home. hope you are having a relaxing weekend.

Dawn - April 6, 2013 - 9:27 am

Kelly,
I love the first Vinewood kitchen picture. The topiary and sconces pull me in! Of course it is a bit too fancy for our kid, carpenter and dog filled life but I would love to implement some of James McPherson’s style into our home to warm it up a bit. Even though Vinewood is large and formal is has a real coziness to it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Yarlette - April 6, 2013 - 10:09 am

Kelly I just loved this post. So classic. The rooms will never go out of style. I would much rather have a home like this than one that follows the fads that you will get tired of after a while. I will always stay true to my traditional style.

Kathy - April 6, 2013 - 10:52 am

Great post, Kelly! I love that bedside table used as a nightstand. My grandmother had that same table and I used to play under it. (I love when a photo evokes a memory!) I also loved looking at the wedding video. I get sappy over those…especially that father-of-the-bride. (If you want to see more videos like that go to inkspotcrow.com. This site will have you teary-eyed as well. Oh, and I am not affiliated with them, I just happened upon it.) Thanks for taking me on min vacations online!

House Crazy Sarah - April 6, 2013 - 11:00 am

What a beautiful estate! I wonder if the owners still live there? or do they just rent it out as a business?

Garden, Home and Party - April 6, 2013 - 6:06 pm

Kelly,
I could move into this house exactly as is. I love it! What a great kitchen. Each room is so inviting, I don’t think it’s too formal. Great post, thank you.
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Karen

Nancy - April 6, 2013 - 8:30 pm

I love it ALL. What a gorgeous place!! Thanks for the tour!!!

martha - April 6, 2013 - 10:17 pm

Oh Vinewood, I love you! What a beautiful place! The video of the open house shows the potential of a really fun reception.Where is this home located? I don’t think I saw the location above, but then I could have missed it. :-) Like several others I immediately recognized the bedside table as one from my past. Thanks for sharing!

Shirley@Housepitality Designs - April 7, 2013 - 10:21 pm

I love all of the kitchens Jamie McPherson designs….he is such an incredible talent and just love his gogeous home!…Thanks for all the eye candy today!!!

Jan - May 15, 2013 - 3:44 pm

Dear Kelly;

I don’t know if you heard, but they have not only been operating “Vinewood Weddings and Events” without a license in the past several years, apparently the County closed them down because of several flagrant fire code violations in the barn and they failed to meet and have been ignoring County regulations since they started their wedding event business.

Just last week, we found out that a friend of ours was supposed to be in a wedding there, but that they were not told until Friday morning (the day before) that the wedding would not take place there! Apparently Vinewood knew this since Tuesday, but failed to notify them as soon as they learned that they had to stop operations until the conditions set by the county were met.

I did a little more digging, and it turns out that the owner, Jamie Elliot McPherson, was arrested for “theft by conversion”, basically taking money from several clients by failing to deliver anything in return. A simple Google search on “Jamie McPherson arrest log” will get you the arrest log of 3/29/2011 from the local paper. There is even a comment in the article from a “Suzanne”, that she hired Jamie to design and fabricate her kitchen cabinets. “He took nearly $20,000 of my money and never delivered any cabinets.”

With the F rating the Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives them, it is no surprise that his kitchen business “Hearth and Home Interiors” is no longer in operation. I guess the locals chased him out of town because they were sick and tired of his lies and empty promises. I am not surprised to hear from several locals that they are apparently filling for bankruptcy!

http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/decorating/home-restorations-00400000057655/comments-index.html
http://www.times-herald.com/local/505648-20130418CCC_VinewoodEvents-SQ
http://www.times-herald.com/arrests/Arrests2011-03-29T05-20-42

Kelly - May 16, 2013 - 7:52 am

Thanks for all the information Jan. How awful for that bride. Goodness knows how devastating that would be. The bride alone should run him out of town! And that makes perfect sense about the kitchen business then. I hope someone is able to take over Vinewood and do it properly and legally or correct it themselves. It is such a shame to have something so beautiful be misused. What is confusing to me though, is if you check the twitter account for Vinewood, there have been recent weddings there – and it looks like they used the barn for the reception (which is where I thought the firecode violations were occurring.) I guess if you are considering using Vinewood for an event, be sure to check everything out thoroughly, and make sure you have a contract up front – with a contingency plan attached.
Thank you again for letting us know.
Kelly

Jan - May 17, 2013 - 4:58 am

I asked around and they are still not allowed to open Vinewood; a wedding that was scheduled for May 26, 2013 was cancelled only days ago, after the groom heard about the troubles and confronted Jamie McPherson in person. Apparently several days of calls and messages went unanswered and Jamie never intended to notify them about the probably cancelation of their wedding venue until it was too late.

Things are apparently so bad, that one father-of-the-bride has made some serious threats against them, because of the stuff they pulled on him.

I also found a comment from someone that claimed that the Coweta County Sheriffs Office denied a wedding party from entering the barn for their wedding.

From what I have heard, three clients from Jamie’s kitchen store were suing him for a combined $100,000 for failing to deliver after receiving payments from him. At least one of them filled charges and that is why he was arrested. Apparently it was settled out of court and Jamie’s partner had to pay them to make the charges go away.

It is a shame because Vinewood is such a beautiful place, but if your electrical system is hanging together from a bunch of extension cords and you operate your business on a “wedding planning” license, you cannot expect to continue to operate like that.

April 2, 2013

A Pinterest Dream House for Spring…Southern Style

source

Happy April!  Are you getting a dose of springtime yet?  If not, I want you to use your imagination today and travel down South.  Last summer, Aimee at Sixteen Fourteen did a post on a dream house she imagined straight out of Pinterest, and  I followed suite by creating my Pinterest Dream House by the Sea.  I had another dream house in mind when I finished the beach one – an old Southern house – and since it is perfect for spring, I thought it would be fun to share today.

swtourandtravel.com

I lived the first seven years of my life in Mobile, Alabama – a historic city full of gorgeous antebellum homes. I read Gone with the Wind three times as a teenager, and Lord knows how many times I watched the movie. So falling under the spell of Southern architecture should have come naturally to this house lover, but oddly enough, I have never wanted to build that style of home…until now.  I guess it is because I never cared for Victorian furniture (which would have been fitting in those homes,) but you see, there is this lovely pale blue color that keeps jumping out at me when I look at fabric, dishes, and other home decor things, and I can see it in my mind in a beautiful old Southern home.  This mood board shows it so well:

snippetandink.com

So let’s play with that color today as we look at an imaginary Southern dream home.  We are starting with the exterior first to give you a proper introduction.

ruralswalabama.org

Now come on into the front entrance.  I looked for one of those hallways with a grand staircase, but if I had one of these homes, it would not be grand inside.  After all, many of these homes would have begun life as a farm house.  So I would want to go more in that direction with the interior, and yes, I know stairs are needed for this house.  Stare closely in that mirror, and you will see that there are stairs at the opposite end of that hallway.:)

realestate.com.au

I am going to go a little fancier with the calm living room – but it is still furnished somewhat simply.

realestate.com.au 

For the dining room, I love the look of Joan’s at For the Love of a House.  Heck, I could just take all of her rooms and put them inside the antebellum exterior and be in Heaven!

fortheloveofahouse.blogspot.com

fortheloveofahouse.blogspot.com

Then for the dream kitchen, I would want this gorgeous space. (Just pretend Joan’s dining room is through that opening there under the transom window.)

houseplans.southernliving.com

and ignore the big bird on the counter near the refrigerator.

houseplans.southernliving.com

Now let’s go upstairs to check out some of the bedrooms.  This could be the master bedroom.myhomeideas.com

And this would be the master bathroom.nickolsenstyle.blogspot.com

How about this room for two children to share?

mydesignchic.com

And another one for our fictitiously large family.source

And perhaps a bathroom for all those children.houseofturquoise.com

Then of course, a guest bedroom would be needed.

houseofturquoise.com

And finally, a guest bathroom.


prettystuff.tumblr.com

And that would be my dream old Southern home.  There are so many beautiful architectural styles it is hard to decide upon just one.  I know whatever I would choose, it would always have a porch.

historicalconcepts.com

What would your dream house look like?

We’d love to hear about it.

Posted in Houses, RoomsTags: , , , , , ,
   
say something nice
Nancy - April 2, 2013 - 5:16 pm

That! That would be it. But you forgot my room?? Nice picks and pics!

Ann - April 2, 2013 - 5:31 pm

I love your take on the Southern Mansion! One of my dream homes is the Howie Mandel house in Malibu that was recently for sale. I could move right into it and not change anything. I know you’re thinking *Howie Mandel??*..but I love this house! LOL.

Always look forward to your posts!

Lisa - April 2, 2013 - 5:31 pm

Kelly, would it be ok if my husband and I fly down from Vermont to sit on your front porch, drink sweet tea and rock late into the evening? We will take whichever guestroom is available–we’re flexible! Thanks!

aimee {sixteen fourteen} - April 2, 2013 - 6:00 pm

I LOVE IT!!! Thank you so much for the sweet shout-out, friend. :-) The porch, the guest bath, the bedrooms, the kitchen…love it ALL. Brian and I are thinking about moving to a larger house, and this is convincing me. Maybe I was a Southern belle in a past life?

Louvina - April 2, 2013 - 6:27 pm

Loved this house tour and now I know how you relax and play when you are on break!! My dream house would be a log cabin house in the Smokie Mts. or Blue Ridge Mts. Or I could be happy in a tree house or houseboat, too! As long as I had a large kitchen to cook and serve my family and guests–plus a porch like yours to relax and entertain!!

House Crazy Sarah - April 2, 2013 - 6:38 pm

I love your virtual home Kelly! I saw recently on Antiques Roadshow that the author of Gone With The Wind really did not have a floor-plan idea or any sketches of her southern plantation featured in the book (I forgot what it was called??). She was apparently more interested in the characters than the physical spaces.

martha - April 2, 2013 - 8:16 pm

This is perfect! I don’t like the fussy and sometimes very heavy Victorian style either, but do love the romance of old southern mansions. The clean lines and lovely cool tones make this “plantation house” just right.Love the 4-poster twin beds and the porch with the floor to ceiling windows.My husband’s elderly aunt lives in a pre-war house with a porch just like this. I wish the rest of the house looked like your vision too, but most of it is closed up and I like to think it is waiting for the right person to come and restore it.

Dawn - April 2, 2013 - 8:22 pm

I like this style but I prefer a bit more cottage like style. I am not a formal type of person. We don’t do the dining room thing. I have a large eat in kitchen that is open to the family room and home office. I love the formal Southern style but I have to a bit more relaxed in my own home.

Garden, Home and Party - April 3, 2013 - 12:37 am

Kelly,
I love your “Southern home”. It’s very welcoming and comfy looking. I might have to create one of these “pinterest” houses…it looks like fun.
Karen

Wanda - April 3, 2013 - 7:27 am

You nailed it!

Dotti Overstreet - April 3, 2013 - 9:01 am

I love your Southern home. It is gorgeous! Thanks for taking the time to pull all of this eye-candy together.
Dotti

Nikki Lehnhardt - April 3, 2013 - 9:21 am

My dream house is for sale right now on realtor.com it’s 301 N wall street in Natchez Ms. Amazing 11,300 sq ft antebellum home that’s been restored beautifully. Wish i could move to Natchez instead of just visiting during pilgrimage.

Shirley@Housepitality Designs - April 3, 2013 - 4:34 pm

I so love your dream house…would love to have that “dreamy” house too!!…however, your own home is a dream home…so beautiful!!

Jeanne Bell - April 3, 2013 - 7:35 pm

I loved your dream home and your picks would have been mine. I really could never afford one like this, but if you get it I could be your housekeeper.
LOL,
Jeanne

Amy O'Quinn - April 4, 2013 - 9:03 am

I love the WHOLE she-bang! I especially like the color scheme…but I adore that living room. I have been wanting to make some changes in our living room, and you have given me some inspiration. And as far as those bedrooms go…I actually do have the BIG family. We could fill them up, as well as that gorgeous guest room! And that beautiful kitchen–all I can say is ‘Ooh and Ahh’! Love it all!
Blessings,
Amy

Kelly - April 4, 2013 - 10:23 am

Nancy – Oops…how bad of me. I will have to add another room for you! And of course, I will slap on another bathroom while we are at it! :)

Ann – You are right. I WAS thinking “Howie Mandel??” But heck, how could a house in Malibu be anything but good?!

Lisa – Too funny!:) Oh yes, you may come for sweet tea and sit out on the porch (just be sure to put on some mosquito repellant since they will like to nibble on you.) You can have your pick of our guest rooms!

Aimee – So glad you liked it! You are more than welcome for the shout out – You were the inspiration! Oh yes, you were a Southern belle in a past life..quite sure of that. Your room styles would fit perfectly here in Georgia.

Louvina – I would love a log house too – in fact we almost bought one – a huge one at that! But the sellers would not take a contingency contract on our sale, so we ended up building this one instead. That would have been different! Maybe I will do a pinterest dream house in the fall with a mountain house. That would be fun! As far as relaxing on my break…I’m afraid this break is being used for spring cleaning…boy howdy it is needed here!

Sarah – That is interesting that Margaret Mitchell did not have a “house in her head.” I guess the house itself (or at least its layout) was not that important to the book’s plot. Tara is the name you are trying to remember. Loved that book!

Martha – Yep, those floor to ceiling windows are to die for! Love them. I wish I had an aunt with that kind of house. I know the upkeep on one of them would be a challenge though (the house – not the aunt! :) )

Dawn – I know exactly what you mean, and I think that is a big part of why I have never really wanted to build a house like that – especially with children running around all over the place. I tried to go a little less formal with these rooms than what you would typically find in an antebellum home, but I do love the cottage look the best of all. Like you, it just fits our lifestyle soooo much better.

Karen – You should do a pinterest house! It was fun to do, but it took me forever to find all the pictures. I had this post in my head since last summer and had been collecting pictures since then. Then I sat down to do it and realized all my pictures were wrong….yes, they were Southern, but waaaaaay too formal. So I totally started over looking for things that would fit that were more casual/cottagey…these are still more formal than I would like, but I think they had to be to fit the house a little better. Go for it!

Wanda – Glad you liked it. It was fun one to do! (and definitely not my typical tastes.)

Dotti – Thank you! It was fun finding all those eye candy photos…kind of fulfilled my need to do a room round here in those colors. Ha ha! (and a lot less expensive. :) ) My husband is happier if my redecorating desires are accomplished virtually instead of in real life.

Nikki – That house is amazing! I can see why it would be your dream home. And that price is great considering how HUGE it is…under $900,000 for an 11,000+ sq. ft. home that has been restored. The staircase alone is gorgeous!

Shirley – Your comment gave me a big smile! That was so sweet of you. Thank you for the compliments on the houses- both the imaginary one AND the real one.

Jeanne – Unless we win the lottery (which is kind of hard to do since we don’t play!:)) we won’t be living in this dream house either. I need to find a housekeeper for this one we are in now. Spring cleaning is killing me!

Amy – Thank you, so glad I could give you some eye candy inspiration! Isn’t that color pretty?! That kitchen is wonderful, but if I am not mistaken, it was in an idea house that went up in a fire a couple of years ago. Good luck with the changes in your living room. We are making slow and steady progress on the room over the garage. We did one interior wall in planks, and now my son is giving me a hard time about wanting to paint it…gonna have to think on it.

Kelly

Leslee in TN - April 6, 2013 - 4:04 pm

THIS would be it!!! My dream home. Can’t see a thing I wouldn’t love as my home!

March 31, 2013

Easter at Our House

I hope you have had a wonderfully blessed Easter Sunday… a day to reflect on God’s love for all of us.   Our day has been full of food (which seems to be the norm with any holiday – religious or not!)   The plans for this day have changed a dozen times in the last week.  Originally, I had thought our sons would be here, and we would have our lunch out on the porch.

I had the table setting all planned out with little candy Peeps bagged at each place setting.

But as things sometimes happen, they will not be here until next weekend.   And then the good old weatherman predicted rain and thunderstorms…so I set up the table in the dining room instead.

But it was sunny as could be at lunch, so we could have eaten out on the porch anyway.  Oh well. (It is storming now.)

I decided to use little chocolate bunnies with green “grass” and white chocolate candy eggs for this place setting. (Don’t ask me why…I just liked it better.:))  Kroger had these gorgeous daffodils in a bucket, and I couldn’t resist.  They are just so cheerful and really look like spring to me.  I think I am going to try to plant them in mass out in our yard at the edge of the woods next fall, so that we will have lots of  blooms next year in the spring.

With the change in number of people here for lunch, I changed our menu.  Originally, I was going to prepare a traditional Easter meal of baked ham with a variety of vegetables and a coconut cake for dessert.

I decided instead to go for something more like a brunch menu this year.

The cheese pudding comes out of the oven like a puffy souffle, and then it sinks… but it is still delicious. I am not even going to show you my biscuits.  I am absolutely awful at making bread, so these angel biscuits were the devil to me!  I was halving the recipe (and talking with my daughter) and I forgot to halve the buttermilk.  I remembered the instant I poured it into the flour though.:( So I added more flour and sugar, but they did NOT look like angel biscuits when they came out of the oven.  My goal this year is to perfect those babies. (So we will be having lots of biscuits this year…the good, the bad, and the ugly.)

The carrot cake turned out nice and moist, but I missed the pecans that are traditionally in it.  I left them out of the cake since my daughter doesn’t care for them. (They only got stuck on the icing – not mixed in it – so she could pick them out.) Next time, I will make her a different dessert.  Carrot cakes need pecans.

 

There was a little touch of Easter in the cabinet in the dining room.

Here are the Easter baskets for our big kids.  Each basket has a “movie night” in it with a movie, popcorn, candy, and drinks.  Here is the one for our daughter…

and here are the ones for our sons.

It was a very nice quiet day, and the storms tonight make it even more cozy.  This is the beginning of my spring break, so I have a little time to slow down and catch my breath here before the last couple of months of the school year play out.  As I think about all of our many blessings on this Easter Sunday, I count all of you as a big blessing for me.  Thank you for reading, for leaving your always sweet comments, and for your kind emails.  You can’t imagine how much all of it truly means to me.  I wish I could invite you over for a lunch out on the porch.  I know it would be great fun!

So how did you spend your Sunday…lunch on a porch somewhere?  I hope it was a good day for you and your family.

Happy Easter!

 

Posted in Food, Holidays, Our HouseTags: , , , , , , ,
   
say something nice
kate - March 31, 2013 - 9:16 pm

As always, I so enjoyed your post. Your table was lovely and the menu sounds delicious. Love the flexibility we must have with our children.

Shannon - March 31, 2013 - 9:19 pm

Happy Easter!!! The weather was beautiful and we had a blast watching the kids hunt eggs… I also sat at the kids table on the back porch :) A fabulous day with family & friends! Enjoy spring break!!!

Shirley@Housepitality Designs - March 31, 2013 - 9:20 pm

What a beautiful table and cute baskets you created…sounds like you had a wonderful Easter…I did an Easter buffet for my family and my granddaughters little friends and family….she had a great time with our tradition of an Easter Egg Hunt, but this year she was able to share it with your little friends…had a house full, and that made me happy!

House Crazy Sarah - March 31, 2013 - 9:38 pm

Cheese pudding and roasted asparagus – now I’m hungry all over again!!! YUM!

lynne - March 31, 2013 - 9:53 pm

Your table setting looks lovely and fresh! The daffodils in our yard bloomed a month ago. Good luck with the ones you plant.
We had our first Easter egg hunt with our one year old granddaughter yesterday and it was a blast watching her hunt eggs and clapping each time she found one. So since we had our Easter get together yesterday, we had a very relaxing and lazy day after church. It was nice!

Pat - March 31, 2013 - 10:14 pm

I am so glad to see I am not the only one who still does Easter Baskets for her grown children. My son and daughter look forward to their grown up baskets each year. Your table is lovely and the yellow is absolutely beautiful. I understand your plight with angel biscuits; mine are like Ellie Mae’s on Beverly Hillbillies. I continue to strive for the perfect biscuit. I know your guests enjoyed the Easter Menu. I spent the morning at church and then visited dear friends to share in their Easter Celebrations with family. It was a lovely day!

Suzanne at Simply Suzannes at Home - March 31, 2013 - 10:24 pm

I enjoyed reading about your day. I smiled when I read about the grown up baskets. My 19 year old son still humors me, and hunts eggs every year. I, of course, fill them with things like movie tickets, Snickers bars, gas card, etc. I’m a BIG fan of brunch, anytime – especially on Easter Sunday. So we enjoyed brunch by fireside, and a quiet afternoon followed. It was a glorious day. Happy Easter, Kelly!

Louvina - March 31, 2013 - 10:28 pm

Enjoyed your Easter post. I,too, have been working on my bread making this year. Regular biscuits, yeast rolls and cornbread conquered! I have not been able to get the angel biscuits to work for me. Will you please share your recipe? You were well represented at our celebration today–used the linen like paper napkins with added stickers of Easter eggs–and placed the copper plant sign with your beautiful chalk lettering in my live mixed colored tulips as our centerpiece! And I do believe the copper helped them straighten up even though it is an old wives tale! These items were in my basket from you!

yarlette - March 31, 2013 - 11:40 pm

We had a lovely Easter even though in was raining here in Tennessee. Had to have the Easter egg hunt in doors at church for the little ones today.
We had our daughter and her family here for a big dinner.I still make Easter baskets for them all and our grand daughters are 14 and 18 . even make one for daughter and son in law. I am a big one for holidays. want them to have good memories of being with Grammy and Poppy for the holidays .Family is so important to me.
You Easter decorations look great. and keep making those biscuits.You will be a pro in no time . Have a wonderful spring break. Yarlette

Anne Boykin - April 1, 2013 - 4:21 am

Hi Kelly, Glad you had a great Easter! Your table is lovely. I’m with you – carrot cakes do need pecans.

Wanda - April 1, 2013 - 7:06 am

Beautiful as usual! Happy Easter!

Susan - April 1, 2013 - 8:31 am

Thanks for sharing your Easter with me. My Easter included taking a son back to college to finish his first year; although,it was nice to have at least two of my three sons home this weekend. I’ve enjoyed your posts and pictures. One of your recent posts actually showed me where my son’s summer job will be.

Barbara Hinske - April 1, 2013 - 9:02 am

Your table and meal look beautiful and inviting! What is it about talking and cooking that is so distracting? I was making a sauce and tried to thicken it with baking powder (which I had out on the counter for another recipe) instead of corn starch. Well…it didn’t thicken. Fortuntely, I realized my error in time to dump the “bad” sauce and start over. Enjoy your spring break and be good to yourself!

Patty in Michigan - April 1, 2013 - 9:23 am

Hi Kelly, Beautiful Easter table. We too enjoyed roasted asparagus! Of course, the traditional ham, cheesy potatoes, roasted carrots, homemade biscuits and mini cheesecakes for dessert. It was a wonderful day with family. Had a beautiful church service in the morning. It was rainy in the morning here in Michigan, then the sun came out in once we arrived home from church and it was a beautiful day! I picked up one of those bunnies you had on your table from Target also! Love those! Have a great week!

Paula B. - April 1, 2013 - 9:31 am

I don’t know where to begin, so much to comment on. I haven’t been here long but always love reading your blog as well as what everyone posts. Loving, too, both tablescapes, what gorgeous daffodils, they always are one of the first signs of spring! And the favors, so sweet – would want the bunny and eggs, no Peeps for me. And, then what you wrote about “us” and how much it all means to you, made me tear up. I wish we could all get together, talk, eat, shop, etc. – seem to be a lot of kindred spirits here. Enjoy the school break, Kelly.

Sarah Rucker - April 1, 2013 - 9:40 am

I’m drooling… This is beautiful and looks so yummy! I was doing fine, enjoying the pretty daffodils, and then I got to the carrot cake. That cake looks fabulous! And the Easter baskets are great, too! I love all of your photos. Keep up the great work, Aunt Kelly. Summer’s right around the corner, and then you can kick up your feet and relax.

-Sarah

Arlene@Nanaland - April 1, 2013 - 10:17 am

Beautiful as usual Kelly!! I do make a mean biscuit myself but I just make regular old time biscuits. I do not really use measurements as I watched my mom make hers and she just adds til it looks right!! I do use half sweet milk and half buttermilk in mine. Only White Lily Flour and Crisco will do for the other ingredients. And a HOT oven is absolutely necessary. I know you will perfect your recipe soon! And I also agree with you, a carrot cake is a sad thing without lots of pecans…lol. Movie night Easter basket was a great idea…I might do that for my adult kids next year. Thanks for sharing.

Christina @ Floridays Mom - April 1, 2013 - 10:37 am

I just love reading your posts Kelly and how you entertain your family. You just have a warmness that spills into all the details you put together. From your beautiful spread, to detailed lunch menu to the thoughtful baskets..no details are ever missed. Coming to your home is like visiting a real life bed and breakfast..only even better. I hope it was a wonderful day for you all. Happy Easter!

Judy - April 1, 2013 - 10:49 am

happy april 1st kelly! i love the “peep” packaging…i’m going to keep that in mind for next year for the grandbabies (and big kids too)! we had predictions of rain here too but thankfully it held off until last night so some of us ate out on the patio…that was nice.

hope you have a relaxing spring break and get some well deserved rest.

Beth - April 1, 2013 - 11:07 am

Hello Kelly.
Oh my, I had to chuckle when I read about your biscuits. You see on Good Friday when I was making hot cross buns I halved the recipe too. First, I almost put in two eggs instead of one. Caught my mistake just in time. Then, I was kneading the dough and realized I had left out the raisins! Oh my heavens how stunned am I? But I just kneaded some in and you know what, all those hot cross buns got eaten up just the same :) Love your blog, read it daily.
Cheers,
Beth

Kitty - April 1, 2013 - 2:38 pm

This was our first Easter without the kiddos at home. :( Their spring breaks this year did not coincide with the holiday, but we’ll get to visit with both of them in the next week or so. We did enjoy a nice, low-key, day at home though – waiting on those rains. We snuggled in and spent the whole day watching old movies – one of my favorite things to do.
Your carrot cake looks wonderful! Our wedding cake was a carrot cake. It has always been one of my favorites. :) And you are right, carrot cake definitely needs pecans.

Jill - April 1, 2013 - 4:51 pm

Your Easter table was beautiful, Kelly. Daffodils are my absolute favorite!

lisa - April 1, 2013 - 5:29 pm

I just love you and your blog. My sister’s name is Kelly too!
Beautiful place setting. A hint from one southern gal to another. Go to Walmart and get the frozen biscuits already premade. These are not “whop” biscuits in a can, they are frozen and all you do is bake them. They are delicious and just right for some apple butter or jam. No one will be the wiser. I would love any advice on how to have family get togethers when the kids are grown and scattered and elderly parents aren’t able to travel. It got the best of me this year.
Blessings on this first day of April!

Marci Johnson - April 1, 2013 - 8:41 pm

Beautiful table setting!! I loved everything from the treats on each plate to the drink dispenser and cake set up! I would just love to have a dinner with you!!! sigh.

aimee {sixteen fourteen} - April 1, 2013 - 9:05 pm

Girl, you are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Your tables look beautiful, your menu is unbelievable and I’m dying to have the recipe for the cheese souffle and the carrot cake!!!

Amanda @ Dixie Delights - April 1, 2013 - 9:21 pm

beautiful! I love the yellow flowers and yellow peep favors!

Lori - April 1, 2013 - 10:13 pm

Your menu sounds wonderful. Table is beautiful, as always.
I love the baskets for your older kids. One is never too old to enjoy a basket filled with happiness. :)

Dawn - April 1, 2013 - 10:50 pm

Kelly,

I love the kids baskets! They are just perfect! I also loved the chocolate bunnys with grass and eggs! I made little nests with eggs but melting butterscotch chips and then mixing in chow mein noodles. Then I formed them into little nests with 3 speckled peanut butter m-n-m eggs on each one. The place settings looked so festive with those on each plate. I might do your cute bunny combo for the teachers I teach with next year. This year I made them each a chick out of a brownie. Our Easter celebration was very nice this year also. The weather has been so Spring like finally. Have a great break!

Garden, Home and Party - April 2, 2013 - 11:39 pm

Kelly,
Your table was beautiful and I love the menu. My mouth was watering for all of the selections, especially the carrot cake, which is my favorite!
We had a lovely Easter in Austin with our oldest son, DIL and darling granddaughter.
Happy Spring.
Karen

Cindy - April 6, 2013 - 2:10 pm

Happy Easter! I spent my Easter on the porch at the lake house, with family and only peeks of sun. Beautiful table settings nothing says spring like daffodils and bunnies. Hope you enjoyed your spring break, sad the weather is going to be much better next week.
S u b s c r i b e   b y   E m a i l