Spring Bag Lunch

I held a committee meeting here today to work on an up-coming event, followed by a board meeting.  In order to have a simple lunch that we could work all morning and meet while we ate lunch,  I decided that a bag lunch seemed like a good idea!

Most everything was purchased at the grocery store, but quickly transformed into something a little more festive.  I'm lucky to have Mom visiting, so we just cranked this out this morning before everyone got here.

Pimento cheese spread and thin-sliced Pepperridge Farm white bread made tulip shaped sandwiches.

And ham salad.....

with wheat bread made flower-shaped sandwiches.

Into cellophane corsage bags they went.

I had already topped wooden skewers with some free downloaded printables.

They made pretty fruit kabobs.

Then I slid them into this printed plastic bag from the Dollar Store.

This egg shaped pan from Martha Stewart made a pretty dessert.  Martha included a complicated recipe for cake, but I just use a white cake mix.  I  used a melon baller to scoop out a bit of cake and dusted the top with confectioner's sugar.  Then I filled the hole with prepared lemon curd for the "yolk". She suggests a colored glaze on the bottom, but I didn't to that. 

Wilton cupcake holders made colorful holders for the cakes, and these were placed in a corsage bag, too.

Deviled eggs cut to make a zig-zag hat are just a slight twist on a picnic favorite.  A carrot beak and olive eyes finish them off.  

So here's lunch before it is packed in white paper bags with colorful tissue and ribbons.

Since there were no serving pieces necessary, the table setting was very simple.

The event we were prepping for is an Easter dinner with a craft project for the women of our church, so I decided to rush the season a bit and do an Eastery look with bright pink and green.

I grabbed a bright pink quilted place mat, pink linen napkins, a wooden bunny napkin ring and some pink and green flatware.  These square plates are pink and white plastic toile from Target that I bought several years ago.  

I'm generally not fond of painted glassware, but I love these stems that are painted with Easter baskets.  You can see how I used them for Easter dinner here.

The tablecloth is from Target and is part of the "Swell" collection from Cynthia Rowley.  My mood is always improved by pink and green!

A small hot pink azalea in a Guy Wolfe pot is the centerpiece.  It was a bit small for the table, but I was going with what I had around the house.

Here's the bag on the table.  

All we had to do was unpack and enjoy dining together.  This is a remarkable group of women and they are sharing so much with me.  I was happy to share lunch with them!

I'm posting at:

Tabletop Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I'm looking forward soooo much to Scott's Antique Market this weekend.  It's a monthly show with 2,000 to 4,000 dealers that is held just south of Atlanta.  I'll be searching out Craig Ringstad's booth for tartan, tartan, and more tartan.  I want everything in his booth!  

I found Craig's booth last year, and I feel like Alice In Wonderland everytime I see this incredible collection!

Stop by and say hi to Craig if you're in Atlanta this weekend.  He'll be in the north building, section B, booth # 230-231.

Here's his contact information if you can't be here:

Craig Ringstad

612-743-5753

ringcvr@msn.com

Master Bathroom Before and After

I'm tweaking this post to add to The Pink Pagoda's Blue and White Bash.  If you are looking for a wonderful blue and white fix, follow Jennifer for some real happiness.

Here's my entry: 

It's our Master Bathroom Before and After.  Mr. Pressed Pants and I have had a blue and white bedroom in all 13 houses we have lived in, and ever since we've been able to afford one, our master bathroom has always been blue and white as well.

Won't you come in?

I know!  Late last fall, I promised the master bath remodel post was next, but there was Christmas, then there were house guests, and life kept happening.  So, if you're still interested, here's what our master bath looked like when we bought it.  This is the view from the master bedroom.  It was blah, blah, blah with a "garden tub" that took up most of the real estate in the room.  You can just see it in the corner.  I like to call these porn star tubs, because who else would need all of those steps, shelves for buckets of champagne and "toys"?  Since we are not tub people and there are three other tubs in the house plus a hot tub, it was not a big decision to sacrifice the tub for a far better layout.  See this long double sink vanity?  Well, the person standing closest to the door got hit with it every time the door opened, plus I hated the lighting, the mirrors, the floors, and every finish in the entire place.  "GUT IT", we declared!

 

We were able to do this with only a little rerouting of the water lines for the sinks and no change in the toilet or shower area or window placement.  Those are always a money savers and I'm all for that!  We spend a lot of time and money reworking the lighting and the outlets.....stuff you can't see and admire, but make it soooo much better.

The shower was not luxurious by any measure, but good enough for us.  It's large enough, has a seat, and an awesome shower head.  It stayed!

Oh, my.  Were you ever less inspired?

AFTER:

Here's the view from the bathroom into the master bedroom.  You can see a post about that remodel here.

Here's what that long vanity became.  This is Mr. Pressed Pant's domain.  These cupboards came from France and we waited and waited for them.  I don't think I've ever had anything come into the country that I haven't had customs problems with.  As a designer, I make sure that any client who wants to order from out of the country understands the implications.  I'm glad we did, as I love them so much.  We were able to totally custom the room and I think we got them just right.

Here's the dresser for the sink base that we chose for him.  We just had room for the sink and two chimney cupboards between the door and the window.

It seems so luxurious to have a chair in here.  This one came from an estate sale several years ago.

I chose to use two different styles of mirrors.  This one is the more masculine style.  

The faucets are unlacquared natural brass and came from France, as well.  

And the top is crema marble.

I love the detail on the mirror.  It was actually an old picture frame that I ran across and I put mirrored glass with a bevel into it.

I'm still thrilled with the sconces we chose.  They are natural brass, single arm from Circa Lighting with a cream linen shade.  Disregard the caution sticker that you can see!  A normal size person doesn't see it from this angle!

Fortunately, we were able to order the chimney cupboards to open right and left.  They are perfect for towels and paper supplies, cleaning products, etc.  The window is treated with a wooden blind from Smith and Noble and a simple Roman shade.  I have a slight regret that I didn't choose a darker wood for the shades.

The hardware is awesome.  Check out the hinges,...

and the escutcheons with the knobs, also in natural brass.

I chose towel rings for our hand towels. Believe me, I took a really deep breath before I drilled to put this one on the side of the chimney cupboard. The Enchanted Home did a very interesting post on towel bars vs rings vs hooks vs rolling.  I've done a little of everything in our house.

This is my end of the room where the tub was.  Isn't this a better use of this space?  I used a triple dresser for my sink base.  It's so hard to see in this photo.

This is better.  Can a woman have too many drawers makeup draweres?

My mirror is also a French find from 14th Street Antiques in Atlanta.  I love the feminine details here.

Love this!  This was the last piece I found for the room.  Notice how much lower my mirror and my sconces are hung than Mr. Pressed Pant's?  There is more than a foot difference in our height, so we could address this as we went along.  This is the luxury of remodeling just for YOU.  All of these details can be addressed, but you must be on top of things and work very closely with your contractor.  I acted as the general contractor and met with them every morning.  We addressed the scope of the work for the day and any details that pertained to it. 

In order to have more light, and because I had more room on either side of my mirror, I went with a double sconce in the same style from Circa Lighting.

Some dried hydrangeas in a zinc bowl give me a bit of softness and join an oriental pot for brushes and a little glass holder with a squirrel on it for Q-tips.

The other side has the necessary magnifying mirror and my favorite verbena scented soap from L'Occitane.

Under the oil rubbed bronze clock, we wall mounted a small tv.  How classy is it that I snapped just when the toilet paper commercial was on?  Oh, boy!  I never cease to embarrass myself!

I love the porcelain tile floor.  Here's another place where communicating with your craftsmen is so important.  I used 4x4 squares to border the room, and 2x4s set on the diagonal for the field.  This is such an improvement over the shiny green mini squares!

This Brunswig and Fils paper is one I've wanted to use for years.  It may seem odd to have squirrels in the bathroom, but I love them, especially with the soft metalic gold acorns.  The blue is a perfect match to the blue of the master bedroom.  

Nothing terribly exciting here.  I ran the same floor in and elected to paint the same as the bedroom instead of papering this intimate space.

This beautiful engraving is entitled "Marguarite".

Simple details here.  Oil rubbed bronze accessories and a willow tissue holder. I just can't get into the idea of the top of the toilet tank as a place for a "vignette".  Expel me from blogdom, if you like! 

Now......if you think I'm going to show you what's behind this door, you're crazy.  Our closet is neat as a pin, and makes the very best use of the space possible, but it is just NOT blog-worthy!  I'll just let you imagine that my side is filled with size 0 designer clothes from Chanel and lots of Jimmy Choos!

Plea for wisdom:

I've recently switched to Google Chrome and I'm learning to navigate a new format for editing my posts.  If this one seemed sort of rambling, it's because I couldn't change the order of the photos once they were loaded.  (like that chair that pops up out of nowhere).  Before, I could just copy, paste and remove to change the order, but that isn't working here.  Can someone give me a little hint about how to do this?  It can't be hard!

I'll be posting this at:

Metamorphisis Monday

http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Wow Us Wednesday

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Open House Thursday

http://nominimilisthere.blogspot.com

French Inspiration Thursday

http://frenchcupboard.blogspot.com

Transformation Thursday

www.theshabbychiccottage.com

Home Sweet Home

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com

Feathered Nest Friday

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

Show and Tell Friday

http://myromantichome.blogspot.com

Inspiration Friday

www.atthepicketfence.com

Fridays Unfold

www.stuff-and-nonsense.net