DESIGN STUDIO | MERCANTILE
The holidays are a time to cherish the people we love by giving quality time, offering thoughtful gifts to show love, appreciation and providing a warm and comforting space to gather together. May this season be filled with merry memories and good cheer.
Hosting an Easter brunch is the perfect way to celebrate the holiday. Brunch time gives your guests a chance to spend the morning hunting for Easter eggs and spending time with their family before visiting your home for the meal. And a brunch menu provides the best combination of savory and sweet dishes to satisfy all of your guests. But hosting an Easter brunch will require a little planning and preparation. These five simple tips will help you host an amazing Easter brunch:
Since it’s likely that you’ll be hosting more guests than usual, make sure you have enough seating and space for everyone. If you don’t have enough chairs, consider renting or borrowing some extra folding chairs or benches. You could even create a more casual dining experience by setting up some picnic tables outside (just make sure to check the weather forecast so you know how many people you’ll be able to accommodate outside).
Easter is all about fun for kids, so make sure you plan some activities that are suitable for all ages. You can hide plastic eggs around your backyard and send your younger guests on an egg hunt while they wait for the rest of your guests to arrive.
Avoid making overly complicated recipes or dishes with a lot of ingredients. You want to spend time with your family and guests, not in the kitchen. A brunch menu is best when you have a few dishes that are easy to make and easy to eat. It’s important to plan the menu for your Easter brunch in advance. This will ensure that you have all of the ingredients and supplies you need, and avoid any last-minute trips to the store. It’s also smart to plan a menu that includes both sweet and savory dishes, so that all of your guests will be able to find something they like. And don’t forget coffee, tea, juice, and water!
It’s fun to decorate your home for Easter, but it can also be stressful if you try to do it right before guests arrive. Set aside some time in advance of your brunch to set up decorations around your home. You can make or buy decorations in advance so that they’re ready when you need them. And make sure you put away any non-holiday clutter before decorating! Easter is all about eggs, rabbits, bunnies and spring flowers blooming everywhere. So decorate your home with a few flowers around the room for some color and add some Easter-themed table decorations for a festive touch.
Setting the table ahead of time will ensure that everything is ready when your guests arrive. Place name cards at each spot so that people know where to sit. And consider using spring flowers as a centerpiece for an extra touch of seasonal beauty! Bonus Tip: Create an atmosphere of fun: The environment in which people eat can have just as much impact on their experience as the food itself.
There is just something about this time of year! Is it the bite in the air, the glow of the lights, the melody of the songs? We can’t say for sure. What we do know is this time of year seems to have a bit of magic in it! With this magical time of year, we are surrounded by a barren nature outdoors and turn inside for holiday entertaining.
Above all the things that make this season special is the overwhelming sense of togetherness. Regardless of your beliefs, this season has a way of uniting; families, friends, communities, and neighbors. That alone can feel magical.
Often gatherings are a big part of this togetherness. This year, as we thought about holiday entertaining, we have found that we are especially drawn to nature when imagining how to highlight this magical season.
Keeping things more natural, we opted out of doing a tablecloth, using the wood table as the base for our table-scape. A crisp white linen topped with a rustic burlap runner offer some subtle structure to the décor. From there things get interesting…
We love the idea of abundance when it comes to bringing in the natural elements, so we decided that we would go all out with layering the greens. Rather than using a more traditional pine or holly, we chose some of the seasons less celebrated plants for this table. A variety of dried and faux sprigs of eucalyptus create a plentiful bed all along the table. Rather than florals, we chose a variety of potted rosemary plants.
Tip: Rosemary is commonly used in holiday meals, by having these plants on the table it offers a nice semblance to the food you are enjoying at the table. This doesn’t have to be rosemary. Consider personalizing this philosophy to your meal. If there is a particular herb, fruit, or vegetable used in your menu, consider highlighting it on your table-scape.
We chose sleek matte black dishes and paired them with polished brass flatware for a fun juxtaposition of contemporary glam.
Rust and Mercury are both elements of nature. Although we wont go too far into the periodic table, the idea of adding items that are reminiscent of nature’s elements has validity when creating an earthy theme. Giant rustic bells and oversized mercury ornaments are perfect accents to adorn the greens. Wooden Block placeholders display personalized cards for guest’s seating locations.
We all know that lighting is so important when creating a mood. Candlelight is among the most romantic and cozy forms of lighting you can use in a space. We chose to place pillar candles in several glass hurricanes along the table to give a soft warm glow.
No matter if your holiday gathering is large or small, we hope you have a wonderfully magical holiday season this year!
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This year, it seems, we are all craving some form of normalcy in an anything but normal time. While holiday entertaining may look different than we would like, there are still ways to make the holiday season special and inviting. We love the idea of hosting an el fresco dinner. The weather may be crisp but this only adds to the enjoyment of the season.
Find a cozy or pretty location like a patio, under a large tree, or in a garden space to set the scene. Consider bringing your dining table and chairs outdoors, the use of furniture that is traditionally used inside the home creates a slightly formal feel in a more casual setting.
Don’t be too concerned with pristine landscape, take advantage of the natural ‘décor’ around you. What could be more fitting than enjoying a meal among the fallen leaves that make the season so beautiful.
The beauty of this concept is that most of the décor is taken care of by mother nature. For the tabletop, fresh flowers are a must…consider selecting something unexpected. Blooms that offer a contrast against the natural landscape create a focal accent. Here we used various sizes of the same glass vessels for assorted heights while keeping a consistent look. We chose pops of purple wildflower-like flowers. Instead of mixing the flowers in all of the vases, we grouped each flower type in it’s own basin for a more graphic touch.
In our design work, we love how mixed materials create interest to a space, this philosophy is true for tablescapes as well. Here we show brass, silver, and mercury metal tones mixed with organic elements like French linens, handmade pottery, and recycled glassware creating a causal yet polished composition.
A collection of vintage brass candlesticks adds a classic elegance and of course the source on an important ambience element. No matter the time of day that your holiday entertaining will take place, a candle glow is a welcome addition to the experience of dining outdoors.
Stick with a minimal color pallet and use multiples of the same pieces to keep things simple yet interesting. Layer extra dishes to add subtle dimension and substance to each place setting. Forgo any excess of linens, instead stick with simple cloth napkins as the primary textile on the table. An added bonus, less fabric allows for more worry free dining experience. No need to worry about a spill and the makes meal cleanup a breeze.
A key to holiday entertaining is making everyone feel at home, this can be achieved even when dining outdoors. Have blankets available for guests to drape over themselves while dining. Light a fire nearby in a fire pit or chimenea to offer elements that have a cozy feel.
Everything you see in these images is available in the T&C Mercantile shop. We are still working on our online shopping site. In the meantime, our retail shop is open daily through the holiday season for in person and virtual shopping experiences. View Shop Hours
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