“Saskatchewan has such a rich heritage.”,

says Moose Jaw stylist, decorator  & Redesigner, Penny Barr.”Many of us have inherited and accumulated great pieces. Where we often run into trouble though, is deciding which of them and how many, to display.” Being the second and third generation of collectors can leave little room for display options. Penny suggests finding a focus with the best pieces and to edit, edit, edit. Once you have chosen your favorites, you can take pictures of the rest. Use categories for organizing such as Seasonal, China, Linens, Great Grandma’s, etc. Choose which you want to store, sell, or give away. Then you can focus more on arranging what you have…

Reducing brings a fresh style to your new country look.

Create vignettes featuring your cherished pieces. Style mantles, shelves, and tables-capes in a way that reflects your own personality. She notes techniques such as; using odd numbers, varying sizes of objects, and displaying collections together, all of which add impact. Slip in the occasional whimsical touch, for juxtaposition. Meld vintage elegance and contemporary sensibility. Prairie Chic style maintains character in a home. Rethink both old and new pieces. Why not use vintage art with a new frame or contemporary art with a vintage frame?

Fresh Ideas for Spring

• Use colour to highlight or to hide. You may want to use a designer to suggest colours that connect your personal style and your home architectural value.

• Freshen interiors with new lampshades and eliminate harsh glare from incandescent light. Try switching to compact florescent bulbs instead. Too little attention is paid to lighting!

• Living accessories enhance the mood in the room such as fresh flowers arrangements or live plants.

“I tend to think they should be put into the grocery budget, as the French buy flowers weekly!”.

• Hotel silver plated sugar and creamer sets brimming with flower bouquets are fabulous.

Penelope Barr Redesign

Book Your Spring Consultation

Achieve a Unique Chic Home with Colour Enhancement.

Redesign with what you own.

Find your WOW factor.

Turn a great room into a Fabulous Room.

Penelope Barr Redesign

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Spring Tea Sandwiches

6 slices of Light Rye Bread
Filling:
4 tbsp mayonaise
2/3 cup chopped celery
1/2 chopped onion
100g chopped deli ham
1 tsp dill
1 tsp Herbamare spice
(available at health food stores- so good!)
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix above ingredients and spread onto Rye Bread, trim off crusts and cut into little rectangles. Serves 4-8 people depending on whether you have other offerings as well.
It’s nice to serve something light, especially for an evening tea.

*They looked gorgeous on our Sophie Conran round platter!

Begin with 1 Square Puff Pastry rolled into a 12″ Circle.

Spread With:

• 4 Nectarines / Apricots  -peeled + sliced as big as possible
• 1 Tbs Birds Custard Powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Tbs sugar

-Pinch edges up around filling
-Bake in preheated 400°F oven for 40 Min
-You can sprinkle it with icing sugar and cut it with a pizza cutter.

ENJOY!

I have some suggestions about how you can enjoy your handmade moss garlands year round. It can be redecorated for every season and will give you so many opportunities to be creative!

For Valentine’s Day, I’ve added some small brown heart ornaments and draped a bit of lace across it’s branches. This is a subtle change, still very natural, but it gives it a fresh look now, and you can add more decoration closer to Valentines day. You could add some extra ribbon in a colour that complements your decor, keeping with the natural, romantic palette. These colours go with most decor anyways. A tawny pink or cream or muted burgundy would be very nice. Also, past Valentines can be hung from it by gluing a loop of ribbon on the backs. It a great way to display those reminders of love year after year. If you haven’t any past valentines, why not cut out some photographs of loved ones and mount them onto some handmade paper? Be sure to let them know how much they mean to you!

Have fun, and be sure to post your own ideas! I haven’t been here very long, but I’ve seen a lot of creativity in Moose Jaw. I love hearing the ideas you guys have when you come in to visit!

I told myself I’d wait to start writing about Valentine’s Day until late January but I can’t help it. I’m so full of ideas!

I love Valentine’s day. Aside from Christmas, It is my favorite holiday. Yes I’m a hopeless romantic. Throughout my school years I always hoped that someone would ask me to be their valentine. I would write valentines for my classmates. I would try to think of the perfect thing to say to________ and picture him saying, “Shelley, what you wrote in that valentine was so funny! We should hang out out more. ” And then we’d go for a walk, holding hands, and maybe wander beneath an old oak tree for a slow kiss… Until the bell rang and we had to leave the playground. Needless to say, I received no such responses.

I spent Valentine’s Day single 22 times and it has always been special. First of all, my Mother’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day. So perfectly named Valerie or Val, she has often said she was my Grandmother’s Valentine. So no matter what my age or relationship status I have always been able to celebrate both, with heart shaped cakes, cards, little cinnamon hearts and paper crafts, and have gotten mushy cards from my parents! My first Valentine’s Day away from home was spent in Switzerland. When I was 18 I went to be an Aupair (Nanny) for a year. I then realized that Valentine’s Day as we know it is pretty much only celebrated by North Americans! What?! Who will celebrate it with me? Since I couldn’t ignore the holiday altogether, I set about baking some heart shaped sugar cookies, decorating them and making little valentines to put with them. “Happy Valentine’s Day! (February 14th in Canada)”. I had only arrived a month earlier and had few friends, so I went through the village and gave them to everyone that I had so much as started conversation with or been introduced to! It will always be a special memory watching peoples reactions to my unexpected gifts.

Another memorable day was when I was living in Canmore, Alberta. I had the blessing of living with 3 other girls in this huge amazing house which we called, “The Blue Lodge”. At the time we were all without boyfriends on Feb. 14th. That day, I happened to be walking down Main St. and popped into a local coffee shop to see who was there. (Only in a small town, eh?) My roommate Amber was there having coffee with Helena! I sat down and chatted with them and minutes later our other roommate Heather came along! We all decided to go home and do something for Valentine’s Day so we joined the fourth Musketeer, Cassie, at the Blue Lodge and decorated cookies, ever so daintily. It was perfect, with loads of pink icing, giggling, and enjoying each others friendship. I do believe that some of those cookies had initials on them. They may have even been given to somebody… I never did find out the whole story.

Strange enough; Danny and I still haven’t spent Feb. 14th together. Last year he was on a wilderness survival course, outside at -38C. Heather and I had both moved to Ontario to be with our men and I visited her for Valentine’s day. Both of us being artists, we carried on a Blue Lodge tradition of making Valentines. We laughed so hard at all the ideas we came up with. Some cheesey, some tongue-in-cheek, some oh-so-perfect. I’ll be sure to send one her way this year.

I’m looking forward to all the special days that are extra special with Danny. He’s wonderful. He did a pretty good job on the website too, didn’t he?

It’s still a fair bit of a wait but I’m going to start to prepare some valentines now so that hopefully I can create some really beautiful pieces.

If you have any special stories about Valentine’s day, you can email me. I’d love to hear them.