Easter Preparations at My Farm

March 31, 2018

Many of you often ask how I decorate my home for special occasions. Everyone at the farm has been very busy - pulling out chairs, setting tables, and gathering lots and lots of Easter decorations for every room.

One tip is to start several days early, and make a list, so everything can be done timely and efficiently. My longtime housekeeper, Laura Acuna, starts decorating at least a week in advance - filling most of the rooms in my home with bunnies, chicks, and eggs in all different sizes and colors. I hope these ideas inspire you. Decorating is fun, and sharing what you've done with family and friends makes it all worthwhile.

Enjoy these photos.

: Outside my Winter House, houseplants wait to be brought in to decorate various tables for Easter. I keep all my houseplants in the main greenhouse, so they can be cared for properly, but I love bringing them indoors for special occasions – they add life to any room.

: On my front hall table – a lovely woodland scene of whimsical ducks and eggs.

: More eggs fill this basket on a demilune in the foyer. These eggs are blown out and decorated in fun shades of lavender – if well-washed and cleaned, blown eggs can last for many years.

: In my Green Parlor, many of these look like old fashioned chocolate bunnies wrapped in foil, but they’re really ceramic bunnies covered in foil. They may not be edible, but they will last much longer.

: Bird’s nest ferns make excellent low light houseplants. They are also epiphytic ferns, which means in the wild they typically grow on other plants or objects.

: Here is large foil bunny by the floor-to-ceiling window in my Green Parlor. The bunny is one of two flanking my fireplace.

: Fresh cut flowers also add beautiful color and life to a room. These flowers sit on the coffee table in my Green Room.

: Here is an Easter basket given to me by Kevin Sharkey a couple years ago. He gives me the most beautiful baskets. Take a look at this year’s on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.

: Laura set my “bird room” dining table with drabware and pastel green – so pretty for spring. The linen napkins are rolled simply and placed on each setting.

: Here, lots of decorated eggs – save eggs from years past and reuse them in different ways. And go to my web site for lots of great Easter egg decorating tips and ideas – there’s still time to decorate before tomorrow! http://www.marthastewart.com/1060471/easter-eggs

: Lots of nesting chickens adorn my servery – this flock under a giant cake stand dome. Decorations don’t have to be fancy – use regular Easter basket grass to make nests for all your Easter birds.

: Under this dome, more chicks. Surrounding the cake stand are porcelain figural bunnies.

: The big rabbit is the same one I made for the April 2015 issue of MSLiving. http://www.marthastewart.com.

: Laura’s table settings are always so beautiful. My Brown Room dining table is also decorated with seasonal plants and tail feathers from my muster of male peacocks – my guests will love it.

: More drabware plates on top of botanical placemats we found last year.

: Underneath the vase of peacock feathers, antique bunnies watch over the table.

: These rabbits look like milk chocolate but are actually plastic molds – so cute and also much longer lived than the real thing!!

: Here are long white tail feathers from my white Black Shoulder Silver Pied male peacock – so gorgeous gathered and placed in a tall vase.

: Lots of faux chocolate bunnies decorate the mantel in my Brown Room.

: The Tenant House is the little cottage I restored and set-up for Alexis, Jude and Truman to stay in when they come to visit. It was decorated with lots of colorful and handcrafted Easter decorations.

: Laura brought out these wonderful toad stools – I made these on “The Martha Stewart Show” – everyone loved these stools. And the children love them here in the Tenant House kitchen.

: This year, I decided to use the Carriage House for the children. I am expecting 28 little Easter guests. We decorated tables with enamelware plates and light colored napkins.

: We also added more boxes of candy at each table setting.

: Remember by large cornucopia? We filled it with more bunnies and lots of eggs from years past.

: These bunnies sit on a windowsill in the Carriage House – ready to welcome the children as they gather for Easter lunch.

: Up at my Winter House kitchen – here are the eggs from my chickens, which were hard boiled and ready to be dyed for the hunt. Remember my perfect recipe for making hard boiled eggs? Fill the pot with enough water to cover, put them on the stove and bring it to a boil, place the cover on the pot and turn off the heat, and let them cook for 13-minutes.