Eoin Lyons and friends go wild and put, em, grass atop their Easter table
One miserable, rainy day, Glenna Lynch of the interiors store, Mimosa, and interior designer, Ashleigh Downey, got together at the Donnybrook home of the Gerrard family, two of whom - John and Joy - are artists, and set about dressing the dining room for Easter.
Using masses of daffodils, a table topped with real grass, and lemon-scalloped china, they managed to defeat the dreary weather outside. A layer of plastic was used to protect the dining table, which was then draped in raw hessian material, bought for €3.75 per metre at Murphy Sheehy. Rolls of instant lawn were laid on top, with the middle section cut out to create a centrepiece for a glass cake stand stacked with cakes from Maison des Gourmets.
The idea of covering a table in real grass turf gave an outdoors-indoors vibe to the room and could be adapted to any party over the summer. Strips of instant lawn can be bought at Summerhill Instant Lawns in Trim, Co Meath (046-9431015). What you see here cost less than €8. It's not something you should leave in place too long, needless to say, (insects will fester) but it is sure to create an instant topic of conversation among your guests, just what you want at a party.
Small bouquets of three or four flowers from Blooming Amazing (01-6795913) on Dawson Street, Dublin were laid flat down in the middle of the table, and bunches of daffodils from the garden were grouped at one end in white ceramic jugs. Lynch brought the large bentwood geese from her shop. Almost everything else you see on the table is from Mimosa. Downey bundled three real eggs beside each place-setting on the grass strips and scattered tiny multi-coloured chocolate eggs around them.
Unless you can get to an instant lawn supplier today, it may be too late to recreate the table exactly as you see it here, but you could steal some of the other ideas. Tie your curtains loosely with yellow ribbon. Place cut daffodil heads in small glass jars on a window ledge. Use old baskets to hold flowers. Light a single candle, or pick up a decorative goose to march on your table. Gather what you have, think yellow and be imaginative.
Mimosa, Dún Laoghaire Shopping Centre, 01-2808166; Ashleigh Downey, 087-7478470.