NATURAL BEAUTY

Adorn a wall in any room with a romantic assemblage of Easter-themed collectibles. Choose a shallow, oblong basket or tray as your base. René was heartened by this woven basket, which is 2 feet long and deep enough to frame a variety of items. “It’s nice working with baskets because you can wire everything through there and take it to the back and twist it around. You don’t have to try to glue it,” she shares. Wire a double-handled vintage plate with a flower design inside your basket. Stiffen a vintage dresser runner with aerosol hair spray, ironing flat once the tackiness dries. Wire the top crocheted edge to the basket, arranging ripples in the fabric and wiring into place as needed. To shorten the length of her runner, René gathered the middle of its length into a pouf—treating it similar to a bow—and wired it in. “Use whatever vintage linens you have, be it a napkin, a handkerchief or a runner,” she advises. Glue a piece of floral foam to the basket beside the textile, and wire a bird’s nest to it. Arrange the loose end of the runner in a curve around the foam and wire in place to allow it to drape down from the center of the basket. Push the stems of faux forsythia and lilac branches and fern fronds through the foam, disguising the curve in the runner, and tuck in a burlap ribbon bow. Complete the look with a vintage-look sign, held in place by a skewer taped to its back and slid into the foam.