I love tea things, like china tea cups and saucers, silver trays, little sandwich platters, and those three tiered dessert trays. I think tea is so girly-girl and I really like that.

Speaking of girly-girl, there seems to be more interest in what I call fairy gardens. I know some people do the miniature gardens, and those are very cute, but I mean the regular sized gardens full of cottage style flowers for birds, bees and butterflies. What sets them apart from other cottage gardens is the inclusion of miniature seating and fairy sized accessories. Fish tank bridges and castles work really well. I'm designing one for my nieces and a lot of people admitted while they design them "for their kids" they love them too.

Finally, I know claw foot tubs are always popular, but did you see the cover of BHG's Beautiful Baths? I love that cover, but I might not need 3 chandeliers. LOL The gal that has the bath says she and her husband have separate baths. I think this is a neat idea and was planning to do that when I remodel our farmhouse. The only reason being we have the hall bath and master bath (both fairly average sized) next to each other for plumbing reasons. I thought the master bath could be more "manly" and the hall bath could look something like the cover of that magazine. :)

I have a clawfoot tub that I love. But I have noticed that reproduction claw foot tubs abound as do the more modern take on stand-alone bathtubs. They are all the rage, but what else are good marketers going to do when home building is a bust and people aren't spending money, but create something "new" that everyone must have to be cool?

I don't have a fairy garden, in fact a garden of any sort would be nice. In old house fix up terms, I haven't got that far on my list yet.
Diane

We have a huge garden and I have to edit it...but how fun to edit by adding non plants in the form of a fairy village....wouldn't DS love that!

You know I now have claw foot tubs coming out my ears LOL so I have to learn to love them in any form. I am excited about decorating around them. I've seen them done in gold and silver leaf and it's fab....wanna come play in one of the bathrooms...you may bring all the tea cups you wish LOL

Over in Garden Junk they have great ideas for gardens for little boys with gnomes and leprechauns, one gal is even doing a Humpty Dumpty display!

I love the tub on the front of that magazine. Great faucet and floor tiles are cool. You don't usually see pink and green accent tiles on a floor.

Maybe the girly-girl feel I've been craving lately is a reaction to all the economic news. I just want to crawl into my fairy tale surroundings and kick back in a claw foot tub with a cup of tea in my violet tea cup :)

Now I just love looking at teacups, etc, and plan on putting in a Fairy Garden..maybe this winter since the plants will be dead in the front flowerbed.

This is why i drink wine....

Country Living and Victoria were also magazines with a lot of frou-frou. I love it! ;o)

I too notice a trend toward comfort based decorating (fluffy blankets, slipcovers, etc..) Maybe the uncertainty & turmoil of our current economy brings out the nesting instinct in people. When life goes bad I want to hide under the biggest fluffiest ruffliest quilt, not one of those severe modern coverlet, you know. :-)

I love frou frou & all things girly - thank God I have a little girl to satisfy my needs for frill ;-)

It's true, frou-frou has been around a long time in some magazines (I miss the old Victorian magazine) but lately it seems to be showing up more in "regular" magazines. I think Bellaflora is right, when it's time to hide out, it's much nicer to do it under the "biggest fluffiest ruffliest quilt" you can find...great description :)

I do not have little ones, unless you count my kitties, but I think wine is an acceptable alternative to tea, especially in a crystal wine glass (LOL)

Poshspace- Great time to remodel your bathroom, lots of wonderful ideas out there. The magazine is the current issue of BHG's Beautiful Baths. I'm not really a huge pink fan (more of a lavender fan with a little pink) but it's so nice to see cheerful, fun colors again!

Cooperbailey- Fairies are fun and I love the idea of putting some fairy things in the garden. The nieces love it and with all their Tinkerbell stuff, they can dress up and play in the garden. We had a small garden this year, but plan a bigger one for next year.

Oakleyok- I'm with you there. I wasn't really girlie when I was young either, so maybe we're making up for lost time :)

Do you mean Victoria? It's back, although sadly not what it was.