Oudoor Garden Inspirations for Outdoor Living

I can never get enough of gorgeous outdoor inspirations - especially when

there's a gorgeous garden and greenery to go with it.  Isn't the backyard

above just gorgeous?

The white curtains in the background are so romantic in the summer breeze.

The lavender fabric is also a perfect color to complement the surrounding

greenery.

Indoor lamps really make this gorgeous garden setting look polished and chic.

Chips and salsa on a barrel...

Colored glass vases make this garden pop.  At night, all you

need are some tea lights in the vases for it to give a soft

magical glow with color.

The fabric makes this dining area so cozy.  Candles really

top it off.  I can just imagine what this would look like at

dusk.

What a great difference just a pink runner an pink flowers can make!

Love the pillows on the hammock - it really creates

a pop of color and gives the scene an exotic look.

Photos from DIY magazine

Ben & Phoebe's Daybed

I recently helped my cousin and his gorgeous fiance {they just got engaged on the weekend} with the cushioning on this lovely daybed which they purchased from Cotswold for their beach house. We selected an array of brightly coloured exterior fabrics for the scatter cushions and a trusty navy and white stripe exterior fabric for the seat cushions and voila this is the result. I just love it and apparently they do too!!

Steel windows and doors

 

More and more architects are integrating steel windows and doors in their designs. The advantage of using steel windows and doors is, that it ables designers to create slim profiles and frames to achieve the right proportions.

Steel windows allow a room to be filled with the maximum amount of light and is creating a closer connection with the exterior or the garden.

The combination of steel windows and wooden doors, or vice versa, is wonderful.

The images here will illusrate this.

 

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A brick floor in combination with the steel windows and door.

 

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The lines of the window are more or less repeated in the steel frame of the coffee table.

 

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A close connection with the landscape outside.

 

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Again a combination of steel and brick.

 

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Love this door!

 

 

Steel windows are very comfortable to use in an orangery or in a conservatory. They allow the maximum amount of light to come in and create an indoor/outdoor feeling.

 

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Notice the slim frame of this window/door.

 

 

 

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If you don’t dare to bring in a big steel window, try a small one as this! Charming isn’t it?

 

 

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A steel door/window construction between this kitchen and the room next to it.

 

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Awesome

 

Source : picture taken by me.

Perfect proportion !

 

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I love the shadows of the window lines on the floor.

 

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I am convinced of the beauty of these steel windows and doors! Are you?

 

Note :I would love to thank all of you for your wonderful comments on my previous post about the teenager photoshoot of my nephew Simon!!! He was so pleased to read your thoughts!!!

xx

New York City Abodes - A Sampling of Blue & Green Diamond Baratta Designs

Diamond Baratta Design is a fantastic interior design

firm based in New York City.  This post shows selections

of their work in New York City from the magazine New 

York Spaces.  For those of you Turquoise, Teal or Blue

lovers, this is a great post for you.

Such a gorgeous rug and carpet!

Beautiful blues.

Pattern on Pattern.

Perfect way to match wall art to hardware 

(in this case the pendant light fixture.)

A pop of turquoise with brown.  Not a color combinaton

one would normally think of but it definitely works.

I'm a big fan of using photography as wall art.

This could have been such a drab space but 

Diamond and Baratta did no neglect it - 

instead they really dressed it up with glass

panel walls in blue.

Diamond Baratta Design

If you like the aesthetics of Diamond Baratta designs,

you'll really enjoy this book that has great samples of

their work.

So what was your favorite item or room?

Photos from New York Spaces magazine

Friday Flowers

This morning, whilst running very late for school drop off, I raced around my new old garden and cut some foliage for an arrangement I was wanting to create for the shop today. Here is the result above. The arrangement sits on a beautiful oval Antique table which actually just sold to one of my lovely clients this afternoon. I am loving big glass vases filled with masses of leaves at the moment. Luckily my garden seems to have the perfect plants for this type of arrangement.

First steps on the catwalk for nephew Simon!

Nephew Simon, the oldest son of my sister Inge, made his first steps on the catwalk!! A few weeks ago he was asked to take part of the autumn/winter teenager 2010 fashion shoot for the new magazine of the Belgian fashion store, DELEYE.

The new Magazine was edited just yesterday, so I wanted to surprise Simon with this post!!!

Cover of the new magazine, with at the bottom…

the reference to the TEEN-FASHION shoot.

This is our 13 years old model Simon.

And this is the teenager photo shoot.

Doesn’t he look cute with this cap?

And what a beautiful girl at his side!

If you want to discover the TEEN–FASHION SHOOT, CLICK HERE and go over to page 48 .

CONGRATULATIONS SIMON! YOU ARE A GORGEOUS MODEL!

Click on Logo to discover DELEYE FASHION STORE.

Click on the Magazine cover to browse through the DELEYE FASHION MAGAZINE.

Simon and his proud mum !

What do you think of our model Simon? I am sure he would love to hear it from you!!!

xx

Black & Spiro Today

We installed a new window display at Black & Spiro today. There's lots of pretty colour in the lovely fabric drop we have hung and a beautiful Antique piece of furniture sits in front with a few bits on top including my favourite Staffordshire Dogs. Also a few people have been asking about the fabric on our lovely Antique chairs. It is a Mexican embroidered Otomi. We have this textile in quite a few colourways. It is divine.

Chairs I Covet

If I lived in America I would snap up this pair of fabulous orange painted chairs from Lyn over at Paris Hotel Boutique immediately. For some reason I can see them recovered in something Lilac. DIVINE!

Displaying Collections in the Home - Ben Brougham's New York City Studio

Isn't that a wonderful collection on the wall with a fantastic paint color for

the background?  This is Ben Brougham's studio in New York City.  Ben 

is from over the pond (the UK) and is a prop stylist who moved to the Big

Apple 5 years ago.  He now also helps curate for Jonathan Adler stores.

Wall Paint = Benjamin Moore's Surf Blue

Notice that he did not paint all the walls in the room Surf Blue.  This

is the other side to the bedroom.  As you can see Ben is quite the collector

with all sorts of collections from pillows to wall art, glass and much more.

You can see his mirror collection on this wall.

A wonderful image of the opposite wall 

through the view of one of his mirrors.

Ben also collects all sorts of rugs which he uses to completely cover

 the floor of his studio.  He scours Ebay among other sources to purchase

his rugs.  Exceptions are the Union Jack and Zebra rugs which are from 

Jonathan Adler.

Ben has some fantastic tips for collecting that he follows.

I love that the kitchen and hallway are painted in a dark color.

It really brings out the color of the paintings and other items

and fabric in the room.

Ben hangs his prized Liberty print bike on the wall.  You'll notice that his drapes

are from IKEA but customized with vintage fabric.  That's a great tip right there on

 a super economical way to dress up any window on a budget.

His collections are curated and displayed in groups.

Midcentury Modern Glass (which I collect as well)

Colored glass bottom vases and a vintage yellow straw phone.

Just a few of the types of items that Ben collects.

I love the different tiered night

stand and portraits on the wall.

My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living
Jonathan Adler

I hope you enjoyed Ben's apartment and gleaned some 

ideas for collecting and displaying collections.  I do 

recommend Jonathan Adler's book if you like interiors

that have a bit of whimsy and eclectic flavor.  Adler's 

interiors or chic but fun at the same time.

So do any of you have collections?  I think I'm addicted

to collecting things (not good since I'm probably a hoarder.)

What sort of items do you collect?  I've dabbled in everything 

from vintage Christmas ornaments to mercury glass, midcentury

modern glass, vintage costume jewelry, tea cups, Fireking... I 

wonder of shoes, clothes and books also count as collections...

Photos from Lonny Magazine