The Joy of Gardening

source: scanned image from Victoria April 1995

In observance of Earth Day I am doing an ode to gardening.  I fondly remembered the old Victoria magazine's features on gardening and decided to dig them out and see what images I could come up with.  I have tore out these features and long since thrown the magazines away.  If I knew the the date of the feature I have posted it here as the source, otherwise I don't know the date.

 source: scanned image from Victoria magazine

This was from the magazine and it was also the cover of the magazine.  If ever I get to visit England I would love to see a cottage like this.  Isn't this rose bush magnificent!

source scanned image from Victoria magazine

Victoria magazine often took us to England.  Here we get a bird's eye view of a spectacular manor house walled garden.

source: scanned image Victoria magazine

This image is one of the inspirations for my own kitchen garden.  Here is a herb garden right out the kitchen door at another manor house.

source: scanned image Victoria magazine

Always enchanted by a path in a garden.

source: image scanned from Victoria magazine Jan. '91

Victoria did many features on white long before I ever remember anyone else showing it.  Here they featured an all white garden.

source: image scanned from Victoria magazine Jan. '91

 The white garden at night becomes a magical place as a moonlit garden.

 Now, here in my own yard the plants have been spilling over the walk and the flower border with abandon. 

 I just this year have a rose garden.  You don't have to spend a lot of money to have roses.  I picked these roses up at Walmart last year.  I would get a rose every week with the groceries.  They only cost around $4 and some change a piece.

I have four rose bushes and they have really been beautiful this week.

Right out the back door in a shrub a mother robin has taken up residence to raise her young.  Not wanting to disturb the nest, I stuck the camera above my head and aimed and caught a peak at the beautiful eggs.

Much to my 7 year-old's delight a tree frog has decided to live in the pipe of his swing set. 

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein 

Sherry

  I will join: 

Show off Your Cottage Monday  at The House in the Roses  

Seasonal Sundays  at The Tablescaper
Say G'Day Saturday  at Natasha in Oz

A Return to Loveliness  at A Delightsome Life

Your Cozy Home Party  at Cozy Home Scenes

Home Sweet Home #63

Hello and welcome to Home Sweet Home!  I thought it would nice to create a flower arrangement in this old trophy I thrifted.  I can see this being a centerpiece for a graduation party with a stack of yearbooks under it or for a Mother's Day brunch with Mom's favorite books stacked up.  What ever the occasion it would be a fun look for all of the events that come up in May. 

 Are you busy in May?  It really is a busy month around here.

I'm adding this collage I made with my Titanic Inspired post and this trophy.  The old trophy seemed to go well with this photo. 

 

Now I would like to highlight some of the posts that caught my eye last week at Home Sweet Home.

 Mary Alice at Chateau Chic showed off some hand-me-downs that were wonderful! 

Babs at Upstairs Downstairs showed off some seashells that were beautiful.

Tammy at A Walk in the Countryside  showed off a pretty spring table.

Cindy at Blessings from Cindy created this shabby chic style lampshade.  Check it out.

Thank you to all who join me at Home Sweet Home!   It is wonderful to have you here! 

Sherry

I will join these ladies today:
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground 

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Rooted in Thyme Simple and Sweet Fridays

Pearls and Lace Thursdays  at Faith, Grace, and Crafts

Home and Garden Thursday  at A Delightsome Life 

Guidelines for Home Sweet Home Party:

Attention: To link up with inlinkz you must have a permalink back to this party in your post or they will not allow you to link.  

Link up anything in your home or garden.  I love seeing neat shops too!

My button is on my sidebar for the party, if you want to use it.   If you are new here I hope you will become a follower. Please don't link up more than two posts.  No Etsy link ups or direct advertising, please.  Please visit some of the other blogs and get some great inspiration.  Thanks.:)

Now let's see your beautiful homes!

Photoshoot in DC Rowhouse

I'm in the process of getting ready for a photoshoot of one of our finished projects in DC today.   This will be my last before Baby #3 arrives!!  The home is really special...   Here is a "before" picture of the living room:

{This room already felt great when we first walked in}

My clients have an amazing sense of style and some beautiful iconic pieces that we kept & worked the design off of.  We painted the walls a soft cream & the doors went to a warm black: 

{a mid-stage photo of the living room... I love what a difference the paint made.}

We reworked the floorplan a bit:

We added some more natural elements to the house, changed fabric & color schemes & added in some more eclectic pieces. Here's a quick pic of the original design plans:

I love my client's bold fabric choices...  We used them in small doses in the now-neutral spaces:

Anyway, I'll be sure to share "after" photos as soon as I can.  I'm especially excited about this project because my clients' style is much more modern than our typical clients' style and it's been so much fun to branch out & help create a home that reflects them & their taste.  I think my favorite part of being a decorator is creating spaces that feel really personal to my clients & getting to experiment with design styles that are different from my own personal style (which they all are.) 

Wish me luck!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Cheese Biscuits

The cheese biscuit recipe I used in this week's tea post was from Paula Deen. This is one of her signature items she serves at The Lady & Sons Restaurant. 

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/3 cup Crisco shortening

3/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and sugar together using a fork; cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal.  Add cheese. 
3. Stir in buttermilk all at one time until just blended.  Do not overstir.
4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a well-greased baking sheet.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.  

Yields: 8 large biscuits

 Enjoy!

Sherry

I will link this to: 

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Friday Food at Mom Trends

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
What's It Wednesday   at Ivy and Elephants  
Thriving on Thursdays  at Domesblissity
On the Menu Monday at Stonegable 
Rooted in Thyme Simple and Sweet Fridays

Titanic Inspired

I am imagining today that I am packing my steamer trunk and having a coffee and biscuit aboard the Titanic today.

I am imagining this to be more like a 2nd class room service.  I don't really know that much about the Titanic, I just enjoyed the movie.

These old steamer trunks were in use about the time of the Titanic.  They were probably put in the cargo hold of the ship and not the room, but for today we will imagine it is in our cabin.

The 2nd class passengers had a pretty flow blue pattern of china.  Not exactly like this pattern by Johnson Brothers but similar.

 source

I remember how much I enjoyed the movie, but yet it was so real I had a massive headache watching that ship go down on the big screen.  It was really one of the most effective movies at making you feel you were there that I've ever seen.  Several scenes really stick in my mind as favorites.  I found this deleted scene from the movie and it is good, they should have kept it in.  What is your favorite scene from James Cameron's Titanic?

Sherry

 I will link this to:

A Return to Loveliness  at A Delightsome Life

Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage

Tea Cup Tuesday at Martha's Favorites

Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations

Tuesday Cuppa Tea  at Antiques and Teacups

Your Cozy Home Party  at Cozy Home Scenes

Table Top Tuesday  at A Stroll Thru Life

Tablescape Thursday  at Between Naps on the Porch

Let's Dish  at Cuisine Kathleen

"Shooting Star" deleted scene from Titanic

DC Design- Lots going on!

This past week our good friends Brooke & Steve Giannetti of Velvet & Linen were in town visiting with two of their kids, Nick & Leila.  Thursday night, Dave & I went to an insanely perfect cocktail party in their honor thrown by Loi Thai and Tom Troeschel, owners of Tone on Tone, a beautiful antiques store in Bethesda.  Like usual, I forgot to take very many pictures (I'm usually having too much fun, let's be honest) but to say Loi & Tom's place was amazing is a serious understatement.  I have NEVER been somewhere like this house.  It completely transports you to another place.  You don't feel like you're in Kansas DC anymore.  Because I forgot to take photos, I've taken most images of these from Joni of Cote de Texas's blogpost of almost 2 years ago when the house was just newly renovated, so there have been a lot of changes since then.  The walk up to the front of the house is incredible.  Boxwoods and trees now surround the front lawn which is empty in this photo:

{The limestone pavers on the front porch are so beautiful...  I felt like we were walking around on Mt.Olympus here...  The doors were flung open and a Spring breeze flowed into the house.}

  The entire home feels completely open to the outdoors & to me, there's nothing better than that.

{looooove the skylights in this house!!!}

Almost everything is done in shades of white & neutrals (hence the name "tone on tone") and the floors are even bleached wood:

You feel like you're floating around the house...

There were small green accents throughout the home and I fell in love with these cheeky industrial green pendants in the kitchen:

I enjoyed the far right barstool as well...  With less than a month to go 'till baby comes, I REALLY loved the food & had a great little spot to indulge!!!  mm mmm mmm!

The kitchen & attached family room is where Loi & Tom do most of the "living" and it's a bit less formal than the rest of the home.  They have topiaries & ferns all over the house (which are my FAVORITE things to accessorize with & that I unfortunately can't keep alive) and they're so beautiful:

{This console bisects the kitchen/ family room so the TV is opposite the kitchen.  There's the most beautiful skylight above the topiaries.}

The pair of maiden hair fern may have been my favorite accessory in the entire home.  Here's one of them on a pedestal flanking the fireplace:

..But of course my favorite part of the night was seeing so many great friends & people all in 1 place.  The DC Design Community is full of amazing people & personalities and there's never enough time to see all the people, so it was so nice to get to see so many sweet faces at once. 

{Brooke, Leila, me and Leah Moss of Moss Eclectic}

 I'm so glad Brooke & Steve came to DC.  They were signing copies of their book, Patina Style, which if you haven't read yet, needs to happen.  It's full of beautiful photos & such practical hands-on information.

{Image from  Patina Style   }

We were able to steal them away from their busy schedule Friday for a trip to the Air & Space Museum (boys-only...  Leila & Brooke & I hung at home) and for hanging out & pizza & cupcakes.  (mm-mm-mm!!)  Of course I didn't take photos, but if I had, you would have seen me lying on the couch and Brooke lying on a chair having a "sympathy pregnancy" for me.  :)  Sometimes it's nice to just veg out. 

I'm off for the day but thank you so much to Loi & Tom for such a beautiful night!!  Here they are in their (perfect) living room towards the end of the party:

{They are so sweet & hospitable and I'm pretty much in awe over their house...  I'm one of those annoying people who ends up leaving a party last or almost last (I somehow don't notice when people are saying goodbye) so thanks for putting up with me Loi & Tom!!}

And, speaking of great DC people, the DC Design House just opened this weekend & it's looking beautiful!!  My good friend John Matthew Moore sent me  this photo of the gorgeous foyer he just completed:

{Yay Matthew!!!!   photo by Angie Seckinger}

For information on visiting the DC Design House, visit the website here: Dcdesignhouse.com

My room from last year's DC Design House is actually in this month's issue of Better Homes & Gardens Magazine too so if you see it on newsstands, check it out.  (As soon as I get images, I'll be sure to post!! :)

Also, for more images & information on Tom & Loi's home, be sure to check out Joni's post:  Cote de Texas Ton-on-Tone post 

I just realized Loi has a blog, Tone on Tone, and you can view it here.  The most recent post is about keeping his topiaries alive!! :)




If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.