Happy!

Such a lovely, lovely day.

Just got back from running errands with Ramses.

He likes to hang his head out the window.

Everything is so bright and fresh.

And, I came home to this.

I live in Paradise.

Day 7 Everyday Grateful ~ Seeing my life as a garden ~ blooming.

Brimming with optimism. I am so deeply grateful.

 

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning . . .

Another reason we live in Seattle! I suspect the reason we tell everyone it rains all the time here is so they won't move here ~ and, make the traffic worse than it is!

But today . . . oh, so utterly gorgeous! The sky is robins egg blue and not a cloud in the sky. The sun casts deep, dark shadows across the lawn. The air is soft and clean. The leaves sparkle as they move in the breeze. This day has all my favourite things ~ the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, someone is mowing a lawn, a couple of dogs are barking, parents are walking their babies up the street under my window, you can just hear the wind chimes like very quiet, small bells and a group of kids are laughing and playing next door.

Talk about Everyday Grateful! This is one for the list.

As I was walking in the garden this morning and feeling the sun on my face, I am reminded of why I think of the garden as a lovely scented room. And, as we all know, the thing that makes a room is the accessories. In this garden, I love the dozens of pots filled with bulbs just beginning to open; their full heavy heads nodding in the breeze. There are pots of perennials; pots of annuals. Amazing pots. Plain vanilla pots. All working together to create a personal space of comfort and beauty.

As I've mentioned before, if I buy something, I look first at salvage and used. I've been very fortunate to find fantastic things for pennies on the dollar. I gravitate towards an eclectic mix that has an acquired look. The strength of the "acquired look" is it is visually interesting and benefits for the occasional addition to spice up the whole. It isn't necessary to go out and spend hundreds of dollars getting all matchy-matchy pots. Add a single "star" every year or so and the result will be more interesting.

Don't forget to add your found objects that can be used as garden art. This garden has a wonderful metal heron in a bright green glazed pot, a bamboo ladder leaning up against the wall and a black metal pergola with a floor of salvage cement tile from Singapore covered with moss, add your own acquired items to personalize your garden.

Parts of the garden are still sleeping. The mulch covering the beds is warming in the sun. The perennial peonies are just poking their soft red leaves out of the ground. The new leaves on the roses are soft, furled and a deep oxblood colour. Things are beginning to stir.

 

 Spring really is just around the corner.

Day 3 Everyday Grateful ~ Seattle in the spring.

Beautiful Goddess of the Garden

To paraphrase the great Rodgers and Hammerstein . . . Spring is Bustin' Out All Over

I was walking on my back deck between rain showers this morning and stopped to examine my pink dogwood. It's getting ready to bust!

Ah, dogwoods. Their beauty?
It's a mystery.

Beautiful goddess of the garden.
Translucent petals full of light.
Delicate. Elegant. Graceful.



They have no fragrance, look pretty dismal in the winter and are prone to breakage. And, don't even think of pruning them. When Joyce Kilmer said, "only God can make a tree," he should have mentioned, "Only God should prune a dogwood."













But, in the spring? Glorious when they bloom.

 

Oh, yes . . .

I have complete confidence pink dogwoods

line the path to Heaven

~ eternally in bloom.

In Praise of Brandy in the Library

It's raining in Seattle today. Fancy that! I just got back from taking Ramses out for a walk so he could "leave his card" around the neighborhood. He likes showing the other dogs who the "Big Dog" is. It makes him chuckle. I think it has to do with how high up the tree trunk or fence post he can reach or something.

Walking back to the house, the rain has let up and the sunset sky is the loveliest honey/wheat colour along the horizon. So beautiful.

The perfect weather and time of day to sit in the library, put my feet up and read a book.

I love reading. My mother was an antiquarian bookseller. I learned all the book rules from her: never bend the pages to mark your place (that's what bookmarks are for), never lay it open face down (it breaks its back), never remove the illustrations (100% barbarian action). In general, treat books as the treasures they are. Having been raised by a book zealot, I've never understood books as decoration. I also don't understand when I go to someone's home and there are no books. I think it's kindah weird.

When I was a young designer, I was chatting with a friend about a meeting I had with an iconic Seattle interior designer at a reception for Jack Lenor Larsen. Everything about the reception was breath-taking. The meeting with the Iconic Seattle Interior Designer? Not so much.

I waxed poetic about how important it is for established designers to be cordial to new designers. I guess my friend could tell my feelings got hurt. To cheer me up, he started telling me stories about her. I laughed at the industry tales about the aforementioned I*S*I*D; how she terrorized clients, vendors and architects, alike. My friend said his favourite was the time the I*S*I*D designed utterly beautiful bookcases that cost the earth for a very affluent client. The I*S*I*D was famous for bowling people over; sort of like "the light switch stays, everything else goes" with a sweep of the hand. Anyway, the very expensive custom cabinet maker had just finished the installation when the aforementioned I*S*I*D swanned into the room.

"How do you like it," she asked (not really caring about the answer.)

"Ehem, well," they stammered. "They really are beautiful, but . . . ah, well, Jean, we, ah, well, we really don't read."

"Stay right there. I'll be right back," she said. Never one to be deterred, the I*S*I*D immediately got into her car and drove directly to Goodwill and bought enough books by the pound to fill a library. In fact, that library . . .  

God, we laughed our hair off!

Every time I go into a person's real library, I'm reminded of the glory of books, the importance of useless knowledge, the usefulness of important knowledge, and, the importance of the written word. Every day we see the truth of the old adage ~ "The pen is mightier than the sword." Even in the age of twitter and linkedin, when we read about what is happening around the world in real time, we see how the strength of ideas binds people together.

I'm going to celebrate. Hot cocoa and brandy in the library tonight. Like shining the silver and ironing the linen napkins, one of the other things that keeps civilization together.

The Impromptu Dinner Party

The first of last week, a client of mine came over to approve some handmade tile for a project. As we were chatting to coordinate the visit, I invited her to dinner.

"You are coming a long way. Please stay for dinner. It will be no big deal ~ homemade macaroni and cheese, Caesar salad, a baguette and some red wine."

As we lingered over dinner, she mentioned that her birthday was next week; that she was not looking forward to it and could she spend it with me.

"Absolutely," I said. "Let me work out the details and we'll set it up." In the interim, a friend of a friend sent me an email ~ Heidi – why am I only now discovering your blog? It’s fabulous and I’m subscribed so I can get all your decorating secrets. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the kitchen cabinet fix up! Someday I want you to invite me to come see your house so I can copy all your brilliant ideas.  XOXO  Liz

All week long as I met with friends and close colleagues, I invited them to come for dinner. I invited Byron on the way back from the Elwha Dam removal documentary. I called my friend, Audrey, on Bainbridge to see if she was going to be in town. Then, Karen and her husband, Ron. In my brain, it started out as four and, as the week wore on, it ended up with eight.

What to fix? Comfort food. It's been raining like hell all week. Beyond drizzle. As I watched the rain sheet down the windows, I thought ~ potato soup with celery and artichokes with maybe some freshly smoked salmon crumbled on it, some crusty bread, some brie, wine.

I went to the store and bought a whole wild-caught Sockeye salmon, had it filleted, brought it home and grilled it on a cedar plank. Pink and smoky. Oh, yum! The potato soup was easy. While I don't consider myself such a red-hot cook, I do have lovely dishes and they just don't get out enough. So, I brought out the demitasse, the liqueur glasses, the Majolica cabbage soup tureen, the linen napkins ~ the whole shootin' match.

Byron brought an apple strudel pie just warm out of his oven. Laura brought a wonderful chocolate number and a couple of quarts of nice ice cream. Everyone brought a nice bottle of wine. And, we celebrated not just one but two birthdays ~ Laura, my client and Audrey, my dear friend.

At the end of my shopping trip, I had stopped at the store and bought everyone a lottery ticket and tucked it under each plate. Much hilarity ensued. We might be dining with a multimillionaire. What would you do with the money?

The impromptu dinner party? A group of strangers met for dinner and left as friends. At the end of the evening, we were discussing a monthly dinner party. I've always wanted to do that. I'll keep you posted.

The Grace Note ~ Using Architectural Salvage

In music, a Grace Note is a small embellishment. It adds dissonance to a harmony. In interiors, a Grace Note adds depth of detail and visual interest. It adds spice.

Vintage feature tile tucked
into a small corner. Spice!

Over the last 20 years, the focus of my business has been Historic Restoration. The key to the success of a project is almost always dependent on the sensitive use of architectural salvage. When you purchase pieces from a salvage yard, you are not only keeping construction materials out of landfills but you are also bringing history to life. Many articles would cost the earth if you were able to purchase them today.

A 250 year old Danish door front,
nickel vintage torches,
a canvas awning
make for an inviting entry.

For the client who appreciates the past, working with architectural salvage is the Grace Note that adds spice!

When even the most expensive interiors feel like you've seen it all before, including vintage architectural elements in the mix lifts it into the realm of extraordinary. That "one of a kind" aspect really appeals to me. While less may be more, interiors that reflect the style, ideas and concerns of the client ultimately turn into space of distinction and character.

Small marble angel found
broken now part of an
extraordinary door bell.

Vintage iron window grate
now the face of a
lovely Juliete balcony

Who doesn't need a very cool exit sign?

Oh dear! My new home is completely Dead White wallboard!

A while ago, a client of mine moved up to Redmond to be near her children. She brought with her a life-time of wonderful antiques. To her horror, the new downsized home was all the "builder's special-Dead White" painted wallboard. Quelle horreur!

 And, the fireplace? Scary bad.

Rather than repaint the whole place, we decided to concentrate on the fireplace. She wanted a more Old World feel rather than the "Just Out of college" fireplace supplied by the builder. For tile that I turned to Architerra NW for a beautiful solution. Using a combination of their field tile and wonderful trim pieces, we turned to fireplace from "factory ordinary" into a beautiful focal point for her living room.

Often, when we see a lovely old tile job, what we are really responding to is the exquisite trim pieces ~ the crown molding, the ogee edges, the base, the v-cap, the corner moulding. In handmade tile designed by the tile genius at Architerra NW, you get the depth of detail not found in the big box stores and the type of detail that sets the finished project miles above the ordinary.

 

After the tile was installed over the existing fireplace, the change was dramatic. It was a fireplace that suited her French antiques. It made her new place feel like "home."