My Tree Peony---can't wait for it to bloom

When spring comes and I clean out my gardens (which I have yet to do) I think about the beautiful Tree Peony in the corner of my yard that only blooms for a few days but oh my is it breathtaking.

It took 4 years to get one bloom and now it blooms every year with anywhere from 10 to 30 or more blooms. The flowers are huge like a dinner plate and it never fails that once the blooms open it rains and I don't mean a shower or a mist I mean a good old downpour that knocks all the beautiful petals to the ground. That is why I take pictures, so here you go, my Tree Peony before it rains.

Looking so forward to June..!!! But I will be patient.



Outdoor Living Trends

Most of us don't have backyards that look like this, right?

What do people want in outdoor living for 2011? For you it could be a wonderful cooking area, a fire pit to sit around, wonderful lighting for evening get togethers, comfortable seating, be it freestanding or built in.


Despite our economic woes people still want a nice outdoor area to live in to expand on the useful living space of our homes. For most of us it is short term for the spring summer and fall and for others it is a useful space year round.

So what are we trending towards?

Outdoor Living Features (Percent rating somewhat or very popular for 2011)


Lighting – 96.2%
Fire pits/fireplace – 94.2%
Seating/dining areas – 94.1%
Grills – 93.8%
Installed seating (benches, seat walls, ledges, steps, boulders) – 89.5%
Weatherized outdoor furniture – 83.6%
Counter space – 74.2%
Utility storage – 61.3%
Stereo systems – 58.3%
Sinks – 54.7%
Refrigerators – 50.2%
Wireless/Internet connectivity – 46.3%
Televisions/projection screens – 45.4%
Outdoor heaters – 44.4%
Showers/bathing – 42.1%
Outdoor cooling systems (including fans) – 36.7%
Bedrooms/sleeping spaces – 10.4%

 

Deck post solar lighting is offered in wide array from simple to sophisticated.

 



Installed seating is on a real upswing and can be very cost effective.

Whether or not you have a larger yard , a smaller space or even a balcony there are many things you can accomplish in your outdoor living space. I love this balcony, what a cozy corner to curl up in.

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For the garden area of your yard people are looking at lower maintenance options including planting native and/or drought tolerant plants that you know will survive in your area. Water features are still quite popular and increasing in popularity is growing your own food. Small vegetable gardens where people can grow a few things, tomatoes, lettuce, beans, peppers to supplement your food supply and you can be sure these products are healthy and free of pesticides.

Other items people are looking at are recycled materials, drip-water efficient irrigation, reduced lawn, rainwater harvesting and composting.

Add some beautiful planters to your deck or patio. The great thing about some of these is that they are raised and easy on the back.

What are you looking at for your outdoor living space this year?

I am on the lookout for some new cozy chairs and some Japanese influenced plants and garden ornaments.



Something I Learned in School about Colour

I must apologize for no posts this week , I have been terribly sick and just starting to feel a little more normal the last two days.
A few years ago when I was taking courses for Interior Decorating at College (my daughter was in high school at the time and would laugh every time she told her friends her mom was in College) one of the courses I enjoyed very much and learned quite a bit from was Colour Theory. One of the most important things I learned to identify was "undertones". Undertones are just that, the tones underneath the colour that you see.

I will give you an example:



                                 Yellow Based Neutrals

                        
                            

                                 Red Based Neutrals


Visually you can see the differences right away. But take it to another level. Imagine you have a yellow based neutral on your floor. You have a beige carpet that has yellow undertones or a wood floor with yellow undertones, a beautiful honey oak. What do you think would happen if you put a neutral beige on the walls with a red undertone? Well, I will tell you. The walls would look pinker and the floor would look yellower causing a clash.
Many people mistake grey for green if there's a green undertone, or plum if the undertone is purple. To determine the undertone in a grey paint you are considering, compare it to a "true" grey paint chip, which has no colour. A true grey paint chip would be a combination of black and white.


     Say this is the beige you choose. In order to get a better idea loo at the next picture.
Sample number 2 is more yellow and number 3 has a bit of a green undertone. I hope you can see it. Sometimes its hard to see the colour on a computer screen.



These are all beiges but you can see they have differences when compared.

Check out these beautiful neutral rooms.

 

 

Any of these neutral rooms can have a punch of colour added at any time.

The Wonder of Windows

After doing my post yesterday about doors I thought I would add a post about the lovely windows we encountered on our trip as well.
These would also make a lovely assortment of framed prints to adorn your walls.

Shown here windows from Venice



This one (above) was a particular favorite of mine.

Everywhere I turned there were opportunities for taking great pictures. One has only to use their imagination on how to use them and incorporate them into your home decor.

This little window (below) was in our bathroom in Florence, you could open it and hear the people on the streets and watch people eating and sharing a glass of wine outside the eateries.

And finally these ones....

I hope I have inspired you to go through your vacation photos and frame some memories to be viewed every day.

Delightful Doorways of Design

It's always nice to use your own photography to decorate your home. You don't have to be a  pro as I am certainly not but having a theme can make for a nice collection of framed  prints.
I have yet to do anything with these pictures but have been thinking about it for 2 years now.
When our family was in Paris and Italy 2 years ago I became fascinated with all the gorgeous doors and windows that we stumbled upon in our travels. After taking a picture of one or two I starting really noticing them.
In Paris they were stately and substantial and in Italy , particularily Venice, they were more charming and rustic. More shabby Chic you might say. I wanted to take pictures of all of them but I would be stopping every two seconds and hubby and daughter would not have been impressed because there was so much to see and only 16 days to do it in!

The first door I took a picture of was this big red set of doors in Paris. After I took that picture I was hooked.

In Paris many doors are for driving into. The doors open and it is a laneway into a courtyard where people live and park, sometimes there is a garden sometimes not. Naturally they all seem to be beautiful.

All of the above doors are Paris except the centre bottom shot taken at Versaille.

Depending on what type of look you would like for your photo series you could group certain shots together or have them printed in black and white to tie them together.

As we travelled into Italy the doors changed a little.

These two doors (above) were photographed in Verona. The land of Romeo and Juliet so they say.

These photos below were snapped in Venice. I think Venice housed my favorite doors. So rustic with lots of character. I particularily liked the crooked ones and wondered how old they were.

Love the detail on this one

Maybe they couldn't find the level



My picture taking seemed to taper off towards the end of our trip as I took less pictures of doors and got sidetracked more easily. With so much to take in it was sometimes hard to focus.

Rome and Florence doors follow

This was our home while in Rome

I love architectural details. I hope you find some inspiration for framing some prints for your home and if you take the pictures yourself you will find they spark some memories every time you look at them.