New gift tags for the Store

One of my friends is having a Bridal shower on Wednesday. That motivates me to make new gift tags for the store, so that I can use one on her gift. Finding an old engraving in an antique book, I scan it, color it, glitter it, and add a tiny crystal to finish the tag. Creating a romantic tag for a package inspires me to wrap a pretty gift for my friend. Using a silk leaf for a base, hot glue

flowers,moss, crystals, ribbons, and a wedding dove together. A little glitter and some pretty ribbon finish the package. This is a great way to use little snippets and treasures that you have collected.

Tudor Style

One of our favorite clients has a beautiful Tudor home built in the 1920's. We are now working on a project to freshen up the entry foyer by brightening up the colors and bringing some of the owner's personality to the space. The home owner is a passionate reader and collector of books, so we decided to create a library table effect with the use of the four stools. Books discussing Tudor architecture and the home's history are placed in stacks for people to enjoy. The original wood paneled walls add a sense of history and permanence to the room, and the old black terrazzo stone floors are timeless and elegant. Who wouldn't want to sit here and enjoy a glass of wine with a great book?!!!!!!

Northern California Charm

While in the San Francisco area, we stayed at a boutique hotel called the Hotel Los Gatos. The grounds are beautiful with these pretty pink camellias as you enter the guest room area. Flanking the restaurant doors are large urns with manzanetta and mosses . This establishment is a very cozy place to stay, especially during the winter months. I love the colors of the furnishings- turquoise, honey, browns, and terracotta. Lots of beautiful iron sconces and lamps light the romantic spaces. There are many individual seating areas tucked throughout the hotel, just begging for someone to sit down and read a juicy novel. The spa treatments were delightful and the restaurant was great. We had a table by a window and enjoyed a very soft rainfall as we ate dinner. In addition to this wonderful Hotel, the town of Los Gatos is gorgeous, full of great shopping and dining experiences. The homes are wonderful examples of California Victorian Cottages built in the early 1900's.

Grandma and Miss Audrey go Shopping!

Mr. RTH and I flew out to the San Francisco Area to see our first granddaughter, Miss Audrey Brynn . A first trip for Audrey to downtown San Francisco proved to be a great day trip, since it has been raining for a week. Today is warm and sunny ( especially compared to Chicago!). So we have always wanted to go to the Ferry Marketplace to see the artisan food vendors and savor the California food scene. The chocolates, the cheeses, and the fresh selection of flowers, produce, and meats were awesome. We purchased food for dinner tonight- a beautiful pomelo, burnt caramel sauce, fresh beets and smoked salmon. Deelish! We will go home and figure out what to do with these luscious ingredients.

Miss Audrey was a perfect baby- but was totally exhausted from the shopping experience. Guess I will have to train her for future excursions!

Bedroom for a Princess

One of my dearest friends, Linda, is one of the most elegant, tasty, chic and resourceful people that I have ever met. She is always finding these incredible finds - food, antiques, clothing - and always shares her sources with me. So it was a fun project to create a whimsical, out of the norm bedroom for her daughter. We used crystals, twigs, and a bird's nest to create the window treatment, and an old wedding gown to make a chair for her dressing table! Linda had found the antique bed and tables on the Internet. I love this room - with it's bed just layered with vintage lace bedspreads. The beautiful beaded chandelier is from Romancing the Home. A young woman really does feel like a princess in this room!

Fog Ice Color Palette Happens!

The color of the landscape, when the early morning fog ices the branches of the trees, is beautiful! It gave inspiration for the combination of taupes, icy greys, and cremes for our new store displays. New wire garden vessels, finials, and columns are combined in interesting shapes and forms. Of course, we did add some color to the large tablescape with some very realistic silk flowering branches. A large industrial dining table anchors the base of the display, with a new large black iron chandelier adding sparkle. We found the garden backdrop at the Scotts Antique Show in Atlanta last month. These urns look great with fresh flowers, but also are very pretty with our moss balls and branches.

Fog Ice Gives Decorating Inspiration

Yesterday, Sunday morning, Laurell, Katha, Candy and I met early to drive down to the Mart to pick up merchandise for the store. During dawn, a fog had formed over the snow covered ground and created a sheer coating of ice on the trees. It was breathtaking! We decided that we needed to take a picture for inspiration for a new decorating color palette. I realized that the merchandise we were going to pick up was in the color tones of the frosty forest. Maybe, we need branches for our displays in the store??? It's funny where we get our inspiration from on a cold winter morning! The new inventory is being delivered to the store this afternoon, so we are all excited. Soon I can have our interpretation of this beautiful color scheme set up in the store.