Container Gardening - Mid summer Refreshing

One of my favorite combinations - impatiens, elephant ear, maiden hair ferns and coleus- perfect for my shady terraces.

Still looking good after being planted in early May.

Pots of basil grown from seed by the back door.

Succulents mixed together in an old cement urn



Love this table Mr. RTH built for me out of our old juniper limbs and a fallen tree base.

The color of these leaves is breathtakingly beautiful.



The urn I purchased from Carla at Grayslake on Sunday- my inspirational piece.

A small urn found in the garage was planted with happy miniature petunias.

A privacy fence by our grilling area built from 2 salvaged columns and an old trellis stored in the garage.

Happpy faces are planted in an urn by the front of the privacy trellis

Planted in urn by privacy trellis

Collection of urns rescued from corner of garage and planted on Sunday.

Coral sedum - love this color!

Angel vine and old wire basket  with moss, ferns, ivy and violets. - perfect additions to the screened porch.

These old wire baskets are perfect for miniature plants.

Old etched glass door that is the entry to our detached garage.  Added a basket of nasturtiums and ivy to the side.

Little garden gate in pot of begonias and greens.



Back side of new "privacy fence"!

Ornamental hops just in at our local nursery

I went to Grayslake on Sunday hoping to find some great antiques but they were far and few between.  Seems everyone headed to Elkhorn, Wisconsin to the antique flea market.  But I did get   inspired by one booth.  A really cute girl- Carla- had planted the most adorable pots of flowers.  She used old buckets, tool boxes, logs, chairs- just about anything she could find and made wonderful ornamental finds for the garden.  I purchased a classic black urn filled with purple and green plants from her  and went home to place it on my front porch. Driving home,  I realized how many urns and cool containers  that I had sitting in my back garage and detoured to our  local nursery to see what was new.  Purchasing mood moss, basket moss and a cart of plants, I headed home and spent the gorgeous afternoon planting my containers. As it is so late in the season, I purchased plants that should last into October.   I pulled out all the scraggly plants and replaced them with zinnias and marigolds and potato vine.  This is the first time this summer it has been cool enough to enjoy outside so I wanted everything to look fresh and alive. Just adding these little pops so color and green really made a difference.  Hopefully we have another 6 weeks of enjoying dinner outside!

Old House Charm

Upon arrival, we were offered a great summer cocktail, a watermelon cucumber mint gin cooler!
  love this pretty display in the butlers pantry!

Is this not gorgeous?

Notice the German silver sink in the butlers pantry- a little jewel of a pretty sink!

Love the stained wood floors in the  living room.

The house is filled with interesting windows such as this leaded tall one in the living room.

Collection of old boxes look great with the stained wooden floor in this room.

Fabulous iron chandelier in the foyer.  Note the detail of the old iron handrail at the top of the stairs.

One of four cozy dens in the old historical home.

Dining room - take note of the fabulous ceiling.

close up of the dining room ceiling.

Wall fountain in the courtyard

another pretty feature in the garden

Love the pitched roof line of this old Tudor home - looks like it belongs in a fairytale.

There's just something about old houses that you can't create in new construction. It is as though they have a soul - a sense of always being there and knowing all the families secrets that have dwelled within their walls.  Last night, we were at our friend's - Debbie and Jim's home for dinner.    The home is one of my favorites - so charming and cozy.  With a newly renovated  gourmet kitchen and butlers pantry, the house is quite livable.  But it is the old details that really give it charm- the leaded windows, the stained wooden floors, the terrazzo floors in the foyer and the ceiling details.  The gardens are beautifully manicured and mimic the essence of a European garden.  I love  the way the ivy covers the home in the summer.  Only  a few steps from Lake Michigan,  the home is located   in a secluded  lovely neighborhood of historic homes.

Wedding Invitation in a Tube

Tyed with hand dyed pink ribbon.

Stamped and embossed Crest Stamp embellished with rhinestone.

Rhinestone embellishment purchased from Hobby Lobby

Mailing tube used to mail the embellished tube and invitation

Amy, one of our Romancing the Home girls, surprised us by deciding to get married on the beach in Florida a couple of month's ago.  With little notice and  no time to prepare, we decided to have the wedding reception later this fall at my house.  The invitations have just been mailed and were a labor of love for her.  We first started with a 2inch by 12 inch mailing tube that we purchased on line from PaperMart.  A French letter was the background design to which we added "once upon a time" in red letters in Photoshop.  ( I cannot remember where I found this letter, but the Graphics Fairy is a great place to get copies of French letters ) Copying this to parchment paper, next we stamped and embossed a gold crest to the front of the letter. we glued the sheets to the tube and finished the tops and bottoms with velvet hand dyed ribbon.  We embellished the crest  with a rhinestone.  The final touch to the tube was adding a rhinestone embellishment that we purchased at Hobby Lobby.   The actual invitation was created on parchment paper using Chopin Script ( a free download from DaFont.com).   We hand tore the edges, sprayed it with a glimmer mist from a scrap booking supply store, and embellished the crest with a rhinestone. The back edge was stamped and embossed with a garden gate stamp and then tied with hand dyed ribbon. It was then inserted into the embellished tube and sealed with gold painted end caps.  To mail the invitations, we had to use a slightly bigger tube (3 by 15).  We stamped it with the "love gives us a fairytale" stamp and filled the tube with crinkled filling of gold and cream paper shreds  and the invitation.   Surprising enough, it was less than $3.00 to mail each of this over sized invites.   Now it's time to start planning the menu and details! Stay tuned!

Menu Boards for your Home!

Laurell created this  Menu board on mirror  for a client's home.

Menu board on the mirror behind the sink in the store's kitchen.

Menu boards aren't just for restaurants.  They add a bistro feel to your kitchen and make you feel as though you are dining in a great French restrarant. One of my favorite things that I purchased from Joy on Saturday night was the menu board in the old frame.  I have been looking for the perfect thing for behind my stove and I think I found it! It's the perfect color, size and vibe that I needed.  Joy is making more of these for the store, so we will have them for sale within the next month.  All will be unique as she uses vintage frames for each one.   For a client's  kitchen remodel, Laurell ( a Romancing the Home girl) created a French menu on the reverse side of  mirror and we installed it over a serving buffet with French sconces. It is so pretty and elegant.  She also created one for the kitchen in the store  Laurell can create these mirrors with any words that one desires and in any size.  I get excited when we can offer items that are unique and handcrafted - they give your home it's own distinctive style.