Where I want to be... Where I am...

Have you ever played that game with yourself... This is where I want to be... This is where I am? Well, if you haven't. I have. I do it all the time. Even when it seems as though the points between the two are insurmountable.
Currently, I'm running that drill through my head as I think about my backyard!! On this issue I, and my DH are in this together. I've committed myself and him to changing the complexion of our smallish townhouse backyard into something that's more than a wish. I'm not ashamed to let my blogger friends know...This is where I am....deer running through my unfenced yard eating the tops off my multicolored day lilies. I have a beautiful deep purple butterfly bush, day lilies, Shasta daisies and a few other perennials. This is the spring to make sense of this yard and add structure to it....but first, I better add that fence... Take this journey with me as we turn our yard into an extension of our lives. In my minds eye I can see entertaining in a well planned and planted deck and yard. Ok, the challenge is out there to myself... Come back and check out updates as I travel to... where I want to be.

This is Where I Want to Be

images: Traditional Home

This is Where I am

Great Chairs

I love chairs... all types of chairs... skirted, slipped, tufted, in leather, cotton, velvet... all kinds of fabrics....florals, stripes, damask, and natural organic cotton. I love a great feminine desk chair....a comfy reading chair with an ottoman... a vintage living room chair. I like the idea of using upholstered chairs at the dining table. When extra seating is needed for the living room just pull chairs from the dining room and enjoy after dinner coffee with family and friends. Check out a few of my favorites...which one captivates you?

Arhaus

Traditional Home (vintage inspired)

Arhaus

Le Petit Cabinet de Couriositas

Australian Vogue Living

Arhaus

Thibaut

Traditional Home

Cow Boy Chair-Arhaus

Gone Gardening

Taking today and tomorrow off to work.... especially in the garden. I'll be back Monday... Fay

Washington Post Blog Watch

Congratulations to all the blogs mentioned in the Washington Post Blog Watch!!

Thursday, April 24, 2008; Page H02

Our picks to click this week:

Over at The Newlywed Diaries ( http://www.newlyweddiaries.blogspot.com), the discovery of a robin's egg in the front yard inspired a posting about vintage egg prints and the color blue. Lots of lovely photos, including one of a light blue-wallpapered hallway adorned with floor-to-ceiling egg prints decorated by local designer David Mitchell.

So Haute ( http://www.sohaute.typepad.com) strikes again with a roundup of favorite eco-friendly finds, including furniture, fabrics, rugs, wallpaper and linens.


In observance of Earth Day, The World According to Jessica Claire ( http://www.jessicaclairesworld.blogspot.com) posts on a versatile trash bin that stores all waste and recycling in one compact container. (It also can double as a kitchen island and be customized with a butcher-block top, a towel bar and chalkboard front.)

Terri Sapienza

Style in India

This post is in response to a request. I have a reader who wants to know more about how to bring elements of Indian style into her home. My suggestion to her, if you want to bring bits of this culture into your home, you better not be afraid of color. Some of the most beautiful print fabrics rich in jewel tone colors can be found in India. Although I haven't had the pleasure of visiting India one day I hope to. In lieu of catching the next plane to Mumbai I can shop for imported fabrics from there or utilize my local designer fabric shop for Indian inspired prints.
Drape a bed, table top, or your favorite lounger. Add an abundance of pillows to the lounger or the bed. The look will invoke comfort and romance. Dark wood is also in abundance in furniture and flooring and don't forget to layer the floor with several area rugs. The same colors found in fabrics can be added to walls and accessories to pull it all together. As I always say... make it special, but most of all... make it your own.

Midpeninsulans here and there

Spring means the plein-art painters and photogs are out in force. (Try crossing Gamble Garden without tripping over a lens.) Local artists are also out exhibiting in many venues beyond the Midpeninsula. Here's a sampling:

* Several local plein-air painters are gearing up for "A Breath of Plein Air," an exhibit opening May 2 at the Leonard & David McKay Gallery in San Jose. Palo Alto pastel artist Mary Stahl is showing "Receding Bay Waters" (above), together with two other PA artists, oil painters Lin Ching Peng and Karen White. Other oil-favoring locals in the show are Agnes Derbin-Caulfield and Will Maller of Los Altos, Rebecca Osgood of Stanford, and Lucy Sargeant of Los Altos Hills.

* Visions of Tibet abound in the art of Los Altos doctor-painter Ming Jing (Mike) Wang, whom I profiled in the Weekly last year. He's currently taking part in a four-artist figure painting show at the Triton Museum of Art, called "Narrative Realities."

* Laurie Naiman of Palo Alto is in a show of 61 photographers at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado. "Tired of Waiting," the photo on the center's press release, displays Naiman's signature witty style.

* And closer to home, Palo Alto itself is on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Italian photographer Gabriele Basilico has turned his lenses on several Bay Area cities. Our city of the tall tree is included in these celebrations of the American asphalt jungle.

Quiet Rooms - Darryl Carter Style

I love a Darryl Carter room. His designs offer one a place to enjoy, "the quite room". In Washington, DC where Mr. Carter's design business is located, the pursuit of power can leave one regularly exhausted, there must be a place to find serenity and solitude. These rooms, mostly in Carter's Virginia country getaway offer such an escape. Upon entering the house the eye and soul can rest in the many shades of white. This home is full of natural light and most other lighting comes from Mr. Carter's collection by Urban Electric Company. Other Darryl Carter projects include his new furniture collection with Thomasville to launch in stores this fall and an upcoming coffee table book, "The New Traditional".

images: Elle Decor