Lamp in the Landscape

 

Women who have these lamps, I thought as a child, are wacko.  Ticky-tacky gold leaf, gaudy.

Was there an exact date I grew up to be 'wacko'?
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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Even in the afternoon I can see the sparkly light bulbs from the house, and they make me happy.  More stupid, about this lamp was its price.  Found at my favorite Antique shop I waited several visits for its mark down.  Not.  I made an offer & you see my trophy!

Blue Lamp in the Conservatory

 In honor of good service, the peacock blue ginger jar lamp with original shade.

Been in the library for years & now rotating off duty from 2 years in the Conservatory.

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We are each allowed to love a hideous lamp.  This one is mine.  She will resurface. 

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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara

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Notice the tassel hanging from the key on the French door?  A punctuation of delight.  Who needs drugs with these amusements?

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Pic taken last month.  Conservatory view is to the new French doors in my kitchen.  A bit of gardening still to be done at the landing.  Life is good, a gardening project awaits!

Front Porch

A disintegrating brick, too small, front stoop when I arrived.

Covered, lighting, doors, stone terrace, new paint colors, columns, iron rail, ceiling fans, furniture.

   The view, below, has been there, ignored, for over 3 decades.

Now it's honored, and lived in.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken this week at a past client.  Her house & garden the most perfect HORRENDOUS before.  Of course she's going to be a before/after story.  Best part is how it's changed their lives.  Literally.  House is amongst many in a subdivision near town, yet it lives like Piedmont forest. 

Simplicity

Dare you?  This simple?
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Yes.
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Gravel to the walls, color theme, mix of stone-wood-iron, vine-on-house, evergreen cones in pots, round downspouts, beautiful views into the home, finials on the roof, custom shutters, 3-d lite over door.
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If you like it, break down the reasons.  Beauty in one spot can be translated into yours.
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House is the focal point.  House is the backdrop to the landscape.  Specifically, the front door.
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It's brutal to be this simple.  But POTENT.
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And low maintenance.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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pic via Things That Inspire .  Even a disastrous brick ranch ca. 1963 can be turned into a historic caretakers cottage.  This house , above, tells you how.  Have fun.  If you, indeed, live in the disaster.  Of course I can be this blunt.  Living in a brick 1986 box.

Vanishing Threshold: Perfect Bathroom

Lighting is even designed to hang from the tree.  Garden nor room are too big.  Simple.

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Humbling, the talent designing this.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Pic from Velvet & Linen.  Years of beautiful interiors & gardens with Brooke & Steve Giannetti and they only get better.

Front Porch: Before & After

 Landscape Design after, above.  A bit of work so obvious no one thinks a Landscape Designer is needed.  Afterall, the builder & previous Landscape Designer missed it, below.

Did you notice a pendant light was added too?  Top pic. 
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pics sent by the client from a jobsite last week.  She wanted to do this for years.  Her husband said, 'why do we need to do this?'

Exterior Lighting

11" didn't provide much space for a pendant light, below.

 This 1940 cottage project demands character.

 Pendant light found at Scott Antique last month, age & patina along with the original mica.

 Prior to Scott's I had sourced, below.  Alas, too long.

Now, I'm glad.  Not quite the patina and it cost double the antique.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Will paint the bricks Alexandria Beige-Benjamin Moore.  Too much orange in the bricks, some mortar issues but once painted the nubbyness of the bricks and mortar issues will be assets.

How To Open A Front Porch

Gravel to the walls, evergreens (few), no rails on the porch, & a fabulous light, below.

 Exactly how I described The Cottage project, below, to my contractor.  Before I ever saw the pic, above, via Greige Design.

 Porch rails will be removed, below, and stone steps added to all sides.  Foundation meatballs removed,

gravel spread, light fixture installed.  Bricks painted, shutters added to all sides (new color chosen) storm door removed and a potager nearby, it was requested and there is very little good light elsewhere.
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Love this type of work.  Tight budget, big impact, little input.  Ironically, the biggest improvement will be removing the foundation meatballs.  The gravel?  Huge impact, and laughably one of the cheapest ingredients.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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No use at present for the iron rail.  Cannot wait to discover which project NEEDS it !

Getting The Scale Right

Once or twice a year I work with a home that looks normal but the closer you get you realize its scale is much larger than 1st impression.

 This tiny area, above, is truly larger than it appears.

The lanterns are almost  3' tall.
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Anything smaller & it's Dinky Is Stinky territory.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic taken last week, lanterns sourced by Suzanne Hudson, Le Jardin Blanc.

1913 Exterior Sconce

Passing an old building in Augusta, GA my father said he proposed to my mother there.  I didn't care about the romance, I was in junior high.  It was the old building and its accouterments fascinating me.  

Decades pass & I found a light fixture, above, exactly like the Augusta building had.  With attitude I payed almost $20 for it, thinking it should have been much less.  Enjoyed it in my garden ever since.
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Yesterday I was looking for sconces online and found MY light fixture.  They have several for sale, notated a date of 1913, and are a cool $1,600.00.
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Girl has a new attitude!
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic and sales information, here.

Choosing A Front Door Color

Look inside your home for a front door color.  Wallpaper, artwork, textiles, dishes, clothes in your closet.

Typically it's artwork showing which direction.  A tiny bit of color, teeny tiny, flowing amongst most artwork on the wall.  Choose a variation of it, taking into consideration exterior brick/siding color & trim color.
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Front door does not need to be the color of your shutters.
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Your front door is a focal point, painting it the right color begins the story of YOU.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

It's easy to see my client's favorite color, above.
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The planet doesn't need another 'safe' black front door.  The world is ready for your voice.

Lamps Beside The Daybed

Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Susanne Hudson redecorated her Conservatory this year.  Sconces are laid on the table in my Conservatory, primer/paint/brush nearby, new packages of screws/hooks, brown/white ironstone transferware.  Soon, a bit of my own redecorating in the Conservatory.

Faux Bois Bench: Well Sited

A lovely incident along the gravel path, below.
(Notice stone edged gravel, decrepit terra cotta, leaf litter mulch? Melts my heart.)
Same bench, same path, from opposite direction.

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Thus, a good garden. It could be 2 different paths, 2 different benches or 2 different gardens.

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How to create Double Axis. A class by itself.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week in Susanne Hudson's garden.

Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival + Before/After

The Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, Douglasville, GA, is this weekend, June 4-5, 2011.

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Free display gardens, Free standard Flower Show, Free Festival Market

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Garden Tour with Tram, $25, residential gardens including nationally recognized gardens.

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This year's table, below, incomplete, already looks FABULOUS.
Big impact, little input. Love this type of Landscape Design: old table, old wheelbarrow, old light & negligible maintenance.
Same table, below, last year.
From lamps to chandelier, from potting table to dining table.

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Come see our garden, it's in the free zone. Ha, no excuses!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Been working like a young man creating this garden. My body is not amused. Susanne Hudson & I are creating this garden.

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Top pics taken yesterday, 94f & 200% humidity (please appreciate the effort). Bottom pic, I snapped last year.

Enlarging A Front Porch

Ubiquitous rectangular home with a jailed-in front porch. American Builder's Special. Ugh.Remove chunks of railing and disgusting foundation plantings, widen steps, add flagstone landing.
Now, a front porch to enjoy.


I've removed so many porch rails for clients I've lost count.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Same garden as previous posts.

How To Use An Ugly Lamp

In my Conservatory yesterday, during an open garden, a delightful woman said,
"That is the best use of an ugly lamp." We all looked at the direction of her gaze/comment.
After the laughter subsided we agreed, yes the peacock blue lamp with original shade is ugly. But it's perfect.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Cobalt blue, peacock blue, don't know what to call it but I LOVE this color. And that is EXACTLY why this ugly lamp is perfect; personal passion. The lamp shade is more horrendous than the lamp. It, too, 'works'. Naturally, it came from my favorite thrift store years ago.

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What's not to love about a woman who will say such things to someone she just met? Another facet I adore about gardeners; blunt talk.

Chandelier: Before & After

From Lowe's, below, chandelier in my new Conservatory.SHIPMAN called from Buenos Aires last month, "Found you the perfect chandelier, want it?"
SHIPMAN dismantled the chandelier & packed it in a fruit crate for its trip home.
SHIPMAN brought a bottle of wine & 2 crystal glasses for the hanging & gossip fest.
SHIPMAN & I decided it must have summer shades & winter shades.
I'm on the prowl for those shades.

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SHIPMAN & I decided the chandelier is only about 80 years old, we pouted a moment about its youth but decided its great backstory, into my Conservatory, adds patina. At least to us.

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Life is good.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Voicemail from SHIPMAN this morning, "You must come for lunch in my conservatory this week." Yes, life is good. Now, how to get the time...........

Chandeliers In The Kitchen

Diminutive, my pair of chandeliers hang, as inspired by a blog years ago, over a harvest table. Many mornings I'm here, in my wicker chair,
reading & looking out 3 walls of windows, starting my day.A view out 1 of those walls, from my wicker chair this morning.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Did you notice my ceiling is not white? It's a faded blue/green, depending upon the lighting. Below the chair rail is a terra cotta type color. Both colors are within the wall paper. Susanne Hudson was hired to choose the colors. 25 years in this house & I still love the wallpaper.

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Pics taken this morning.

Enfilades Increase Drama

Enfilade, a view thru to a view. In gardens or homes, I adore an Enfilade.
Standing outside the conservatory this week (in gown/robe/bedroom slippers) in the snow
I discovered a new Enfilade.
Oh yes, sublime.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Good accidents, without waiting 3-7 years for discovery, in the garden are verification you've done it RIGHT. Mostly, gardens take time.

Something To Make You Smile

Last year when I designed her landscape her kitchen was sheet rock. Last week, below, still unfinished it's already fabulous. Sheepishly, she said, "I know it's ridiculous but it makes me happy to look at my new chandeliers."

A wise observation. Over a decade ago, in Penny McHenry's garden, I realized the same thing about things that made me smile. Her garden, tastefully, had many.

Near my front door, above, the cat. I bought the cat for no other reason than it made me smile.

Go ahead, give yourself permission. Choose things that make you smile.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara