Flowers

Bringing the outside in breathes life into a space, cut flowers or potted plants, in my opinion, are as essential to making a home feel good as paint, furniture and window treatments.
I'm caring for three potted orchids, one yellow, one magenta and one peach color, a hearty green plant (don't know the name) that I bought at Ikea, some Narcissus from my mom, and a rotating cast of cut flowers.
Learning how to keep them happy is a very rewarding practice. Admittedly, I'm not a natural green thumb and sadly more than a few plants have suffered my learning curve. But I'm much better now, having learned that every plant is different, some are more temperamental than others and that patience and careful observation pay off. Some day I hope to branch out (sorry) to outdoor gardening. My mom and my aunt are amazing gardeners, so was my grandmother - much to aspire to.
For now, I'm focusing on the great indoors. My two new favorites: Chrysanthemums and Ranunculus. Chrysanthemums last a long time as cut flowers and look really pretty in single bud vases. It's also a great way to extend a bouquet around your entire home, a single bud for each room - on a desk, at your bedside. I keep them out of direct sunlight, change the water often and re-cut the stems at an angle each time. I especially like Ranunculus because their light green stems and leaves of remind me of celery.

Do you have a favorite indoor plant or cut flower? A plant-care tip? Please share by posting a comment.

Finding Balance

My taste in design fluctuates between minimalism and ornamented eclecticism. Sometimes I want a space to be a calming blank slate. Like this modern take on the typical New England beach house with weathered gray siding from Murdock Young Architects.


Or Donna Karan's apartment:
*Photos by Richard Powers
But other times I crave a space filled with romance, drama and history. Rooms with cleverly juxtaposed styles and a sense of humor. Like the home of Lisa Borgnes Giramonti, who blogs at A Bloomsbury Life. I love the sheep by the door at the entry, the mix of ikat and cherry blossoms, and the dining room with trompe l'oeil library wallpaper.

I shift back and forth between these almost opposite aesthetics, so maybe I should conclude that my taste lies somewhere in between. What would that look like? Clean lines, a balance of negative space, pops of color and pattern, and a few unexpected quirky items. Is that possible? Maybe the solution is two homes... and I'll move back and forth between the two as my mood dictates. In my dreams... wouldn't that be nice.

Ultimately, and it helps a great deal to come back to this list when you're in a design quandary, what makes a room work comes down to the principles of design:

Balance
Rhythm (repetition and contrast)
Focal Point
Scale and Proportion
Harmony

Execute these principles well and magically things just feel right whatever the "style" of the space is. It's what I love about art and design. That magical feeling you can't put into words when suddenly everything aligns in perfect harmony. I know that it's at least in part, and perhaps wholly due to mathematics (i.e., the golden ratio). The more you think about it, it's really fascinating. I'll have to return to this topic at some point because this subject really deserves it's own post.

Furniture Crushes

A few pieces from Room & Board that I'm crushing on. Solid, always stylish items to build a room around. Someday when I can afford it I'll make an investment in a beautiful piece of furniture like these. For now, I rely on Salvation Army, Flea Markets (so much fun when you find that one-of-a-kind treasure for an unreal price) and occasionally Ikea for desks and bookcases. I'll put up photos of some of those finds in future posts.