Flowers & Gardens: Style Carrot’s Flower Shop

Ok, not really my shop, just my kitchen. But I must say I am impressed that these came from my garden, even if I didn’t really plant them all myself. But even the cutting and arranging takes time. (This photo caught the process midway.) I now know why those who can have flowers done for their homes regularly. The whole enterprise can take over an hour, never mind the time spent catching (and disposing of) the spiders that inevitably hop all over the countertop. And then there’s the discarding of the dead blooms a few days later. But while they’re thriving, they’re simply gorgeous.

flowers 1Daisies from the front side garden threaten to take over the plot. Black-eyed Susan’s are the result of packets of wildflower seeds we threw haphazardly over the fence. Of course cutting now involves climbing over said fence.

flowrs 2

Love, love, love my blue hydrangea. See the pink ones at the bottom? They’re ok, but the goal is to get them blue next year too. The pink roses on the far right smell heavenly, like candies. Smarties perhaps.

flowers 3

Do you notice that there’s way more pink than last time I posted? These dahlias are from our brand new back garden. There’s a barren hill back there that looks awful. Not so bad any more. Unlike the front of the house, where I only allow white and purple blooms, the directive for the back is plenty of brights. I asked the gardener to plant right pink, bright yellow, and bright orange roses, (no wimpy colors please!)  as well as dahlias.

He’s going to dig up the dahlias at the end of the season and store them in his garage. Seems sorta high maintenance, but he insists it’s no big deal. Maybe they’ll eventually grow as big and tall as the ones in my mother-in-laws garden, which look like huge pom poms.

Stuff Magazine: Hot 100

Today the Stuff Magazine “Hot 100” issue hit the newstands, or rather, the news boxes on the street. I contributed six “hot” trends in décor. Those of you who read my blog regularly won’t be surprised by the choices.

hot

HOT PATTERNS: Wallpaper

Related Style Carrot posts:

Get the Look: Wallpaper in Ocean Hues

Get the Look: More Grey & Green Wallpaper

Get the Look: Grey + Green = Serene

Montage: Under Cover

bird pillow

HOT HOME ACCENT: Bird Cages

Related Style Carrot posts:

Get the Look: Bird Cage Accessories

Get the Look: Bird Cages

Montage: Bird Cages

ARTmondays: Anne Beresford

single wall

HOT ART: Wall Sculptures

Related Style Carrot posts:

Get the Look: Wall Sculptures

Montage: Wall Sculptures

nest-4HOT ON THE TRAIL: Sticks and Stones

Related Style Carrot posts:

Weekend Pick: Eggs

Designer Spotlight: Kara Butterfield

ARTmonday: Lucy Mitchell and Phil Lichtenhan

Snapshot: I Heart . . .

Trend Watch: A Walk on the Beach

ARTmonday: Debbie Krim’s Fusion Foto Blocs

Trend Watch: Rock Candy

chand

HOT AND STICKY: Decals

Style Carrot post coming soon.


chairHOT AND GREEN: Eco-conscious design

Related Style Carrot post maybe someday.

Covet: Eggs from Andrew Spindler Antiques

I know, there’s been a lot of bird action going on here lately. Must be the fact I’m camped out on the National Seashore for the summer. I came across this lovely object at Spindler Antiques. You might remember Andrew Spindler’s “Magic Garden” from a few months back. This is a 19th century bell jar filled with birds’ eggs. Don’t worry, the eggs are on the newer side. I love all the different earthy colors and speckles.

eggs

American, circa 1880 (bell jar), birds’ eggs (modern).
Height: 9 1/2”
Diameter: 8 3/8”
$975

Escapes: The Bridge House B&B in South Bristol, Maine

Architect Dianne Haas, of Taylor Haas Studio, sent me a note this week about her newly refurbished B&B , The Bridge House B&B, in a quaint fishing village in South Bristol, Maine.

When she purchased the property twelve years ago, the house was literally falling into the river. She did some quick fixes, opened an ice cream shop inside, and used it here and there for a bit. Two years ago, Dianne decided to move up there practically full time to get the project finished once and for all. Today it has two charming guest rooms, a fabulous living area and kitchen in which you can book private dinners with local, organic food, and a design shop, complete with freshly squeezed lemonade and a design library. It’s truly charming.


a exterior

z aerial

bb living room

c living room piano

f banner

g upstairs bedroom

h hats in window

i  bowling pins

j small bedroom

e upstairs nook

bridgehousedesignshop

k lower deck

l bar stools

n red house harbor

o harbor rainbow

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Flowers: From My Garden

Those of you who know me will find this amusing. I’ve taken up gardening. OK, not so much, but I do cut the gorgeous flowers growing in my yard and arrange them artfully (sorta, kinda) in my collection of assorted white, clear, grass green and sky blue vases. (And, before you think, of course she doesn’t garden, I have been known to pull weeds and dig a few holes these days.)

P1010061I don’t remember the name of these, but I planted it last year and they’re still going strong. The cool thing about these flowers, besides the beautiful purple color, is that they close up tightly at night, and open up in daytime. You can see some dried out jimson weed in the background, and the antlers I bought at Brimfield. The opaque blue glass vase is actually a votive holder bought in town at Jam’s last summer.

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P1010066Black-eyed Susans that grew from the wildflowers I scattered on the hill. I tucked some pretty purply viney flowery weed thingy into the base. The vessel is one of a pair of oil’n’vinegar bottles that came in our original house.

* * * P1010063

My beloved hydrangeas. As you can see, some are more blue than others. They pinky ones need some special potion to turn ’em more blue. The left ones are in a clear Aalto vase (a gift from my mother-in-law, thanks!) and the ones on the right are in a drinking glass I bought at Barneys a few years ago.

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P1010059My white roses. Different varieties of white roses were planted along the split rail fence in front of the house. White and only white. I made the gardener uproot one with a pinky tinge and re-locate to my mother-in-law’s rose garden up the hill. Only white and purple flowers allowed! This means plenty of lavender and Russian sage between the rose bushes. These bloomed beautifully. Like the milk glass vase? It’s from Acquire in Boston. I just picked up two more (for $1) at the flea market in Wellfleet. The other vase is a delicate Juliska, purchased at Koo de Kir, i think.

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