Showing posts with label Conservatory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conservatory. Show all posts

Monday, June 6, 2011

Daybed In The Conservatory

Pink & brown & hydrangeas & a Conservatory in the garden. With a daybed.With large terra cotta pots as legs.
Our jute draperies
pool, below, outside.

Susanne Hudson & I were on the front page of the paper. Did I know the photographer was coming? Sweat, hat hair, gardening clothes, dirty. We were the happiest women in the galaxy.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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I took the pics yesterday in the garden Susanne Hudson & I created for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.
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Thank you Douglas County Sentinel for promoting the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. Newspaper pic by Winston Jones.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Beer In The Garden

I adore working men in the garden.At the end of the day this wonderful man, above, earned his beer.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic from Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival in Douglasville, GA. It's tomorrow & Sunday. You do realize there is NO pun intended with the top sentence?

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Pots, Easy Landscape Edging

Pots, original, as landscape edging? Hardly. A centuries old idea. At my garden, with Susanne Hudson, for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, below. (PMHF is this weekend, June 4-5.)"It's what we do with what we have.", my mentor Mary Kistner said. I first saw pots as edging decades ago in Ryan Gainey's Decatur, GA garden.
Susanne & I have broken pots & fallen limbs.
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Perfect landscape edging. Easy & free.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken a few days ago.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

How To Hang Pictures

Hung by the artist, R. Scott Coleman, & his wife Kathrine Coleman, below, this art is obviously arranged. But it doesn't look 'arranged'. And the table, custom built for the Conservatory, is arranged subtly with smaller pieces of R. Scott Coleman's art. Placed in the Conservatory, below, for a garden tour it's
going to be missed once it's all packed up and taken away.
Imagine the walls, above & top pic, without the pictures. Not good, feels like 'life' is taken away.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken by Kathrine Coleman. I wonder how many pieces of art the garden owner bought!! Can't wait to visit this client again. Get my body into their Conservatory, spatially 'feel' it. Garden pics only get me so far. NEED my body in gardens that excite my eyes.

Monday, May 2, 2011

How To Hide A Fence

Asked to hide a fence at the back of their garden in a tiny, dingy corner,
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the MUSE said, "Put in an 'L' shaped Conservatory, gravel terrace, chandelier from the oak tree, a dining table underneath & build it from rescued parts."
It wasn't an option, below, to see the ugly fence from all these windows.
Recently completed, below, on a garden tour for Hay House, in Macon, GA. (These are smart people, create a BIG deadline!)
Artist in residence for the garden tour R. Scott Coleman, here, watercolors.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Since I designed this garden missives have been sent showing the progress. Many building parts are ca. 1870. Did you see the fence? Love my MUSE. Puppet Barbuda cringes thinking how Mr. Testosterone-On-Wheels-Mow-Blow-Go would have designed this dark little corner.
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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Anna Wintour: Garden Room

Light, a trinity of topiaries, rough wood table, sleek metal chairs, drain in the floor, white walls to reflect more lite, Anna Wintour has the perfect garden room. (Read that sentence again, it's a great formula. Go, create your own garden room.)
(Pic, above, Ann Wintour's garden room in World Of Interiors)
I don't think Anna likes to linger after her lettuce.
(Pic, above, Christopher Baker)
I do. These chairs, above, are for me.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Habitually Chic had these pics in a fabulous post.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

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.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

It's About Time: The Conservatory in 19th century Europe

Last Saturday in my Conservatory, lolling on my couch, with my ipad, my incredible Barbara, It's About Time, did it again.From, Redgauntlet, "The present proprietor had rendered it (the parlor) more cheerful by opening one end into a small conservatory...I have never seen this before." Sir Walter Scott (Loved my time in Sir Walter Scott's garden. My Well-Placed-Chair epiphany came while in his garden. The walled garden to be exact. If you haven't been, it's today's assignment, go.)
Barbara writes, "In England, Humphry Repton (Scottish botanist & garden designer, 1752-1818) gave a plan well adapted for this new, more social purpose. At one end of this design an aviary (1) is surrounded by a conservatory (2), and joined to a glass passage for flowers (3), which leads successively through an orangery (4), lobby (5), music-room (6), library (7), print and picture-room (8), breakfast-room (9), anti-room (10), dining-room (11), hall (12), and peach and green-house."
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Many more conservatory's in her post, here.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Susanne Hudson & I are, of course, doing another Conservatory for the upcoming Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, June 4-5, 2011. This time a Dining Room theme. Is there any doubt I called Susanne while lolling in the Conservatory last Saturday? We'll be using Barbara's post as further inspiration. We're also creating historical silhouettes of a Lady & a Gardener. Put your head in & snap, you've got your picture.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Conservatory: A New Way To Cook

Greek salad with shrimp, vegetable soup with Gruyere cheese, last week's luncheon in the Conservatory.Sitting down to lunch,
desert waiting on the sideboard,
is when I put the
kettle on top of the stove. Boiling water for the French press coffee pot.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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NEVER, ever saw myself cooking on a wood stove. Can't wait to make a real meal on it. College Boy cooked this menu upon my request; inside the house. A request including when I wanted it ready and when he needed to "disappear". He performed each task beautifully. More about the cookies & biscotti, above, soon. You have no idea how special they are.

Monday, February 14, 2011

No Date In The Garden

My garden pics tell me the season. They date themselves.
At this angle, below, it doesn't matter the flowers are in plastic pots. They aren't visible.
At terrace level, below, there was a pond. I moved it.
Dwarf mondo will be planted between the stones, matching the rest of the terrace.
Duck Foot ivy will be planted on the riser to the greenhouse, hiding the timber & adding lushness. (Lushosity?)
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Soon, French doors will be painted BM-HC- 77. Didn't realize I was building a space for the pot cluster with the Conservatory. Adore happy surprises.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Lunch In The Conservatory

Choosing: menu, dishes, silver, linens, making a fire. Anticipating guests arrival. We walk in the garden, lunch, conversation, laughter, & hard truths too. Life is welcomed in my Conservatory.
Preparing to carry desert & decaf to the Conservatory, above.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken in my kitchen. Ancient soup tureen bought in Augusta, GA ages ago when I lectured there; been filled with fresh apples ever since.
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You should see the floor, counters, sink, each a disaster.
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Wise women know, build the Conservatory first. Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

How To Make Tulips Last Longer

From a distance, white tulips are most visible.These are getting rattier by the day.
Doesn't matter, from the house they look fabulous, their rattiness doesn't show.
Tulips last longer when you keep them in your conservatory.
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Another bundle of tulips, bought the same day, placed inside my home are long gone.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken this week. List of reasons you NEED a Conservatory has today's factoid at #6.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

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...........

Thursday, January 20, 2011

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.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Steps

The change in elevation was deceptively 'not there' without my new Conservatory.
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Alas, My Dear Ladies both use canes. You know they will be in my Conservatory sharing wine/canapes before dinner.
Stone steps are dry stack, above. And, ta da, rescued from jobsites.
Serendipitously, I put in a side door to my conservatory. That door has a meandering woodland path, no steps. SAFE, for My Dear Ladies.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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No pics yet of the meandering woodland path leading to the side door. My guys put the steps in, wish I could say I did !!

Friday, January 14, 2011

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.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Nassim Taleb: 3 Views

From, The Bed of Procrustes, a new book by Nassim Taleb."Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous."
"You are only secure if you can lose your fortune without the additional insult of having to become humble."
"You are rich if and only if money you refuse tastes better than money you accept."
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Wesley Yang wrote about Taleb, "He made what he has called his "fuck you" money when his bets against the market made him millions on Black Monday in 1987." "...the content of his next book, Anti-Fragility, ...will be about how we can create systems that mimic the resiliency of nature."
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Taleb also wrote, The Black Swan, and, Fooled by Randomness. Both bestsellers. Both about Wall Street.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken this week, of my month old Conservatory, from my bedroom window. Poppets, you should see my VINTAGE 25 year old linoleum kitchen floor, with battle scars.
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Conservatories are for the soul, kitchen floors a necessity. Younger, I would have done the 'right' thing, the floor. This age is exquisite, bringing me the Conservatory.
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No doubt, fate will bring a new kitchen floor, including, of course, new countertops, backsplash, sink, faucet, stove, refrigerator. Last year in the kitchen was: ceiling reconfiguring, painting, 4 new chandeliers & cabinets. In the interim, I don't look down.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Hiding Necessities: Before & After

1st cup of tea in my Conservatory, below. Already hiding, via camera angle, an important necessity.Switch plate to the chandelier, below. A necessity, but look at it? Not.
Old ironstone, below, with a lovely pattern named, Summertime.
Oh my, another book idea. Before/after pics of hiding necessities around home/garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Did you notice the gravel floor, top pic, under the table? I know, the lamps need shades. Found the lamps, $20 for the pair at my local thrift store. Love the giant Spode tea cups/saucers: tea, broth, soups, cereal....