Overdose on a Theme: Coke

  We knew the red table was perfect.  

In context, above.  Overdose on a theme.

Out of context, above.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pics taken last month shopping with client.  We knew another layer had arrived for her property and had a successful day at Scott Antique.  Ironic, how many times have I passed things by because I saw no context!
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Remember well when I could not tolerate any garden design rules.  Any.  Now, quite a few are my favorites.  Overdose-on-a-theme is at the top of the list!

Desk & End Table on the Porch

Perfect place to get a few things done on the laptop, a quick lunch, perhaps a grandchild coloring?

Maybe it's only an extra chair.

A magic table:  end table AND desk.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken yesterday at jobsite.  Did you notice the garden view in the top pic?  Decades of experience, studies in historic gardens across Europe, college, seminars, knowing  simplicity is the 'skill'. .

Detail: Furniture on Gravel

Furniture on gravel.

A common scenario, below.

Furniture will sink unevenly.  Soil was dug to place a brick under each table leg, gravel lapping to each.  Voila, no bricks showing.
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This is not a job for mere mortals, the slab of marble weighs more than my truck.  After using the bubble level the guys are making sure the marble is also set equidistant.  These 'small' tasks always blow my estimates of, "Oh that should only take a few minutes."
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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top pic John Saladino's garden, bottom pic a client garden.

Hiding Necessities

Hiding necessities.

Inside & outside.
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Quite a nice topic for a book.  Anyone?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic via Mod Vintage Life.  Looks like the patio was extended with 18" square concrete pavers.  Easy, affordable, unskilled labor.  The climbing hydrangea?  Amazing.

Beware: These Pillows Need Worthy Backdrop

Few gardens could backdrop these pillows.  

Not the focus, yet complete dominance, this garden looks 'not done'.
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Heads-up, by the time a garden is this simple it is 'totally done'.
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Joseph W. Tyree did the landscaping.
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Perhaps the slipper shoes demand the pillows & garden as backdrop.  This man exudes something quite rare amongst his age group, happy self-confidence.
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More about man & house,  Architectural Digest.  Enjoy.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Beware, even, the cushion/pillow shelves at discount stores.  They may be cheap but they will steal your entire garden/deck/views.

Garden Design & French Doors

All about conversation, comfort, nature, beauty, connection.

Though not enough lamps for someone who reads.
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You must do this with beautiful rooms.  Deconstruct them for your uses.
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French doors are a secret weapon in my arsenal of Garden Design.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Room by Billy Baldwin.

2 Questions for Patios, Decks, Porches

Graduating with another degree, horticulture, I was fully aware creating the gardens of my soul had yet to be discovered.  

Luckily Penny McHenry came into my life.  She invited me to lunch the first evening we met.  A lecture meeting with packed audience we were in the 3rd row.  I plopped next to her & knew she wasn't amused.  We began talking, garnered a stern glance from the speaker then talked so long the security guard asked us to leave, the building was closing.

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In her garden, the next day, one of the biggest theatrical curtains of Garden Design opened when I saw her back deck.  From the first glance I knew.

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When looking at a patio there are 2 questions.  Is this space so wonderful I must see inside the house?  Is this space so wonderful I must see the garden?

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Ironic.  Patios, porches, decks, & their styling, were not mentioned during my degree program.  Nor any symposium I had ever attended.

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Penny did it from innate talent.

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Innately I knew, copy good ideas.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic Susanne Hudson's front porch last month.

Outdoor Kitchen

A friend gave Susanne Hudson this Hoosier cabinet a couple of years ago.

Until recently it sat gaining more rust behind her carriage house.
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She realized it fit perfectly with her color theme: green, brown, white.  Into the garden it arrived.
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Garden & Be Well, XO   Tara
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Perhap this should be done in aluminum for gardens.....  Metal Outdoor Hoosier Cabinet with gas grill, the sales slip should read.  Perfect for those not wanting the huge stone aka "I've tumbled from Mars out of the last surviving Apollo Soyuz rocket payload" outdoor kitchen.
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I was hired as the 2nd garden designer for a project because things weren't 'quite right'.  Their outdoor kitchen had been placed on perfect axis with the family room.  What a view,  stove-fridge-counter-cabinets.  Not!  It was moved to the side, which was much more convenient, and the garden became the focal point.
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Remember well when the Russians arrived for Apollo Soyuz, they clogged up the grocery store lines when  they did not want to pay USA taxes on their purchases.  Trinkety things, lots of lipstick etc....  Of course they used USA roads, police protection, & more provided with USA tax dollars.  Even as a young teen I knew something was 'wrong'.  Their clothes could have been in a period drama from the poverty 1930's.  They moved as a pod, or school of fish,  fearful of their surroundings.  Their skin was pasty white, their hair was flat, and all eyes were huge, darting quickly, never settling, no smiles.    Many of the engineers at NASA were against this mission.  Why hand over engineering know-how?  This is obviously a Cold War memory.  The worst part was their own security detail.  Wanting to prevent defections during their stay.    

Front Porch: Long & Narrow

Placing table + chairs at the 'L' of a porch must be in the helix of our DNA.

The web has enough pictures to fill a seductive hardcover coffee table book.

 At the opposite end of the porch, above, more seduction, below.

Places to read, serve a meal, have conversation a basic trinity for your porch.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics shot last month on Susanne Hudson's porch.  A field gathered collection of furniture with a tight trinity of color: green, brown, white.  Comfort oozes in her still life's.

Desk in the Garden

Don't you adore hearing a new strange fact, and know it's true immediately?

Every garden needs a desk.

First shared with me by Susanne Hudson.
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Have adored sharing it for years.  Zero dissent.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics in Susanne Hudson's garden last month.

Contorted & Twisted

Take advantage of contorted & twisted.  Honor them.

No lawn, no mulch, above.
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Yet elegance reigns.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic Susanne Hudson's garden this month.  Had the good fortune to spend the nite when the crabapple was blooming.  In the morning we had coffee in the library with the crabapple blossoms filling the horizon, backlit by the morning sun.  An unexpected 'life' moment.

New Use for Erosion Control Fabric

Hanging from a large oak tree, below, chandy stays on 24/7.

Recognize the tablecloth?  Erosion control fabric.  Bought in huge rolls.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic this month from Susanne Hudson's garden.

How to Place Sofa Table

Sofa table, below, rather formulaic with pair of lamps & table toppers.

Laughably obvious!  Yes, put the sofa table outside.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken this month in Susanne Hudson's garden.  She has a totally warped way of looking at & doing the obvious.  Lamps on 24/7.   Don't know where to start furnishing your garden?  Sofa table seems easy.

The Table You Want on Your Porch

Rescued: door, windows, stool.  

Love the sexy lines of this stool, we chose it first so more galvanized accouterments placed for balance.  

    

 Dinner table, floral arranging table, potting table, styled table.  Whatever, they're FREE.

During the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival we caught many pairs of friends sitting, visiting, enjoying the breeze, loving the views.

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Susanne Hudson & I sat in the chairs admiring our work.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken earlier this month at the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.  The porch got bigger with the furniture added.  Why?  More function added along with the beautiful forms.   How did Susanne & I get the porch done, we schlepped everything you see into place.  

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No magic minions.

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Passion is the magic.

Trumeau on the Porch

Century old teller window, below.  Susanne Hudson saw it differently & made a trumeau.  Placed upside down, mirror installed,  a few inches cut off for scale & equally historic molding applied.

Kimberly Queen fern, below, tolerates blasting sun.  Vintage white baskets, below, $4 total, thrift store.

Faux bois table in the back corner?  Found in junk shop under $10 and it's made of resin.  Sprayed, who knows?
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken earlier this month at my garden, created with Susanne Hudson, at the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.
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Apologies for  vulgarities about filthy lucre, it's in defense of my profession.  How many more times must I hear, "I can't afford a garden."  Stool, old windows, door etc....were rescued, aka free.
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By good accident Susanne's reflection is in the mirror.

On the Porch with Drapes

Nothing was here, below, a few days ago.  

The porch, below, when we began.

The corner 'before', above, and 'after', below.

Lamp, above, seen from the garden, below.

Porch 'before', below, viewed from the garden.

 Of course you want to look in the window, above.

 Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics of Porch Garden I created with Susanne Hudson at the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival earlier this month.

Covered Screened Porch

Garden view, daybed, lamps, table w/chairs, blue/white, cozy, stuffed with amenities.  Staycation is too small of an idea for this room.

Flowing from garden to kitchen with doors, & views from master bedroom and living room.

This couple is always doing something with their grown children & spouses with grands.

Tipping point for the TV is obviously the grands.

Daybed, slounging chairs + a table with chairs for projects/computer?  Perfect trinity.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pics same house/garden as previous post.  It's obvious Susanne Hudson has put her skills here.   I have a strong weakness for grandparent/grandchild relationships.  Mine still fills me with incredible strengths.

Where to Start

Don't know where to begin your Garden Design?

Begin with a table outside.  You must eat.
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Then, begin with layers of green: trees, shrubs, groundcovers.  Each suited for your zone-sun-shade-parched-moist areas.
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With the greens add focal points on axis from window views.
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You've just created a garden in vanishing threshold with your home.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic via Bumble at Home.   Truly, keep it this simple.

Farmhouse Kitchen

A real farmhouse kitchen.  

The island, above, is an old dresser with detailing applied to  the back.

She removed a wall between table & kitchen.

The cafe curtains win a Garden Oscar.  Beyond those curtains, inches, is their driveway, Funeral Home parking lot, and, ta-da, a Funeral Home !
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Sky & tree canopy are all you see.
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Perhaps the solution to your garden eyesore is inside your house.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics at jobsite, same garden as previous post.  Yes, she made lunch, blueberry mini-muffins, pimiento cheese sandwiches, chicken salad, fresh fruit......iced tea mixed with lemonade.  And, I got the story from him of how he met her when they were teens.  They're grandparents now.  The story began when he was a bagboy at Piggly Wiggly.
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You did notice the rug under the island?
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They've asked for a Chicken Coop, Pole Barn, Pond & a few other delicacies.....
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How to Use Heads in Design

Got heads?

They're for

exterior, and

interior.
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Have you noticed a formula for your favorite interiors & exteriors?  Not into formulas?  No worries, formulas are nothing more than Shopping Lists!  Now, I have your attention.
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I've always been drawn to interiors with heads & ......
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In my garden is a decades old collection of broken heads.  Most were a $1.
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Top pic from same home/garden as previous post.  Bottom pics Nicky Haslam, via Cote de Texas article.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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More than heads, bodies too.  And urns with plinths.