HER CLOSET & QUINCE

Windows along 2 walls, a fireplace & stairs to the attic. Make it a closet, of course! Her garden, below, as well considered as her closet.

Her quince, above/below, last Friday.

And the same quince, above, from her porch.

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Vanishing Threshold.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

TUB: BEFORE & AFTER

23 years old, below, never used. Dahlings, I NEEDED a soak after gardening. Collecting affordable ideas from client bathrooms across the years. My new bath, below.

Clawfoot tub, circa 1910, was in my garden many years.

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Planned to paint the tub but its rust looked so sassy once inside it will remain.

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Easter afternoon I have grand plans. Gardening for hours then inside to SASSY. Epsom salts & a garden book by Beverley Nichols.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

KAY O'TOOLE: VIEWS & SUNBEAMS

Kay O'Toole, below, had the sunbeam hit its mark. A woman directing sunbeams deeply considered her fence: height, length, color, style, axis, materials, focal point, contractor. Controlling her view out, and in. Compare statue & misc. styling, above/below. Adore this attention to detail.

Kay's bedroom, below.

Ha, a feeling of deep rest glancing at it.

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And mystery. I really want to see her garden from the windows.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Found the pics yesterday via Verdigris Vie. Kay owns, Kay O'Toole Antiques.

BAD CHAIR & GOOD CHAIR

Bad chair, below. Why? Though new, it's Dated. Acceptable color, clean lines. Hmm. Nice for a hotel at an exit ramp off I-85 in mid-North Carolina, or South Carolina. Good chair, below. Why? Though new, undated. Timelessness.

Hints of 30's Deco, 50's mid-century modern. 8 of these jewels around an old harvest table in your garden? Or inside your house. Done! Comfort, classic, timeless. And, only $32.

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Would you EVER think of putting the chair, top pic, inside your home? NEVER.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Took pic while Hunting/Gathering at Lowe's this week.
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NOTE: Not bashing the Carolina's. If you've driven the route you can't help asking , "Why so many new hotels at exit ramps? How did they get the loans? Is all of America overdosed with new hotels at exit ramps along the interstate system?" Seen during my road trip to lecture in Virginia last February. At that lecture, dahlings, I met Eddie Ross & JAITHAN. Good food, good wine & stories to tell. Fell in crush with both of them. But, alas, this is a garden blog. Tootles.

FABRIC IN THE LANDSCAPE

Beware patterned fabric in your landscape. Patterns tend to hijack the eye & own the space. If you want pattern in the landscape relate it in color & style to your interior decor.

Umbrellas, above/below, at Lowe's yesterday. Love the classic stripe, for the right garden of course.

Patterned umbrellas are the worste offenders. A joy to see the collection yesterday.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

LINE SILHOUETTE FORM

Takes your breath away, yes? Why? Hardly ubiquitous.
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Lines of the house are repetitive horizontal & perpendicular.
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Good landscape design KNOWS what to contrast.
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This isn't a STUPID swing, aka uncomfortable. Deep. Sink into those cushions dahlings.
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The cushions are already telling you about inside the house aren't they? Vanishing Threshold.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Found pic via Limestone & Boxwoods who found it via Things That Inspire when she was posting about Ray Goins furniture.

JOHN SALADINO

Saladino's work is in full measure. Garden & house. Vanishing Threshold. The pruning of his canopy & understory trees, above, tell me more about the man than his interiors.

His VERTICAL LAWN (vine on wall) & lidded urn on the shelf melt my heart.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Found the pics yesterday via Period Homes.

IN A CLOCHE.....

Everything looks better! A cloche protects seedlings from frost.
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Hand-blown in Mexico, above. Came from the late Smith/Hawken. Found others, made in China or Poland, at TJMaxx.
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Did you notice? My antique French bistro table has moved inside. And my garden? Love/adore looking out ALL my windows into a garden view.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

MAGIC from the MUNDANE

Meeting a client yesterday, below. Why the Christmas wreath? Upon inspection, below.

GARDENING: Magic from the Mundane

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

LIBRARY: BEFORE & AFTER

Before, Library, below. Ceiling white, walls botanical green, taupe wall is balcony overlooking great room. Almost 'before', painters had begun bringing their stuff in & moving my things. Library: After, below. Walls & Ceiling BMoore, Rockport Gray. Rattan from the garden center replacing mini-blinds. Artwork by Jenny, my late mother-in-law.

This corner of the library is finished, more to do. Pics as it's done.
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Today is Flannery O'Connor's birthday. She lived the last part of her life with her mother in Milledgeville, GA. Did you know Milledgeville was the capitol of Georgia during the Civil War? Don't worry, dahling, not many people do.

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Milledgeville, more famously, is where my GRANDMOTHER lived. I lived summers with GRANDMOTHER, spring breaks & Chistmas too. This relates to my library before/after?

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I remember clearly, as a girl, GRANDMOTHER, "Would you like to drive out and meet Flannery O'Connor?" GRANDMOTHER was a friend of her mother. "No", walking, bored, out of the kitchen. "She has peacocks.", to my back. A hot-humid, only as Milledgeville can be, day. Why would I want to go to someone's stupid farm and meet a couple of old ladies on a day like that? Ah, childhood yes?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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I should remember, To Hot For Peacocks, while making choices!

CURB APPEAL

CURB APPEAL --- House Exterior: paint historic yellow-ochre, replace rails with Chippendale pattern, place oval shutter at oval window, trim + Chippendale rails + picket fence painted 1 tone darker of the same yellow-ochre. A new owner, above, in this youngish neighborhood.

Though youngish the neighborhood looks OLD. Why?

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Sheared, circa 1982 style, green meatball builder's plantings. Homes colored in timid builder's whites.

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Sheared green meatballs are pustules on the face of neighborhoods; lowering property value.

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Happily, this small neighborhood understands. As homes are painted owners are choosing colors suited to their bricks & interiors. Overplanted green meatballs are being removed. Upgraded gardens installed.

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Note: Color & Chippendale were easy to choose for this home. Interior walls are yellow-ochre and beautiful antiques fill their rooms. Floors were being refinished while I was there, alas, no pics.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

OUT OF THE CLOSET

A pic from her dinner party, below, last Saturday. Dinner for 8.

Designing landscapes I must see inside your home. Lucky me, SHE had just finished reorganizing her china closet and let me peek.
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I know the backstory of all the china & silver, above. A beautiful table. But there's more; the pic tells me SHE had fun putting it together. It shows yes?

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We haven't talked yet of what she cooked, the occasion, where she got the whirligigs. Pitterpatter of the conversations. (The table, by the conservatory windows, overlooks the garden.)
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This is another thing I adore about Vanishing Threshold. It creates a Jane Austen life. Small details lived big.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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SHE sent me the pic Sunday. It would be fun creating an herbaceous border with flowering shrubs to match her table setting from Saturday.