Choosing Correct Shutters

These windows, original 1945 leaded glass, face east.  And a busy street.

Need maximum lite & privacy.  Historically.

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Front parlor.

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You know what the budget is.  Thrifting.

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Does it pay to have sneered haughtily down the nose chip on fabulously beautiful shoulder being too good for most everything on the planet in one's 20's?  Especially these mini-shutters.

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Not hung & not painted what was once disgusting to my spirit is already fabulous & meeting every demand of the site.

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If money were available for custom plantation shutters?  Not vernacular to this piece of Americana.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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French cafe table & ironstone tureen from Scott's, bistro chairs from estate sale, lamps & shutters thrifted.

Lamps & Libraries

Using what he had I created a small library, with desk of course, in the living room.

His sofa has the same shades of robin's egg blue as the lamps.

The lamps were thrifted.  A contractor for the Ritz tossed about 40 of these lamps at his personal driveway on garbage day.  A neighbor brought 1 in to the thrift store asking if they wanted all of them.  I bought 4.
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Libraries, desks, lamps.  Comfort for the soul.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Still hunting a spot in my garden for a desk.

Forcing Bulbs

We junked together this month and saw the little Delft shoes.  Cute.  Whatever.

Checking out she said they would be great to force crocus bulbs in.
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Instantly, 'whatever' became 'want' !
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When she flew back home she left these on the kitchen counter.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Her years of living in New York City, working as a florist, were on display.  Sublime to revel in a friend's creativity.

Choosing Large Rugs

Cost, pattern, color & impact at 9'x12' are a concern.  Yellow/blue/white are the interior colors.  A pair of rugs were needed for his guest cottage.  He's stringing me along in the garden, it's a 2013 project.

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Price was unimportant once the outlet store was found.

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Allowances were made for pricing this good.  They did not have a matching pair of rugs.

Benjamin Moore- Philadelphia Creme, below, is on the walls.

Saw this rug, below, first.  Hanging on the wall, a splash of happiness.  Received a good eye roll from him for that comment.

Checking out I told him it was amazing to find a pair of happy rugs in his colors.  He wanted to be anywhere but in line with me.
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Unrolling the rugs later in the day his helper exclaimed, "These are such happy rugs."
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Garden & Be Well,        XO Tara
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Each rug under $200.  I saw Myrna Loy walking across his rugs.  Told him that too.  Now you know I'm fearless!  Pics taken last week.  His guest cottage is ca. 1945 & I've chosen matriarchal-lake-house-chic ca. 1949.  You now, decent cast offs from decades of life in the homestead.  
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If you can't find multiples of something stay in the same color family.  Bless the interior design woman who said that to me decades ago!

Easier Than House Plants

Vintage plant stand, below.

             
Why be normal?
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Blue/White is the theme for this Florida room.  Time to maintain houseplants?  Not on her agenda!  Quirky projects demand quirky ideas.

Big Green Egg & Design

Their home is classic architecture.  Her husband asked for ONE thing.  In my book, 'done'.

Every site with a Big Green Egg is a challenge.

The backside mimics the house siding & color.  The cabinet/counter top are

copies of the outdoor kitchen at the terrace level.
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Magic Man does it again!
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite last week.  This space is small & wonky & viewed from interiors, deck, & lower garden.  Had to be gorgeous from every angle & functional for the man who only asked for one thing!
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No, Big Green Egg did not sponsor this post.  And I wasn't about to do one of those rustic river stones, toss in the Big Green Egg & a rustic cabinet at this house with formal architecture.  Lunacy for this site.

Real Men

When a man hires me,

                                                                  via
delight never fades in seeing

via

the little boy in his eyes, smile, thoughts & gestures.

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Watching them become aware their domain is a canvas for joy & play not 'work'.

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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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pics via Castles, Crowns & Cottages.

Garden Stairs

All new construction, below, constraints galore.  Never knew steps & under-the-steps could be this joyful.

Use lattice or ceiling boards under the step treads?  (1 of 87 questions about the steps!)

Across from the steps, below.

Repetition wins again.  Paint color too.
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Lattice is special order, Magic Man added a strip for more privacy.
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A new room & deck were added above creating wonky space below.  We should all be so lucky.
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The space is grand enough to be used as a Foyer in addition to the Outdoor Kitchen we created.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Hired a professional to shoot this project in January.  Leaving the Foyer yesterday I said something about keeping a green table because of the green urn blah-blah.  Beloved Burt wasn't there.  Apparently Burt said the exact words only hours earlier.  Finally, a Tara'ized Burt!!!!

Fast Food at Home

Lunch at home on work days is always fast food.

Cottage cheese, pistachios, soup, vanilla yogurt.
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Back to work.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic last week.  Some days are too hectic for this much and it's cottage cheese, yogurt & an apple.

How to Prune & Live

"... mental discipline of a scientist and the emotional responsibility of a poet."

              Peter Schjeldahl

Exactly the knowledge needed for pruning.  And living.
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Garden & Be Well,        XO Tara
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Pic taken yesterday in Ryan Gainey's garden.

Vanishing Threshold with Liz Caan

Eye catching, welcoming, simple, confident, a statement, sense of place, timeless, elegant.

Inside Liz Caan Interiors, below,

the Vanishing Threshold frames exterior views & is a backdrop for her aesthetic.
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It's the biggest impact when you can do all these things with the fewest amount of materials.  'Elegance is refusal.'
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Garden & Be Well,             XO Tara
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Pics Liz Caan Interiors

Gardening With Dogs

Suzy.

Every garden step Suzy's nose touched the back of my bare thighs.  The era before daytime mosquitoes, and gardening in shorts.

I'm good at camping.  It's all about delegation & knowing your own job.  My job is to be charming, read Jane Austen, drink champagne, walk from Edisto to Edingsville at low tide, ride my bike, play in the water, eat a delicious dinner of vegetables grown on the island & seafood caught in the morning, and always-always-always be with Suzy.

Suzy loved lake life better than the beach.  Her little sidekick Taz & her mom Chui Chui, above.  The ride home was always the same, sound asleep.  I can still smell those rides.

Happiest girls in the world, above.
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Time does not heal all wounds.
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Garden & Be Well,                   XO Tara
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Suzy taught me a lot about gardening with dogs.  Virginia Hendrick, a client, had a dog who was a RUNNER.  Her dog completed my gardening with dogs education!  As proof, her garden was chosen for the cover of a book.  And her dog did not destroy it.
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Content in a Cottage has a woman & dog love affair story running thru it.  A lucky woman.