My Heart Sings!

I have been asked to stage one of the historic homes on the 2009 Trinity House Tour! The property is simply inspiring! And, it has a name. You know how I love houses with names. Slate River Farm.

The house sits on a large parcel on Upper York Road in Solebury Township, Pa. Tickets are $30.00 each and we should have more information and brochures for you at the retail store within the next few days. I think you might want to save the date! October 17 is the date of the tour and there will be 3 or 4 homes on the tour.

There are few things that are more rewarding instantly, than accessorising, a form of staging. When personal possessions are perfectly placed in unexpected and unique ways, the result is arresting. Personal. Engaging. This process puts the personality into your home and completes the design! It's amazing how often these details are left undone by many a designer. I am really looking forward to the project and the transformation.

While taking an initial look at the property to access the possibilities, I took some snapshots to inspire you to attend.

Take a look at the beauty we live with in historic Bucks County, Pa.

Fabulous old iron work re-invented in the wine cellar. Beautiful!!


The ivy growing up the exterior of the house forms a natural and enticing privacy "blind". So cozy. So stylish!

Now this is what I call a stylish skylight! I hate skylights on the whole, but this one was made in the fashion of the historic property and very fitting to the style of the house. You'll have to come see it for yourself to get the real picture. Yes, I could handle this kind of skylight.

Exterior courtyard and gates. And wait till you see what is to follow! Lots of historic stone walls, inside and out.

Step into a pristine barn just waiting for Rhett Butler to enter. In the South, fancy balls were held in these kinds of barns with black-tie attire. They are a wonder...and, a must see!

A view looking into the stalls...no horses live here now, but when this becomes my dreamed of Bed and Breakfast, I'm positive my daughter Jessie will fill them right up!

This is a view into the walking stalls. After the horses had a workout, they were tethered here to cool off with a slow walk. Lucky ones!

Along the outside wall of the walking stall.


I'll keep you posted with my before and after shots of the project. I've been told that all the properties are spectacular. Hope to see you there!

*note to self: Hit Sneelock up for the $6 million needed to purchase the Bed and Breakfast*

Let The Party Begin!

Last weekend my friend, Linda and I set the stage for a cool party for my friend and blog follower, Marie! It was kind of a "save the date" party honoring her daughter, Arianna and her fiance, one year to the date prior to their marriage.

Marie has a fabulous home and it didn't take much imagination to pull it off. Set the stage with multiple 2-chair table toppers covered with navy cloths to the floor and burlap overlays, an entryway fit for a ball, a kitchen any master chef would enjoy cooking in, and you have all the components for a real party!

Ariel and Marie wanted something simple, yet elegant, with a designer feeling. Voila! Take a look at the final result.



We used our glass within glass idea to create a long and magical candlelit centerpiece on two different tables. Note the slim ferns and galax leaves submerged in the water. Marie wanted the water tinted a pale lime green. It was a good choice.

A closeup showing the tint of the water and accent leaves.

Each table top had a trio of three vases where we used submerged baby catllyea orchids, ferns, and green roses in various combinations. Such a cheerful combination! Under each trio of vases,we placed photos of the bride and groom, who have been friends since High School! The photos overlapped each other and were placed slightly under the glass vases, but were strategically placed in order to see the faces of the darling couple.

One of my personal favorites!

Marie handed over this beautiful vintage compote when I queried her for something pretty to float some of the flowers in. Look closely and you will see the tiny glass bubbles I added!

Those ferns just speak to my heart!

Marie had these dried hops in her window, acting as valances. I have loved these hops for years, and in fact, not long ago had purchased some for my fall window display. They have a very pungent odor at first, and my staff promptly deemed them unacceptable! They ended up in the basement until they finally made it to the dumpster...and they weren't cheap!!Why did I give in? Marie confirmed that the odor does not last long. In my opinion, it was no big deal...next time, I'll hold my own! Great choice, Marie. Love those hops!

Check out this large glass straight-sided vessel filled with baby orchids. With the tint of lime green water, breathtaking!

A good photo of the dining room table scape. Dotted with long burning tea lights, the look is really inspiring and romantic.

And here is the team! Marie on the far left, Linda in the center and Susan (what's with the pale face....is that for real?!) Marie was slaving over a hot stove cooking vats of rice and shrimp scampi for 50! (What was she thinking?!)

Now, let's see what the wedding looks like one year from now! The bride is a darling and stylish teeny tiny thing (much like her mother!) and I've had a sneak peek at the gown!

If you're having an event and need some inspiration, give us a call.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner of Champions!

Fresh baked All Bran cranberry muffins (mini!) on the way to work in the car. Great recipe, courtesy of my sister Denise (and All Bran!) . Only 1 point for two!! Plenty of fiber, no protein...

The best I could do...peanut butter and spun honey sandwiches. One for lunch, one for dinner. I should have a minute to eat one right before the crowd hits tonight. High fiber bread, a little protein, and yummy, yummy spun honey! If you have never had this kind of honey, we import it from Utah (courtesy of my daughter, Michelle)! It is usually in my Christmas stocking and any other occasion that we meet. Cox's delicious creamed honey,nature's delight. That should do it, then!

I wonder if the event group would be happy with this for our treat? That may just happen.

Well, all my best intentions of blogging about the upcoming Trinity Church House Tour...(VERY cool properties!!) were seriously dashed after arriving home last night from work around 11:00pm. What can I say, our first event tonight ("Change is in the air"), loads of new and fabulous new inventory to put out, and sales during the day dictated some refreshing on the whole. All in all, I was pleased and felt a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

(And, the wonderful foot rub at midnight from Sneelock was a fine reward to boot!)

So, I'm off for another day. Rummaging through the kitchen to find fare for the day proved challenging, as my normal grocery shopping time (that would be about 9:00pm each Saturday night...) was overlooked last week due to reworking the store after a massive blowout sale.

Hmmm. What can I take for lunch and for dinner? Never mind breakfast!

Jackie, you might as well just shut down right now and read no further! (Jackie is my friend and project manager who has lost boatloads of weight of late eating a perfectly healthy and controlled died of organic fresh foods. (I really need to do that. Put that on the list of "things to do".)

Sorry about the photos at the top! Holy Moly, if I don't get this stupid program to cooperate with allowing me to cut and paste, or select and drag, I may just have to sign off blogging....so, just use your Anne of Green Gables imagination and imagine the photos in the right place, after the copy. Time to do this sort of "fixing" is just not on my side!

Enjoy!

Still here!

Good grief! My last week has been a crazy one to say the least. After a quick long weekend to Charlotte to celebrate the first birthday of my granddaughter Fiona (and her father, Timm), an overnight trip to Charleston for a day of work at my favorite project of all times (!), a long 13 hour drive back home, a 12 hour day of work getting ready for the blowout sale at Black-eyed Susan, followed by three more 12 hour days of selling, recovering, selling, recovering, selling and finally re-merchandising the entire store.....well, I'd say that's been one crazy long week.



(How would you like to be the "guest of honor" helping me, enter stage right: Linda)? Other than freshly pressed 600 count sheets, there wasn't a whole lot of perks in this trip! But, thanks to my stylish and hard working friend and Chief Financial Officer, we survived and the store is now fully engulfed in the spirit of Fall.

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  Long trip.


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  BIG sale.


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  New windows.


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  New merchandise.


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  Tired crew.


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  Come see the magic.

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  Blogging catchup is next....

The Preview

Check out a few of the great new selections I put out last Thursday night! And, there's more to come.

I'm always ready for the fall merchandise to hit the floor and herald the influx of customers back from their shore homes. Here's just a few of my favorite picks for this season. Welcome back, Fall!

Here I am removing the leaves from the

dogwood branches Sneelock and I cut from the woods the night prior...

I didn't realize that fall dogwood branches had these seasonal orange berries. Perfect!

Probably my favorite pick so far...clip on metallic crows wearing party hats!

These "BOO" letter blocks made the cut again this year. Use them on mantles, window sills,or deep moldings anywhere. They work great in bookcases or unexpectedly up high on armoires or kitchen cabinets.

The sparkley crows are back again as well; the large and the small. These went as soon as I put them out last year and are already proving to do the same this year.

Fall maple leaves are made even more interesting when you add these pods. They have great movement and interest. A french bucket or basket filled with them is a salute to the season. Realistic beauties, to be sure!

I'm expecting several more shipments this week with additional Halloween figures and treasures. I'll keep you posted.

Ahhh! Fall.

Fall! After a long night (and into the wee hours of the morning), the store has been transformed into fall. As a one-man show, it's quite a task!

Too late for photos tonight, but I'll post some in the next day or so. There's lots of inspiring fall hydrangeas, pods and pumpkins. The beginning of Halloween has hit the floor-my favorite? Undoubtedly the metallic clip on crows wearing party hats!!

Yes, they're worth the trip.

Goodnight. My feet are tired.

Fruitfull Shopping!

We're on a roll, now!

Suzanne and I met at Princeton Market Fair and hit Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn for some fill-ins to the bedding collections. We had reviewed some good possibilities in the mail order catalog, but felt the need to match them up in person to our current picks!

Success!! We found a fabulously luscious green blanket to fold at the bottom of the bed (this will take the place of our saldino (Italian foot warmer). Oh, so pretty and soft! Now this is the comfort factor we've been looking for. We also found a high thread count boudoir pillow, perfect for monogramming. Oh, and did I mention the perfect hand soap---aqua liquid soap in a clear and classy pump?!

We headed straight over to Pottery Barn and found silk dupioni drapery panels for a steal! (Perfect color in a chartreuse-y green) We'll doll them up with either trim or interesting hardware, not sure which.

I had brought along a personal favorite silk block plaid that I had used in my Sullivans Island project. Just as I thought, it was the finishing touch to our pallet and I think it's a "must have" splurge category for the project!!

And, just around the corner, we found a super stash of aqua Italian pottery plates that look as if we painted them with the walls.....where? Marshalls, of course! Wait till you see what we do with these!!

Bathroom color: SW Wheat Grass, walls and ceiling

Bedroom color: SW Quietude, walls and ceiling

We'll toss the cups (or, put them to good use in some one's kitchen!), and hang all of the plates as art!

Yes, it's coming together! Good progress. Good finds. Good time.Good design.