feels like summer…

“The sun is higher…the days are longer…and the magic of spring has touched every living thing…each, attuned to life…is ready to rise in a mystical kinship with beauty…” ~ Gwen Frostic

Wishing you a wonderful weekend filled with the sights, sounds, scents and tastes of summer!

photos from Elle Decor and The Gifts of Life

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paul wiseman ~ a perfect restoration

With Memorial Day weekend just around the corner, I thought you might enjoy a sunny visit to designer Paul Wiseman’s Northern California home. Thoughtfully restored to maintain its original foot print and floor plan, this 1912 gem has been updated using “green” materials that have the appropriate sensibility for a historical restoration in the 21st century. These sustainable materials, such as custom bronze casement windows with energy saving glass, a zinc roof and LED lighting, reduce long term maintenance while preserving the unique character and spirit of the architecture. What a brilliant coming together of modern technology and beauty! From the breathtaking water views to the perfectly edited interiors, this house has it all! Please enjoy!

Wishing you a wonderful long weekend filled with sunny skies and a lovely breeze!

Above and below ~ photography by Matthew Millman for The Wiseman Group

To read more about this masterful property, pick up the 2013 May-June issue of Veranda!

Below ~ photography by Laura Resen for Veranda

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spring cleaning

For a few mornings now, I’ve been serenaded by the sweet sound of baby Robins…their masterful nest sits just outside my bedroom window, atop a sturdy old branch in the Magnolia tree…what a priceless gift to be given! This miraculous event has inspired me to re-read the one and only Walden by Henry David Thoreau…as I slowly savor his words, filled with infinite wisdom and unparalleled insights, I find myself sharing my new found discovery with him…a timeless companion if you will, elevating my experience with his ever-present eyes and ears…

It is with his voice in the forefront of my mind that I’d like to share with you one of my favorite excerpts from Walden…it’s quite possibly the most profound description of spring cleaning and outdoor living I’ve ever come across! Wishing you a wonderful spring weekend!

“Housework was a pleasant pastime. When my floor was dirty, I rose early, and, setting all my furniture out of doors on the grass, bed and bedstead making but one budget, dashed water on the floor, and sprinkled white sand from the pond on it, and then with a broom scrubbed it clean and white; and by the time the villagers had broken their fast the morning sun had dried my house sufficiently to allow me to move in again, and my meditations were almost uninterrupted. It was pleasant to see my whole household effects out on the grass, making a little pile like a gypsy’s pack, and my three-legged table, from which I did not remove the books and pen and ink, standing amid the pines and hickories. They seemed glad to get out themselves, and as if unwilling to be brought in. I was sometimes tempted to stretch an awning over them and take my seat there. It was worth the while to see the sun shine on these things, and hear the free wind blow on them; so much more interesting most familiar objects look out of doors than in the house. A bird sits on the next bough, life-everlasting grows under the table, and the blackberry vines run round its legs; pine cones, chestnut burs, and strawberry leaves are strewn about. It looked as if this was the way these forms came to be transferred to our furniture, to tables, chairs and bedsteads, – because they once stood in their midst.” ~ Henry David Thoreau, excerpt from Walden

Top ~ In the Woods by Paul Cezanne, 1900

Bottom ~ In the Woods by Paul Cezanne, 1898

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inside out ~ new york city

“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world…inside out.” ~ JR

This week, while in NYC, I happened upon a wonderful surprise in Times Square, the INSIDE OUT PROJECT. From April 22 to May 10, 2013, artist JR and his team invited New Yorkers and visitors to take self-portraits in a photo booth truck stationed in Times Square, the site of the world’s first ever photo booth almost 100 years ago. These large-format street “pastings” lined Duffy Square and wrapped an adjacent building, offering the public a unique interactive experience between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter. Unknowingly, one of these faces may have passed me by in the crowd, people I have yet to meet and may never meet, but who have now made a lasting impression. They were willing to share their beauty with the world, and in doing so, allow us to examine ourselves more closely. Making the world a better place through art? Genius

photography by danielle boudrot for a thoughtful eye

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luciano giubbilei ~ atmospheric interiors for the outside

Born in Tuscany, educated in London, landscape designer Luciano Giubbilei blends the heart and soul of his Italian heritage with the rigor and discipline of his academic/professional years spent in London. It is this unique combination of passion and precision that sets his work apart. He describes himself as an interior designer for the outdoors ~ “like interior designers, I consider the texture, style, colour, and atmosphere of my gardens, and particularly how people might interact with the space.” These magical outdoor rooms are altogether alluring yet highly functional works of art ~ perfect for lounging, dining, entertaining and of course, dreaming…

“My gardens are about atmosphere…and the simplicity of the design leaves room for real magic – in the dappled shadows of sunlight through leaves on the lawn, for instance, or subtle uplighting through branches after dark. These are features you have to feel as well as see” ~ Luciano Giubbilei, House & Garden

above and below ~ Addison Road

“We return time and again to the comfortable vocabularies, images, sounds, memories, thoughts and feelings that constitute the boundaries of experience and expression…yet every now and then, we encounter a breakthrough moment – a rare instant when the daunting constraints of possibility melt away and then we gain the courage to focus through new lenses.” ~ Luciano Giubbilei from his book titled Nature and Human Intervention

above and below~ The Laurent-Perrier Garden at the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show, garden design Luciano Giubbilei, architect Kengo Kuma, and sculptor Peter Randall-Page

“I was studying banking and living with my English girlfriend, Sarah, in a walled garden in Chianti. I became obsessed with the lawn, irrigating it every evening, and friends loved coming round for dinner there. One evening I mentioned to Sarah what a great job it would be to create such spaces for other people, and she told me there was this career in England called garden designing.” ~ LG from Telegraph Magazine

above and below ~ Morocco

“English flower gardens – I just loved them completely. I would go to Kew and to Wisely and write down all the names. But gradually I really got into the structure of gardens. I suppose it all goes back to those photographs of the Gamberaia…I like a strong axis, projecting the lines of the house out into the garden…I try to make everything beautiful at night – trees and pots picked out with uplighters.” LG from Telegraph Magazine

above and below ~ Barcelona

“My gardens are really installations. I would not want you to compare what I do to an English flower garden, where there is such understanding of nature. This is different and has a different function, and the results can be quite instant.” LG from Telegraph Magazine

above and below ~ The Boltons

“Gardens are simply rooms. I’m really just an interior designer, outdoors.” LG from Design Week

above and below ~ Holland Park

opening quote from Design Week Magazine, photographs from Luciano Giubbilei

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