Happy Friday

Love this image of a vintage Martha Stewart in front of a great table with cascading, happy poppies straight from the garden. It's loose and casual but because they line the whole center of the table, it's a statement. Also, how vampy is Martha, in her own way, here. Incredible. I want to use the idea on a farm house table with linen napkins, white plates and bottles of wine.

See more vintage Martha right here.

And happy happy weekend.

Lone Poppy

On Sunday we went for a stroll in Eaton Canyon and I stumbled upon this one, lone, (opium?) poppy. It was a bright smack of red against the sandy sides of the canyon. I go pretty often and had never noticed it before. I love beautiful surprises like these, don't you?

Happy Little Elephant

Today I had something disappointing happen. I'm trying to look on the bright side and learn from it, but, still, it's raining outside and I'm feeling a little bit blue. Luckily the roses outside are blooming out of control. So I snipped some and filled this sweet little elephant to help get my spirits back up. It makes me smile every time I look over.

What do you do to cheer yourself up after suffering a setback?

Spring Flowers

I have been good about keeping fresh flowers in this vase on this credenza in the dining room since we moved. And when I'm feeling flexible I'll even get stargazers, even though they inevitably fall apart and leave staining pollen dust on everything. They're just so beautiful they're hard to say no to.

But hands down, my favorite flowers right now are ranunculus. The way they always look wild and the petals feather out and they come in all these colors, they just make me feel so happy. So these sit next to the bathtub and in front of Elliott's zebra (the one he got from his gramma).

Portland: Ink and Peat

I've been a fan of the blog Housemartin for years. It's just a great resource for beautiful flower inspiration, housewares and things happening in the Portland area. It was great to be able to visit their brick and mortar store, Ink and Peat.




As expected the shop has tons of great housewares that, in a lot of cases, I've only seen on etsy. I loved their blankets and wanted to curl up with these wooly cozy numbers.

And this chandelier!

The owner had it made using vintage style bulbs from Hippo Hardware, a Portland fave. It's a little like the classic from Jean Pelle but has more of a laisser faire quality to it.





Ink and Peat also carry fresh flowers and make custom floral designs. They're in the NE, find them here and check out their blog, Housemartin.

Beautiful Peonies

Somehow, I missed this gorgeous print by Gregory Krum on 20x200 last year. I'm a sucker for half dead peonies and this photograph is just so delicate and amazing. Plus, it's only $20 for an 8x11.

Bauer Canoe Pot

Have you guys seen this arrangement from the december issue of Sunset? I love the seeded eucalyptus but absolutely love the container it's in. It's the Bauer Pottery Canoe Pot made here in LA. I can't wait to see what the next product in the Home by Sunset line.

Update: If anyone needs to get me a present, I'd love one of these in white!

Busy Bee

More soon, but for now I'm deep into another install for the Kor Group with Nadia. This one is in Long Beach and it involves this wallpaper:



It's been described as a floral that's not a floral. I like it, it's jungle-y and floral-y and retro-y and still a little modern. We'll be close to done friday, right now the space is empty. The next 24 hours will reveal a lot.

Gorgeous Poppies

I had a friend visiting from Korea last week (we actually met in Art school in Paris almost ten years ago). It was her first trip to LA and she wanted to see what was going on in the art scene. We ended up swinging by some galleries in Culver City and we both agreed that the best art we saw was this little vignette of poppies by the sign in book in one of the galleries.

On a related note: Trader Joes has peonies again! GO BUY THEM!

Peonies

These make me feel very indulgent and very happy.

Pretty Flowers

These were some flowers that my friend em and I put together before a dinner party last week. It was fun to do and we ended up adding weeds and mint to the yellow ranunculus and protea. Still want to do something like this , but this was a good warm up.

On the Kitty note, thanks everyone for your kind words, your warm thoughts and your shared experience. It really does help. She's sort of holding at 'bad' but at least better than 'dead'. She sleeps under the bed and still has an appetite, so that's good. Otherwise the whole thing is heartbreaking.

Weeders Digest

Are you guys reading the new flower and plant column on Design Sponge? (it's called weeders digest, for real!) It's brilliant and possibly my favorite thing on the internet....today. I'm also a tad bit jealous that I'm not writing it. But it's so good that I can get over it!

How cute is this?

My friend jamie saw an ad for these new arrangements at 1-800-Flowers. I know, I was surprised too. What a sweet idea though to make a bunch of carnations into a cupcake arrangement. Carnations are cheap and these are low enough you could have them on the table during a meal and not have them be in the way! Now all we need is a little cupcake liner-shaped container...

Happy Weekend

Hope you spend some time looking at something beautiful.

I'm going to see if I can have an internet-free (ish) weekend and spend some time interacting with other human beings and catching up on some sleep.

Happy Weekend and Garden Update!

I bought plants!

And the fig tree is starting to explode with fruit. I think I'll make some fig jam. Or I'll just give them away before that all ripen at once!

I just love pink and blue

but only certain shades will do.

Rose Inspiration

I was so taken by these gorgeous pictures of Poem Gal's roses that I can't wait to go to the farmers market and bring back oodles of flowers to arrange slightly haphazardly. If only I had those incredible vases! See all the photos on Poem Gal's Flickr site.

Joel Dewberry Textiles

Same vibe as Amy Butler but a little something different. And who can resist cherry blossoms? Joel Dewberry Textiles via Housemartin.

Housemartin Flowers

I think it's pretty obvious how into flowers I am. Oddly I hadn't really noticed until I started this blog and I just always gravitate to the flowery image. In that spirit I had to give a nod to housemartin and her incredible wedding bouquets. You can order your own through her company ink and peat if you're in Portland. I'm always amazed and inspired by her eye for color and texture. Enjoy!

Pink Snowball Tree

I hadn't realized that the Walt Disney Concert Hall also has a garden. It's planted above the hall so there are restrictions for how deep trees' roots need to be and how heavy they become since they're essentially on the roof of part of a building. I was blown away because I have never seen this kind of tree before (and my mom works in plants, so really I've seen a lot). If I remember correctly it was called a Pink Snowball tree and it is from Madagascar. It looks strangely like some kind of a hydrangea tree. And I love it. It wins.