Pretty Spaces and Places - Pretty spaces and places to share today for your interior and exterior inspiration, enjoy. Villa mabrouka Anderson Weir Studio The Palisades, Washington DC

Read on to learn a landscape designer's strategies for maximizing the beauty and utility of a modest-size lot.

Turn a basic shed into an amazing garden haven with these beautiful ideas. Create an oasis for potting plants & storing your garden supplies.

Working as a professional propagator for 2.5 years, moons ago, left its mark, deep & rich. More than knowing how to propagate, I miss the work. Literally, the physical work of propagation, and its 'time', its progression thru the seasons, from seed/cutting/plug, to plant for sale. Early mornings, first arriving to the myriad greenhouses, end of the day, closing the myriad greenhouses for the nite. Thru all weathers, the daily life of it. Fragrance of the various soils, each green house with its unique smells thru the year, differing temperatures catering to myriad greenhouse crops. And, of course, Kelvin, who taught me all he knew, by doing. Working with him, side-by-side. Hands/bodies laboring, conversation & laughter flowing. He remains one of those friends never seen for years, then spying each other at a garden event, the big run to hug, and I feel tears of pure happiness, merely seeing Kelvin again. . Seeing this pic, below, recently, and realizing how badly I miss seeing our poinsettia crops growing from plugs to maturity. Didn't know I missed that specific life experience until seeing the pic. There must be a word for this, probably in French or Italian, American too paltry for such a word. . Instantly this bit of color thru the Conservatory, below, got put onto my list. Fourteen months in our ca. 1900 American farmhouse, we're getting a lot done on the 'list', but we're not to my Conservatory or Chicken Coop yet. And, what a fabulous blessing. Their architecture improves by the month, free of charge. Smartly, I'm staying quiet about this private architectural joy with Beloved. If he knew, he would have already built my Coop & Conservatory, square, historic, plain, good, done. Poor thing, he said to me, not too long ago, "You get your mind set on something and nothing stops you." It was in the tone of exasperation, my reply was quick and happy, "It's my best trait. Your next point?" Nope, he doesn't need to know about the architectural renderings, yet, for the Coop & Conservatory. Pic, above, here. We have a similar bank of windows, above, brought home from a house we renovated for a client recently. Here's the odd fact, I like being near my chickens, hearing/seeing them, aside from calming I think they are hilarious, they make me laugh. My chicken coop must have a bit of 'Conservatory/Shed' for me. A place to be in all weathers/seasons, to read, have lunch with a friend, a glass of wine late on a Saturday afternoon with a new book that just arrived on the doorstep, happy rich solitude. Pic, above, here. From the house I want to see my chickens in their coop during winter, this wall of windows, below, perfect. Pic, above, here. Pic, above, here. Nice roof, above, for my personal section of the Coop, especially in winter, all other roofing will be metal. Pic, above, here. More than the roosting rack, above, and stone steps, below, I get it about these painters. Aside from major talent, they love chickens too. Caring for my chickens is not work or a chore, instead, a delightful part of my days. Pic, above, here. She, below, is one of us, a Chicken Whisperer. Have no clue why Providence put chickens into my life past age 50, but I'll take it, say thank you, and keep chickening on. Pic, above, here. Pic, above, here. Best chicken run, above, ever. Instantaneously with seeing it, onto the list it went. . My Conservatory shed, with large lean-to metal roof at front, and at back, is already built and awaiting Beloved's barn to be built, his stuff is in my Conservatory shed. Not far away is the temporary Chicken coop/run Beloved built in the shade of 2 century old pecan trees, it's chain link with a flat metal roof. For months I've been having breakfast or lunch under the back lean-to roof at my shed, overlooking the coop, lake, woodland, meadow. Poor Beloved, all that scope-for-the-imagination of Anne of Green Gables in action. I hear Marilla Cuthbert, "Finest property on the north shore." . Have no interest creating the finest Conservatory or Coop, only the finest Conservatory and a Coop, for me. Now, this phase, vision questing, quite fine in its own merit. . Garden & Be Well, XO T

Most keen gardeners dream of having a practical space to keep their tools and pots, to dry flowers, and to store bulbs and harvested crops. Beth Tarling shows us round her dreamy potting shed, which is so much more than that

Rustic garden decor is having a moment right now and it's easy to see why. Vintage garden decor has a timeless appeal, effortlessly blending the beauty of nature with rustic elements. From vintage garden gates to whimsical fairy garden aesthetics, this post will show you a collection of unique rustic garden decor ideas that will help you transform your outdoor space into a picturesque and charming garden.

“Never neglect an opportunity for improvement!” ~ Sir William Jones

Have a small yard or garden? Less – maybe a patio or balcony? Driveway? No space is too small or oddly-shaped for a bit of garden, and you’d be surprised […]

A blog about Decorating, fashion, gardens, the beach, gardening, cooking, photography, all influenced by my Italian and Argentine roots.

Smith & Hawken Garden Structures by Linda Joan Smith New post on the blog by Abbey

This unique potting shed is more than a place to start seeds and store garden equipment. It’s a repository of meaning and memories.

When it comes to garden sheds, dream big. Shelves, storage, and style: here are 10 ideas to steal to create a hardworking shed that feels like a sanctuary.

Get some fabulous ideas to on how to organize your potting shed with clever storage solutions for your garden tools.

Garden shed makeover, interior and exterior, how to organize garden tools, garden potting bench, DIY garden accessories, DIY planter with wood sticks

Dining-Room Inspiration 1. I've always lived in homes that had big, sometimes even huge windows. My bedroom as a child had a huge French window, my student studio in Paris had a sliding window that was nearly bigger than the room itself, the first apartment I bought had a whole wall of windows in every room. 2. J'ai toujours habité dans des lieux qui possédaient de grandes, voire d'immenses fenêtres. Ma chambre d'enfant avait une double fenêtre descendant jusqu'au sol, mon studio d'étudiante une fenêtre coulissante aussi grande que la petite pièce, mon premier appartement avait carrément un mur de fenêtre dans chaque pièce. 3. So I'm used to live in rooms that are flooded in light and I want to keep it that way. I guess it shows in the inspiration pictures I filed for my dining-room. 4. J'ai donc l'habitude de vivre dans des pièces baignées de lumière et j'aime ça. Je crois que cela se voit dans les photos d'inspiration que je vous ai montrées jusqu'à présent. 5. This is not what I have with Cottage of course, but dreaming over beautiful pictures never hurts, does it? Pourtant, ce n'est pas du tout ce que j'ai avec Cottage... Mais rêver sur des photos ne peut pas faire de mal, hein? 6. When I began renovating Cottage, I thought I'd do something to the tiny window I have in the dining-nook. It overlooks the garden and it would be perfect if it was larger. Quand j'ai commencé la rénovation de Cottage, je pensais transformer la petite fenêtre du coin salle-à-manger. Elle donne sur le jardin et serait parfaite si elle était un peu plus grande. 7. I didn't want to do anything that would be out of character for Cottage, but maybe just creating an other window exaclty like the original one, next to it, would be charming. Je ne voulais cependant pas dénaturer Cottage et mon idée était de créer une deuxième fenêtre identique, située contre la première, avec juste l'encadrement en granit pour les séparer. 8. It turns out opening a new window in a stone cottage requires an architect to make sure the walls won't stumble down once you rip a hole in them. Mais une telle transformation nécessite d'embaucher un architecte pour voir si mes vieux murs en pierre peuvent supporter qu'on y creuse un trou sans que la maison ne s'écroule. 9. There's no way I have the money to pay for an architect, the metallic beam involved in keeping my walls up and buying the nowadays very expensive stones to put around the new window like I have around the old one. Je n'ai pas les moyens pour un architecte, pour une consolidation de mur probablement via IPN et pour acheter un nouvel entourage de fenêtre en granit. 10. That's one of the reason that made me open up the wall between my dining-nook and my kitchen, so the light from the bigger kitchen window could arrive in the dark dining-nook. C'est une des raisons qui m'a poussée à ouvrir le mur entre la cuisine et la salle-à-manger: ainsi la lumière de la fenêtre de la cuisine atteint la sombre salle-à-manger. But now I have to create something charming with the window I have which is not going to be an inch larger... Mais maintenant, je me retrouve à devoir transformer en quelque chose de charmant une petite fenêtre qui ne peut pas s'agrandir d'un seul centimètre... The dining-room window is the one to the left of the door. This is the adventure I'll tell you about in the next posts, stay tuned! Voilà l'aventure que je vous propose de suivre dans les prochains articles ! Have you done something to your windows so they add charm to your room? Have you ever tried to turn something you didn't like in your house into an asset? Quelles sont vos astuces pour donner du charme à une fenêtre ? Avez-vous déjà essayé de transformer en atout un défaut de votre maison ? Beautiful black sill... See you soon, A bientôt, PS1 : All the sources for my inspiration pictures can be found on my Pinterest board "Dining-room". PS1: Les sources pour chacune des photos d'inspiration sont sur mon dossier Pinterest. PS2: I have paint on my hands as I type and two of the cats have some in their fur... Be assured that we are working to have something to show you! PS2: J'ai de la peinture séchée sur les mains et deux des chats en ont dans leur fourrure... Soyez sûr qu'ici on travaille pour avoir des choses à vous montrer plus tard! PS3: I'm sharing my inspiration with:

Ben jij ook iemand die het liefst het hele jaar van de tuin geniet? Er is nu een nieuwe hortensia die heel het jaar mooi is. Gedurende het bloeiseizoen veranderen de bloemen van de Magical® hortensia van kleur. Van een hortensia met heldere kleuren tot een plant met een schilderachtig herfstpalet. Deze boerenhortensia bloeit van mei […]

Greenhouses, glasshouses and orangeries were torn down across Britain a few decades ago – thankfully, they're now back on the up and better than ever, says Mark Griffiths.

Källa Gamla trälådor är både vackra och perfekta till personlig förvaring. Kolla bara in de gamla vinlådorna i det här köket! Här har man bockat till plåthyllor som passar dem i måttet. Kul idé och snyggt är det också. källa En annan bra idé är att skruva fast hjul på lådan. Lätt att rulla dit man behöver den och lättare att flytta undan när man kommer röjandes med dammsugaren *ler*. Källa ? Det här är kanske inte en trälåda, utan en gammal hylla. Vilken härlig förvaring till torrvarorna i skafferiet, och vilken underbar färg på både den och väggen bakom. Jag har också några fina lådor som förtjänar att få komma in istället för att vara förvaring åt en massa "junk" i förrådet. Hör gärna av dig om de vet var man kan få tag på fina hjul till dem? Ses snart! Karin

Completely Obsessed source source source source source source I've been collecting images of potting benches for over a year. I want one soooo badly. I know all I need is just an old table and some wood or shelves and I can create one out of castoffs. I just have not found the cast offs. Plus whatever I do has to be out in all weather. Do you have a potting bench? Do you wish for one? I'm so bad that I keep suggesting them to friends. "You know what you need?" "A potting bench." Which is met with looks of bewilderment. Obviously no one else I know is obsessed by them. I'll share more of my photo collection tomorrow. Thanks for all your supportive comments on the change I decided to make in my life. I felt like I was really losing myself and now I feel like I'm making a comeback. Financially, I don't know how I'll make it. There is no extra money for anything. I won't even be having plants on the back deck this year. I did splurge and buy two small basil plants because I just can't do without that and they are cheap. But you know what? Even if I'd continued to work at Target... I could not afford plants for the back deck. So I'm not losing that much. I just figure something had to change because things were not going well as they were. I have yet to tell my Mom. She will freak. Right now its a blessing that she doesn't have a computer. More benches tomorrow! Maybe they will inspire one of you and I can live vicariously through you. Tweet

Would love to spend some time in this nice garden room, watching outside in a big beautiful garden with lots of big old trees and beautiful flowers and green gras...instead of sitting in my office trying to do my work...*sigh*

It was a Dark and NOT so Stormy Night I had quite the Craigslist Adventure last Friday night. It began Thursday night when after searching for weeks, I found a piece of furniture on Craigslist that I thought would make the perfect potting bench. Cause you know I've been obsessed with having my own potting bench. I envisioned myself using it for an outside buffet and garden bench. So...I quickly emailed the seller who was offering a buffet and hutch for $75. Would he take $50 and could I pick up tomorrow after work? Then I went to bed. Of course I was running late for work the next day and didn't check my email beforehand. Then, I had to work an extra shift and then ended up going to dinner with a friend. I totally forgot about my Craigslist find. I got home about 10 and checked my email and I had several emails from the Craigslist guy, at first saying... They could not take $50 and then saying they decided they could. Would I call as soon as I received this email and arrange pick up? So I called and said, "Yes, I'd love it for $50. Could I come tomorrow?" "Well", said Chester (the Craigslist guy) "I've got it in storage at Tuttle." I say, "Oh...I know where Tuttle is...I could come in the morning." (For those of you not in Oklahoma. Tuttle is a small town south of Oklahoma City. Drive time about 40 minutes away) Chester says, "Well, actually we are here right now. It's at my parents house. We have somewhere we need to be tomorrow. I was hoping you could have come this evening." I find myself saying, "Well, I could come now...if it's not too late." (I didn't want someone else to snap it up) "No", says Chester (hmmmm all of a sudden Chester seems like an ominous name for a seller.) "Right now is just fine." I have to say he sounds perfectly normal on the phone; like a young professional. (But have you ever seen American Psycho?) So....I tell Chester that I'll start out right away and should be there in about 40 minutes. It's now like 10:15pm. As I start driving down the highway...I think....hmmmm most women would take someone with them to buy a piece of furniture from a stranger off Craigslist. Most women would not head out alone to drive to the country at 10:15 pm. But...I am not most women. I did call a friend's Mom (Peggy)...the only person I could think of that would actually be awake and told her that if I didn't call her within an hour to send the police to this address in Tuttle. And that the guy's name was Chester. Peggy...thought this was the worst idea I ever had and begged me to turn back. But I was half way there by then. I was just going to take my chances. I'd been told to drive to Tuttle and turn at a big church... I took Chester's phone number in case I got lost. But I thought, it shouldn't be too hard to find. I was to drive through Newcastle to Tuttle and turn left at Snowhill Church...after that....I was to turn when I saw an old abandoned trailer... to drive down the drive past the trailer and around back to a house where the furniture I wanted was behind that in a barn. Yes, I decided to continue on. I found the church but could not find where to turn so I called Chester. He said he'd meet me at the corner gas station. Sure enough...a few minutes go by and here is Chester in a pickup to the side of me waving for me to follow. He looked like a nice fellow but then so did Ted Bundy. I followed him into a driveway surrounded by tall grasses. I am really questioning my sanity at this point. Yes, there was the old house trailer as he'd described. A chill went up my neck. But I still had visions of this in my head. or this I was in it now. I was not going to let being in a precarious situation cause me to miss out on the potting bench of my dreams. I continued on...following him till I saw the home of his parents. Chester had gotten out of his truck and was waving for me to come on. Yes, it looked like that.... but with tall grass all around and junk cars too. Another figure came out of the house carrying a flashlight. I could hear large dogs barking in the background. Chester motioned for me to drive past his truck and around to the back of the house. By then, I stopped my SUV and asked if I was going the right way. Chester said..."Yes, it's just back here in the barn...follow me." The other figure was a woman. Chester said..."This is my wife ______." I totally forgot the name as soon as I heard it. He said..."I thought you might be more comfortable if I had my wife out here too." "I thought you might find this kind of scary." "I had her put the two great danes in the house." (strangely, I would have found the great danes the least frightening of the whole ordeal) At this point I was laughing hysterically as I am known to do when frightened. "Scary?" I said..."What could be scary about this?" So we got to the barn and there is my prize. They show it to me by flashlight. I say..."Yep, I'll take it." Truth...I just wanted to get out of there. At that point, they called the brother out of the house to help load it and I was off on my way. He was a big guy in overalls. This only added to my discomfort. I have never been happier driving away from something. As I drove back through the long drive way...Chester called my phone. "You forgot the doors for the hutch." "I'll be right up to you with them." I didn't care about the doors. I wasn't planning on putting them back on. I hated sitting there waiting for him to walk up with them. I was almost free and I feared just like in the horror movies... that is when the killer would do me in...just when I had thought I'd gotten away. But he handed me the doors and I was off on my way again. I was back home by midnight with my treasure. Now the only problem is that its still in the back of my SUV. It's too heavy for me to move it by myself. I broke my cardinal rule of not buying any furniture that I can't move by myself. Still I know it has great potential if I can only get it out of my car. Don't you think it was worth risking my life? This was my first Craigslist purchase. I would totally do it again. But next time....I'm really going to insist on it being during daylight hours. To be quite honest, the couple I bought this from could not have been nicer. And they looked attractive and very normal. She was hesitant to sell it because it had been her grandmother's but they didn't have room for it any more. I always meet the nicest people when out and about and they were no exception. Still it was rather spooky. Tweet