How Faux Will You Go?

Seems that many of our personal likes and dislikes can be traced to what was in fashion as we grew up.

I had an older flea market friend in the 1970's who couldn't believe I collected Roseville pottery (it was still quite affordable then).
Seems he remembered it scattered on tables in his family's home and his memories of it made him quite immune to the beauty of a piece like this.....

Instead of Roseville I grew up with artificial flowers.
In the early 1960's it was quite common to have arrangements of plastic flowers and wax fruit scattered throughout the house - on sideboards, coffee tables and in out-of-the-way dark spots that were not suitable for plants.

Although much of this decorating trend has since been rejected as just plain tacky, I'll always have a place in my heart and home for those vintage plastic grape clusters.....

At an estate sale quite some time ago I found a wonderful assortment of them in mouth-watering colors, and I knew I was hooked.
Drop them in some vintage wicker, surround with art pottery and candles, and Voila! - Vintage Faux!

I'm off to...
Home Sweet Home
Feathered Nest Friday
Show and Tell Friday
and
Show Off Your Cottage Monday

wondering...
Have you reclaimed some special home decor memories of your own?

Candle Tablescape

Happy September everyone!
For the past month or so I've been preoccupied with casting a collection of original candle molds that will work together grouped as a centerpiece.
Here is a quick glimpse of where I think this project is going.....

Looking forward to having something stunning put together in time for holiday celebrations -

Sharing this with the the first installment of 

Well Made Wednesday

at

An Oregon Cottage

Vintage Pottery in the Garden

A great way to add interest to container plants is to decorate with vintage pottery and ceramics.

Here a bulb pot of miniature hosta and babies' tears plays host to a screaming orange mushroom figurine from the 1970's.

The color is so loud that it almost looks poisonous -

but luckily this is one shiny, ceramic, safe mushroom.

Bloom Day August 2011 - Giant White Flowers

Seems that most of what's blooming in my San Francisco garden right now is big, white and fragrant!

There is Impatiens tinctoria.....

The 30 year old Brugmansia.....so fragrant in the early evening -

And the Burmese Honeysuckle (human hand for comparison).

Fragrance, to me, is such an important component of a garden, that I'm just really happy that these three guys are doing so well.
This is my first contribution to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, and I hope to have something to share from my small garden every month.

Jewel Box Colors

The sun finally broke through the relentless San Francisco fog today, and I cut this magnificent cluster of butter yellow lilies from the back of the garden - the stalk was over six feet tall!

Their fragrance is so powerful that it is even detectable all the way up here on the third floor...

And the fresh yellow flowers are just the right accent for the saturated, jewel box colors on our kitchen sideboard.......................

Don't you find the late summer garden a little bittersweet?
Mixed in with the riot of color, flowers and fruit is the subtle but distinct undercurrent of things winding down.

But today I refuse to be distracted by thoughts of autumn, now that our fickle summer sunshine has finally returned!

Will be sharing my sweet-smelling lily with everyone over at
My Romantic Home
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
No Minimalist Here

this week.

Real Life Work Table

Here you have this week in a snapshot.....

- Scattered piles of client paperwork - check!
- Laptop - check!
- Framed pieces and vintage wreath to list on Etsy - check!
- Overall gray tones from the relentless SF fog - check!

- Emma, under the table, taking it all in.

This is my real life, not the tidied-up blog version.
Sometimes there is a really wide gap between the two worlds - I suppose that's pretty common.

I will be sharing my reality-check over at My Romantic Home .....

Wild Sierra Orchid

Recently had a slow paced, away-from-the-city weekend with a friend at her home in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Spent quite a bit of time alone, walking around her wooded acres looking for the perfect downed tree branch for the new aviary. While scouting around I stumbled over this lovely wild orchid pushing up through the mat of fallen pine needles.....

It is a Spotted Coralroot orchid (Corallorhiza maculata) and thrives so well in the rich woodland humus of the Sierra pine forests that it has no need for leaves.


The backyard garden beds were just starting to show some color.....

 But the moss and lichen patterns on the tree bark were especially beautiful.....

And inspired this windowsill sized terrarium - a small fragment of the Sierra foothills, living in a tiny glass bell jar....

Today I'm linking up with An Oregon Cottage to be inspired by what's happening in other gardens.....