This book makes it tough...

to choose a color concept for a room. "Paint the Big Book of Natural Color" by Elizabeth Hilliard and Stafford Cliff is page after page of breathtaking rooms and sources of inspiration: the deep Mediterranean blue walls of a home on Santorini with window frames the color of cumulus clouds; the gray of stone gargoyles on an ancient French cathedral brought into an elegant bathroom in England; and humble whole wheat bread, toasted rich and maybe a bit charred,used as an accent color in a folk art museum in Sweden. Oh and the whites are just as compelling: the color of birch tree bark, the pale face of a barn owl, a morning"s frost. I've mentioned books by Stafford Cliff here before and each one is a treasure. Take a look and tell me, what do you think?

fall garden beauties

The Japanese anemones stand tall and graceful above their foliage and are my favorite fall flowers. A dear friend gave me a clump from her garden years ago and they have gradually taken over in the areas that get morning sun, even coming up along the gravel driveway. Pretty by day and by night.

getting rid of stuff

For the last month or so I have been getting rid of one thing each day. Some days it's more than one thing. These bags are the latest collection ready to give to the thrift store. Even before this "one a day" program I regularly filled bags of unwanted/unused clothes and housewares to donate (when you have kids you are always clearing out the old as new things take their place). Getting ready for home exchanges is big motivation and certainly we can't have bulging closets when we do VRBO. Besides, it just feels good to pare down.

thinking ahead to Spring

Yesterday I bought dozens of white tulips to plant right at the edge of the street. Now they're in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of months.

Borrow this book!

Today I found a book at the library by one of my favorite interior design authors, Stafford Cliff, and I am thrilled! It is called 1000 Home Ideas and like his earlier The Way We Live, this book has hundreds of gorgeous photos, organized in subject areas such as "Openings and Closings" (doors and transitions), "Shelf Life" and "Stylish Storage" I've shown a page from "Steps and Bannisters" here. The "Walls of Wonder" section shows displays of things people collect and/or use every day such as workboots, cutting boards, wooden kitchen utensils. Believe me, these are NOT sterile Pottery Barn interiors!

H&M Home World Premiere!

When we were Stockholm one of the first places I went to on the big shopping street is the new H&M home store. It's the first and only one anywhere so far! It is on the second floor of one of the (many) H&Ms in Stockholm. There are no stacks of merchandise from which you serve yourself. Instead you take a little refrigerator-type magnet that has the picture of the item you want and take it to the register. Then a staff person gets you the item (I didn't see them do this because I didn't buy anything). Interesting how that will work out. The displays gave me the feeling of being in a museum, gazing at beautifully lighted and cleverly mounted exhibits.

more Sweden

The Swedes love lingonberries and the sweet-tart preserved berries are served frequently (and always with meatballs). I brought back this jar of jelly, so good this morning, spread on toast.