WEEK ENDNOTES: One Wild & Crazy Week

This was one crazy week. Hence, I posted not once, though I did manage to surf the web as a way to fuel my interior-design addiction.

This gorgeous bedroom reminds me I couldn’t have survived the week had I not slept well. However, I’m not sure that would have happened if I’d been trying to sleep in this particular room, staring up at that wild, wild wallpapered ceiling. It’s cool, but it’s also a little crazy and claustrophobic, like my week–not to mention reminiscent of Hitchcock’s The Birds.

It’s in the Sonoma, Calif., home of designers Austin Carrier and Alex Mutter-Rottmayer, otherwise known as Hommeboys. You surely will want to follow the links to tour the rest of their curvaceous and spicy digs and peruse their portfolio.

Aspire

In the spirit of wild and crazy yet compelling design, check out the redo of Jay Z’s Roc Nation offices in the Chelsea area of New York City.

Live and learn

Houzz

I was also absolutely stunned–in a good way– with 3 kitchen makeovers using all-white cabinets. It was like waking up feeling refreshed and energized, which, though I slept I never experienced this week.

You’ll be amazed at the difference white cabinets make versus natural wood. Me? I just want to climb out those windows into that lush back yard and lay in the grass for about a month.

Houzz

Or I could soak in this tub and enjoy this view until my skin shriveled. But all the while I’d be thinking of the topic this photo illustrated: “How to Clean Your Windows and Keep Them Streak-Free.”

You laugh, but it’s true. Never before have I lived in a home with so much light. The entire west side of the house is doors and windows. It plays up ALL the streaks, and I have worn myself out trying to get rid of them. I’m hoping these tips will help. That is, if I ever recover enough from THIS week to give them a try.

Apartment Therapy

If you live in a smaller space, you’ll also find this inspiring: “20 Brilliant Design Tips from the Small/Cool Contest’s Top 20 Spaces.” And if your space isn’t small, you’ll still enjoy the small and cool room photos, of which this kitchen is just one.

Style By Emily Henderson

Here’s another lesson to file away: “A Design History Lesson–20 Famous Vintage and Iconic Chairs You Should Know (and Keep an Eye Out For While Thrifting).” The three comfy looking ones people over 40 could never climb out of are the Soriana model, don’tcha know.

My eyes, however, are on the butt stool in the middle foreground. It looks like a great place to prop up my legs after a hard day, but wouldn’t THAT make an incongruent-looking picture?

From my fave design babes…

Sophie Robinson

Sophie Robinson shared the basis of her season-based color psychology course in a series of blog posts this week. Get ’em here: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter in the offing. She’s also offering another free, live webinar on the subject May 25 at 7 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, which translates to 3 p.m. Eastern Time. I sat in on the last one, and it was an absolute blast, if you can ignore the exploding chatroom.

BTW, like Sophie, I am primarily a spring with some overtones of autumn–in decorating, that is. (In wardrobe, winter sneaks in a bit–oh how I love gray!) Wish I could spring into step or else fall back into a long vacation. Could a color intervention help me?

Another of my fave design babes, Kit Kemp, rolled out some stellar products in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, including this fabric fit for a queen. Follow the link to see them all. The jubilee June 2-5 celebrates a milestone of which Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to reach–70 years of service.

2 from the Catskills

Gardenista

I spent a chunk of my childhood in upstate New York–not in the Catskills, which I’ve only seen on an interstate exit sign as we zipped by on our way to Boston once. Next drive-by I’d enjoy stopping and seeing this environmental stone sculpture park, called Opus 40. Sculptor Henry Fite built it over the span of nearly 40 years. It spans six acres and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you know upstate New York, you know its geological beauty is unsurpassed. Seeing this nature-blended monument crafted from stone present on the propertywould make my day and perhaps make up for this week.

Todd Carr

Also in the Catskills is the garden of fellow Master Gardener Todd Carr and his partner Carter Harrington. Together they own Hort and Pott, which stands for Horticulture and Pottery, in Oak Hill, NY. Follow the links to tour their home garden and to see Hort and Pott’s foraged wreaths, botanical arrangements, cement leaves and sculpted containers designed, made and sold by the pair.

Seeing as how Todd and I have the master gardener connection AND the journalist-in-a-previous-life connection, maybe if I visited he’d invite me to stay a while and take in the gardens? Man, what that would do to help my disposition.

On the homefront…

So what happened this week to leave me so out of sorts? Nothing really. I was just busy, with master gardener volunteer work mostly. I gave a hands-on session at an assisted living and memory care center on container gardening, and though the ladies were sweet, it was a bit like herding cats.

Then I attended a committee meeting for a summer youth gardening camp–one day a week for eight weeks–for which I am coordinating crafts. I had to get the T-shirt design done, finalize my plans , source supplies and get my shopping list into the head honcho because it starts in less than two weeks!!!!

And because I was stressed my benign essential tremor acted up. I’m one of those lucky afflictees whose tremor focuses on her vocal chords. So all week, in private but more so in meetings and presentations, my speech has been interrupted by uncontrollable tremors that are something between a stutter and a hiccup. It’s embarrassing and particularly frustrating for someone like me who prides herself on being articulate.

It all just left me feeling kind of frazzled. Nothing bad happened, but by Thursday I was depressed, too. I also am hating my hair and feeling like nobody likes me. Typical female stuff, though menopause is by now a dim memory.

BoHo Home

Life goes on.

Great blue herons are regular visitors now to the lake behind our house. Earlier this past week an adult pair dropped off a fledgling. Or I guess that was the story when all three flew in and then the adults left the smaller guy one-by-one. Haven’t seen babycakes since, but the big guys visited two more times this week, singly.

via GIPHY

We are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our patio umbrella. As temps climbed into the high 80s this past week. some shade would have been welcome on our west-facing patio. As soon as we get the umbrella in place I can put finishing touches on accessories and share a post on my patio. That is, if we don’t blow away first (40 mph wind gusts Friday) or burn up.

Stay tuned.

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