Bowls of Joy

I like making simple easy centerpieces with glass ball ornaments and a pretty bowl or dish.  I bought these beautiful Martha Stewart ornaments from K-Mart a few years back.  I can't stand the traditional Christmas shades of green and red, so when Martha came out with her line of grey blues, sage greens, and cranberry colored pinks, I went a little crazy buying whatever I could find.  Now I'm so happy I did, because I don't believe they are carrying the Martha Stewart products anymore.  These ornaments were very inexpensive.  Which goes to show you that good design doesn't have to be expensive.  Martha and her team clearly paid attention to great color, proportion, and shape, and came up with a beautiful, yet inexpensive line of products.  Yeah Martha!

J. Huestis

Veranda

I like the combination of green and silver in this photo.  Also notice the bird.  I'm not sure why but I love when birds are part of the Holiday decor.  But that's a post for another time.

   

Veranda

I like the peacock inspired colors mixed with the leaves in the bowl.

J. Huestis

I used white ornaments with a silver dish and some silver and blue beads as an accessory in a blue room.

J. Huestis

Ok, no glass ornaments here, but I continued the silver, white and blue theme on this table scape.

Martha Stewart

Veranda

Here the flowers are in the bowl and the ornaments are on a wreath on the mirror. The green, gold, and white make an elegant combination. 

Good Enough to Eat

Martha Stewart Living

I think it's interesting that many of the Holiday decorations at this time of the year include food, often fruit, but sometimes cookies and candies.  Here are some that I thought were very pretty.

Martha Stewart Living

I like these pineapples made of grapes, nested on pretty silver urns.  I also really like the garland.

Connecticut Cottages and Gardens

I saw this spread on a Holiday House tour last year.  It was on a great big harvest table in a barn that had been transformed into a large entertainment room. It sort of looked like a big Medieval feast.

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

Winter Planters

I've finally pulled out the dead flowers from the urns around my house, and was looking for some ideas for a wintertime decoration.  This one is from Pocket Full of Posies.  I like this one because it has quite a bit of texture from the various types of leaves, and not too much color.

 This one is also from Pocket Full of Posies

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I like the garland and the ornaments hanging above this flower box.

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I like the sculptural nature of the following all by Deborah Silver, This one works especially well with the square planter.

Notice the pretty glass "droplet" ornaments; very subtle. 

The grasses add a nice height to these planters without looking to showy.

The boxwood is very simple and elegant, it's a nice contrast to the fancy planters.

The Artful Modernism of Olson Kundig

A few weeks ago The New York Times published a house designed by Olson Kundig Architects.  It's a very cool house set into a hillside of rocks, overlooking a watery inlet.  I was taken by it's simplicity and the beautiful and interesting way the built form meets the landscape.  My teenage son was equally taken with the design.  For the most part, architecture, at least the traditional work that we tend to do, doesn't interest him in the least.  But when he saw the Olson Kundig house.  He exclaimed that if he could do work like that, he might actually like to be an architect.  Hum? 

This is the house which was published in the Times.  From this angle it looks like a one story building.  The low profile and the sod roof really help it blend into the landscape.  And then...

from the water side, you see the soaring two story wall of glass, and the concrete shear walls which look like they are actually slicing through the rock to make a space for the house.

I also like the mixing of tradional formal furnishings with the sleek modern architectural elements.

I thought my son would like to see these other, very cool, structures.

photos from Olson Kundig website

Elizabeth Peyton

I first saw the paintings of Elizabeth Peyton a few years ago in an article in the New York Times magazine.  I was struck by the energy and bold colors in her work.  I recently came across her name on a blog post about Marc Jacob's apartment.  I think Ms Peyton takes figurative work to a new, really modern and up to date level.  I love the intenisty of her paintings and of her subjects.  Many of whom are famous.  Her work is so contemporary, and yet has the same power to draw you into the world of the subject.  Much in the same way some of my favorite artists from the past did.  I  see her work as a descendent of Sargent, or Whistler, or Velasquez.

Classical Statuary

Recently I remarked to a friend that I would love to have a classically inspired bust as a decorative element in my house.  Soon after, I began seeing many examples in the British magazines, World of Interiors and House and Garden.  They have been covering a new product line by a company called  Haddonstone.  I think these busts would look as well inside as outside.  Unfortunately they are significantly more expensive in the US than in the UK.

Haddonstone also makes some very pretty cast stone urns and fountains.