Showing posts with label Color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Color. Show all posts

Monday, April 14, 2014

Front Door Color: Safe is not on the list of Choices


She loves coral.  Loves.


Of course her home is an orange brick.  White front door lost amongst white windows/eves.
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Perhaps the white front door is not lost, merely, safe.
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We're aiming for a coral with browns, yet pops.
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Rich anticipation.
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Cote de Texas had this pic, above, recently & I wanted to grab the drapes-pillows and take to the orange brick house.  I know her coral is in this room.
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In Hawaii I bought 2 coral necklaces, a blood red brown coral & a lite salmon coral.  You know the reason for both.  A summer coral & a winter coral.
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What we need for her front door is neither.
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Remember, from the garden looking at your home, I must clearly know who you are.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.
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Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon
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Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.
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Construction by Award Winning:
Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Design: Sources of Inspiration

Cracked.  Cracked & stapled is my favorite.


A farm scene, and cracked, above.
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Perfect.
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Why do we buy dishes?  By the set.
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Fun discovering the cracked dishes at a clients last weekend.  I must look more closely at the pattern, perhaps there is something to copy into the garden.
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Ironically, her garden's color trinity is green-brown-white and these dishes are almost the exact faded brown version of her garden.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Choosing Color at the Front Door

Moving the pots, below, a mere inch wider will make the doorway wider.
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Staining the pots the same color as the siding, and moving the pots 3" wider creates an entirely new entry focusing on the custom door.
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What is the right answer?
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Don't know without seeing the interior.


REPETITION,  is your best friend in a small space.


In the Daily Mail Associated Press pic, above, I forgot about the topic/article I clicked on when I saw these pots.  Elegant, understated, quiet, no need to show-off, seemingly bespoke.
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Ironically, & counterintuitively, designing small spaces is tougher than acreage.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Top pic, 5th & State.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Friday, March 14, 2014

Oscar de la Renta: Simple Garden Trinity


Backdrop + bench + meadow = Fabulous Garden.  A trinity working hard long before Christ's era.


Dark green + Chartreuse green = Fabulous
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Thank you Oscar for playing dress-up in a garden.
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Within simplicity, aside from elegance, you'll discover Albert Einstein's, 
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"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives."
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Oscar's book, updated, Here.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Choosing Exterior Paint Colors

Exterior colors begin inside.  Wallpaper, sofa, art are your resources.  Especially for the front door.
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Trim & window colors are often dictated by the brick, stone, or mortar, on your home.


Exterior colors should look old the first day they are applied.  No waiting.  Benjamin Moore Historic Colors are a favorite.


I'm hard on my interior.  Loving faded colors on wood & textiles.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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pics in my kitchen yesterday.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Little Input, Big Impact

A bit of meadow, stretch of wild wood, bench.  Done.


In the depths of winter, still, one of the best invitations.
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Pictorial definition, LITTLE INPUT, BIG IMPACT.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Front Porch: Color Choices for Views & Guests

Built in the late 50's for the Queen's sister, Mount Corbett has a few original pieces remaining, below.
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This table wasn't designed for meals, propping feet, or bridge.
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This table leveraged conversation, cocktails, cigarettes (I can hear, & smell, the Zippo lighters shutting), & considering the era, 'stuff'.
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More than views, colors were mutedly chosen to show case people.
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How I would love to go back to the early years and see the clothes, hair, jewels.



Instead,


alone on the veranda, I was the color.
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My Ken Doll did  construction & landscaping at Mount Corbett a few years ago, hence my afternoon lolling in the pool & enjoying views while he gabbed with friends at the estate.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken this month in Jamaica.  We both wanted to prune the hedge blocking the views.  Alas, or maybe good for you, Mount Corbett is for sale.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Color Echoes: Pamela Harper

On the way to Noel Coward's our driver needed to stop here, below.
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Color alone told me whatever is ahead is good.
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Gates were unlocked, below, and we were ushered into a courtyard throwing me decades back to a stay at the Dauphine Orleans in New Orleans French Quarter.  But.  This was better.
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Ken Doll asked, You liking this Baby?  
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He got a smile, I was speechless.  He grasped my arm, my eyes were everywhere & there were steps.  Then our driver, worried I would fall, was helping too.
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This aging lady stuff is nice, indeed.


Color Echoes well done always capture my attention.  
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Pamela Harper pioneered the concept & I heard her lecture at Atlanta Botanical Garden when her book was published.
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Sand & Caribbean were the starting point.

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Towels echo the walls echoing the sand.  

The pool, below, looks exactly like the work of my friend, landscape architect, David Cristiani.


Leaving this Faberge Egg of perfection felt like reignments being pulled off, by force.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken last week, Jamaica.
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I doubt the Queen of Color, Maria Killam, has had 2 handsome men help her during a Color Swoon.
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What were my reignments for this day's outing?  Bikini, long-sleeved white linen shirt, flip-flops.  Perfect trinity.  Done.
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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Using Color Restraint with Intensity

Intense restraint and another example of the color trinity green-brown-white.


Restraint so intense the terrace has become a proscenium for guests.
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Subtlety so rich the bluestone & granite become focal points.
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Humbling execution.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic Wendy Posard and Associates.  Definite teamwork between architect & owners.
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2 Tara Dillard questions a patio must answer, 'Is this patio so fabulous I must see inside the house?', 'Is this patio so incredible I must see the garden?'.  Yes & yes.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Stained Concrete

Technically this should be a 'cold' space.  Concrete, glass, iron.


Instead, with staining of the concrete, there is warmth & invitation.
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Pressure wash?  Never.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic via La Maison Fou.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
.
Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Aerin Lauder: Color Choices

What is the most obvious fact, below?


Green-Brown-White is the top color trinity, again.
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Choose a color trinity for your garden, and it should flow from your interiors, then stay true.
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What is your color trinity?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic Aerin Lauder.
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Aerin Lauder must be an old soul.  She's kept, yet made her mother's garden/house her own.  Building upon good existing layers.  No ego about starting from scratch, just because she can.  The garden, above, is a garden design class in a single pic.  More than pretty, it didn't cost much to create nor will it cost much to maintain.  Aerin's Effortless Style is no sales gimmick in the garden.

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
.
Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
                                                                                 .
Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Layers of Green are Best in Garden Design

Layers of green always work.

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Flowers.  Give-me-flowers-or-give-me-ugly seems to be the starter gardener mindset.
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Layers of green are pretty all year vs. a season.  Layers of green emit ion exchanges of serenity.
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I can assure you choosing layers of green vs. flowers is, "The spreading wide of narrow Hands To gather Paradise—", "I dwell in Possibility..." by Emily Dickinson.
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Odd how most of Garden Design is counterintuitive.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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How do I know these things?  Queen of the flower method of garden design 12-step program.  No, I will not enable you.  My goal is to help you get rid of those pink elephants in your landscape.
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pic via Pinterest.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

How to Design a Grill so it's not an Eyesore

Movable grills are awkward, not aesthetic, & do not 'fade away' into the backdrop.  Mostly, movable grills are an eyesore.  

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If a movable grill is on your buy-list study the exterior design, above.
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This is an expertly executed exterior design.  
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Obviously a styled photo I can still smell what's cooking.  And we 'know' there was no cooking going-on for the shoot !
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Why does this movable grill look good?  Props: comfort chairs-pillows-table-umbrella-mood, a color trinity was chosen/green-gray-stainless, simplicity, focal point (if you have an eyesore place a focal point nearby), contrast of many square shapes vs. round armillary sundial, formal landscape choices contrasted with informal plantings, repetition of flooring from dining area to garden area, an easy to maintain garden lets you focus on LIVING in the garden.  Simply.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pic via 5th and State.  No excuses about the house, above.  If it's beautiful at a historic estate, it will be beautiful in your landscape.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group local or out-of-state.
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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Garden Design: Color + Proscenium


Choose a color trinity for your garden.  Green, Brown, White is one of the best.
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House & Garden are YOUR proscenium.
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Why?
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So YOU are the star.
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What will it take to get your Home & Garden to this level of competence?  
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Merely being aware.
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It's that simple.  
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pic Aerin Lauder
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You don't need Lauder's bankroll.  It's all in the attitude.  Taratude, get you some !

Friday, November 15, 2013

Wendy Posard: Bathroom View


And the garden, below, is art on the wall.


Though a tooth brush & tooth paste seem an inconvenience, above, that is forgiven for the casement windows.
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Oakleaf hydrangea, white sasanqua, tea olive, gardenia, Natchez crapes, asiatic jasmine, akebia, & the requisite oaks, conifers, kousa dogwood, grancy graybeard, sourwood,  yes, I know exactly the garden for this view.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic Wendy Posard.  Imagine every window with a garden view.  That is my starting point.  Anything less is a trifling effort.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Wendy Posard: Kitchen + Garden


When the garden is a feature of the kitchen I know the architect has gone beyond their education.  And delved into the realm of intuitive.


Flooring flows inside/outside and the scale is charming vs. large.  Other comparisons: happy vs. large, nurturing vs. large.......
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Necessity vs. luxury.
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"I can live without the necessities but I must have the luxuries.", a quote I first heard age 8, repeated by Miss Katherine Scott, a grand influence.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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Pic is a Wendy Posard project.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Features to Copy from this Room into the Garden

In the garden you know exactly what type of arbor is required, below.  Arched, 3' deep, iron, creating an enfilade punctuated with an urn on plinth matching the one below.



Repetition, is one of your strongest design tools in the garden.  Maximized with interior repetition.
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Color & pattern, very easy to copy from this room into the garden.
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I never tire of a client saying, "I love that."  Exactly, I copied it from their interior.    Yes, it's that simple.
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Garden  & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic via Cote de Texas.    Why an iron arbor to match?  Contrast.  Yet, if the client wanted heavy cottage style I might do the wood.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Garden Jewelry: Windows

This kitchen was a 1980's time capsule at my first visit earlier this year.


With kitchen & house renovations complete I was back at the jobsite this month to fine tune garden plans.


The kitchen window is new too.


From the garden, below, the window is pure jewelry.


The bricks were saw cut to enlarge the opening, barely visible, and soon the bricks will be lime washed.
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Exciting times, I've never worked with a window so stunning.  Sure, we'll have cobblestone edging & a stone terrace but the window will still be the focal point.
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Have known for years exterior lighting is jewelry for the garden, now windows are added to the list of jewels.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite this month.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

French Planter: Color

I put these planters across the front of a home last Saturday, though a bit larger.  


However, zero temerity for foundation plantings, plenty of gracious #89 granite gravel.


Not this big, above, but did put in this size for a home needing to hide garbage cans.
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Taxus x media 'Hicksii', pruned similar to Great Dixter's, is the plant choice.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Top pic Old Long Island, bottom pic, Things That Inspire.  .
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Color.  Client house is gray, white trim, black shutters, apple green door.  Planters can be any of those but white.  A nice amount of space but not quite enough to handle the boldness of white.  Apple green is my choice but the gray or black are acceptable too.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

2 Questions for Patios, Decks, Porches

Graduating with another degree, horticulture, I was fully aware creating the gardens of my soul had yet to be discovered.  


Luckily Penny McHenry came into my life.  She invited me to lunch the first evening we met.  A lecture meeting with packed audience we were in the 3rd row.  I plopped next to her & knew she wasn't amused.  We began talking, garnered a stern glance from the speaker then talked so long the security guard asked us to leave, the building was closing.
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In her garden, the next day, one of the biggest theatrical curtains of Garden Design opened when I saw her back deck.  From the first glance I knew.
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When looking at a patio there are 2 questions.  Is this space so wonderful I must see inside the house?  Is this space so wonderful I must see the garden?
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Ironic.  Patios, porches, decks, & their styling, were not mentioned during my degree program.  Nor any symposium I had ever attended.
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Penny did it from innate talent.
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Innately I knew, copy good ideas.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic Susanne Hudson's front porch last month.