Fall color combos

As we stroll into fall, my color preferences often lean towards the more robust shades. I like to feature the colors in accessories, leaving me the option to replace them at a whim. My walls and main pieces of furniture are more neutral.

I am an aqua girl (way before this "year of turquoise"), so I fell in love with this great tile mask at first sight. It is from the Teotihuacan archaeological site in Mexico,  c.450. 

Veranda Magazine via the Museo Nacional de Antroplogia in Mexico

Just beautiful! The orange complements it nicely.

Veranda Magazine via the Museo Nacional de Antroplogia in Mexico

I thought that this was a lovely melange of colors.

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Back to that aqua family- you cannot go wrong with turquoise accented with gold in a refined damask pattern.This is Designers Guild's Almaviva Turquoise fabric. 

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The chair's luscious red velvet fabric and gold frame are striking against the raw concrete, gray walls. They set each other off.

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The concrete walls (with hints of blue in them) also make a nice foil to the blue plaster walls. I have seen these walls used in a few advertisements. I assume it must be a rental location.

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I had a client present me with a photo of a rug which she used as an inspiration starting point for her library. The blue and olive colors are almost a neutral- neither feminine or masculine. But they sure look good together.

Marais from Niba Rugs

Here is the finish I came up with- a custom colored, blue metallic plaster done in a raw silk texture background and a damask pattern with a custom olive plaster. What do you think? Did I interpret it close enough? I love the challenge of figuring out the steps to a finish and the more inspiration photos you can present your designer or painter with, the better.

A similar colorway is used in this classic urn.

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One really cannot compete with Mother Nature's color combinations. We picked these flowers on Tuesday to use in floral arrangements. Dahlias, buddleia and one white with pink geranium stem for good measure; yes, you can use geraniums in a vase of flowers as long as the stems are conditioned.

What other color combinations do you like? 

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home, for Show and Tell Friday.

I am also linking up to Terrell's Fabulous Friday Finds over at Frou Frou Decor. Check out all of the ideas!

Two weddings

I had the pleasure of assisting with two weddings this past weekend. They were very different: one was indoors, one was outdoors. One was more casual, one more formal. However, both included the color yellow. Yellow has been a popular accent and feature color this year, the first time in many years that I can recall.

Let's take a peak. Literally- I only managed to snatch photos here and there. And, of course, my camera battery died, so these are from my cell phone.

This is the indoor wedding ceremony structure called a chuppa (there are many spellings of this word). The wrought iron structure was custom made for Pieter Bouterse Studio and is a gorgeous piece on its own. A wrought iron chandelier was hung in the center. Its candles had special bulbs that flickered as a real candle would.

We are almost done with its decor here.

Here are a few closeups. Some of the flowers we used included garden roses, hanging amaranth, bittersweet vines and hydrangea. The brighter yellow flower spikes hanging toward the bottom are oncidium orchids.

Yellow snapdragons were used to mimic the wrought iron shafts radiating from the center.

The attendant bouquets were made of deep burgundy / purple dahlias and calla lilies, with a collar of yellow gloriosa lilies. The handles were wrapped with a deep burgundy leaf. Unfortunately, I was not able to photograph the bridal bouquet.

 

The outdoor wedding was very fortunate to have perfect weather. The late afternoon was about 70 degrees and sunny.

Here is the bridal bouquet. You are looking at roses, hydrangea, dahlias, gloriosa lilies and gardenias. Aren't the colors fabulous? I love it when a bride is a bit more daring.

 

The attendant bouquets featured cymbidium orchids, kangaroo paws, roses, calla lilies and calcinia.

The ceremony took place outdoors, down by the pond at the bride's home. The dinner and dance tent was set up close by. Here is a slightly out-of-focus glimpse of the gorgeous, midnight blue sky and tent with clear sides.

The tables were squares and rectangles, the flowers were set in clear cubes and votive candles twinkled from numerous sources on many levels.

A magical evening!

Happy Harvest

This is always a great time of year. 

Here's to the garden harvest!

 

The rose is Golden Celebration and smells heavenly! One of my favorite rose scents.

Off to make pasta sauce for the winter and pesto for this evening. 

Join me tomorrow for a glimpse at the weddings I worked on over the weekend. Ciao!

 

Friday fleurs

As you can tell, I love color, particularly in the garden! My favorites this week are each a bit unusual.

Can you tell what this flower is? It is usually pink, white or purple, has no scent and takes months to germinate from seed. It originated from the prairie gentian. 

This coloration is not seen often- more of a rogue. It has a color-washed look to it.

I included this rose because it looks like someone took their paint brush to it. No, I don't know its name! Perhaps I should be more attentive...

I believe this is the third year for us to grow dahlias. They require lots of water, can get by with partial sun, although they prefer as much as possible. They also require some sort of staking. If you get lax about this, they'll fall over. The good thing is that they are very adaptable and will change direction and continue to grow upwards again. We have a few dahlias that fell, the stems were actually horizontal, adapted and are now all growing upwards again, with the stems actually like an "L". We don't pamper many plants here! Our rule of thumb is that if it can live in a pot outside all winter and still survive, it is welcome in our garden!

Check out this dahlia. Most of the blooms are the deep, rich burgundy, but this has a few white petals thrown in for good measure.

Have a great Labor Day weekend! Hopefully, Hurricane Earl will miss most of the U.S.! 

I'll be joining the decorating team and working on two weddings. Yeah for the return of the cooler weather!

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home, for Show & Tell Friday.

Thank you, Artie at Color Outside the Lines for Vignette Friday.

On reflection: Mirrored Walls

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A mirror holds magical properties. It both catches the light and then casts it forward into the room. It appears to enlarge the size of the room. It can be a work of art in itself. 

The use of mirrors on the walls can vary. They can be mounted in a grid pattern on an accent wall.

Traditional Home  Photo by Emily Followill

This room's mirrored wall was aged before its application.

Traditional Home  Photo by Emily Followill

The mirrors here are unaccented and a large size. A very clean look designed by James Huniford.

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The room here contains many design elements to gaze upon. Even the mirrors here are detailed, with their small grid pattern, beveled edges and extensive aging.

Designers Here and There by Michele Keith  Photo by Casey and Anne Sills

This lovely room's mirrors are framed and presented in different sizes. With artwork and a graceful mirror placed directly on them,  they fulfill the full function of a wall.

Designers Here and There by Michele Keith  Photo by Grey Crawford

If you don't want the whole wall mirrored, you can add your own mirror "windows".

Country French magazine        Photo by Chipper Hatter

Mirror patination can be done in specific designs to complement the decor. The most sought after effect of patination is the look of an antique mirror, with the timeworn pitting of the silver on the back.  Here, the decorative painting firm in Orlando, Florida, Garay Artisans, installed mirrors with a custom oval patina.

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This beauty was accented with a damask pattern and plum color.

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The mirrors in The Bohemian Hotel in Savannah, Georgia are accented with copper and gold.

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The copper and plum colors in these mirrors command attention and admiration on this wall!

 

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There are products available to make the patination process a little easier. Antique Patina Mirror Solutions offer a three-step product that can be used on a myriad of projects. Besides the mounted mirrors on the wall, the patination process can also be done on small mirror tiles, as furniture accents with the mirror placed as a table topper and in the center of ceiling coffers. Modello Designs offer many stencil patterns that can be applied to the mirror surface.

Would you incorporate a mirrored wall into your decor? 

A lovely studio

Wouldn't this be a enchanting place to dream and create?

Art and Decoration   Photo by Alexandre Rety

Art and Decoration   Photo by Alexandre Rety

This is the studio of Belgian Laurence Hannoun. 

Mine is almost nothing like this. We can dream!

A wreath and a recipe

Looking for a tasty side dish for the Labor Day barbecue? Try Orzo with Roasted Vegetables:

You can use whatever veggies you have, especially those you just harvested from the garden. Roast them on the grill to cut down on the kitchen heat and they'll be even tastier. You can also roast the pine nuts on the grill.

The basil adds the punch it needs. I garnished with it, as well.

For those who were curious to see the giveaway hydrangea wreath that was won by Leigha Oaks, of the elle oh blog, here it is. I used an assortment of hydrangeas, all from my yard, and added a little bittersweet which is perfect right now. The hydrangea petals will eventually fade over time and the bittersweet will still burst open from its yellow pod.