nyc: abc home & carpet

ABC Home & Carpet was a must-see for me in New York. The selection and styling of the goods approaches an artform. Lots of natural wood, organic forms and pieces that scream Authentic.

I couldn't take my eyes off the silk-flower wall on the ground floor - I still haven't decided whether I love it or despise it. I do love the petrified stump tables below.

Nice ceramics by Jan Burtz. Makes me wonder if you can register for your wedding at ABC?

The natural goods area had a great display of the elements that go into their products - cotton, flax, linen, and a bunch of stuff I couldn't identify.



The children's area had this sweet soft branch with hanging pods. Something about it resonates with how I see a comfy baby's room.

Chandelier of cast metal twigs and glass drops. Natural and sophisticated all at the same time.

nyc: vines past and present

While I was in NYC, walking around Chelsea, I picked up a wonderful beet and orange salad at Whole Foods and walked down a tree-lined residential street. As I sat on the steps of a brownstone, soaking up the mild summer air and sunshine, I noticed that a vine almost completely encased the building in front of me. Even more poetic, in past seasons the vine had clambered over to the left, spreading it's tendrils two addresses away.

The intervening occupant had trimmed away the aggressive vine, but on the third building, an amputated skeleton cast a lacy shadow on the stucco, almost like exterior wallpaper...

portland: ink&peat

I just wanted to give a big congrats to Pam, from housemartin, for opening her new floral and homewares shop, Ink&Peat. You can see some stunning images of the space, and all that fills it at housemartin. Image from Ink&Peat portfolio.

more paper flowers: jude miller

Thanks to Jude Miller I'm now totally smitten with paper flowers (via Oh Joy!). These delicate, horticulturally correct pieces are pure beauty. Since Jude splits her time between the UK, the US and New Zealand, her work represents species from these places. I love her kowhai pods - I have a kowhai tree growing outside my door in New Zealand... the heavy wood pigeons love to swoop in and nibble on its new leaves in the spring.

millinery flowers

Etsy constantly surprises me. Wouldn't these vintage style millinery forget-me-nots from Caramelo's Artful Supplies look great in corsages or as hair flowers?

austin: bigredsun

Continuing yesterday's theme of great Austin garden stores... if you haven't visited BigRedSun on the east side you're really missing something! In addition to creating ground-breaking landscape design, they have a great homewares and gift store (blue house), a pavilion with potted succulents for your patio or coffeetable, and rotating art installations. I'm also in awe of the floral design they create for events - lots of feathers, succulents and unusual rocks. And their website is glorious.

austin: gardens

One of my favorite shops to visit for inspiration in Austin is Gardens (they now have a Dallas location too!). The owners and employees scour the globe for unusual and unique homewares and garden items...and the plant selection is unparalleled. The Gardens staff are responsible for some of the most lush and exciting landscape design around this arid town. Check out their website for more great pics.

inspiration: ellerslie flower show

I dragged Kyle to the Ellerslie Flower Show in Auckland this last spring, and we both loved the interesting garden and floral designs. Here's the winning floral art display.

color inspiration: kris's color stripes blog

Have you ever wanted to plan an event but didn't know how to choose the color scheme? Or needed inspiration to decorate a room with a unique and complex palette? Well, fear not, I've got just the blog for you... kris's color stripes is a riot of color inspiration! This talented Italian lady snaps images of beautiful Italian architecture, vintage children's illustrations and much more, then extracts the pure colors and puts together an easy-on-the-eyes swatch palette. I love the juicy colors in this shot of anemones.



The color palette below would be a great starting point for a baby shower. As a floral designer I'd love to have a client bring in these images, so I could put together a unique arrangement... Maybe pink peonies with dusty blue tweedia and yellow craspedia balls, green sage leaves, blue-gray succulents, and fluffy dusty miller in a vintage brown stump vase like this one. I'd use brown kraft paper instead of a table cloth, and let guests leave wishes for the baby in (color-coordinated) crayon! These votive candles would look great dotted around the table. Sophisticated but soft.


You can also see Kris's color palettes without the photographs at kris's color dots. Enjoy! And thanks Kris for such a well executed idea.

rebecca thuss, stylist extraordinaire!

Thanks to Lucy over at The Design Files, I discovered the identity of one of my favorite stylists. Rebecca Thuss has created some of the most beautiful layouts in MSWeddings and MSLiving - pages I've torn out and filed (according to color!) in a series of binders that I use for inspiration. I recently lost these binders, and so you can imagine how delighted I am to see so many of my favorite images on Rebecca's website. Stunning!

book review: living color by paula pryke

Paula Pryke is a color genius. In my mind, she is one of the world's great floral designers not only for this fact, but also because she seems to be a one-woman dynamo. She runs a bevy of shops, teaches classes, writes books, consistently comes up with floral designs that knock my socks off, and... oh, travels the world promoting her brand by giving lectures and workshops. Wow, what kind of vitamins does she take, and where do I get some?

I've used a couple of her books in my floral practice for years. I turn time and again to Living Color for inspiration, color combinations, and during wedding consultations to get an idea from brides about what they like. I think in terms of color, and this book is divided along those lines, providing detailed lists (with common and Latin names) of the flowers available. Since Pryke is based in the UK, there are some exotic species that don't make an appearance State-side, but hey, that makes it all the more interesting. The amount of information packed into each page is great, there's even a color chart at the back listing flowers in that shade.

I have other floral design books that sit on the shelf collecting dust after I flip through a few times, but I'd say Living Color has retained it's relevance, and even become the book I look to most for inspiration.