My sister in law and my niece arrive today, we will spend a few days enjoying Florida before I fly back home to California. It’s graduation weekend and I’m excited to celebrate, my youngest is graduating high school so a chapter is ending and soon the nest will be empty and a new chapter will begin. I finished a DIY project during my Florida stay, it’s an IKEA cabinet hack that now serves a very useful purpose in our home. Look for that project coming up later this week. Favorite links: This light and bright beachside retreat (don’t miss the flower wall installation). This modernized Californ ..read more

Welcome to the spot I enjoy my morning coffee and where I like to listen to podcasts or doze off in the shade. I just love spending time here in the early mornings and late afternoons. I bought this white and gray outdoor sofa back in January, assembled it myself, and it’s held up beautifully even when it’s been sitting in full Florida sun. The clean lines and white frame complements the style of our house and it’s my favorite place to lounge outside! It’s that season for sprucing up our patios and porches to spend more time outdoors. Here’s a group of attractive outdoor sofas that don’t cos ..read more

Texture is one of the ways to add interest to your spaces, and so I look for surfaces that will do just that. I was strolling around Hobby Lobby and saw bags of little white stones in the floral section and thought those would be a cool material to craft with, then I spied a plain wood tray and thought I would combine the two to see if I could make this tray more interesting using those little stones. I brought them home and got to work, using some leftover tile adhesive and grout I had in my garage. With a little patience piecing it together and some white paint to finish it off, the tray cam ..read more

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I’m leaving for Florida tomorrow and I’ll be spending a week there. I have a project that is finally coming together, I was waiting for all the parts and supplies to arrive. I’ll be working on that all week before heading back to California, fingers crossed I can complete it and photograph it before I leave. My son’s prom is tonight and he graduates from high school in two weeks, woah that happened fast. I remember when he was just a wee lad helping me around the house on home improvement projects and now he’s all grown up. He’s wearing a blue suit and beautiful blu ..read more

The update on my mom’s condition is that she is on the mend, her healing is going slowly but it’s going in the right direction. My sister stepped in to help out over the weekend and my brothers are helping too so it’s a team effort along with my dad to get her well. Have you seen Unfrosted yet? I watched it and thought it was both ridiculous and hilarious, I’ve always been a Seinfeld fan and I thought the cast and characters were great. Today I spent a few hours in sunny Sausalito and toured the Heath Ceramics factory, it was a so interesting, I’ll share that experience this week! Favorite lin ..read more

If you’ve ever closely examined the displays in high end homes, you’ll notice the statement accessories quite often are earthy, organic, and in all likelihood, expensive. Designers know there are certain materials that create an upscale aesthetic, and they come from materials that have existed for millennia. Our beautiful earth is the source for unique collectible pieces that are attractive displayed on shelves or tables because of their one of kind shapes and organic textures. No modern plastics or recently harvested wood can compete. Search 1st Dibs and you’ll find vintage versions for a hig ..read more

My mom was in the hospital for emergency surgery on Monday and it had us all very worried, there was a chance she wouldn’t make it but thankfully she came out of surgery. She’s alright and now in the process of healing and I’m thankful I’ll be here with her on Mother’s Day. I flew to Las Vegas to console my Dad and assist around the house, that’s the reason it was quiet on the blog this week but I’ll be flying back home Monday and back to regular content when I return. :) Favorite links from the week: Proof that simplicity can be stunning: this new build in Ireland. English cottage meets midc ..read more

I love weekends of futzing, filled with combination of idle time and a few hours here and there cleaning and reorganizing. I’ve been washing sheets and duvets, dusting, discarding, and reorganizing all with the windows open and sunshine streaming in. Matt spent the day power washing and pulling weeds, it was one of those weekends where you sit down at the end of it and you’re so grateful you spent it at home doing all those little things that make a home feel clean and cozy again. I’m home for most of the month of May which I’m happy about, since I spent much of April in both Florida and Switz ..read more

I was welcomed home from my international trip by my viburnum bush in my rear yard putting on an extraordinary display of beauty as it does every year. I’ve written about this bush before, it’s my favorite perennial in my yard. Also known as ‘Chinese snowball’ it booms in late spring and gives me the most gorgeous white puffballs. A perennial is a plant that comes back year after year, and lives for at least three years, whereas annuals are grown from seed every year. I had no idea when I planted my perennial viburnum fifteen years ago that I would love it so much, it was a most happy accident ..read more

Travel season is upon us! Today I’m finishing up my trip to Switzerland and I fly home tomorrow. On this trip I brought the same two pairs of sneakers I brought with me on my adventure in Malta last spring and also to Amsterdam in autumn of last year. This is my third European trip wearing the same two pairs of canvas sneakers I have in light blue and black. Talk about getting my money’s worth, they never fail me! Sometimes I bring this third pair of golden metallic sneakers too. I write about this topic every year because foot wear is *so* important, just as the wrong shoes can limit your mob ..read more