Succulents are really popular right now. You see them all over Pinterest and they are in every magazine. They are easy to grow and come in many variations. Your friends might even be giving you little pieces of their succulents to poke in soil and grow your own. So, if you have a sunny spot,…
Ceramics have been made in the Russian villages southeast of Moscow around the small town of Gzhel since the 14th century. The pieces are beautiful, with a white background and detailed hand-painted patterns. They are usually blue and white, but may be in other colors. Originally potters worked in their homes. They increased their productivity…
Vern Yip’s Koi Bath Collections are available in Gold or Silver. Or you could mix the two. The Gold Koi fabric has a rich blue background. The Silver Koi fabric has the metalic fish printed onto white for a more subtle look that would work with any colors or neutrals. The Gold Koi & Silver…
We just got some Adirondack chairs and a fire pit to enjoy in back of our new house. Nothing as ambitious as this outdoor fireplace, but I want to do something a little more than the chairs on the grass we have now. This time of year it stays light really late, but when it…
Vern Yip’s new Shangri La Oriental Bath Collection is primarily black and white, so you can use it with any colors or neutrals. The shower curtain has a large scene, like a detailed transferware landscape of a romanticized oriental scene. The Shangri La Collection – Beauty of the Orient Shangri La, a fantasy of the…
The Laura Ashley Cassidy Collection has bedding, window valances and a coordinating shower curtain. The fabric is 100% cotton with romantic roses in shades of blue, white and green printed on a pastel yellow background. Laura Ashley Blue and Yellow Cassidy Collection on Amazon All Laura Ashley Cassidy on Amazon Laura Ashley Cassidy Comforter Set…
This beautiful set of elegant disposable dinnerware from Kate Aspen is designed to make entertaining simple and beautiful. The pattern is called Blue Willow. It is blue on white and perhaps these are willow flowers and leaves, but it isn’t the chinoiserie inspired Blue Willow. The site says it is French country and I can…
Repurposed old glass insulators are all over Etsy. People turn them into candle holders and book ends. I have about a dozen of them that I put over inexpensive solar lights. They mostly block both the light and the solar panel, but I don’t care. A number of lighting manufacturers make lighting collections that use…
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation operates historic area stores in Colonial Williamsburg, living-history museum in the historic district of Williamsburg, Virginia. The Hampstead Toile collection was inspired by an 18th century English fan found in the Foundation collection. It has chinoiserie scenes of pagodas, willow trees, stylized Chinese ladies and other traditional motifs in cobalt blue…
We had Pfaltzgraff when I was a kid. The stoneware stood up to us kids doing the dishes. We had a house fire and one of the only things to survive is one of the Pfaltzgraff plates. Pfaltzgraff now has dinnerware that looks like traditional Italian ceramics, but in durable stoneware and melamine! Villa della…
