Art Meets Function: The Nautilus

Loving the graceful lines of the Nautilus Chair by John Franzen. 

Born in Germany, raised in Belgium, studied in and now living in Maastricht, Netherlands, Mr. Franzen's various media creations are influenced by his relationship with nature.  

 Closeup of the Nautilus Chair: such precision and patience!

 The Nautilus Chair: wood and paper

Mr. Franzen creates objects and sculptures, paints and draws.

 For more information, visit his website here.

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If These Walls Could Talk: Casa Orlandi

There is just something about Italy. 

I am drawn to its past, to all of the creativity that flowed out of the artists' brushes and into their surroundings.

Casa Orlandi is a prime example of such beauty. I suspect that if we had the time, we could find amazing villas and homes deserving of magazine spreads for each day for many years. 

The pink room bathroom

Casa Orlandi, an 16th century palazzo in Prato, Italia, was renovated by the Italian architect, Sabrina Bignami. Owner of b-arch studio, Ms. Bignami is an architect with the specialty of restoring old buildings. During the four years of restoration, many rooms in the palazzo revealed frescoes underneath the white paint. The artist was Florentine Luigi Catani, who created the frescoes during the period of 1790-1815. Luigi Catani painted many religious frescoes and altar pieces, some of which are in the Cathedral of Arezzo and the Palazzo Pitti.

The windows, floors and doors are original to the building.

The dining room

The green suite

The pink room

detail

The pink room / bathroom

The grey room

Fresco detail

The kitchen

The salon

 For an interesting interview with Sabrina Bignami, visit Costas Voyatzis' Yatzer interview here.

 To rent rooms in the palazzo's three guest rooms, the email is palazzo.orlandi@gmail.com or Sabrina.bignami@b-arch.it.

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How Does My Garden Grow?

Please- come in! I thought I'd take you on a mini tour of our Bay garden. Grab your comfy shoes and stay awhile. You'll meet Bella in a few minutes.

After two months of consistently cool and rainy weather, we have almost caught up to the normal blooming schedule, thanks to the 90 degree temperatures and sunshine, with occasional storms moving through. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but we have been totally invaded by mosquitoes. I'm talking about the five-bites-in-one-minute kind at dusk. Saturday night. !

These are Red Charm peonies and, no, they have not been touched up in Photoshop. The sun from behind made them almost glow. The true color of the flower is closest to the middle bloom- intensely red.

Actually, right now we are in between the perennials' flushes of blooms. This week we caught the last of the peonies. You can never have enough of them! Their season can be cut short if the temps go too high, which they did. Did you know you can extend their season after cutting them? If you cut them in bud, process them (cut stems under water, immediately place them into a bucket of water that goes half way up the stem with no foliage below the water line) and let them drink the water for a few hours, then you can "dry store" them in the cooler (refrigerator) wrapped in newspaper for a week or two. When you remove them, cut the stems again before placing in the vase.

The foxgloves are now bloomed out...

and the chives and peonies, too.

I love the color of campanula.

Here is a spare lantana topiary that we keep for emergency replacement for Pieter's clients' plantings. It is such a happy flower. Oxalis is the purple/burgundy foliage at its base.

One of the most fun parts of the garden to us is mixing the colors and textures of the foliage. It keeps the garden interesting even when there are no blooms. Below is a cut-leaf Japanese maple that we keep pruned very low at the edge of the deck, sitting next to a wonderful hosta.

And, finally, we have a pepper! I think it will be a while before any veggies are harvested though.

The one who enjoys our garden the most is Bella, our Standard Schnauzer who just turned two years old. The yard is her kingdom. And she loves the sprinkler even more than the yard!

OK- your turn! I'd love to visit your gardens as well.

Sneak Peek

Aahh- the possibilities...

Tomorrow I'll take you on a mini tour of our garden.

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Eclectic Friday

Sharing with you a petite collection of fun and funky ideas...

such as this corner painted headboard. Cool idea carried out with a flavoring of Livia's villa frescoes.

Love this birch pole feature! If you could figure out a way to open and close it, it would be a fun closet "door." I can just see this in my son's apartment.

A red room made special with the crewel embroidery on the wall "paper." I'd love to see this closeup. The Spanish maker is Becara.

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A Summer's Eve

at Edgewater Beach...

looking east...

and looking west...

There's no place like home.

Speaking of, if you would like some fascinating reading with a traveler heading to the four corners of the U.S., follow Dan O'Malley here. Dan is my nephew and he described his adventure the best:

Four corners. Three months. Two wheels. One man.

I am in awe.

Linking up to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

His or Hers?

That would be gold leaf mosaic tiles for him or silver leaf mosaic tiles for her?

In 1938, the city of Paris, in a show of unity against Hilter, hosted King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. They stayed at the newly renovated French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which was originally built in 1856 under Napolean III, and which is now the L’hôtel du Ministre des Affaires.

The bedchambers for the King and Queen each have their own bathroom, which were renovated in 2005. The King's bath is adorned with gilded Venetian tesserae (mosaic tiles in a cube shape). Each mosaic tile consists of two glass tiles sandwiching the gold leaf, producing a richness and depth not possible with plain gold leaf. The panel behind the tub is cut and frosted glass.

 

Over-the-top lush, eh? And quite beautiful.

The sink's pedestal is decorated with faceted glass.

The Queen's bath featured silver leaf Venetian tesserae.

Elegant, subtle, pretty.

 

The rooms are the epitome of late Art Deco and are a stark contrast to the rest of the ornate building. Serene and modern. 

Copper encircles the room's mirror.

So, which do you prefer? His gold or her silver?

(Despite all of the gold's pomp, I'm going with her silver...)

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