It’s Monday – what mood are you in?

Lauren Liess - DC Desig House
Indulged
Pronunciation: \in-ˈdəlj- ed\
Took unrestrained pleasure in
How will you indulge yourself this week?
Photo via Pure Style Home
It’s Monday – what mood are you in?

Lauren Liess - DC Desig House
Indulged
Pronunciation: \in-ˈdəlj- ed\
Took unrestrained pleasure in
How will you indulge yourself this week?
Photo via Pure Style Home

Botanical Beauties on Diane James Home
We’re often asked why we don’t open a retail store where we could sell our designs as well as beautiful botanically-inspired gifts… and we have to say, we’ve been tempted! Now, with the beauty of e-commerce, we’re indulging our retail dreams by adding a few of our favorite gifts (all under $80!) to Diane James Home, just in time for Mother’s Day…

Artichoke Linen Hand Towel

Poppy Soap Set

Tea Forte Tea Chest

Hydrangea Note Cards

Scrapbook Tray
And our gift to you, free shipping through May 8th!
Photos via Diane James Home

Verbena4
… to British painter Dan Bennettfor capturing the beauty of blossoms from bud to full bloom in his whimsical paintings. A tree surgeon and gardener armed with a fine arts degree, Dan (now a full time artist) began creating these magical pieces in his free time and whenever it was too wet, cold or dark to work in the flower beds.

Digitalis3
The vibrant floral forms have already captured the eye of gallery owners and collectors and the imagination of stationers and fabric designers worldwide… We can’t wait to see where Dan’s work pops up next!

Helleborus3
Photos via Dan Bennett

Stepping Out in Miu Miu
Holy Moly, we’ve been seeing a lot of cutouts, eyelets and lace these days and not all are on models walking down the runway… From the looks of it, European designers can’t get enough of the play between texture and shape that results from using scissors (or a laser!) to create these floral forms. Is this a trend that we’ll be seeing soon stateside? Vera Wang thinks so… how about you?

Hanging with Louise Campbell

Being Shady with Droog

Corresponding with Vera Wang

Sitting Pretty on Gianluigi Landoni

Dressing Up in Collezione Dulcinea
Photos via Miu Miu, Hive, Droog, William Arthur, Flickr and Vogue Italia

Sweet Yet Sophisticated

Stamp of Approval

Delightful Desserts
Pursuing a plethora of pretty purple pansies…
Photos via Albert Giordan, Champion Stamp and Martha Stewart

Delightful Dining
Sociable
Pronunciation: ˈsō-shə-bəl
Inclined to seek or enjoy companionship
P.S. Pull up a chair and be our guest at Party Resources today!
Photo via House Beautiful
Do you have a place in your home where you keep little gifts on hand just in case you need one? We have a closet at home and every spring, we stock it with pretty hostess gifts that will certainly come in handy over the summer season.

Anali Exquisite Needlework
One of our favorite “must haves” when we entertain is hand towels – and not the ones the kids use when drying the puppies’ muddy feet, mind you! The towels we use are exquisitely embroidered with beautiful blossoms and come in all the colors of the rainbow.

Lovely Linen Guest Towels
Made in Redmond Washington by Anali (a mother/daughter business like ours!) these linens guest towels are truly works of art. A design begins as a hand-drawn rendering created with a kaleidoscope of colored pencils and watercolors to accentuate detail and shadings. The drawing is then scanned into a computer and a special embroidery software program is used to plan each stitch and color change to bring the design to life.

Festive Gerbera Towels

Blossoms for the Bath

Sensational Salsa
Like in nature, perfection can’t be rushed so each order can take three to four weeks to produce but the result is well worth the wait! And for those of you who would love to add a little botanical beauty to your home, Anali guest towels will be available on Diane James Home next week…

Beautiful Belize Pillow
Photos via Anali

First Blush - Pink Narcissus Mix
… to White Flower Farm in Litchfield, CT, for creating the most beautiful mixes of daffodils that even we, with our black thumbs, have been able to grow in our gardens.

Double Daffodil Quartet
Every fall, we plant a couple or fifty more bulbs and keep our fingers crossed, hoping that most will bloom come spring. While we’re beginning to see green shoots, we’re praying that some of these darling daffodils will be ready for an Easter centerpiece!

Easter Extravaganza
Photos via White Flower Farm and Good Housekeeping

At Home in Nirvana
Along with helping Celerie Kemble with flowers for her room for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, we’re busy designing our own space at the Designer Showhouse of Westchester in Bedford Corners, NY. When Connecticut Cottages & Gardens asked us if we’d turn a basement “craft room” into something floral and fabulous, we immediately thought of a cutting room.

Nirvana from the Sky
We could just imagine the owner of Nirvana (the $11 million 10,000 square foot home to be transformed by top local decorators) picking flowers in her garden and arranging them in her own private sanctuary.

Cutting Room - Before
Fortunately for us, the room is quite easy to work with since it has a black and white floor, white built-in counters and white walls. We’ll be bringing in French flower buckets filled with stems, vases to line the shelves and counters and creating a display of our own bouquets for sale during the showhouse tour.

Fun Floral Buckets
We’ve even come up with a creative way to cover the flat screen TV (a black eyesore on one of the walls!)… with a large picture window overlooking a peony garden mounted on foam core!

A Garden View
The showhouse benefits Cerebral Palsy of Westchester and will be open to the public from May 8th through June 12th. We do hope you’ll come and visit!

Rendering Our Room
P.S. For more information on the showhouse, please click here.
Photos from Southeby’s, Good Life of Design and yours truly

Ella Doran Loves Leaves

Darling Daisy Domes

Wonderful William Morris
Just remember… April showers bring May flowers!
Photos via Brollies Galore