6/3/10

Porch & Garden Tour

 Last weekend was gorgeous and great fun around here. Graduation and end of the school year celebrations continue to keep our family busy, busy & this blogger from blogging! My good friend Patti & I were able to scoot away for an afternoon though and enjoyed the Ashland Neighborhood Porch & Garden Tour. I thought you all might enjoy a peek.

The residents of The Ashland Park Historic District are a warm & a welcoming group of families. They take great pride in their historic homes surrounding Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate.
On this day, residents served lemonade & sweet tea and invited visitors to relax on their front porches and explore their private gardens.
This Colonial Revival was my favorite. Approaching from around the corner, the layers and layers of manicured greenery lead you up to the front door framed by massive cloud-shaped boxwoods.
Around back on the patio, the owners were serving up iced tea as I was adoring the arched French doors leading along the backside of the home.
Only a very clever man would turn a woodpile into such a handsome wall separating the carport from the yard. So easy on the eyes I almost missed it.
More beautiful layers of greenery create a restful & quiet refuge, not that you really need one in Ashland.
The mossy roof and stonework were charming. This home was not on the tour and stalking was frowned upon. I seriously wanted to peek around back. Maybe another time.
Another fine Colonial Revival & I love the symmetry & brickwork all the way out to the street.
These giggles greeted us as we walked down the long driveway past this darling side entrance.
The trees around Ashland add so much to the architecture in this historic part of Lexington.
A softly patinaed bronze set the tone for the shade garden of a Tudor Revival and called for a respite from the tour.
 
More wonderful brickwork allowed the small square back yard different levels and created rooms.
The sweet smell of honeysuckle lured guests to the back of a small cottage.
Simple and quiet.
The pool house was the star of this family's home.
I loved the black privacy door and the shutters suggesting windows along the white clapboard wall. Lavender lined the walkway just outside the French doors.
A perfect place for a home gym complete with a flat-screen and surround sound stereo.
What's upstairs you ask?
A heavenly retreat with fireplace, guest bath, and office. I declare!

If you're in Lexington please join us! We'll soon be enjoying the lazy days of summer and I'd love to show you around.
If you enjoyed the Ashland Tour, you might also enjoy my walk around Gratz Park.


click here
all photos Lisa Porter

6/1/10

A Room With A View

The other day I came across an interesting blog.
The View from Your Window is the name of a blog & a now a book. Sit back and enjoy the view from an array of villages, cities, countrysides & quite possibly the neighbors next door. You never know who you might run into to. Then click a photo of your view, send it to The View from Your Window and join the global village.
ivy by baigre
Biagre
What is your favorite view?
GraceM
Grace's view
Views offer up inspiration and vision.
inn at perry Cabinvia OEx

It's nice that views change with the seasons.
Simon via the View from your window blog
Simon's view
Do you remember a favorite view from your childhood?
smedandjen
Smendajen's view
What makes each view memorable?
angelique via Garance Dore'
via Garance Dore'
Garden, ocean, backyard?
Hotel Particulier
via Hotel Particulier Montmartre
Even in a big city, you experience differences in light.
Ben's view via the view from your window blog
Ben's view
You may look directly at another building.
flashpacking_hostel
Hostel's view
You may be looking at roof-tops.  These are beautiful.
David's view
You may be happy simply looking up at the sky.
stephanies view in switzerland via view from your window blog_0
Stephanie's view
A view can be a lifeline to nature and beauty.
geranium in window
Your view might be so familiar that you really don't see it at all.    
A view of your private garden reminds you to go there often. 
outside via Jean-Marc Fray





via Jean-Marc Fray
   The elements can change your view quite dramatically.
Greet1small
Greet's view
I find myself holding on to the view at the end of the day.
drapery at Hotel particulier








via Hotel Particulier Montmartre
Somehow we all seem to hunger for a room with a view.

Visit blurb to view the book, The View from Your Window.







5/29/10

The Perfect Bath

A long time ago we bathed in rivers, lakes, and streams.
Flickr

Then came the invention of indoor plumbing. To bathe in privacy without worrying about the elements seemed like such a luxury!


Verne
These days, bathrooms aren't just for bathing.  They fulfill a variety of emotional, physical, and psychological needs.
Dove

This is a place where you devote a fair share of your life.
So...is it a place where you perform your daily routine or is your bathroom a place where you indulge in a daily dose of luxury?

Chris Everard

All too often, the bathroom is an afterthought, relegated to the smallest, darkest room in the house.  Without style, bathrooms have no personality.

                                        Verne                                                                               Sandra Lane

Yes, they do need to be practical and functional, but above all, they need to be havens of relaxation.

Four Seasons
How great that the bathroom is, finally, receiving the space it deserves. 
 Look at all that creamy millwork! 

Brooks and Falotico
Some of my favorite designers are making the bathroom too chic to languish behind locked doors! I love, love, love the mirror in the middle!

Michael Greenberg and Associates
Large bathrooms are becoming second living rooms.

                                          Houzz                                                                     via The Perfect Bath    
People have begun to forego spare bedrooms, converting attics and basements, and building bathrooms into conservatories. 


Michael Greenberg and Associates

 How do you reconcile the essentials? The MR. only asks for soap and a razor.

Ray Maine
The MRS. appreciates the fundamental mirror, towel rack, storage cabinets with the desire for an attractive, even elegant space for pampering, primping, or taking a long, soul-renewing soak.

Verne
When you create your bathroom, imagine first where you would most like to escape to.
An elegant hotel in the south of France?
Hotel la Villa Gallichi

Or perhaps you are inspired by a quiet place in the country.

John Granen


First, splurge on the best soap and soft towels to feed the senses.
 
                                             source                                                        James Michael Howard 

Indulge yourself, then collect furnishings and fittings to fulfill the bathroom of your dreams.

                                           Yves Delorme                                                 Yves Delorme
Take your inspiration from global culture, nature, technology or a bygone era.

Debi Treloar

Chose the look or theme that magnetizes you.

Pursley Architecture
Really focus on you! 

via Lonny

Rip out ideas from magazines, plunder inspiration from friend's houses.

Abbott
Let finds such as fittings and furniture direct you. Let your imagination roam.

 
Eric Roth
Is your bathroom barely big enough to swing a towel in?  Don't despair.
 
Hotel Particulier

There are a number of ways to make small spaces appear larger.
Art adds a focal point to lead you & mirrors reflect to make things twice as nice!


 
Brooks and Falotico
If bathing is an art, then the bathroom is the gallery!

                                      Eric Roth                                                                          Vanessa Gavala
 I can tell you, the only thing that really matters in the bath is how it makes you feel.

source
It has little to do with the size of the room or the budget and everything to do with whether you leave feeling rejuvenated.
Cote Bastide
"So sing in the shower, dream in the bath and splash in the water!"
                                                                                            Barbara Sallick

Barbara Sallick is co-founder and Senior Vice President of Design at Waterworks.
You can also visit her at The Perfect Bath.