* i am reposting this story because it includes the recipe for plum cake… a few summers ago the plum tree at our cottage went bananas with fruit. early each morning i went out to harvest (i DO have farming roots) enough to make plum cake. sometimes i gave it to someone, but most days we ate it. they are so DELICOUS! unfortunately, i totally over plum caked lucy and i don’t think she will ever eat one again. that is truly unfortunate. (i also did that to her with scrambled eggs - a big bummer both because i make AMAZING scrambles and because i think they are such a healthy way to breakfast.) today when i popped over to my parents’ house the yummiest smell was wafting around… mom was having her quilt friends over for lunch and had made the coveted cake. i was beside myself so, of course, i stayed for lunch! ENJOY! x0x
Read Moregarden
one of my backyard designs was featured in a houzz article! x0x
in garden
the backyard of my hawthorn project was included in an article on houzz all about properly irrigating your yard. i don’t actually know anything about irrigation but i do love designing pretty outdoor spaces. here is a link to the full article. THANK YOU to writer, marrianne lipanovich for including my project and also to heather knierim of HBK photography for the lovely photo! x0x
COLORFUL christmas tree drive
in art, dining room, family, garden, living room, office, pet, residential interior, sofa
we did an extensive remodel on this family home nestled under the flatirons in the chataqua neighborhood of boulder, colorado. originally built in the 80’s, we updated the exterior with earthy wood siding and local stone, in keeping with the home’s mountain setting.
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the first few poppies
(vintage postcard from california)
the end of the school year is always just BANANAS… there are so many band concerts and dance performances and award nights and TESTS and teacher appreciation weeks and concluding events from activities both in and outside of school that it is REALLY hard to keep track of it all. some days we’ve had more than one thing… racing from lucy’s hip hop performance to theo’s band banquet (i’d messed up the time for that one and thought we had an hour in between… we DIDN’T. the band thing was so interesting though because the first part was a dinner in the cafeteria and i felt like an anthropologist observing all the different groups of kids - what they were wearing, how they interacted, the ease of the seniors versus the restraint of the underclassmen… generally, they looked a lot like we did in the late 80’s - high waisted jeans with big hightop sneakers and thick socks, giant sweatshirts… we had bigger bangs and more colorful make up while they were sporting MUCH smaller tank tops and faces twinkling with “highlighter” but it was the same general vibe and i loved seeing them.)
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the backyard of my hawthorn project was featured in a houzz article!
in garden
i was so thrilled that the outdoor seating area of my hawthorn project was included in this houzz article on landscaping redesign. we had so much fun creating this inviting dining and lounge area for the garden. many THANKS to lauren dunec hoang of houzz for including my project in the piece and to heather knierim of HBK photography for the lovely photo.
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an eclectic mix of modern and traditional on hawthorn
in this architecturally traditional home, we wanted to create an eclectic mix of modern and antique furnishings to give the interior dimension, texture and personality. the color palette for the finishes is a range of whites and soft grays and warm woods, punctuated with hits of black. we brought in lots of color through the artwork, photograph and textiles.
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my article on outdoor furniture and accessories published in boulder county home + garden's spring 2021 issue
in garden
i had so much fun sourcing these bright, inviting, whimsical selections for your outdoor spaces. MANY THANKS to the folks at denver’s creative living, cane-line, POLarRT, loll designs, kannoa, lloyd flanders, bend goods, eagle nest outfitters, uttermost, pablo designs and woodley’s for participating in the article. wishing you all loads of outdoor enjoyment as soon as our snow melts! x0x
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published on the COVER of 5280 home! x0x0x
i am beyond THRILLED to have my pine street project for the adorable zeldner family featured on the COVER of the april/may 2021 issue of 5280 Home. many thanks to editor michelle johnson and the team she assembled: angela ufheil (writer), aaron colossi (photographer) and natalie warady (stylist) for the wonderful article and beautifully styled photos. i had so much FUN on this project with my SUPERSTAR clients who were such a pleasure. and i am delighted to see local boulder artists shayna larsen (elephant painting in the breakfast nook), laura morningstar (“little mama” ceramic vase in the bedroom), sammy and sawyer (children’s art in the hallway) and william irving singer former artist in residence at the boulder creative collective (portraits in the living room) in print as well. THANK YOU all! x0x
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my article on "decorating with nature" published in boulder county home + garden magazine
i had so much fun writing this article on bringing natural elements into your home as fall decor. MANY THANKS to the super talented designers and photographers for letting me share their work: emily minton redfield photography, helly swenson duncan of design matters home, lindsay nichols photography, neelam gurm of neelam interiors, gena winter and aubriana kasper of marigold, chris nyce of nyceonephotography, kristin reisinger of spacecraft, heather knierim of HBK photography, kathy peden photography, susan kosonocky of restyle design, d’ann boal of smitten & swoon, lindy williams of westward foundry, rangefinder photography, vanessa empire interiors, nicholas gringold photography, garden studio design and nicole morell interiors. x0x
Read Moreclimb up my apple tree
"say, say, oh playmate,
come out and play with me
and bring your dollies three
climb up my apple tree
slide down my rain barrel
into my cellar door
and we'll be jolly friends
forever more, 1-2-3-4"
when i was little, i was desperate for an apple tree like the one in my favorite hand clapping song. i also wanted a rain barrel, although i wasn’t really sure what that was. forty years later, i do have a great, big, sweeping apple tree in my backyard. my tree has a beautiful, twisted, architectural trunk with a hole the perfect size for hiding easter eggs, it makes lots of shade (crucial for a fair-skinned mama living in a town that bumps up against the sun,) in the winter, the way the snow lands on the branches is right out of fairy tale, it’s covered in lacy, white blossoms in the spring, and every other year or so, my tree grows apples in the late summer.
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corona neighbors
when i was growing up we did not have the friendliest neighbors. the grumpy lady on the left would complain about the noise when we rode our big wheels past her house, the grouchy lady across the street would yell at us just for being outside and the old man next door was very kind, but SO old and frail that he was just a periodic face in the window. after i left for college, i didn’t live in a proper house again for over twenty years… i was always in apartments.
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california corona
somehow against all rational thought i imagined going on holiday in california would also be a break from the corona. of course, the closer we got to the golden state, the more the virus was spiking in our destination. we arrived to a berkeley even more bunkered down than boulder, where EVERYONE was wearing masks in public, where most of the restaurants were closed (except for take-out), where many people still had not had a proper haircut (most notably my parents who look like a couple of the founding fathers - my dad favoring thomas jefferson [normally he looks more like jimmy carter] and my mother’s curls reminiscent of john adams’ with the middle bit filled in) and people practicing really conservative social distancing. nevertheless, we were DELIGHTED to arrive.
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UPDATE on flexible corona homes
(american gate-leg dining table from 1695-1720 owned by the bowdoin family [founders of college in maine]; photo: historic deerfield)
my dear friend, cait mcquade, who is a museum professional and has extensively studied american cultural history (and has a TERRIFIC blog on the various ways we experience museums) let me know that i am not the first to endorse flexible home furnishings. according to cait: “U.S. domestic spaces in colonial and early republic homes were also convertible. all furnishings were kept against the walls when rooms weren't in use (maybe so as not to trip over things in the dim lighting?). folding furniture, mostly tables, kept the center space open until it was time to play cards, work on sewing, or serve tea.” super interesting!
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flexible corona homes
last week my daughter had a piano recital on zoom along with two dozen other students. it was great to see her perform (she did a TIP TOP job), but the best part was getting a look into everyone else’s homes. my favorite was the one with the little sister laying on her belly across the top of the sofa with her feet in the air and her chin in her hands. runner up was the cat in the window seat behind the piano napping.
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shayna's abstracts
shayna larsen has been doing realistic, soulful watercolor animal portraits for some time. the aspect of the medium shayna finds most compelling is that she doesn’t have full control… she can make a suggestion with her brush and then the paint goes where it will, generating a life of its own.
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the fairy houses of washington avenue
in art, family, garden, residential interior
when i was nine years old i got a dollhouse for christmas. it was amazing… my mother had wallpapered some rooms and installed wainscoting in others and together we chose paint colors for the remaining areas. she had purchased a few key furniture pieces to have in place for christmas morning, but the house was mostly bare and i spent the next couple of years furnishing it. there was a shop called mz. mcphizz on solano avenue near my house and i used to walk down there and spend hours looking at the tiny candelabras and picture frames and dishes. they had loads of miniature room set-ups in glass boxes: a music room, a playroom, a parlor… and they were all inhabited by tiny people or little furry gray mice wearing clothes. ultimately, i filled my house with a large extended mouse family, which is funny now as i definitely do not welcome mice in my current house. (we DID get mice in our amsterdam apartment because we were the only family in our building without a cat - theo LOVED seeing them race across a room and i was always startled and horrified.)
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lawn proud
when we fly home to california my dad is the one who picks us up at the oakland airport. on the drive to berkeley we talk about the traffic (of course), how the weather has been, the many potholes in this one stretch of the highway, the changing graffiti on the brick buildings lining another stretch, the warriors (dub nation!) and when we pull up to my childhood home, my dad typically says, “look at the lawn… doesn’t it look nice?” followed by, “how is your lawn?” my father is very lawn proud. he likes an even expanse of pretty, green grass… maybe it’s his great love of golf or his mid-western upbringing, but maintaining the lawn has always been important to him. over the decades (i think my parents have been in their house for forty-three years) he has had very close relationships with the people who help him with the yard: takahooki, alberto, david, daniel and marty. he brings these people special sandwiches or chocolates or the newest kombucha to enjoy as they discuss what to do with the garden.
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father's day
from the time my first baby was born, we have always given his father something with his hand touch for father’s day. we started with theo’s tiny hand print on a tee shirt. in subsequent years, we put his hand or foot print on the interior of hats, the front pocket of pajamas or a button down shirt and numerous jackets. when lucy was born, we added her print too. we began strategically placing the prints in locations that only the wearer knew about, when we realized that some of the items were only worn around the house.
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fireworks finishing butters
we LOVE butter in our family. a little (or BIG) pat of butter makes everything taste better. some of us REALLY love butter… when lucy was about four, we were baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (notice i DIDN’T say “raisin”) and i turned around and lu was clutching an errant stick, taking bites out it, like it was a banana. so we were beside ourselves when our friend, jessica pratt jacobson, started fireworks finishing butters.
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coot lake
now that hank is on a diet, we have been trying to step up our exercise routine and we made an amazing discovery… COOT LAKE! coot lake is the perfect kind of nature for us… there is always parking across the street, the paths are flat and well maintained and we can circle the lake in converse or even low boots. there are lots of nice dogs for hank to romp around with (he can go off leash!) and there are benches for me to sit on, as well as little poems posted on signs here and there. and of course, there is the pretty water to look at. one of the hardest things for me about living in boulder is that there is no ocean. i have never lived anywhere before that wasn’t bumped up against a big body of water and sometimes i feel a bit panicky about being landlocked. certainly, a lake isn’t the same thing as an ocean, but it is still blue and has movement and reflection and alleviates the dry, dusty feel of the relentless colorado sun.
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