Color by the Bay

After a long rainy weekend the sun is out again. ; ) Yesterday my son and I set out for a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the gorgeous blooms and colorful landscape. I took my camera with me. Here he is making a wish. ; )



I took a few pics to show off the beautiful colors , including magnolia blossoms, daffodils, birch trees and cherry blossoms etc. For those of you in cooler climates, this is proof that spring is near!


(I'm an amateur photographer but some of these turned out well enough. I hope you enjoy them. ; ) )







I so love where I live and feel fortunate to have had the experience of being here for my 10th year now


Yum. Does anyone want some fresh rosemary?

99K House Competition

If you haven't yet checked out the finalists for the 99k house competition, you can see them and learn all about the contest here The homes are all 3 bedrooms, 1.5 to 2 baths, up to 1400 square feet (max ) and they must utilize green building practices. I wonder which one will win. They're all fantastic!

Great Reading Corners

I love cozy little reading corners or nooks. Here are a couple for inspiration.

Bringing Nature In

We've had a lucky break in the weather and for the past week or so it's been sunny, warm and gorgeous. We're not into the clear just yet but the great weather has got me daydreaming about this years garden and what I might do differently than last year. In the meanwhile I found some great photos on flickr.com and googleimages.com to inspire your indoor green thumb. Why not try an terrarium garden with moss, creeping fig or jade. Here is a great article with all the how to information to get you going.

Below are some beautiful succulents. They're easy to grow, make for interesting indoor arrangements and are great in outdoor rock gardens or used as edging on a pathway.

Black and White

On trend and always striking is the crisp and classic pairing of black and white. Any 3rd color can be added to this scheme and look fabulous. Above we see black and white living monogamously and also teamed up with a soft blue and some glamorous gold, all beautiful.

Greens

I just love the color green and am so happy to see it's popularity continue into 2008. Here are 3 bathrooms decorated with green.

Below more lovely rooms decorated in greens found on MSNLifestyles.com. I love the porch with the white walls and green trim. So fresh.






And below are some some artwork samples I made for a young girls room in greens and pinks.

More Golden Finds

Nothing is more glamorous than gold! These porcelain stoneware tiles from Iris Ceramica are oh so beautiful and are finished with pure gold.
Below is tile from Iris Cermica's metal line

Decorating with Metallics

As you've probably noticed, metallics are hot for 2008. There are many makers of metallic paints. My favorite is Modern Masters. I really like the look of a tone on tone painted wall using a matt finish and fat stripes of metallic. I've seen David Bromstad use this technique on his show, Color Splash and it looked great. My favorite color for this is a creamy white wall with pearl metallic stripes, very subtle and sophisticated looking.
Though silver and white gold metallics are very popular, we'll be seeing a lot more gold this year too.

Design Winner!

Stone Forest, has received Interior Design’s Best of Year Award in 2007 for their Moso Bamboo Vessel sink! It is quite beautiful, don't you agree? This competition, in its second year running, acknowledges distinguished interior design projects and products in over 50 categories, and selected the Moso as a designer’s choice winner in the bath/plumbing fixtures category.
Below are a couple more of their sinks in stone,




They also offer one of a kind stone sculptures like this beautiful basalt bench,


and completely custom work such as the diamond fountain below,


In addition, Stone Forest also produce a small but beautiful furniture collection made from sustainable hardwoods,





If you would like to learn more about this company's products visit their website