As I sip my morning coffee, I'm reflecting on where I was and what I was doing six years ago today... At about this time on October 3, 2009, I was enjoying a lavish spread of flaky, buttery pastries overlooking the terrace of a French renaissance chateau, in solitude enjoying my final moments as a singleton and anticipating the day's wedding festivities at Chateau de Challain in the Loire Valley. This morning I leave you with some snapshots of the day, a retrospective in images. For the full post: click Chateau Wedding.
Garden Design: One Berkeley Courtyard Two Different Designs
Today, we continue our tour of Lola Thompson's exciting outdoor living spaces. On Tuesday, we visited Lola's front courtyard, and, today, we tour Lola's interior courtyard in two different looks. Design as intended is never finished - just as life is not static, the best of spaces evolve with us. Lola takes this design theory to heart and is continuously redesigning her spaces to evolve with her changing decor needs and tastes. The result is always refreshing and inspiring.
In the courtyard, the two different looks serve two different purposes, one is designed with entertaining in mind, while the other serves as a personal sanctuary akin to a boutique hotel room's balcony. Both looks, however, bring elements of the inside out, artfully layered to create an inviting, lovely outdoor living space.
Look One: Social Courtyard
Look Two: Courtyard Retreat
The first look invites entertaining, with its modern benches diagonally placed on the carpet with an antique bistro table centered in between them.
The second look, featuring the acid green chaise with a Turkish towel blanket thrown across it, makes me want to curl up with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. This look is a retreat designed for peaceful and quiet seclusion.
Look One: Chinese Drum Tables
Look Two: Moroccan Tray Table
Whether lucky enough to visit this courtyard as a dinner guest or as a personal retreat, you are enveloped by an enchanting environment. Boxwood topiaries frame the courtyard, an antique window guard and shutters provide a photographic backdrop, and twinkling bistro lights are strung overhead. Carefully curated artifacts bring depth to the space and invite guests to linger as their eyes absorb the surrounding beauty.
Antique Moroccan Lantern Hangs Overhead
Succulents Bring Vibrant Chartreuse Colors to The Space
Antique Corbels Transformed Into Planters
Shoe Molds Greet You at The Front Door
Remnant of Antique Chinese Lantern Serve as a Candle Holder
Paper Ephemeral Decorates Topiary
Design Notes
Elevate the design et décor of your outdoor living space.
- Create a room by defining the space with a rug and a border. Structured boxwoods create a linear border around Lola's courtyard.
- Center your courtyard around a seating arrangement, water feature or sculpture.
- Create a private sanctuary in your courtyard by using a privacy screen created from plants (such as tall hedges, Cyprus trees or a flowering trellis), outdoor curtains or architectural elements, such as shutters in Lola's space.
- Create a moody environment with string lights and candles.
- Keep plenty of side tables on hand for functional entertaining. Chinese drum tables are versatile and easy to move around.
Images by Brooklyn Boheme.
Garden Design: Bringing the Inside Out
From layered interiors to flowers and gardens, everything she touches is gorgeous and trés chic. Today we explore Lola Thompson's high-style courtyard. The cornerstone of her landscape design is to bring the inside out, to be at home in the garden. Interior fabrics drape over pillows, mirrors hang on exterior walls and oil paintings find a home in the garden alongside religious artifacts and statuary.
Lola has created a garden space that integrates with the home's eclectic interior - it fluidly transitions for entertaining and just enjoying a daily read in the garden.
The crunching of the decomposed granite beneath your feet and the glimpses of statuary through the greenery invokes the feeling of a stroll through France's finest of manicured gardens. Varying topiaries, native grasses and succulents, all artfully contained, are highlighted by pops of fuchsia mumms and lavender lilies. An assemblage of cast aside flea market tables, statuary fragments and remnants of vessels provide design-depth to this space. A discarded old workbench becomes the perfect hostess coffee table.
French wine bottle dryer becomes garden art alongside concrete spheres
Religious artifacts
Mirrored garden
Rough luxe
Painting décor
Interior fabric draped over pillows
Tactile garden art
Hidden statuary
Rusty beauty
Legs of interior chair peak thru the layers of grain sack and French flag
Courtyard entrance
Impromptu statuary candle holder
Beaded statuary
Garden entertaining
Design Notes
Indoor or out, the décor goal is the same, to create an inviting, stylish living space.
- Instead of throwing out that old chair, use it to create an impromptu living space in your garden.
- An eclectic mix of garden furniture, in varying styles, are more inviting, relaxed and visually pleasing than a matching set. Garage sales are a great place to score one-off patio chairs and urns.
- To ground the eclectic space, paint the mismatched tables and planters in a coordinating color or pair with coordinating pillows.
- Grain sacks bring a tactile quality to a garden and fare inclement weather surprisingly well. (As with any fabric, prolonged use outside will cause the fabric to fade or mildew.)
- When decorating the garden with paintings, place the painting out of direct sun and under an overhang to protect from rain.
- Include statement pieces, eye-catchers, such as Lola's oversize statute or bottle art, in the distance.
- Antique gates add style, function and interest.
Images by Brooklyn Boheme.
Hilltop Hideaway: Hotel Crillon Le Brave in Provence
A stylishly designed stone sanctuary that occupies an old hilltop village in Provence, Hotel Crillon Le Brave is a bucket-list worthy destination for any design tripper in search of organic, luxurious relaxation. Crillon Le Brave is perched above the Vaucluse Valley, offering views of vineyards and olive trees. This boutique hotel exemplifies the simple pleasures for which Provence is famous.
The hotel, which occupies eight village buildings in a town that dates back 2,000 years, is ideally situated in the region - 25 miles from Avignon. You are within close proximity to the major sites of Provence, yet heavens away.
We stayed three nights at this historic village property in the shoulder travel month of October (which means deals and no crowds), and I have been dreaming of returning ever since. Six months pregnant at the time, Hotel Crillon Le Brave delivered much needed pampering (one of the best masseuse ever), comfortable bedding and silky linens, deep soaking bathtubs, and breathtaking views of the Provence floor that can only be described as "relaxation at a higher level than yoga". Oh, and let's not forget, the seasonal, epicurean delights served in an ambient stone cellar or on the sun-bathed terrace. The staff was lovely, attentive and helpful in an informal way (no butler gloved hands lingering over your shoulder at this resort).
Simple elegance of the main entrance
Historic well overlooking Provence's ground floor
Vineyard views
Image from Crillon Le Brave
Charming shutters
Image from Crillon Le Brave
Sun-bathed terrace
Magical sunsets
My girlfriend enjoying the perfectly designed breakfast room
As Provence is my vacation destination of choice (how couldn't it be with its beautiful, colorful, artistic landscape (just ask Van Gogh), gorge-worthy food, inspiring design and down-to-earth living?), I am admittedly biased in this review.
Design Trip Notes
- Shoulder Season: Provence virtually shuts down during the Winter and is a tourist zoo during the Summer. Traveling during the shoulder season, late September to October or April to May, not only avoids the crowds but also enables luxury accommodations at motel prices. Call Hotel Crillon Le Brave in advance and ask if they have any specials - you'll be surprised by the offered discount!
- Brocantes: France is a treasure trove and a pilgrimage for flea market lovers. Avignon and nearly every other village holds a brocante (e.g., flea market) once a week. Ask the Hotel upon arrival and they should be able to provide you with a schedule of the neighboring markets. In April and October, large brocante festivals are usually held at select villages throughout Provence, the most famous of which are Barjarac and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.
- Seeking Lavender: Lavender season is June to August, but this is also prime tourist season. The beauty of the rows of purple balls may just be worth the price and crowds.
Images Brooklyn Boheme (unless otherwise noted)
Paris in High Contrast
Dreaming of Paris today (well, everyday). One of the things I love about Paris is the contrast of the city - striking the balance between ancient and modern design, and the culture's mutual appreciation for old and new generations.
In the heart of the Saint Germain, long live the classic Parisian cafe and the leisurely time of a bygone era that it represents. Youth and age alike appreciate the long-standing cultural pleasure of sitting, sipping and enjoying. A simple game of cards still reigns as the cafe entertainment of choice.
The ancient bones of Notre Dame cohabitate in a city littered with fashionable graffiti and mopeds.
Modern sculptural lights contrast against the historical architectural details of Musee d'Orsay.
Victor Hugo's Place des Vosges re-purposed for the modern daily workout regime.
Paris transcends the eras, it fashionably exudes history and persistently emerges at the modern forefront. Audrey Hepburn couldn't have been more correct, "Paris is always a good idea."
Images by Brooklyn Boheme.