Washed Wood

Okay, okay... I know you must be thinking "when did this become a home decor blog?" Well, lately I have been on a spring cleaning and house dreaming kick. It's all I think about between a jillion upcoming wedding details. But no worries, flower photos are coming up in a day or two. In the meantime, I picked up this month's House Beautiful and have totally fallen in love with this easy livin' white washed beach house. The homeowners run an amazing home design shop called Ochre and Canvas in NYC. Please take a look. 

Maine, 1770 and Today

Did you catch the article on artist, gallery owner, antique dealer and incredible interior designer Cory Daniels home in The New York Times? Stunning. I am in awe, drooling over every detail. 

New Press

Thank you Bride's New York! I am featured along with some other very talented designers in this month's Bride's NY new talent column.

Little Bits from the Studio

I love...

Happy Monday everyone. Hope you had a lovely weekend. I was snapping these gorgeous purple tulips yesterday...sticking my nose inside, watching them do their tulip dance. I love all kinds of flowers but dare I say (?) I believe tulips are my favorite. I adore how they continue to grow and move after they are cut...always creating a different arrangement for you to enjoy. I love double tulips, the ones that compete with rununculus for showy fullness. I love fringed and frilly tulips. I love the regal Turkish style tulips with their pointed tips. I love when a bit of green from the stem streaks up across a colored petal. I love how they compliment other flowers in arrangements as well as hold their own in a bud vase. I love basic ones in a mason jar on a kitchen table as well as fancy French ones in elegant crystal for a formal party. I love that you can buy them at your neighborhood deli. I love seeing them planted in massive clumps in formal gardens as well as seeing them pop up in a window box. If I lived in Amsterdam in the 16th century, I would have definitely been one of those crazed collectors who went broke.

Slate, White and Grey

Would you consider painting your bathroom a dark color, say an inky blue? Hmmm...thinking about it. Saw these images from tine k home and got inspired. 

Ashley and Jeff

Little sneak peak at Ashley and Jeff's wedding pics. Amazing. All Photos by Konrad Kolen

Relief

Hello all. I hope you had a good weekend. Not sure how or why I got started on this rant about various anxieties and such when working with flowers. But I guess I might as well wrap it up now and tell you the final internal dialogue that goes through my head EVERY SINGLE TIME no matter what. I swear (Christine can vouch for me)!  I am now standing among all the flowers. I start to work. I say matter of factly "Oh no, I don't think I have enough flowers...how many bouquets do we have again?...what was I thinking?!@...no wait, I'm fine I have all this hydrangea, whew!...Thank God... no, I'm sure of it... I don't have enough, I'm gonna call Johnny C and have them hold another 5 bunches of dahlias...damn...oh wait, that looks fab, yes, yes, perfect...we are spot on. I love it!" You'd think I'd learn.

Obsession

The second wave of anxiety happens once I have all my stuff and I am safely buckled into the van headed back to the studio. At this point I am reviewing my receipts and fretting over all the money I just spent. Did I really need that $75 bunch of Japanese sweetpeas?! I mentally beat myself up over how I am never going to make a true living at being a floral designer. I mean, this stuff costs $$$ and I am like a kid in a candy store when buying flowers.  If I spot a certain bunch of something beautiful, I have to have it.  I'm like a crazed junkie. Anyway, within minutes I forget all of this because the flowers are packed in boxes and out of site. It's only when I am back in the quiet of the studio, unwrapping my precious cargo, taking in the scents and sights again, gently placing in water and watching them plump up...it's then when I whisper to myself, "oh yes...you beauties this is why I had to have you".

And thank you for sharing your own anxiety stories. It's supremely comforting to know I am not alone. Keep 'em coming! 

It doesn't matter if I've only slept for 5 hours the night before a shopping day. I am never tired. I set my alarm but I always pop out of bed before it goes off with a mix of nerves and excitement. I have this recurring dream (nightmare). It goes like this...I walk into my wholesalers, the lights are dim, it's cold and there are no flowers...just scraps, maybe some sad snapdragons and dried out eucalyptus. I demand to know where my order is and then the market somehow transforms into my old high school and I am late for class ?! Once I even dreamt that I walked out of the subway station at 28th street to find that the market no longer existed. Nothing. If they put up another freaking hotel...maybe it won't! Hello anxiety. I will continue my saga another time. Here is a little boutonniere for you on this overcast day. Enjoy

Bouquet #4

And finally Bouquet #4. Vibrant purples. Lots of goodies in here. Clematis, ranunuclus, fringed and deep purple tulips, geranium, dusty, raspberry and one juicy little succulent. Next up the bouts. Enjoy the glorious weather my fellow Northeasterns.

Bouquet #3

Bouquet #3, Here's the pale pink and romantic one. I used the most amazing soft pillow-like ranunculus, scented geranium, queen anne's lace, spray roses and ferns. All tied with a ivory grosgrain ribbon. 

Bouquet #2

Hitting you with bouquet #2 today. I sometimes feel I have trouble with white bouquets. I dunno, I worry they fall flat on me. But I was really happy with this one. Frilly garden spray roses, thistle, queen's anne lace, daffodils, geranium and dusty miller made for a fancy puff of a bouquet.

Bouquet #1

Here is a bouquet I did for an upcoming Bride's Magazine COVER PHOTO SHOOT! So excited. I actually did four, which I will show in separate upcoming posts. This is my more casual and loose design. It was filled with garden roses, spray roses, sweet pea, jasmine, ranunculus, geranium and chamomile.

I use to work at the Starrett Lehigh Building for DS+R (the old day job). One of my former bosses would call the building the "Cruise Ship of Creativity". And it really is. The place is HUGE and filled with many creative businesses from architecture to fashion. It is also just like being on ship with it's many, many people operating the guts of the place. I got to venture into the belly yesterday as I delivered these lovelies to one of Lehigh's FAMOUS tenants (yup, that's right!). It was very satisfying moment for me to return to that building - this time delivery my work instead of going to work for someone else.