Permit Nature Inspire Your Own Landscape: Grasslands to Garden

If it comes to choosing a style for a backyard project, many people turn into cultural references: Japanese restraint, rigorously laid-out French parterres, abundantly flowering English boundaries and so forth. But what should we look not in cultures but in nature itself for stylistic inspiration?

Grasslands, obviously, are natural regions strongly dominated by grasses. In such expanses of fine foliage, other herbaceous crops, or forbs, and some rare shrubs and small trees could be dotted about. This sort of plant habitat can be found on all continents except Antarctica.

CYAN Horticulture

By analyzing naturally occurring plant combinations around the planet in addition to in the field across the street, we may find the humblest yet best plant combinations.

Here we’ve got a hillside in northern Mongolia covered in a matrix of fine grasses and magnificent globe thistles (Echinops sp, zones 3 to 9). This simple juxtaposition — airy champagne-colored blossoms and bright blue flowery chunks — is one which can readily be reproduced in garden settings, boulder discretionary.

CYAN Horticulture

When we think of grasslands, visions of this rolling vastness of the American Great Plains or the African savannah may come into mind. Yet we do not need endless acreage and a bunch of giraffes to set up a sign of a grassland in the yard.

Grasses are found in almost every possible niche, such as in this little clearing at a larch forest close to Siberia. Because of their delicate, often inflorescences that are plume-y, grasses shine when backlit.

CYAN Horticulture

To recreate a few of this magic of grasslands at home, we need a researched selection of … grasses. Retail nurseries assert a range of decorative selections that are appropriate and non invasive. Online sources abound as well.

Considering most true blossoms are partial to full sunshine and well-drained soil, we must make certain that our area of layout fits this taste — gloomy blossoms become drab and floppy. Grouping together several units of the same bud, hence creating dynamic drifts, is equally organic and design savvy. In this case masses of tall, easygoing miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis cvs, zones 4 to 9) dress large bed regions within this residential Vancouver development.

Robert Shuler Design

Several types of blossoms make excellent ground covers, from ankle reduced (believe fescue and sesleria) to shoulder top (switchgrass, miscanthus). Here we’ve got a smart choice of blossoms and a couple of companion plants that produce a tasteful, restful and most likely low-maintenance and drought-tolerant composition.

CYAN Horticulture

Restricted to one or a number of kinds of similar heights, favorite grasses may be equally applied to any sizable area. It’s just as a bountiful lawn replacement, or as a tasteful transition between manicured and crazy zones, this design approach shines brightest.

In the Chanticleer backyard in Pennsylvania, a large expanse of such grasses is sensibly bisected with a neatly manicured yard route, creating an exemplar minimalist landscape intervention.

AHBL

Later in the season, another illustration of massed grasses shows terrific results. In the foreground lie switchgrass (Panicum sp) and fountain grass (Pennisetum sp).

CYAN Horticulture

Associating individual units of different varieties of grasses may at first sound counterintuitive, maybe plain risqué. To reassure ourselves, let us think of a painter juxtaposing various colors of the same color: The outcome is all about finesse and subtleties. An excellent example of this approach can be seen at the courtyard of the Petit Palais in Paris, displayed here, with Pampas grasses (Cortaderia sp, sets 6 to 9) controlling this gem of an all-grass composition.

CYAN Horticulture

A close-up of the unique Parisian display reveals the similar colors and textures of those nonetheless different blossoms.

CYAN Horticulture

Various flowering perennials make perfect natural companions to grasses. Dotted through the composition, they include contrast in foliage and color interest. Asters, coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea cvs, zones 3 to 9), daisies and liatris are some of the best contenders for this particular job.

CYAN Horticulture

The oh-so-trendy meadow planting fashion, championed in expansive urban schemes like New York’s High Line and London’s Olympic Park, relies upon comparable naturally occurring plant combinations. Here, the lawn of an abandoned building in Vancouver charmingly yells without anybody’s consent.

CYAN Horticulture

Simplicity is thus often crucial. It sometimes takes no more than a broken lawn mower (or protracted holidays for your gardener) for wild grasses and their flowery companions to reclaim their due. In Lotbinière, Quebec, a summer house goes all natural using a screen of oxeye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare, sets 2 to 8) and wild blossoms.

More in this collection: Shape a Sea-Inspired Garden | Suggestions for a Woodland Garden
Devise a Desert Garden | Mighty Mountain Gardens

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Southeast Gardener's January Checklist

January is a good time to look back on your gardening season and plan for your year ahead. Walk around your backyard and take photos. Seeing your backyard throughout the lens is notification, and studying these images can help you determine where you might choose to make changes. What you might pass by every day and don’t notice as you’re used to looking at it will appear in the images. Better still, picture your backyard each month as a photo journal of what is blooming and if.

Gardening with Confidence®

Plant bulbs. When the ground is not frozen, bulbs can still be planted. Look for sales now and plant. I like adding bulbs to containers; that way I can easily situate the splash of color where I want it most.

Gardening with Confidence®

Do winter cleanup. Wildlife welcomes cover, especially in the winter. Leaving woody perennials, for example Arkansas blue celebrity (Amsonia hubrichtii), asters and Assessing roses, to list a few, up during the winter is extremely helpful for our outdoor friends. Lots of life gathers under the spent foliage.

I cut back soft-stemmed perennials, such as Crinums, Elephant Ears (Colocasia) and cannas, as soon as they have been “melted” from the frost.

Gardening with Confidence®

Watch for pests. Check shrubs and trees for tent caterpillar egg whites and bagworms. Remove any that you find. Tent caterpillar egg whites are grey and varnished looking, and form a collar round rhythms. Bagworms look somewhat like a pinecone and hang in the end of branches.

Gardening with Confidence®

If you haven’t already cleaned your hosta beds, now is a good time to remove the dead foliage. Don’t give slugs any advantage. Even if the expression of the previous season’s cannas does not bother you, then take them down. Leaf rollers like to winter.

Paintbox Garden

Feed the birds. My winter garden is full of food to the wintering birds, but I want to see my feathered friends from the interior of my home, also. So during the chilly season, I place feeders where they may be viewed best from the interior. One of the best all-around seed for birds is black-oil sunflower. This seed has a high meat-to-shell ratio, it is high in fat, and it is sized perfectly for most seed eaters.

More on attracting birds to the backyard

SURROUNDS Landscape Architecture + Construction

Consider veggies. A warm January day is a good excuse to get out and work your garden dirt. If you have not had the soil tested in a couple of years, now is a good time to do so. A soil test will give you an assessment of pH and if you require other nutrients, like lime.

Soil recommendations derive from what you are growing or planning to grow. By way of example, blueberries require a pH of approximately 4.8, whereas berries prefer 5.8 to nearly neutral.

Gardening with Confidence®

Layer on organic mulch. Incorporating or top-dressing using a thick blanket of an organic thing — like compost, composted leaf mold or mulch — is helpful in the vegetable garden and garden beds.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

Cut some branches for indoor pleasure. Together with all the holiday parties behind us and chilly sporting on, why don’t you cheer up the interior of your home with blooming branches. Forsythia, pussy willow, quince, winter honeysuckle and redbud are all good branches to induce to blossom early.

Collect long branches, cut a slant using a sharp knife or clippers, and place the stems in a vase of water. Change the water every four days. Within about four weeks, then your branches will probably blossom.

Gardening with Confidence®

Enjoy winter flowers. The most frequent camellias grown in our region are Camellia sasanqua and Camellia japonicas. Camellia sasanquas blossom from September to January and tend to get a mass of little flowers ( as compared to C. japonicas) flowering all at one time. They’re also tolerant of a few sun. Camellia japonicas blossom from September to March and tend to have fewer flowers bloom at one time.

Camellias like acidic soil with some organic matter in semishady ailments. To discourage camellia petal blight, rake spent flowers which have fallen underneath the bushes.

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'In Praise of Shadows' Finds Relevance in Today's Architecture

In Praise of Shadows is a classic book on traditional Japanese architecture and layout, composed by Junichiro Tanizaki and published in 1933, subsequently translated into English four decades later; it’s still relevant today. The title clearly shows a taste for dark over light, which equates with traditional spaces and surfaces over bright contemporary ones. Nevertheless Tanizaki’s essay is not only a reactionary stance against changes in his home country; it’s among the clearest articulations of ideology, culturally rooted but professionally human.

His essay has a timeless quality that hits on the romantic connections we have with our items and our surroundings. He rolls on, among other things, tableware, clothes, movies, bathrooms (yes, bathrooms) and buildings. Much of the essay involves the distances of buildings, including houses, where the appreciation and sense of shadows is pronounced. These modern spaces illustrate Tanizaki’s thoughts, providing an opportunity to estimate the writer and discuss his essay in light of today’s architecture.

Enjoy Architecture

“[There] are definite requirements: a degree of dimness, absolute cleanliness, and quiet so complete you could listen to the hum of a mosquito.”

Within this quote, ancient in Tanizaki’s publication, he is not referring to a space like the one envisioned. He’s talking about a toilet, what he calls “a place of spiritual repose.” (Remember he wrote the essay in 1933, when a toilet “in a grove fragrant with leaves and moss,” as he writes, ” was prevalent.) Yet, as the essay continues across its 42 pages, this description may apply to just about what Tanizaki discusses, if in varying degrees of literal and metaphorical terms. It’s easy to feel the silent alongside the dimness and clear orderliness of the space in The Cross House in Japan, designed by Love Architecture, which we’ll also see in next three photos.

Enjoy Architecture

“In making for ourselves a place to reside in, we spread a parasol to throw a shadow on the earth, and in the pale light of the shadow we put together a house.”

Tanizaki contrasts the “parasol” of a Japanese home’s roof to the “cap” of the roofing of a Western house; the latter has a bigger “visor” allowing more sun to infiltrate the interior of the house. Within the heavy eaves required for maintaining driving rain and winds off shoji screen walls, Tanizaki finds the roots of the “Japanese room depends on a variation of shadows, deep shadows against mild shadows — it has nothing,” as he writes. The realities of existence bred an appreciation of shadows.

Enjoy Architecture

“The lighting in the backyard steals in but dimly through paper-paneled doors, and it’s just this indirect light which makes for us the allure of a space.”

Shadows are made not just from the contrast between direct sunlight and also the lack of it ; gentle, indirect lighting creates shadows in which the difference between dark and light exists. In this room we could see soft light coming through a bamboo screen on the window and light being cast down the wall from a skylight. The effect is splendid.

Enjoy Architecture

“We delight in the mere sight of the delicate glow of fading rays clinging to the face of a dusky wall, there to live out what little life remains to them.”

This poetic description of light hitting a wall make us understand a little bit of lighting can be more impressive than a complete wall aglow with light. The stream of light cutting across the wall shown — the brightest part of several subtle shades — is a wonderful case in point.

G. Steuart Gray AIA

Here is another instance where pieces of mild intersect with the arrangement, surfaces and furnishings of an area to develop into another part of the aesthetic assemblage.

Gardner Architects LLC

“Whenever I see the alcove of a constructed Japanese room, I marvel in our comprehension of the secrets of shadows, our sensitive use of light and shadow.”

While this Craftsman teahouse from the Washington, D.C., region is the opposite of Tanizaki’s description of an alcove in terms of light and dark (he talks about dark alcoves), the quality of shadows remains apparent. Indirect light on the walls and sloped ceiling provides the alcove off the bedroom a consistent glow that’s extremely inviting.

Dennis Mayer – Photographer

“We fill our gardens with dense plantings, they distribute a flat expanse of grass.”

Tanizaki sums up the comparison between East and West as being satisfied with one’s surroundings versus the decision to enhance one’s lot, respectively. This backyard in San Francisco exemplifies the cultural cross-fertilization which has happened in the ensuing 80 years since Tanizaki wrote his essay, one which has witnessed Asian sensibilities infuse Western contexts. The aesthetic recognition clarified in In Praise of Shadows is shared by all over the world, but it runs the danger of being a fashion rather than something which permeates thought and experience. Tanizaki provides those prepared an excellent primer for learning to love the shadows of life and light.

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High-Tech Tips for Securing Your House While You're Away

Burglars can watch for indications that homeowners are on an extended trip, so one of the best ways to keep your home protected is to prevent strangers from knowing you are off. Most are well known: Place a couple of lights on timers to go on at night and off at night. (Leaving them on all night and day can signal your lack.) Park your vehicle in the driveway, instead of keeping it in the garage or on the road. Place a temporary halt to your newspapers and mail shipping.

New technology will help, too. Here some high-tech tips for taking home security to another level as you’re traveling.

Maintain Your Social Media Posts Private

One way some crooks may learn you’ll be off is on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You may post about your adventures abroad on social networking, but make sure your posts are not public. Public posts are accessible not only for friends of your friends and other strangers, but they really get found on search engines, allowing burglars to search for goal houses.

Avoid posting about your lack on Twitter unless you are among the minority that lock their account. (To turn on this feature, pick the “Shield My Tweets” option in Settings.)

The ill-advised broadcasting of travel is so common on Twitter that a guy made a website called Please Rob Me, which reveals people that are openly broadcasting the fact that they’re not at home via their Twitter and Foursquare check-ins.

Facebook is another significant website where thieves can learn that you are not in your home. To protect yourself and brag on your travels, click the equipment icon in the upper-right corner. Just click “Privacy” in the left navigation bar, then to the right of “Who will see my stuff?” Choose a listing that includes only the narrow group that you want to talk about with. (you might need to first install family or friends lists before doing so.)

About Google+ just address your articles to narrow circles, such as “Family” and “Friends,” and do not post to “Public” or “Extended Circles.”

Also be careful about location-based check-in sites like Foursquare, which may broadcast your location even if the content of your article is unrelated. If a person knows where you reside, a check in a different city is proof enough that you are away for a short time.

earthclassmail.com

Digitize It, View, Then Click to Shred

If you go to a long journey or travel frequently, one option to putting a halt to your mail is to get it digitized and made accessible for you online.

The best service for digitizing mail is called Earth Class Mail. The company gives you a new mailing address, and you also use that address for many of your invoices and other mail.

When staffers get your mail, they post images of the envelopes in the Virtual Mailroom, which you may see in a safe area on the website. You can browse the digital envelopes and just click to shred the original paper versions, scan the inner contents or forward the bodily envelopes to another address. Should you scan them, a couple of days later the inner contents will appear online, and you’re able to read and cope with them. (Read Earth Class Mail’s security and privacy policy here.) Note that each scanned letter prices an additional charge.

Earth Class Mail can even deposit checks into your bank account, under the right circumstances, and for an additional fee of $20 per check or $34.95 a month for unlimited checks.

The ceremony is nice, however there are two drawbacks. To begin with, it’s a devotion: You need to officially change your speech as in the event that you’ve transferred. Once you’ve done that, it’s a nontrivial job to cancel the service and change back.

Second, Earth Class Mail is expensive. Even though the least-expensive service is $20 a month, the company will probably nickel-and-dime you into paying much more. A couple of scans here, a couple of checks there, and pretty soon you are paying far more than the base fee.

One way to save money with Earth Class Mail is to use its $19.95 mail forwarding service. It’s the same money as the bottom price for the Virtual Mailroom, however there are no additional costs involved. You merely give the address where you are going to be and when you are going to be there, and that’s where your mail will show up.

And an alternative to Earth Class Mail is only now emerging. A startup called Outbox promises to make the digitization of your mail much simpler and less costly.

outboxmail.com

Outbox really sends someone to your house three times per week to pick up your mail, so you don’t need to officially change your speech. The company then scans it and sets it online for you. An easy check box unsubscribes you from whatever you consider junk mail. If there’s mail you actually do want, you can check another box, and it will be redelivered for your residence. And all this for only $5 per month.

At this time the service is available only in San Francisco; it had a limited trial in Austin, Texas. The company plans to announce additional cities in the future.

Turn a Smart Phone Into a Safety Camera

One way to keep your home safe is to install motion-detection security cameras. Unfortunately, these may be costly, particularly in the event that you need them only a couple of times annually.

My favorite trick is to use old smart phones and tablets for a free and effective security system. All you need is a device capable of shooting a photo, connecting to the net and running programs. If you are like some gadget fans, you have got a box full of these somewhere.

Here’s how you do it.
Download an program which will upload images when motion is detected. My favorite iOS program for this purpose is MDC Free (MDC stands for “motion detection camera”). It’s simple to prepare the program to upload some motion-detection photos to Facebook — but shared only on your own. There are numerous programs in Google’s Play Store for Android and Apple’s App Store for iOS which you may pick from. Some send images via email. Other folks place them elsewhere. It’s a good idea to download a few highly rated ones and try them out. Once you’ve got an program you prefer, change your telephone’s Auto-Lock feature (which turns off your telephone after a specific number of minutes) to Never, which means that your phone doesn’t go to sleep. Set up each iPhone, iPad or Android device that you would like to use so it’s plugged in and the camera is directed in the room, door or area that you want captured if somebody comes in. Ensure that you test it a couple of times. And you are done! While you’re off, if anybody comes into your house, you’ll not only be notified, but you are going to have images of their crooks and proof of their crime.

Lockitron – $179

Control Your Door

If you are going to be off for a while, you may want people to test on the house, feed the goldfish, water the plants, that sort of thing. However, you may not wish to be handing keys out to people.

A nice alternative is your Lockitron door lock in Agipy. It functions like any other lock. The distinction is that you can lock and unlock it remotely with an app, even if you’re out of town.

You can also send virtual “keys” over the world wide web, allowing somebody to unlock your doorway using a smart phone. Those keys may have expiration dates, so in the event that you would like a person to confirm the house only on Wednesday, the key won’t operate on Thursday.

Likewise, if a person needs to enter your house for some sudden purpose as you’re off, you may use Lockitron to unlock your door remotely via the smart-phone program. Or you could send a key via SMS or email.

Lockitron even offers a knock sensor. If someone knocks on your door, then you can receive a notification.

christiestreet.com

DoorBot – $189

If crooks suspect you are not home, they’ll frequently test that theory by simply ringing your doorbell to see if anyone answers. One new product, known as the Edison Junior DoorBot, lets you answer the door even if you’re on the other side of the world.

When someone rings the bell, then you’ll find an alert to your phone. By employing this smart-phone program, you can view who is there via the DoorBot’s built in camera and speak with them over your telephone and through the DoorBot’s speaker and microphone.

By blending DoorBot using the Lockitron, you can see who is there, speak to the individual and let her or him in the house. Or, if it’s somebody you don’t want in your residence, the individual will presume you are there because you are answering the doorbell over what seems to be an intercom system. Or you may call the authorities.

Best of all, DoorBot can be a helpful addition to a front door even when you’re not traveling.

More: 10 low-tech ways to keep your home safe while you travel

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8 Awesome Ways to Splurge With Silk

Silk’s roots result in an enchanting background. As the story goes, a Chinese empress was sipping tea under a mulberry tree when a silkworm’s cocoon fell into her cup and started to unravel to a gorgeous shimmering thread. Since then the Chinese have used silk cloth for clothes, arts and decor.

The cloth has become a staple in the house for lampshades, rugs, draperies, upholstery, wallpaper, art, pillows and much more. The intensive production process makes this a treasured and expensive textile, though it has come down in price over the years. Nowadays most silk averages $25 to $45 per yard.

See if any of those terrific examples of silk in today’s houses would get the job done for you.

Wall coverings. Silk wall coverings add elegance to any room — and often fall to the eco friendly category too. Wolf Gordon’s silk is antimicrobial, antibacterial and rapidly renewable, also it’s a low carbon footprint and contains recycled content.

Terri Symington, ASID

Window remedies. The appearance of silk window treatments can’t be replicated by imitation silks. To attain the luxurious effect exhibited here, the draperies will need to be lined with flannel. There are several reasons for lining: The draperies look better and hang fuller, with a magnificent, rich and abundant appearance; the lining protects the silk from sunlight, which makes it last longer; and lining also provides a fantastic insulating material layer.

Watch more about drapery linings

LDa Architecture & Interiors

Lighting. A silk color gives this ceiling lighting a beautiful glow. Pure silk sunglasses are obviously much more expensive than synthetic ones, but they add a layer of richness.

Terri Symington, ASID

Rugs. When silk is woven to a wool carpet, its unique sheen contrasts beautifully with the wool and gives the carpet a gentle hands. Silk’s prism-like fibers represent light in several different angles.

ROMABIO / Interior & Exterior Mineral Based Paints

Upholstery. Historically, French bergére chairs were upholstered in silk. Silk may be delicate, so you may want a backing applied when using it for your upholstery. Silk also stains easily, so don’t use it in eating spaces or heavily used areas.

Tara Seawright Interior Design

Silk velvet. Silk thread woven into darkness was so expensive, only royalty could afford it. It’s still expensive now, averaging $200 per yard. Silk velvet has a beautiful soft drape and a polished coating. The fabric is so soft the rest dries readily, leaving a mark or impression — a feature that defines the velvet as being made of silk. Because of this, not iron velvet, since it will crush the fibers and leave an imprint which often can’t be removed.

Horchow

Blue Sari Tapestry – $860

Art. Silk’s jewel-like appearance works well for art and tapestries. Avoid hanging silk art where sunlight will strike it, since it is going to fade. For framing silk, then use museum glass to conserve the silk best.

Timothy De Clue Collection & Design

Pillows. Cotton includes a lavish, sensual sense that makes it a fantastic fabric for cushions in the living area or bedroom. It may be washed in cold water and air dried, but it is going to fade, so dry cleaning is suggested. Some fabric protectant sprays can prevent soil and stain penetration, but be sure to test the spray on an inconspicuous area first.

Tell us: how can you use silk in your home decoration?

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Cremone Bolt

A cremone bolt secures a door or window using a surface-mounted vertical rod. The turn of a handle raises or lowers the rod into a secured position at the bottom or top of the door. This conventional mechanism is not uncommon on French doors and casement windows, but it is not as secure as contemporary locks and is chiefly used inside.

Emily Winters, Peabody’s Interiors

Mounted on the surface rather than internally, the cremone bolt is more decorative than secure.

Emily Winters, Peabody’s Interiors

A cremone bolt has vertical rods that slide into a secured position with the turn of a handle.

Door pairs don’t always have a cremone bolt on both the doors; the more lively door can be easier to operate with a sliding bolt.

360 Yardware

This surface-mounted security bolt is similar to the cremone bolt, but the rod does not run the length of the door. A flush bolt is the contemporary equivalent of this, but it is recessed into the door and hidden from view.

Actual Carriage Door Company

Dutch Doors

This sliding bolt is especially designed for Dutch doors.

360 Yardware

Another frequent bolt, revealed procuring the bottom of this gate, is called a cane bolt, due to its shape.

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8 Suggestions Out Of Celebrated Garden Designers

The Chelsea Flower Show is an Yearly celebration of everything garden held in the grounds of the Chelsea Royal Hospital in London. Aside from its showcase of new plant types and various furniture and ornamentation pieces to groom your backyard with, you will find expansive gardens that overflow with ideas for your very own little storyline. Surprisingly, the show lasts for only five days — that is difficult to believe when you see the degree of detail and sophistication in the show gardens created by designers from all around the world.

I made the trek throughout the pond this season and came back totally inspired and itching to execute some of these ideas in upcoming projects. The following is a collection of images from the 2012 show that highlight various techniques that could work in your own garden.

Matt Kilburn

Contrasting background colours. Contrast is king in backyard spaces. Many times, comparison can be created by various hardscape and softscape elements, but care should be paid to colour tones also. Inside this backyard by Andy Sturgeon, a wealthy, dark gray wall provides the perfect backdrop to highlight the contrasting colours and types of the foliage in front.

Matt Kilburn

Incorporating industrial materials. Cor-Ten steel is now a remarkably common material in the backyard. Its colour tone contrasts beautifully with the surrounding foliage in this backyard space made by John Warland and Sim Flemons. The stuff’s weathered feel makes for interesting shadows throw from trees.

Matt Kilburn

Form meets function. Constructed attributes can function as a fantastic focal point in a garden whilst at the same time adding function to a distance. Inside this backyard by Jason Hodges, plush outdoor furniture integrates into the landscape that a cantilevered dining area table protruding out of a retaining wall.

Matt Kilburn

Outdoor relaxation. Who wouldn’t want to curl up with a novel in this concealed hammock space? Have a cue from this distance by Jo Thompson — hammocks are a great way for lounging when space is constrained.

Matt Kilburn

Low-maintenance lawn substitutes. Meadow gardens were a big fad at this year’s show, popping up in both conventional and more abstract software. Meadow gardens are a great low-maintenance alternative to yards, since they need much less water and upkeep. Paths could be cut through the meadow for access, and the flowers simply reseed themselves.

Matt Kilburn

Classical thoughts in modern settings. Pleached hedges, a classical form of living architecture resembling hedges on stilts, are making a comeback in modern garden design. This backyard by Arne Maynard efficiently utilizes pleached hedges to make enclosure farther down the path whilst enabling garden beds to flow seamlessly through the backyard.

Matt Kilburn

Controlling movement throughout the backyard. How you move throughout the backyard is an important consideration. Breaking up a path with stepping stone, like in this backyard by Chris Gutteridge, is a fantastic way to encourage visitors to slow down and revel in the environment.

Matt Kilburn

Smart spatial solutions. Inside this backyard, Jason Hodges found a fantastic solution for a challenging angle transition from the stairs into the paving stone. The brink planting of black mondo grass adds an intriguing contrasting feel to the room and complements the colour tones of the spiky phormiums in the backdrop.

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Fashion Week Heads Home

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off on Feb. 9 to flaunt fashion designers’ ready-to-wear lines for fall and winter 2012. Allow me to just say, I am inspired. I am seeing so much crossover to interior trends, especially from designers who have a foothold in both areas, such as Kelly Wearstler and Diane von Furstenberg.

Because the ranges are for the colder months, we’re seeing a great deal of neutrals and dark colours in addition to saturated hues (like Pantone’s color of this calendar year, tangerine) having lots of texture. But each designer has put his or her own twist on the demonstration of the colours.

Amoroso Design

Touch-me textures. Velvets, silks and other rich textures are all on the runways, and Diane von Furstenberg’s fall 2012 collection is no exception. Rich hues and rich textures — what a mix. This trend will certainly continue to trickle down to insides.

Laux Interiors Berlin

Plumroll, please. Everyone from Kelly Wearstler into Christian Siriano is yanking plum to the mix. Wearstler combines the rich colour with blue to fantastic effect, while Siriano retains it tame with a monochromatic palette and Peter Som ramps it up with a plethora of textures.

Andrea Schumacher Interiors

Knockout color blocking. Make bold colours stick out by giving them equal focus. You can not go wrong using plums, pinks and reds with a pop of yellow or green, as seen in Diane von Furstenberg’s fall 2012 collection.

Camilla Molders Design

Tangerine and turquoise? Why not, asks Kate Spade. I could not agree more.

Lisa Borgnes Giramonti

Tangerine fantasy. Work that color of this year in with a variety of mixes, as Lisa Borgnes Giramonte does in this inside. Fashion label Honor has made it deep and brooding in its fall line, while Kate Spade keeps it fresh and preppy in hers.

Elad Gonen

The sport of risk. Some people just take risks, and Kelly Wearstler is one of these individuals. She surely pushes the limits in her insides, constantly shifting styles and exploring new land. She pushed a limit by simply trying her hand at fashion (it is not always easy to cross over), and while she’s met any resistance, I state forge on, woman. While it’s said that green and blue should”never be viewed,” with all the right mix of colour and saturation, they could actually be quite enchanting.

SFGIRLBYBAY

Neutral land. Perhaps not a daring person? Follow Wearstler’s guide without compromising texture, layers or thickness, as seen in this search for fall 2012. The richness easily translates to the home, as may be seen in SFGirlByBay’s light-flooded, feminine but grounded living room.

Martha O’Hara Interiors

Gray and black never go out of style in my book. Keep staple neutrals new with texture and even some pattern. Thakoon and Derek Lam will inform you.

Niche Interiors

New neutrals. Obviously, neutral does not necessarily have to mean beige, gray or greige. Pinks have a way of feeling neutral, especially when blended with brown, which adds a sophisticated edge to the girly-ness of pink. Joy Cioci and Herve Leger by Max Azria elevate soft pinks with a play of textures, patterns and subtle dark undertones.

Red and brown. If you have got a predominantly neutral palette that drops to the brown family at home, and you’re ready to liven it up but are not certain where to begin, think about following Tribune Standard’s guide by bringing in a healthy dose of red. The appearance will stay neutral but will feel fresh and subtly colorful.

If that idea frightens one to no end, bring into a single reddish element and see how you feel. The reddish Sputnik pendant in Mark Cravotta’s job works superbly without making the room feel overly edgy.

Atmosphere Interior Design Inc..

Blue and black. An often overlooked but absolutely valid mix, black and blue leaves people stop and think. Prabal Gurung employes it to great effect in this fall look, and I think that it translates superbly for the home. If you have already got the groundwork in place (a blue carpet, sofa or drapes ) introduce black accessories or seats and tables with black frames.

Perhaps you have pulled a look in the runway in to your home design? Tell us how you made it work at the Comments section.

More Fashion-Forward Tips:
Gianni Versace Style
Coco Chanel Style
Ralph Lauren Style

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Geometric Runners Shape Stairway Style

Since rounding up my preferred striped stair runners, I haven’t been able to have runners off my mind. And I have come to the conclusion that I love geometric-patterned runners just as much as striped ones. Stair runners in general are great for injecting colour and pattern into an interior whilst at the same time protecting high-traffic stairways. Patterned runners in particular hide dirt and wear and tear exceptionally well while bringing snowball into almost any style space.

Exactly like a striped runner, a geometric-patterned runner could be set up in two different fashions: Hollywood and waterfall. Even a Hollywood runner hugs each nook and cranny of a staircase, with the carpeting affixed to the tread, round the nose and to the riser. A waterfall runner drops directly from the nose of the tread to the rear of the next tread without being affixed to the riser face in between. Either fashion accommodates a bold geometric pattern beautifully.

Which geometric-pattern fashion runner could you choose for your home’s staircase?

Uma Stewart Interiors & Lifestyle

I appreciate when a stairway’s carpeting choice is tied into the plan of the home’s surrounding areas. Inside this entryway, the runner’s geometric pattern functions beautifully with the inlay strips in the hardwood flooring.

Brian Watford Interiors

The Ember Ring runner is extra wide to accommodate all these wide actions.

Busy geometric patterns hide dirt and wear and tear, making them ideal for high-traffic areas like staircases.

Zoe Feldman Design, Inc..

Large-scale geometric patterns have the ability to make spaces feel grander. David Hicks’ Hexagon House stair runner provides pattern and height for the penthouse in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Michael Robert Construction

A navy and white geometric-patterned stair runner, held in place by stair rods capped with pineapple finials, is the best accessory to this coastal home.

Jute Interior Design

Installed in the Hollywood style, this runner follows the shape of the stair. The dark brown geometric rug was stapled underneath and around the nose of each tread.

MANDARINA STUDIO interior layout

Installed in the waterfall fashion, this carpeting flows down the stairs, tacked where necessary.

A dark brown and cream geometric-patterned stair runner, held in place by stair rods, functions flawlessly within this traditional Long Island, New York, home.

Gast Architects

This geometric-patterned carpet is affixed to the riser, which classifies it as a Hollywood-style runner. Installing a runner in this manner prevents dust and dirt buildup behind the collapse of the carpeting.

MuseInteriors

Geometric patterns can be very coastal chic. In cream and sand, this beach cabin’s staircase screams beachfront elegance. Note that the runner is fit to the stairs and continues round the small landing.

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Modern Icons: The Paulistano Chair

Architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha designed the Paulistano Athletic Club in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1957, and his attention to detail contained designing this seat because of its living areas. Following that, it was a sight before the design was rereleased by Objekto in 2004. Following Mendes da Rocha received the Pritzker Prize in 2006, the seat became available in the USA for the first time. Keen aesthetes have been snapping it up with enthusiasm ever since, demonstrating its timelessness. The Museum of Modern Art has added the seat to its permanent collection; test it out and see whether you’d like to follow suit.

YLAB Arquitectos Barcelona

Designed through the midcentury modern era, the Paulistano has a thoughtful combination of sling and frame that seems as contemporary as anything else on the market today.

Espasso

Paulistano Armchair | Espasso

The Paulistano seat is created from a single 17-foot-long piece of strong phosphatized carbon steel and a leather match. Both substances age in their unique and stunning ways.

But if treating the seat’s frame with just a little WD-40 each six weeks or so is not for you, it is also available in polished chrome.

Design Within Reach

The easy sling silhouette doesn’t take up much space from front, back or side. It’s uncommon for such a cozy lounge chair to take up so small visual distance. This means it may work well in small spaces and sit facing windows without blocking a lot of the opinion.

Laura U, Inc..

This designer balanced a set of Paulistanos across from a larger upholstered armchair.

Economy Interiors

The seat’s portability means it is a fantastic choice for a room which needs seating versatility; you can move chairs into intimate clusters for conversation while entertaining or set them toward the TV for movie night or the game.

PLACE architect ltd..

Florense USA

Like most chairs in a fantastic permanent set, it can make its way all over the house. Swap it in your bedroom if you want an occasional seat; you’ll want to respect it, so it should motivate you to keep those clothes put away rather than draped on the seat.

Design Within Reach

Paulistano Armchair in Canvas – $1,250

A cotton canvas variant comes in bright colors and lends a more casual look. The Twist is waterproof and stain resistant, so you can use it outside also.

More:
Poul Kjærholm’s PK22 Easy Chair

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