You can't go wrong with AF Collector's Item

Every morning I wake to Benjamin Moore's AF 45 Collector's Item. I like it so much and it is so versatile that I plan to paint my guest room the same colour!  Of course, I will have different accents and the room will look different because of those choices. It is a beautiful colour to hang art work on, and if you are fair it makes your skin look beautiful! Not a bad thing when you have to look in the mirror every  morning. I can't think on an accent colour that would look terrible with  Collector's Item.  I choose a soft green with a secondary accent of grayed purple. There's a mix of silver and gold in the accessories and there's even a little pink and soft blue floating around.

 

 My mid centrury love is showing in all the furniture. I'm getting ready to upholster the  chair which has to just sit there because the space is so limited.  On the left is the ensuite door. .  This  geometric fabric left over from another job is my current like, but that could change next week.  I know I want something with a little pattern.

 I can't seem to re-gift my Tiffany lamp even thought it is slightly off in the room. Sentiment wins with me every time. I guess you've already figured out I don't have matching furniture.   It's the artist in me.  I love to take assorted items and make them work.

 The official description of Collector's Item  on the B Moore website as a "soft off-white hue with pink undertones" that "quietly supports a space like a pedestal supports a sculpture" is spot on.  Don't be thrown by the pink undertones in the description.  I like it because it doesn't have any  hints of yellow which is not complimentary for  someone with silver hair  and fair skin.   If you want to look good in the morning this is a the wall colour for you.

 I've  also seen  Collector's Item  used as a trim colour  with darker neutrals such as Ashley Gray or Taos Taupe (2111-40) as seen on the Benjamin Moore Site. 

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Finding things

I love finding or discovering things, sidewalk treasures or phone apps, books, hidden gems in nature and little treasure, shops, nobody seems to have been to before me.... (These are really hard to find LOL)
So this is a little potpourri of a post, with a little bit of  this and that. Enjoy!

I found these on the street:

In fairly good condition and with only some dust to be removed and perhaps some fixing of the lining....
I love to think of fun ways to use them, I'll keep you posted! 

I like these iPhone apps, which are fun and useful:

Flash light, free, turns your phone flash to a flash light as long as you keep it on.

Panorama picture, free, lets you take clever panorama pictures, easy and great for interiors or landscapes.

Paper by Fifty Three, free, a notebook, diary, for drawing, writing, sketches....

Skype, free, what would I do without it? Free (video) phone around the world...cell phones and land lines.

There are many more, depending on your life style, it's easy to google the latest apps within seconds.

Books are my all time favorites.... I can read anytime! There are also plenty of apps for readers, free, like iBook,
NOOK and Kindle for iPhone and iPad. GO READ!

I recommend William Davis' "The Wheat Belly" an eye opening book about what hybridization and cross breeding has done to wheat and how, unfortunately, it effects us today.

It contains easy recipes to try wheat free and healthier eating.

I also love the wonderful and engaging style of Richard Dawkin's "The Magic of Reality". The bestselling author and evolutionary biologist takes a broader approach and uses his unrivaled explanatory powers to illuminate the ways in which the world really works.
This is a great gift for teens everyone with a healthy dose of curiosity.

For lovers of Kate Morton's books, like me, comes a new page turner out in October: "The Secret Keeper". I am waiting rather impatiently....

And then, of course there is the new book by J.K. Rowling...9/27/12, three more days... "The Casual Vacancy". 

As for the tiny shops, I could give you some, but then again, soon these would not be so special anymore....and you would perhaps like to discover them all by yourself...

OK, I am also talking online and one of the sweetest places I have found is the Persephone bookstore, which is real enough in London and which publishes a sheer treasure trove of literature, often neglected over the years and pulled from obscurity to the de-light of readers everywhere. They just mailed the catalog to me and now I am making a list....
The name Persephone is such wonderful fitting one for a publishing house, her being the Greek goddess of vegetation and connected with spring and harvest alike. 
A daughter of Demeter and Zeus, she was later kidnapped by Hades and lived in the Underworld...Maybe some Mythology reading would be lovely for long winter nights?

 I also discovered a blog/shop called Mr. Finch, a textile artist I recommend highly to follow. Being most creative and it is a pleasure to see his creations.

These and his moths and bugs are most theatrical and I love these fantastically and yet so realistic creations.

That's all for now....I am running out of ink!

Wait, one more, check out who was looking around the other day across the street? 

xoxo

Images via Amazon, Google  and by V.Zlotkowski

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Another year ahead....

...And I am so thankful for everything life has given me until now. Everything I experience today has had unlikely beginnings and if you would have told me on any early birthday where my life would be 20, 30 or 40 years from then, I would have smiled and shaken my head, impossible! 
And yet, as I got older, things aligned themselves around me in the most unpredictable ways. Now I feel, I am, perhaps for the first time, truly in charge of myself, discovering without fears what I want to do in life, after many trials and errors I have come to the conclusion that worldly things are wonderful attributes, but rather less important.
My deepest satisfaction comes from the love I can give and receive daily from my family and friends, the support I am getting in fulfilling my dreams of creating and writing and the health I enjoy and try to maintain, the world around me to explore!
Things, which can hardly be measured, things I carry in my heart and mind, things which flood me with happiness! 
To be connected and to share some of my ideas and dreams here on this blog is a big part of it.
I am deeply grateful!

xoxo Victoria





Image by V.Zlotkowski

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Last days of summer

I do not have to look at the calendar to notice the changing days of late, late summer.

The sun has this particular light, a golden glow, falling through yellowing leaves. There is a nip in the air, mornings are cooler and the fall nights come earlier. The storm last night whipped many branches off the trees around the neighborhood and this morning I picked one from the lawn, small maple leaves, a lovely natural bouquet.

No need to always have flowers. Leaves, twigs, grasses can do wonders in a glass.

Autumn provides us with such wonderful opportunities to bring the outside in!

All images by V.Zlotkowski

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Reflexions on a stormy day

I am sitting and watching the storm clouds move fast, gray and heavy, the trees are bending and the grass is splattered with torn branches and leaves. 

Howls from the chimney make me aware of the powers above, then minutes of stillness followed by another round of cracking winds. Rain hits the windows, rattles the glass. 

Wind --- Windows, there must be a connection? To keep the winds out  ---windows....

Inside it's quiet, a small candle holds the light up against the growing shadows.

This window lets me travel away....to Italy, a small bronze warrior from an ancient Roman site near Sienna ( brought home 27 years ago...) and a glass bottle from France (this year) keep me occupied with thoughts of summers past and warmth and sunshine.

The small glass bird knows the secrets of the window, whispers of traveling light,

the rain and clouds and sun.

And of the occasional flowers within.

Seemingly a small view opens me up wide.

And the storm blows on...

All images by V.Zlotkowski

Copyright 2012

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A mixed bag

Budleia in Beaumont

Still returning to the realities at hand, my mind consists right now of a mixed bag of things.... Many, half digested impressions, inspirations and the somewhat overwhelming feeling to loose things in the crowd of it all. So, as always, I take pictures, to remind me, to smile, to inspire myself and I thought perhaps you might like them too!
There is so much going on right now, that looking back only two weeks ago seems a luxury!

I found these treasures above still in France, in a small but deliciously stylish shop in Montpazier!
Retro design is a big part of French decorating and thinking of it, I could not resist these little treasures curbside yesterday!

They have the typical musty smell about them, I do not mind it, but they will get a good scrubbing and then perhaps a little mending too. Not to much, I love the patina.

I still look at the clouds, and the creatures about, the things, which go unnoticed so easily....

How glorious is this? These are sights, which bring me back from any worries and pull me in, make me happy and grounded!

Yesterday, waking up early, I went downstairs to prepare breakfast and looking outside my window I could not believe my eyes.

I had to run to find the camera, hoping he would not take off before I could capture him....I was a little shaky though!

Hunting for good things I also looked through the bookstore nearby, hoping to find something inspiring. Of course I did! Here are my finds.

I hope you'll find something to inspire you as well! 
Happy weekend, I know, a little early, but time flies!


xoxo




All pictures by V.Zlotkowski

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Lessons learned

Vivid greens are subtly moving into golds and oranges and there's a bite in the air even on sunny days.  My mind is  moving on to what I want to do to herald the  fall season.   I never go all out in these things because my design aesthetic is very understated. The only vibrant things in my home are paintings which for some reason seem to have a lot of orange!  I guess I'm honouring fall year round.

I was at the dollar store the other day and saw some great deals on fall foliage.  Usually that means pulling bouquets  apart and rearranging them so they don't look like they came from the dollar store.  Follow the arrangement as I move it around my kitchen and dining room to see where it looks best.

 Would you like to see something taller and a little larger here? I feel there is just too much space between the light fixture and the arrangement.  The black chairs are very dark and they demand something larger in scale . Better start looking for more deals and find tall, dark elements and another vase.

This arrangement I keep in my dining room illustrates  what a difference height makes even without the bold colours of fall.

When you crop the picture  the arrangement looks bold and eye catching.

With or without the straw placemats ? Your choice. With the placemats it  is homey, without is more styled and contemporary.

  When you pair the arrangement with our giant red mug it seems smaller and less eye catching.

 The bouquet just can't fight the scale and vibrancy of this painting; therefore, it looks totally insignificant. You need something  taller.  

Enter our trusty arrangement for the sake of comparison. This arrangement works so much better because of its lack of colour and height. There's no way you can compete with the colours in the artwork so don't go there. 

 Nestled on my window ledge the bouquet  looks comfortable, but I've created another problem.  The little art work next to the bottle looks lost, and all the colour is on one side.   The vignette needs balancing with an object more colourful and larger than the painting. Hummmm, what can I find?

Do you consider scale and colour  when you add accessories to your home?

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Opinions

How do you feel about this colourful  vignette ?
Are there things you like?
Are there things you would change if you had an opportunity to do so?We all have our own take on a space, our likes and dislikes. That's what makes decorating an imperfect science.

 Amber Interiors

When I glance at this room I am immediately attracted to the bold magenta dresser.  It commands the eye because of its  colour and its size in comparison to everything placed near it.  The chair paired with it is just as commanding for different reasons (pattern and texture). I like the rounded back, but not the pattern or the colour.  Perhaps something in a deeper aqua  with a rounded back would be a better foil for the dresser.   "Breathing space" is important and this chair doesn't have any.   If you needed a chair there  and that was the only amount of space available, a darker aqua chair   would fit better visually and connect with the other elements.  

When I'm adding accessories to a striking piece like this dresser , I always want larger scale pieces  that provide colour contrast and variety in shapes. I like the white box, but I would choose a larger plant and a more rounded third object  and then overlap the arrangement to move your  eye around.


 The artwork would work better with a different chair.

And that's my take! What's your opinion?  Come on, you know you have one. 

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Back home?

At Jardin de Marqueyssac

Chateaux Marqueyssac

Chateaux Marqueyssac

I have to admit, for a long time this has not happen to me, but this time it did: I wanted not to return home...

I have fallen deeply in love again with the French country side, the  Bastide Beaumont du Perigord, where we stayed, Bergerac and Bordeaux.... the Dordogne valley and castles, the farmhouses open for dinner.....the many people we met and their stories, all grew so dear to me, to the point of feeling extremely comfortable and at home.

"Our" home in Beaumont du Perigord

The house we had rented added to the incredible charm and it's a dangerous thing to be so happy away from home.

There is of course always the 'old home' factor. Having been born and raised in Europe, there are countless things which are dear to me and irreplaceable. Having lived in the States for about twenty years has mellowed it all a bit, but it's a bit like riding a bike, even if you haven't done it for years, it comes back in a flash.... you never loose the ability....

View from Castelnaud

There is something about the old world of Europe. Something is in my blood and my genes too, I feel even clothes, I buy there, fit me better....

Well, here I am, back, and getting into the rhythm of things, forgive me, it has only been three days since our return. I still want to say merci and au revoir...

Market in Isseygeac

I am surely not the only one having felt this way, there were many ex-pats, we have met in "our" small little town, in which we stayed, people from Australia, England, America, now at home in that lovely corner of France, the Perigord region, southwest in France, deep country, filled with plum orchards, sunflowers, wine and walnuts, ducks and geese....

Chateaux Banne

Maybe, one day, I will return eventually or at least spend some months there, exploring all I have left behind undiscovered....But then, it might happen elsewhere too, the urge to explore and put down a few roots in yet unknown places. I am a traveller, there is no denying it.

I am restless in that sense and to move on has been a longtime way of life for me. So many times I had to adjust and to recalculate my life. Sometimes by choice, sometimes by force. And it has become second nature. Maybe I have lost the ability to be truly home again in one place.

Small street in Beaumont

And now here I am...among people who are my friends and who make me feel at home.

The happiness of elsewhere is also an illusion...

Doorway in Beaumont

Here I am, in our house, which is my castle....Filled to the brim with memories and soon I will be content again.

But not just yet.

Window in Beaumont

I am glad for school has begun and provides the needed rhythm, the order I can hang on to, the work for which I am grateful and the things, which need to be taken care of. The dog has been so happy to be reunited with us and the garden cries out for my hands. Our friends have been welcoming and so kind, I have been gone for a while, it needs more then a few days to come back...

Looking out for news in L'Abbey St.Avit

I am returning.... home! Filled with insights and outlooks....Windows and doors of my imagination.

All images by V.Zlotkowski copyright 2012.

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