There are places you go when you travel far from home that feel like home, or, to be more precise, you WISH were your home. And when I'm in places like this I always take notes and try to bring back new ideas for my own home (or my fantasy home one day). Here are a few pics of a trip we took to Mustique, courtesy of a friend's family, which is one of those special places. More

I've been working hard on the "back 40" of our place out in the country - a garden about twenty yards from the house that I'm slowly making into a destination and a series of outdoor rooms where you can hang out all evening under the summer stars. This Saturday, my friend, Chris Gauger, and I put up the garden yurt… More

Enter your inspired outdoor space today before midnight and win. This month we've teamed up with Whole Living to highlight their very first outdoor contest over on their site and Facebook page. Here's the skinny: "Do you have a backyard, patio corner, fire escape, or even window box you're particularly proud of? Send your "after" photo and up to 75 words describing what makes your outdoor space inspired." You can check it all out as well as the prizes over here while 60 submissions are already in full view over here at Whole Living's Facebook page.

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Whether they're used for gardening storage or as an artist's retreat, backyard sheds are a great small space addition to any home. They can be super tiny for storage or just big enough for living: modern or rustic, functional or simply serene. Here we've rounded up some of our favorite backyard escapes. More

When we turn to French home magazine Marie Claire Maison, it's generally for the fabulous French interiors. You know, small-space Parisian gems and the like. But this time, we found something quite different: a Finnish home in the forest: More

Sometimes on the road, it's easy to accidentally come across some wonderfully unusual things. During a recent weekend trip from Buenos Aries to Colonia Del Sacramento, we took a short tour outside of the historic town to explore the countryside of Uruguay. We came across a lush forest preserve of imported trees, a secret swimming hole and one of the most fascinating museum collections I've ever seen. More

Rustic wood and hot pink highlights usually run in separate circles, so it's quite a surprise to spot them mingling so brazenly in this Middleburg, Virginia converted barn. However, a peek into the barn's past reveals that the bold pairing is more about sentimental history than mere shock value. More

When I was little and my parents planned and built our house, I was pretty sure my mom coined the term mudroom. (After all, they called one of our rooms a "frog"). Of course it turns out the idea and name predate her, but my thinking back then was that she came up with it in response to my brother's and my messiness; thanks to our rural location the name was pretty accurate.
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While I love the modern alternative I chose, there are few styles that trump farm tables' good looks, durability, and versatility. More

When I first read about Caleb Barber and Deirdre Heekin, I felt an immediate kinship. Two decades ago, the couple behind the design firm Studio Due spent a year in Tuscany and it forever changed their lives. As a young college student, I lived in Bologna for several months and it changed my life too — I'm certain that an important part of who I am is attributable to cultural osmosis. But this couple? They've made a career of la dolce vita. More