apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm at the High Point furniture market. The best things I've spotted that are fresh-to-me are: http://www.shineeveryday.com/ and http://www.barclaybuterahome.com/ and http://naturalcuriosities.com/.

Cheers.

scott. thanks for the on location report. oh those 'shine'lamps are grrreat. send more from highpoint please.

scott-thanks. keep us posted.is leick furniture there? They used to do some great arts & crafts pieces from sunken logs out of the great lakes. First growth timber with incredible grain patterns. Always one of my favorites. How's attendance? Anyone talking about Las Vegas becoming more important then High Point?

I have my first progress pictures up. I worked on my computer space this weekend (the entry area, where the landing strip should be, is a big outbox at the moment), and now it's a much more pleasant place to be.

Joan, that's very impressive! It's incredible how different (more spacious and bright, for instance) the space looks. Even if it took a lot of time and effort, I think it was worth it. Keep it up! :D

Howdy back. Haven't seen Leick in part because I was focusing on things which can be sold online. And...the handcraft thing already has some good competitors in the space.

My other favorite vendor is http://olystudio.com/ . I go into their booth every show and beg 'em to sell to me. So far they won't, but wow they have nice things.

There is a lot of conversation about Las Vegas, off-shoring, undocumented workers and industry structure. It is almost a region vs. region case study concurrent with an industry structure at inflection. Volatile, challenging, divisive and emotional.

If you think about the pressures on family businesses from the big-box Targets, the Pottery-Barn type-stack of retailers, high rents for point-of-view stores and web new-entrants like my company...it is astonishing good design vendors and great local stores still flourish.

For the most part here...the products are of appalling design and quality which makes the stars shine even brighter. I know I'm not the customer for 'em and I shouldn't judge...but I do.

So I went to the Gracious Home warehouse sale this weekend and totally did an impulse buy on a Toto toilet and a Le Bijou sink. Since I wasn't planning to buy a sink, I had done no research and now unfortunately find that the faucets are centerset (ie, 4" spread or mini-widespread). Most fixtures that will fit this are HIDEOUS. Anyone have any ideas? I am going to tour Gracious Home and Smolka, but really don't want to pay a fortune for nice-looking faucets.

(BTW, the Jado faucet written up in the New York Times a few weeks ago appears to be selling on Ebay for about $100.)

Looks great, Joan! I'm sure it will help you work and think better too.

I think painting the file cabinets (and possibly the plywood top) the same color will bring things together even more. Although I do like the penguin collage... any chance you could just do that on all 3 cabinets?

Joan -- My goodness, you had an arduous weekend! That much change cannot have been quick or easy. It looks so much better, and I agree that painting the file cabinets and surface all one color will be another dramatic improvement.

Fiona,

Don't know if this is what you are looking for but my friend did a bathroom renovation and had great luck with Faucet.com. She found that they had really good customer service and were helpful during the process. Here is a link to what they have for 4" and miniwidespread:

http://www.faucet.com/decor/search.pl?N=103+214+55+3000351+4294966731&Ne=4&in_merch=1

http://www.faucet.com/decor/search.pl?N=103+214+55+3000351+4294965899&Ne=4&in_merch=1

She also ran into the problem with the centerset but found a beautiful one...I'll try to find out the make/model for you.

Go Joan! Your office looks really great now...

I commented about keeping cables clean on your photos. Here's the post on AT about cable managing:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-cable-management-002627

Hi Scott,

Thank you for your in-depth answers and observations. You're right, the overall quality and designs are appalling. And they have been over the last 10 years that I have been going to Market. This is the second year I will not be going and even though 95% of what you see is out and out crap, and there are no good restaurants and no good places to stay, in a weird way I do miss going.
And I guess the old line furniture manufacturers and people who have made a sizeable investment in High Point ( Century, Natuzzi, Lee Upholstery...) will resist changing venues for as long as possible. But that does give an opportunity for smaller (and hopefully better made and designed) manufacturers to establish showrooms in other marketplaces like Las Vegas.

Enjoy Market and please let us know about any real finds you come across.

Thanks again...

Wow Joan, I'm impressed! Big improvement.

quick question:

I've been looking for a nice dark wooden serving tray maybe 12 X 10. (i thought it would be really easy to find one but have not had much luck)

any thoughts?

Thanks for your comments, everyone!

applelover, I've been tempted to do the collage thing on all of them because I like how it looks, but since the project was begun 8 years ago or so and never finished, I don't have high hopes. I'll probably paint them white and then if I find it possible to do the collage thing later, I'll re-do it.

mary, that's a good idea. I had been thinking about the one that looks like a vacuum cleaner hose, which would really hold down the dust collection, but I've got so many cables going in so many directions, I'd need four or five of those hose things. I do have the cables individually rolled and tied, but Velcro to group them together as much as possible would be more flexible, as you've said.

And definitely any painting project would include the plywood top...

Joan -- my downtairs neighbors collaged a bunch of things onto their countertop and covered it with this thick clear epoxy stuff. I don't know what they used exactly, but it looks really cool, and they have small toys and glitter and tickets embedded in it.

ANyone get their May Domino magazine yet?

I got a *second copy* of APril this weekend in the mail. Still no sign of the may issue, which is pointing and laughing at my from the shelves of so many magazine racks...

Marc,this one isn't dark, but added grain texture actually benefits.

marc--
Have you tried Pottery Barn and/or Williams Sonoma Home?

If that fails, I turned a (unused) teak garden stepping "stone" from Smith & Hawken into a tray by attaching long metal handles from Home Depot (Expo).

Joan -
Fantastic job!

Meanwhile, paint-wise, I think I'd be tempted to leave the putty-colored file cabinet as-is, since it goes fine with some of the computer stuff, and just paint the other two black which would match the computer desk. You might center it between the other two if it's symmetry you seek.

Because white (or even more putty-colored) paint won't cover that red NOR that blue nearly as well as black will, and I think that the putty is too perfect as it is to mess with it at all.

Hi All,

Does anyone know any good websites showing contemporary landscaping pictures? We live in the 'burbs of Philadelphia and are finally getting around to redoing the yard, front and back. It's currently a wooded lot but the front is mostly bare. We want modern and want to have pictures to make sure the landscaper knows what we're after. Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Christina! If you can find out what your friend has, I'd definitely be interested. If not--well, thanks for the great leads!

I haven't posted for a while as I was trying to figure out my 'look' - for any of you who remember the thread on 'country with an edge' (modern country).
I was also looking for the Jennifer Aniston film with the living room with the purple rug [- THANK YOU to Patrick (the other one) and maybe rachel (i.d.) and all the others -] yes it was Picture Perfect (the local blockbuster just got it back in!).
I just watched it and still like the Haywood Wakefield, color everywhere and retro fabrics mixed with some sweet stuff. All the lines on the hard furniture are clean.
I also liked the Hamptons house done in Something's Gotta Give - cool whites and creams with light blues and dark furniture. A more restrained palette. Also a more elegant look.
I like the ability to mix more patterns and colors. I am still trying to figure out how to do this in the bed and bath. The furniture is 60's clean lines but the room has a severe case of the blands.

JW - That house was my favorite part in Something's Gotta Give.

This is kinda the tray I'm looking for:
http://globaltable.com/products/trays/trays_images/TR06.3_333x250.jpg

But I was thinking of something in Cherry. I really thought that there would be tons of these to choose from.

m

Thanks, Curtis! That's a good point about the paint colors, though the putty-colored one is really just dirty white. I guess I was thinking about it from the other end--every time I've seen office furniture that I've really liked in catalogs, it's always been white wood stuff, so I figured that white paint was the way to go. So maybe I do your suggested colors for now, and then when I'm ready to spend, I just buy the office furniture I like, in the color I like.

Mary - I'm definitely a big fan of the collage thing, and I've seen other instances of what you're describing. There was a wrap restaurant on the Upper West Side many years ago that had all their tables done that way. My kids and I each chose a side of that file cabinet (the blue in the front was my daughter's) and worked on it for a few days; if we had finished it, I would definitely have put a coating on it of whatever that stuff is and... oh, now I really can't decide.

JW and Joan:

Thought you might enjoy this link if you haven't seen it already. Click on my name for pics of the SGG house from the Set Decorators Society of America website.

Wow. I wouldn't know the first thing about what kind of landscaping would be considered modern, but I'd be tempted to start with the KIND of traditional that would have to do with things like tall cedars, since they're so abstract and architectural.

Also I'd ask for things that don't require a lot of mainenance (because I'm terrible with plants).

I also think I'd want something that had color in the foliage, so you could have some varegation without having to depend on the seasons for blossoming.

I'm pretty sure I'd want a water feature that was kind of abstract and simple and basic and which possibly had some kind of metal in it which would eventually oxidize in some kind of natural way, so that I wouldn't have to rely on foliage for the outdoors idea, and that would create a soothing sound.

reef - BBC Two has some really innovative gardening shows. You can start your search for the right garden at the sites I've listed.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/tv_and_radio/gforce_index.shtml

Diarmuid Gavin is an amazing contemporary gardener. Check out some of his gardens at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/des_ins/leaf_pages/5.shtml

also check out this page:


Hope this helps.

Having read earlier advice from Maxwell and P2 regarding foyer paint colors--I'm going darker, a lot darker in my foyer--from yucky yellow to a deep blue. So far, I like Buckland Blue by Benjamin Moore (rich at night, but washes out to a mediumish shade in the day, though.) Any suggestions for an even darker blue? Also, should I go with a flat finish or something with a sheen? The photo shows the view from the foyer--you can see the yellow wall on the left. ( I thought blue would be a good counterpoint to all that chocolate trim)

Anne, I met with contractor last night to begin the planning of my townhouse garden. THe previous owner has a spectacular garden, but because it's complicated and requires work, I have to redo it to make it more idiot proof.

I was thinking something in slate, stone, bamboo would be peaceful. But I am supposed to find pictures of an example and give it to contractor to replicate it. Your links above didn't quite turn me on...any other suggestions of where to look?

Marc: Crate and Barrel doesn't quite have your cherry, but it does have something in sugarcane:

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=1460&f=8393&q=tray&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

Deepa - Wow. I remembered the kitchen and loved it, but now my new favorite is that dining room.

junedanish: I agree with all those commenters on your photo page--that room is stunning. I know that wasn't the point of your post, but...

Joan, thank you for the nice compliment. It was a lot of work to get it that way. I don't suppose you know of a good dark blue?

Thanks for the links Anne. I love Diarmuid Gavin! His designs are inspirational.

junedanish - no, sorry. If it were a Pantone color you were looking for, I could figure that out, but paint I have little experience in.

Anon,

Good, locally owned restaurants have opened in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, especially in the last couple of years. High Point is still far behind and probably always will be.

Ro,
Thanks. And I always tried to slip to the beach in NC after Market for a day or two. I gues the problem is that Market lasts for 2 weeks out of the year but is that enough to sustain any business for the other 50 weeks in the year ? Of course, the chains have deep enough pockets (Johnny Rockets, Applebees, WaffleHouse... but not the smaller, locally owned places.

Deepa - that is a great site! thanks for the link.
Seeing that house/set in such detail really makes me want to go that way.
As for the Picture Perfect set (I looked for photos on line but no luck) it is busier with more colors but the furniture elements seem easier to find.
I think if I try to do the Somethings Gotta Give design I will get the colors right - but be off in the furnishings.

Anon,

The Triad was starving for good places to eat. High Point doesn't have that much because of the reason you mentioned. However, Winston and Greensboro are in the process of revitalizing their downtowns, so there's been a push to have things to do there.

The Market money is great but there's more in the area besides furniture. Winston has banking and RJR so there are other things to keep it afloat.

junedanish, is that your apt? do you really live in nyc? it is so wonderfully tropical. i love the combination of light textiles and dark woods -- similar to nestwest apt. i really like the yellow wall too, it adds a provencale touch -- and nicely picks up on all the light and the warmth of the wood.

maybe a brightly-petaled flowering plant would be nice, for another warm note, but otherwise, it is wonderful as is. i fear a medium blue would dim down the wonderfully rich color.

Reef -

chances are you've run into this already, but the May Domino has a fairly modern-looking garden. Well, modern by way of English country, I guess - which may not be what you're looking for. How streamlined were you thinking?

Rasil. It is my apartment but it is not in NYC. If only I had that kind of money! It's a mile across the river in up-and-coming
Jersey City. I'm surprised you like the yellow. Maybe I've just grown tired of it but to me it looks washed out and doesn't hold it's own against all that chocolate. Thank you for the nice compliment, though.

Original Blues -

About as streamlined as I can get within a wooded setting. I live in the North East but my taste run more South Western!

Rasil, have you looked at the peonies' pics I linked for you @ the Sunday' thread?

junedanish, if that's what not having nyc money looks like, i want to hear more about your strategies. the results look wonderful.

*junedanish:
-brown baseboards.
"Dissolving the perimeter" is a good trick on a small-size rooms; you have a great,well-proportined space with enough ceiling height and beautiful arches to draw the eye up from the floor; brown lineates and grounds your room. Don't change it.
-coor of the foyer.
Blue, even worse, darkest blue,will be out of place. Why don't you play atound the beautiful reds in that Anthropology chair you like somuch (and rightly so)? You can make it warmer, darker, more saturated shade (and not the blue-hinted like in your kitchen, although same combination works there: brown-red-yellow). Yours is a classic analogous color scheme, very suited for your architectural-detail-rich apartment.
-curtain rod @the bedroom.
Existing supports represent better solution than the ceiling-hang curtains, by # of reasons (some of them you listed yourself). Just the exact placement is off. Align the rod with center of the horizontal mullion at the bottom of the window transom, with left curtain stretching right into the corner, and the right one-symmetrical to 1st. Consider echoing that beautiful window archon perpendicular wall to unify the room. It could be a mural, a salvaged architectural grille, a mirror, a wood shelf without the top and vertical supports forming an arch, etc. I disagree about the TV: better in your private space than in living, where your guests deserve your attention.

Reef -

ah. My mother's neighbours have a (very expensive) southwestern landscape, but it is easy enough to grow (with a little TLC) in the Pac Northwest. Lots of dark brown stone and spiky plants.

Actually, the original owners recently sold, and the new owners seem to have a decidedly more Restoration Hardware sensibility. They changed the exterior colours from dull yellow with a sort of cactus green trim to very traditional gray and white. Looks a little funny now, if you ask me, since the house itself is also southwestern ranch.

None of this is any help, though, is it? I swear I read something recently on modern gardens - Domino? Dwell? - but I just can't think where.

Good luck with your garden planning. Maybe explaining to a landscape designer that your tastes run southwestern would help? FWIW (and I'm a total non-expert here), it's the stones and the layout in my mom's neighbours' place that seem to make it modern and spare, rather than any of the particular plants.

Rachel -
What a great job you're doing, too.

But I kinda think I'd probably move that starburst clock to be centered vertical with the top sashes of the windows that flank it.

Tat: What, exactly, does "Dissolving the perimeter" mean?

Thanks, curtis. :)

YOu mean so the distance from the top of the clock to the trim is the same as the window frames to trim? Bringing the clock down a little bit?

I think that could work. It is a great clock, but I often feel like it's lost on that wall. THe small shift could re-empasize it, since it's a vintage piece and needs love. :)

DD: it's an phrase/tip from Vicente Wolf's book that *junedanish quoted @ her flicr stream and she'd like to imitate (am I right?)
I was going through her pictures and tried to answer the questions she posed there.

marc--
Pottery Barn does indeed have a similar tray. Not quite cherry, but the Espresso color is not too far.

Click my name for the link.

Room and Board has great trays in steel, btw.

Tat-
Thank you so much for all your practical advice. I never realized my scheme was analogous. Maybe it's because the windows face southwest -- also very warm-- that I've been craving something cool and dark and blue. But I will resist the temptation if it's going to ruin the flow of the apartment.

Design Dabbler--dissolving the perimeter means painting everything--walls, baseboards, ceiling and even the floor--the same color (like white) so that the background blends together and drops away and the emphasis is placed on the furniture etc...

JuneDanish --
re; blue, try Cardiff Blue from Ralph Lauren. its a very dark, deep navy blue. We have it in our white-tiled bathroom and have received lots of compliments.
Ralph has a number of deep dark blues, I think in the "Thoroughbred" collection (not sure)

i've been busy this afternoon trying to find ones:

1. http://www.handcrafted4you.com/Trays/Tray%20Cherry%20staged1.jpg

2.

http://www.lostartwoodworks.com/Serv-trays.html

The pottery barn ones come closest, though.

marc

okay, wende out with it. where can I find the owl story? can you link or repeat it? Long day--could use funny story--thanks.

Jonathan, have you browsed through the Eichler Network for ideas?
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/HDlandscaping1.html

The cover pictures of these books could lead you in a direction:
http://www.japanesegarden.com/inthelibrary/gardens.shtml

If you're planning on a water feature, consider something that is more like the bamboo flowing over rocks, as seen in the top picture on the first link.

You keep forgetting you have a child. I realize that your child is at the eat, sleep, and excrete phase, but before you know it, the child will be running and playing. And yelling "godamned moron" at the postal carrier and standing in the garden looking at the biscuits just thrown all over saying "godamned mess".

The child will need a place to play. Kids will make themselves at home anywhere. It's just that kids won't necessarily understand that it's not okay to dig something up or pile dirt in the cascading fountain.

Next up...kids have friends. Yes, you may end up hosting a herd of buffalo stampeding through the garden. The carefully raked gravel now has roadways and legos and lincoln log buildings. The bonsai collection has been uprooted and has G.I.Joe in the tree.

I've watched kids in the courtyard break off branches and then whip the bush from which the branch came. Yeah, I put a stop to that (showing the lovely beauty of the blossoms and imparting my philosophy "what if everyone did it?").

You don't want the children climbing the rain chain or hanging themselves from it. You don't want the child to be in a hazardous yard, chock full of boulders and pointy things and choking dangers. Even those lovely smooth pebbles...choking hazard.

So, I'd reschedule the contractor, or just go over some basic ideas with them.

You have SO MUCH to think about. Drainage. You put in too much solid surface in your yard, it floods your neighbor's yard. You put in a deciduous tree that rains leaves on your neighbor's yard. It's not just good fences make good neighbors, it's thoughful yard layouts that minimize the transfer of undesireable garden aspects...leaves, water runoff, sound.

Next, did you play over at Plan A Garden at bhg.com? What are the measurements of your backyard area? Width, length? What kind of light do you get in the backyard? What do you NEED THE BACKYARD TO DO?

How much can you do yourself, in terms of time and knowledge? How much are you willing to spend to have someone else do it?

I cannot stress child safety enough. It's a little late to rethink the boulder next to the open water pool when your child has leapt off the boulder into the pool, banged their head, and lies unconcious in the hospital having suffered brain damage from nearly drowning.

Of course, I always have ideas. I'd like you to browse the Imagine Tiles here:
http://www.imaginetile.com/in_stock.asp

Next, run through the installations pictures:
http://www.imaginetile.com/install.asp

You'll see grass on a N.Y.C. balcony that never needs mowing and always stays green. Click on the one for Mountain Stream: Dog Bath (no, it's not a bathing area for dogs). You can mix in the stones tiles with slate. Modern? Yes. Bonus, you never have to pick up the stones and put them back where they are supposed to be after your child went racing through the yard on his Big Wheel.

I came across this site when looking for the red sphere TV that was in...uh...someone's SCC apartment. I think they are really cool:
http://www.waterfountains.com/fountain.html

Would be a fine focal point for the garden, and having the water run over the sphere into the base where water is NOT exposed, would look great, and be "child safe".

We can bounce ideas back and forth, all at no cost (no contractor involved) until you find ideas that will work for you. Then call in the contractor.

Jonathan, you've probably already looked at HGTV garden sites but in case you missed this page
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_landscaping_design/0,1784,HGTV_3596,00.html
they have different styles of gardens to check out.

Shoshana -- Oh, the owl story. It's buried in the thread about the loft with the jars of dirt, so I'll pollute this thread by retelling it.

Ex-husband twice my age fancied he ran a Victorian house museum (and it's actually in guidebooks in its small way). The collection included 8 stuffed owls (products of taxidermy) and a stuffed loon (ditto). When we moved cross-country, I got to bubblewrap and pack the taxidermy, which is always fun to slip into my resume.

Let's just say that negotiating shared space was a win-lose proposition, and I always lost (which given my ability to whine and bully, is amazing testimony to his strength of character).

I try to see my past as an adventure.

I saw a couple of episodes of a gardening show on BBC 2 at someone's place a couple of years ago. The garden designer is really radical in his designs and I can't think of the name of the show or the designer. Does this ring a bell with anyone here? The stuff this guy did was so weird but so amazing and beautiful. His ideas were way over the top.

Anne! What a great place to explore! I don't think I ever looked at the garden/landscaping area before! Wow! So many ideas, from adding just a touch of style to going all out.

I mentioned kid safety and kids ruining the gravel...LOOK what they did here...two things in one, sand garden with rake, and kid's sand box! Woo hoo!
http://tinyurl.com/o4c6s

And this:
http://tinyurl.com/njjev
A place to sit or lie in the sun, and to play! Planning way far in advance, the sandbox could be converted to a hot tub when the child is much older.

And this!!!
http://tinyurl.com/ovegl
Love those bright spots of orange. The way the seating could be "hidden" behind a row of bamboo to yield a surprise to guests.

Anne, I'll be there all night, looking at ideas, and it's not even my yard!

And we know the owls are now legend, as I'm apparently changing the number in each retelling. Ten in the other thread is probably correct. There were enough for every room, anyway.

Anne, not that I've seen the show, but I just did a quickie search, is it this show/guy:
http://tinyurl.com/jf3bq

Yes, that's him! Ha, and I even mentioned him and that show in one of my own posts. This guy's brain works on a completely different level than anyone else. I think he's brilliant!
thanks, andree

Reef and Jonathan, you might also want to look a some books by Topher Delaney. She's a wonderful landscape designer. She's doing large projects right now but has done many private yards and you'll be amazed at her approach to design.

*junedanish,
'Analagous' is just a fancy name for colors adjacent to each other on a color wheel. It could be any 3-4 close colors: green, blue-green, blue (roughly speaking), etc.
For all 4 classic color schemes, see the link @ my signature.

Flow, per se, has very little to do with color. It deals with the ease of reaching furnishings and performing various tasks, and how well the placement of furniture and other objects correspond to planned speed of these functions. Your sitting group, for example, is placed well - it is not blocking entrances or exits to/from the room but at the same time it is inviting enough and central enough for people to pay attention, slow down and engage in conversation.

Jonathan, I made you a garden picture. I used parts of gardens shown in this slideshow:
http://tinyurl.com/es8tr

I used slide four, which is where you'll end up, and I think it was slide eight. I couldn't put in the bamboo behind the bench, but that would be nice.

Of course, the pictures made it so everything was angled, and I liked the way it ended up. Instead of your eyes being drawn straight back to the far wall, you get a zig-zag pattern, which weaves around the areas.

I don't like dead ending, though, and I have no idea what special thing you could do at the end. Anyway, check it out, same bat time, same bat channel:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/

I'm always happy with the photo when it's done, and go back to look at it later, only to scream "Amateur! Fool! Idiot! You can do better!"

Anyway, I found a couple more garden type things for you to browse, working with the same triangles in the picture I made for you and your family.

Bamboo Basics:
http://tinyurl.com/hcwhs

Bamboo IS invasive and WILL take over your yard and the neighbors. You can sink the most inexpensive pots into the ground to prohibit the spread.

Gardening in the Northeast:
http://tinyurl.com/jlouc

General overview of tasks on a monthly basis. What to plant, what to trim, etc. With links to more info.

Lastly, Landscaping with Plant Partnerships:
http://tinyurl.com/gnlb3

Text from that first picture:
"Planning a landscape is easier when you break it down into manageable bites."

Makes sense, no? And using the zig-zag/triangles, you have even MORE manageable bites. Each area can be different, adding to the overall look. A big pot of the bamboo on the first triangle, more towards the middle of the grouping, and another one or two behind the bench, and yet another in the far triangle makes for a winding pathway, some privacy, without blocking ALL your sun.

I don't know how well things like ferns grow in your area. But they don't need to be hacked back here and some spread out on their own. Yeah, yeah, I'm in fog city, S.F. Big climate difference. But I'm sure there are plants that look lovely in shape and form, all year round for your area. Even deciduous plants that have interesting and shapely trunks and branches that form stark abstractions against newly fallen snow.

Picture 6...those three beauties are all in pots. Again, you CAN countersink pots into your yard to try out plants or for annuals. Makes replanting a breeze. And you can mix pots and planted items together, with above-ground pots with designs or colors to add color to your garden.

I love textures and colors playing off each other. I love changing looks throughout the season. Maybe it's not at all what you want, but you gotta admit, the "jumbled" look has advantages. You'll never need manicure scissors. No lawn mower. No gardener.

In the spirit of getting a look similar to Somethings Gotta Give, we found this website with a blue and white striped cotton rug called "Beach House Rug". We went with a 9 by 12 and love it. The website says it was inspired by the movie.
http://www.aspencarpetdesigns.com/Beachhouse_8x10.htm