French Atmospheres

We have just received our shipment of Jeanne d'Arc Living's English edition of French Atmospheres! This book was originally published in Danish and is now available in English. It is beautiful and very thorough. Those of you who love Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine will fall in love with it! It includes tips for painting and creating patinas and other projects. It's a large hardback to add to your collection of design books.

Pages from the French Atmospheres book

Part of what attracted us to Jeanne d'Arc, is the beautiful and elegant simplicity of the style.  We like to combine fancy pieces that show their age, patinas, and yet look great with other seemingly mundane objects like kitchenware and found natural objects. We also have a love for the sacred art for its aesthetic value.

The grays, tans, and muted colors have always been part of our palette. 

Top pictures:some of last container items. Bottom pictures: white French cupboard

and shutters, pr. of Belgian chairs, enamel pitchers all in September container here

French Atmospheres is sort of a compilation of the best of Jeanne D'Arc and it's inclusive of the different rooms of the house and different elements of design, along with practical ideas for achieving that "look."  We trust that you will relish this book and treasure it as part of your collection. Call us or send us an e-mail here to reserve your copy. 

Makeover of our garden house here 

We are also very excited because we took an ad in it and hope to reach more folks. Our style and merchandise is very congruent with their style. Just check out our web site here to preview the collection of finds we will be bringing to you in our next container.

Trinidad

"They thrive on neglect!"

"They thrive on neglect!" said my friend Bob about succulents. Well, not quite, but they are very hardy. It seems that it is easier to kill a succulent by overwatering it than from not giving it water often. They are equipped to store water as to not wither quickly. Instead of "saving for a rainy day," they save water for dry days. They are NOT however very hardy in excessively cold weather.

Succulents we have on our patio

One nice thing about most succulents is that you can easily share them with others. A cutting can be easily planted and in no time it is growing roots.

It is also great that you can create an arrangement with succulents like a wreath or a dish with a variety of them and they only need to be sprayed with

some water.

Also easy to take to a antique fair, makes the booth attractive 

 These beauties can grow with very little soil so you can plant them in shallow containers and even on crevices of rocks and logs.

From our Blog Friend Karin of La Pouyette in France click here

My friend Melissa is a true artist when it comes to creating  beautiful containers with succulents, moss, shells. She is amazing!

 Arrangement and planter creation by Melissa Olona  

One of my favorite books on succulents is Designing with Succulents and two of my favorite local nurseries for succulents are Sierra Azul in Watsonville and 

A Succulent Garden in Moss Landing. And if you ever attend the Long Beach Flea Market at the Veteran's Stadium, look for Mike "the succulent guy," Mike is a wonderful, jolly man and he is great with succulents, which he sells very reasonably.

 Our own collection at home 

I have to admit that I do love them for how beautiful they are, but also because they are easy to take care of.

Trinidad

 Left picture: quickly some Lady Fingers in an old urn 

Right picture: taken a few years ago during a visit at the San Francisco Antique Show. 

do not know who created this.

Below: We have succulents in California as well at our place in Belgium.