newport harbor home tour extras

As promised, I’m back with just a little bit of the last house we featured on the Newport Harbor Home Tour this year. I can only show you the highlights of this incredible modern home.

With amazing views of the back bay, this home was totally taken down to the studs and rebuilt on the footprint of the original mid-century home, and fabulously decorated by Erica Bryen. 

Home tour guest were greeted at the entry with huge gold and black balloons suspended over the courtyard pool. Those were the colors of the day, as you can see with the big surprise waiting to be seen in the master bedroom soaking tub!  

All the other homes on the tour were in a more traditional or farmhouse style, so this was a fun variation. Plans are already in the works for the 2020 Newport Harbor Home Tour, so mark your calendars for May 14th.   

ciao! fabiana

For more Newport Harbor Home Tour inspiration,

check out this brand new book:

It showcases three of the homes from the 2018 home tour!

sunday drive part two

Last Sunday, I shared a favorite street of mine in Newport Beach called Hampshire Court. The gorgeous Cape Cod style home at the end of the cul de sac is a real showstopper and, last week I gave you a little tour of the inside.

Today the drive continues on Hampshire Court, but this time home is much different in style than the beautiful one decorated by Blackband Design. This interesting pink home was for sale recently, so we have little peek at the inside here.   

This home has that sort of south Florida and Bahamas vibe to it, and it even reminds me a little bit of the Beverly Hills Hotel. It needs a little updating in my opinion, but the décor is definitely old-school glam!

You can see the Cape Cod home from here.

See how close it is to the Cape Cod home?

Isn’t it fun to take this little Sunday drive, while not leaving the comfort of your own home, haha?

💕

While I’m here today, I wanted to share some of my "Tablescaping Essentials" with you. I have a whole page on the Amazon website with my favorite picks for setting a beautiful table.

Quite often time is of the essence, and I have last minute projects or events to work on, so I turn to Amazon for one or two day delivery. You’d be surprised at how many amazing items they have to offer! And I'm constantly updating this page with my new favorites. 

You can check it out here, at “Tablescaping Essentials”.

ciao! fabiana

a peek inside the blue door cottage

I’m glad so many of you enjoyed the Balboa Cottage Dinner Party blog post I shared yesterday, and a few of you wanted to see more of this darling cottage.

Built in 1928 and lovingly updated, this home retains so much of its original character. From the gorgeous façade to the blue dutch door, this home is spectacular and so charming!   

I had so much fun on Thursday setting this table for a dinner party in the front yard. We wanted to bring the color palette of the home's interior out to the front patio with this festive tablescape.

Coastal touches were of course necessary for this Little Balboa Island cottage's dinner party. I used chunky white starfish, blue glass and lots of hydrangeas, which remind me of seaside living.

Best of all, each guest got their own personal “message in a bottle” at their place setting. We found these at the last minute and they proved to be perfect for the party game the hosts had in mind.

Not only that, but they are so cute and such a conversation piece! 

Here’s a step inside the Blue Door Cottage. I know you’ll be seeing a lot more of it soon!

The hydrangeas for the party are all set to go!

Crossing the bridge to Balboa Island 

I’ll have more news to share on the Blue Door Cottage soon, as well as another pretty cottage in Old-Town Orange.

I sure hope you'll check back soon! 😘

ciao! fabiana

For lots of fun extras, follow me on instagram!

a Balboa cottage dinner party

Yesterday afternoon was so much fun! My friends Angi and Pete were hosting a birthday dinner party at their absolutely adorable Blue Door Cottage on Little Balboa Island, and I helped them by styling and setting a table for sixteen for them.

We were going for a sophisticated coastal theme, so I started by arranging four mason jars full of vibrant blue hydrangeas. The aqua blue jars were just perfect for this look since it reminds me of beach glass.

This adorable cottage is so reminiscent of Cape Cod, and the hydrangeas are too. I just picture them blooming all over Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket!   

The best configuration for this front yard patio was to have a large square table with four chairs on each side. That left lots of empty space at the center of the table for me to decorate.  

Pretty much everything for the table was blue and white, which coordinates entirely with the inside of the cottage, and I used lemons around the center lantern for just a pop of color.

Here’s the mood board I put together with the items we selected from the party rental company. 

I was so happy to know they offered so many interesting options, especially the blue goblets, blue and white china and gingham napkins, which are my go to items for a no-fail tablescape.

It's always more interesting to mix and match china, like  here where we used scalloped white dinner plates to set off the blue and white salad plates.

For a little fun, we added chunky white starfish at each place setting, and the best part of all, everyone also got their own personal “message in a bottle”.

This version is a lot more fun than the one Sting sang about. Angie and Pete took it to another level by making a whole party game out of this favor. Inside each little bottle, Angie hand-wrote interactive questions which urged everyone to participate. 

These messages in a bottle come all decorated with a tag and little anchor tied on with twine. They’d make great place cards too to for each place setting. Simply write your guests’ names on the little tag that’s already attached!

A white lantern was the perfect choice for the center of the table, as if offers a little height but doesn’t block dinner conversation.

I surrounded it with greenery, scattered lemons and more white starfish, inspired by my interpretation of a summery coastal California look.

Yesterday turned out to be the perfect summer evening for this alfresco birthday dinner. Check back soon for more on the Blue Door Cottage and get a little peek of the inside!

ciao! fabiana

 P.S. After I left Pete ran out to get some more votives for the table...
candlelight is so important to set the perfect mood!