happy sunday!

"One learns first of all in beach living

the art of shedding: 

how little one can get along with, 

not how much."  

--Anne Morrow Lindbergh

ciao! fabiana

photo credit: Barclay Butera

home tour highlights

This year's 

Newport Harbor Home and Garden Tour 

was really fun.

We started at this house on Santiago Drive.  

It's a large mid-century home

that’s been recently remodeled.

The house was brought back to its

original mid-century style,

which made it easy to create a seamless

 indoor-outdoor living space. 

The light-filled living room 

has a soft and beachy color palette. 

The back yard features a large pool, 

a crushed blue glass fire pit, a new cabana 

and plenty of seating. Artificial turf and pea gravel 

make this a beautiful and water-wise yard.

The next house we visited was on Windward Lane.  

Its restrained look was very soothing and stylish,

and it had a great mix of

antiques and contemporary pieces.  

The piece-de-resistance was 

the glass and steel ping pong table in the game room.  

The outdoor area was lovely,

but the milk and cookies

 in the kitchen really got my attention!

The cookies were huge!

One of the guest rooms featured

two twin sized beds with faux headboards

created by white molding and

inset with a fancy

Star Wars storm trooper wallpaper.  

I frequent Castaways a lot,

but none of my friends' homes

can compare to this next one.  

This Cape Andover home is full

of vibrancy, details, and collections.  

My favorite thing in this house was a collection of

1930's fashion drawings

that were hung in the powder room.

I also enjoying seeing my friends

Carrie and Susan

who were docents at this house.

They made it fun!  

The 15th Street house was one of my favorites.  

A long tree-lined driveway leads you

to this charming little California ranch house.

It was so lovely,

that I featured it in another post, here.   

12 Balboa Coves

I'm sorry to say, with our late start on the tour,

we were unable to visit

the two homes in Balboa Coves.

Hopefully there will be another opportunity

for me to visit that community soon.

It looks fabulous!

19 Balboa Coves

Our next stop was lunch and shopping!  

Stone Fire Grill provided a lovely buffet of

salad, pasta, chicken and dessert.  

The day was perfect for enjoying the stunning views 

from our location at the Newport Theater Arts Center.  

And now on to the open-air boutique...

Meredith at MerMade Designs always has

the most gorgeous beach-inspired 
accessories for the home.

Aren't these large bottles with the

coral and starfish toppers incredible?

I got a little treasure for my powder room,

one of the shell-encrusted clam shell dishes.  

I promised myself I would go back to

Meredith's store again soon

to see what else I "needed".    

Oh, those hand soaps are so cute!  

And who doesn't need cute hand soap?

The Ring Ching Ching gals are always fun to see.

Hi, Jennifer, Amanda and Lynn!

They make darling custom school,

college and sorority inspired clothing and accessories.

Go, Sailors!

I have to say "Hi" to Claudia too,

who is on the right and is so sweet.

My friend, Lisa fell in love

 with Diane Cotton's jewelry.

Diane creates unique jewelry with vintage inspired flair.

She also has a great eye for collecting

one-of-a-kind vintage pieces.

Lisa purchased an incredible stainless steel bracelet

from the 1950's, which was the perfect choice - so unique!     

Lovely ivory baubles.

The perfect comfortable walking shoes.

We ended our day with a champagne reception 

at the Barclay Butera Showroom.  

I will save that gathering for another post,

 but we got to meet Barclay and he signed a book for me.

 He was very nice (and is so talented). 

And thanks to all the volunteers

who put on such a fabulous home tour,

lead by Karen Taylor and  Chris Wilkinson.  

I can't wait until next year!

xo

ciao! fabiana

bookcase styling

One of my favorite looks.  This one is by Emily Henderson

A well-styled bookcase can make all the difference in a room, and will usually be the focal point. Do you have a bookcase that's waiting for a special makeover?  Here are some great design tips from House Beautiful and HGTV: 

*Have a clean start. Remove everything from the shelves.  Discard or pack away any damaged books.

*To book or not to book. Do you want all books, some books or no books? Experiment with different ways to stack books...some vertically, some horizontally in a pleasing pattern. Horizontal books can act as bookends. 

Dimples & Tangles 

*Personalize the space. Add a favorite collection, a few shapely vases, decorative boxes or baskets & family photos. This makes the display more interesting to others and more enjoyable for you. You don't have to include all these choices.  Edit out things that don't fit in.

Stylish Bird

*Vary the height of your objects, 

and don't line things up all in a neat row.  

Niagara Novice

*Go big and bold. 

Small items get lost in the overall look.  

Flourish Design & Style

Decor Pad

*Decide whether or not you would like to add 

a special backing to your bookcase. 

The bookcase itself can be a backdrop 

with paint, fabric or wallpaper. 

Everything Fab

*Group items by theme, texture, color or shape. 

Groupings in odd numbers work best, 

and set them off-center.

Brabourne Farm

House of Jade Interiors

*Use a few stacked books as a 

pedestal for a special object.

Holly Mathis Interiors

BH&G

Solebich

*Think about the color of your books.

Do you want to sort them by color or have 

a specific color palette of only certain colors?

hgtv

*Adding a small painting is a fun option.

coastal living

centsational girl

young house love

the art of doing stuff

Lonny

cottage & vine

casa sugar

apartment therapy

*Don't over clutter. Keep in mind 

the open space around your objects

design sponge

amber interior design

 *Add a little sparkle with some glass or silver. 

A small mirror propped up does the trick too.  

habitually chic

Are you inspired yet? 

Check out some of my favorite books HERE.

ciao! fabiana