Travels: If this is Thursday, I must be in Paris!

/
Laduree 2.JPG

I am convinced that the best adventures and memories are those that you don't plan.  They just present themselves.

The call came early Monday morning to my London hotel room.  My dear Orlando friend had just landed in Paris.  She was there to visit her son for two weeks.  This was a special invitation that meant a lot to me because he and his brother were in my wedding and he played (beautifully) the piano.  He now has a hugely successful career in Paris, speaks many languages and is quite European. Having been in Paris for many years, he is the perfect guide!

"Get on Eurostar on Thursday and come to see us," she said.  "And spend the night."

Please, twist my arm!

Eiffel_Tower.JPG

I was to hop on Eurostar, the very cool train that runs under the English Channel and in two and a half hours deposits you in Paris.  How much fun is that?

So I did.  It was a perfect day.  Even if it was only one day in Paris.

Laduree.jpg

They picked me up at the train station in Paris and what else, we went for croissants and coffee.  Had our picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower (to go with the tons of photos that we have from our long friendship).  Walked down the Champs-Elysees.  Had a leisurely lunch at the fabulous Ladurée (oh, those macaroons!).  Did a run through the Quai Branly Museum.  Headed to the country to her son's beautiful home in a quaint village.  Dinner and a fireplace.  A walk in the woods with their sweet dog.

Les_Macaroons.jpg

In the play Billy Elliott, Billy tells us that if "you want to dance, dance."  Don't wait for perfection or for all of the planets to be perfectly aligned.  Just do it. 

That was my day.  I had a chance to go to Paris and I just did it.  Even if it was only for a day.  It was one I will always remember. And those macaroons!  It was perfect.

Travels: If a man's home is his castle, this one is fit for a queen

/

It has been called the most beautiful castle in the world.  And I can't argue.

It is in a fairy tale setting in the beautiful countryside of Kent,  just a short hop from London by train.  But it could be a million miles away from the city!  As I walk down a winding road filled with ponds, peacocks and beautiful gardens leading to the entrance, I am so happy to experience this piece of English history.Photo of Leeds CastleLeeds Castle. 

Leeds Castle passed into royal hands in 1278 and became part of the Queen of England’s dower, the settlement widowed queens received upon the death Photo of a peacockOfficial peacock greeter.of their husbands. Over the course of 150 years it was held by six medieval queens: Eleanor of Castile; Margaret of France; Isabella of France, Joan of Navarre; Anne of Bohemia and Catherine de Valois. 

So, it really is fit for a queen!

And for at least one king:  Henry VIII was a frequent visitor with his Queen Catharine of Aragon.

Read More

Travels: This Week I'm in a London state of mind

/

I am not sure exactly when I fell in love with London.  But many years ago it became my city.   Again and again I return.  And when I leave, I always wish for more time.

My favorite visit here was with my late father for his 70th birthday.  We covered every inch of London and a lot out of the city during our two-week visit and being able to show it all to him was a memory that I cherish.  Standing on the white cliffs at Dover that he had seen from a naval ship when he was only 18.  Taking trains from tube stations that he had been in during the Blitz.  Seeing Winston Churchill's burial site.  And touring Buckingham Palace and my father saying, “I can’t believe they let us in!”

Photo of Wrenda with phone booths

London  is a city that has my heart.

That is why having this entire week on my own, free to do anything I wish is such a gift.

Soon after arriving today I headed for the Thames Beachcombing Tour. London Walks bills it as 10,000 years of history beneath your feet.  For a history freak like myself, this is pure heaven.  A chance to peak into lives that were here so many years ago!!!  Sign me up.  So, I met up with Fiona, an inter-tidal archaeologist who is also a leading authority on the Thames shoreline.  It was worth braving today’s cold and rain take part in this fascinating tour with 10 other hearty participants.

The brochure says that you are guaranteed to find stuff, and find stuff we did.  Clay pipes, pieces of beautifully decorated bowls, Roman tiles that go back 1800 years, lots of metal remnants from a boatyard.  Just fascinating...

For the remainder of my first day in London, I did a quick run past Buckingham Palace.  The standard is flying, the queen is in. 

Read More

Selling your home? First impressions are everything!

/

One of my favorite services is helping clients pull their homes together for a sale!

I take a lot of pleasure in making a home show like a model for the owners to enjoy until the for sale sign flips over to "sold."  I love it when the client tells me that they like what I have done so much that they don't want to sell the home.

Spring is the time of year when (in Florida) lots of part-time residents are thinking about putting their comes and condos on the market.  It is also when homeowners hopefully try to sell their home over the summer and try to get settled before school starts. 

At least that is the way it was before the market took a tumble.  Times are uncertain.  Money is tight.  That home could sit on the market for a while.  But I still receive lots of calls asking me what I can do to help a home sell and to increase the resale value.

We all know that first impression are everything.  Sometimes it is the only chance you have to make the sale.  And sometimes the best ideas are the simplest.

So, with my tools of the trade in hand, ready to share some secrets of how to beat out every other house for sale on the same street, I show up at the front door.  But the appointment actually starts the minute I pull up in front of the house and step out of my car.  Everyone is so concerned with the inside (and rightly so) that they often forget that the first impression begins with the front yard.  So, before I share some guidelines for the interior in a future blog,  let's run through some quick, inexpensive, totally effective ways to get prospective buyers in the front door!

And even if you are not selling your home, try these tips for an easy spring refresher to your home: 

Read More

Take Me to the Movies for Design Inspiration!

/

I love movies.

If I am having a stressful day, writer's block or decorating block, I sometimes will close up my officePhoto Courtesy of Universal Pictures. (advantage of being your own boss!) pick up my purse and head to a movie.  The total escape always reshapes my attitude.  Even when I worked in the corporate world, I would often give my staff a mental break in the middle of the afternoon and take them all to a movie.  Of course, I was their favorite boss!

A good friend from LA came for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  She was coincidently one of my "staff" who learned early in her career, the benefits of sneaking out to a movie midday.  Now she is all grown up and is a successful NBC Universal vice president and I am very proud of her accomplishments.  One of her responsibilities is dealing with product placement and sponsorship in the theme parks and movies.  It is a great job and being in LA, she is immersed in all things Hollywood.  So, our conversation always turns to movies.

This time to the talented Nancy Meyers, the wonderful writer/director who gave us It's Complicated (see kitchen above), Something's Gotta Give, Father of the Bride and more.  Her movies are an interior decorator's dream.  She creates rooms that we love.  They make us want to walk right in and sit down.  They are as beautiful as a

Read More

Antique Market Find: Discovering a neglected treasure and bringing it back to life

/

It was a very sad, shabby cabinet that had been propped up in the dirt.  Almost an afterthought.  Neglected, it looked like it had all but given up being noticed, much less purchased.   No one even stopped to think of the possibilities.  In all fairness, it had lots of competition in the acres of treasures at Renningers Antique Market in Mt. Dora this past weekend.  But this was its lucky day and mine.

The nice vendor said that it was a very old medicine cabinet that he had taken out of a farmhouse in Alabama that was facing demolition.  He was only asking $30.  We did not try to deal.  We knew we had something special.

My husband, a miracle worker at bringing old pieces back to life, could restore this primitive piece back to its earlier days.  Inside there were marks from medicine bottles. Upon cleaning off the layers and layers of dirt and taking it apart, a label on the back of the mirror revealed that it was over 100 years old.  After some minor repairs and cleaning up the original hardware, careful not to remove any of the remaining paint, it almost beamed with thanks for saving it.

It now hangs proudly on the cottage bathroom wall of a collector of all things shabby and primitive (me). Someone who appreciates its peeling paint, distressed wood and deep nooks for treasures.  It is a treasure itself.  Purchased from the nice vendor who did not recognize the gem that he brought from Alabama to Mt. Dora so we could take it home and give it a new life.