The Details the Simle Life #3


a door within a door


morning espresso for my darling

I love the details in life.  The little things my girls say like “I want to eat that cloud” or  "I made you an egg and now I want a hug, I expect payment!"  Who do you think said that the teenager or the ten year old? The teenager is the answer.  I just realized this week that there is a code of things that you are not supposed to say in front of your teenager’s friends.  I always thought I was a cool mom.  I know we all probably think that.  But I actually blast rap music, love fashion, bake chocolate cakes and let them all come over and scream loudly.  My problem is I don’t know what the code is, we are in Italy so it’s all in Italian (keep that in mind, if you think you’ve cracked the code), the code could also be An Italian Culture Code or it could be some kind world code that all teenagers know (innate or learned?) and that has definitely changed since thirty years ago.

vine and Medieval wall
shades of orange
Anyway (I diverged) was writing about the details.  I believe that sometimes in life when things get tough it is best to concentrate on the details, the little picture.  Then suddenly for that precious moment life is so pretty.

I like to buy flowers,
put them in flower pots I have painted.
give them as gifts


I always love walking past these terraces and dreaming


a kiss? an espresso? or a cigarette?


this city girls is proud of her olive "grove"


getting ready for the party
the Quintana Medieval horse racing sport and Medieval food


A friend sent me this quote this week.  I don’t know who said it.  It makes life feel right and simple and almost easy.  We just need to know what our desire is.

As is your desire, so is your will.
As is your will, so is your deed.
As is your deed, so is your destiny.

Cheers, look for the details.
Natalie

Italian Flower Festival





La Infiorata

Oh do I have something special for you today.  It is one of my favorite things about living in Umbria, Italy.  I get to go to the Flower Festival in Spello La Infiorata.  Every year I force my girls (although they love it) to wake up early about 5:30 a.m and we meet up with friends, get on our bikes and bike to Spello for the festival, this way we beat the heat and the crowds.  The people who do the actual laying down of the flowers stay up all night working with tents over the designs so they don’t blow away.  They party into the night, this in Italy means drinking lots of coffee maybe a glass of wine and hanging with friends.






These designs are laid down with templates, they have wooden boards that cross over like little bridges, to work in the middle and they have misters to wet down the designs.  The flowers are picked locally and some are dried and some are fresh and then separated into bins of color.  There are lots of teenagers involved and team spirit is paramount.










Spello Flower Festival



Isn’t it just amazing that all this is done with flowers, the perspective, design, thought, creativity and profuse color is expansive and mind-boggling.

I just love the simple designs best.  They bring me such a sense of peace and joy that is hard to convey here in words.

the simple life



tree of life

I think it is a great idea to take this flower festival idea and bring it to your home for a party.  Think what a splendid impact it could make at a cocktail party, flowers and colored drinks in the back yard.  Spread out in the driveway for a child’s birthday party, a wedding or graduation party.

simple they are so pretty you can't do it wrong




flower hearts
Doing the simple designs could be as easy as collecting shapes from around the house, then outline the objects in chalk and fill them in with fresh petals.  Think about using buckets, kitchen plates for circles, even little baby clothing outlined for a shower could be adorable, irregular hearts and stars.  Have the kids draw the forms and fill them in.  It would even be fun to have a summer party where everyone does it together.





Cheers and love around the world from Umbria.

a view from Spell, Umbria
Natalie
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Between Naps on the Porch

Chalk Painted Chest



chalk painted chest
Hello everyone!  I disappeared because my computer stopped working or letting me work.  Having a Macintosh computer in Italy is like… well it is like being a barefoot California girl in cut-off Levis, when everyone else is in 3-inch heels and has straightened hair.  The fight between Mac and PC, it’s going on over here too, isn’t that insane except no one has Mac unless it is a phone.

I learned something fun recently from a very lovely stylish client of mine who owns one of my favorite cafĂ©’s in town.  She taught me, you can just buy the metal bolts that go on to furniture in stripes.  This is what they look like.

distressed faux finish

Nailhead Trim


Then you just line up the stripe and hammer in a bolt every 5th bolt and thus pinning the stripe down.  It makes me think there are so many other projects I could use these for, upholstering a chair, making numbers on a door inside or out, one big SEVEN for example could be way cool, because seven is hip.  Man, I think they would be fun to do on a wall also.  Does anyone out there know what these bolts are really called in English, it isn’t rivet is it? (the answer seems to be nailhead trim)

Here’s what the chest looked like before.  I made my own chalk paint by adding powdered stucco sifted into a small bucket of taupe colored flat paint. I used about two tablespoons of stucco and mixed it really well.  It thickened up very quickly so I am thinking that the Plaster of Paris homemade chalk paint recipe might work better.  I haven’t found Plaster of Paris over here in Italy yet.

the before shot
The good thing about Chalk Paint is it covers everything and it was easy to sponge off in areas to antique the chest and let the wood come through.  After it was painted I wiped over it with a hard dried out sponge to make the surfaces smooth.

The ball gown was one of my mother’s that she wore when she was 18.  It has a twelve ft. long satin shall that goes with it.  When I was young I used to put it on and stand over the kitchen heater that was on the floor and blew up warm air, the gown became huge like a hoop skirt.  I am slowly doing a photo essay of photographing all the girls in the family in this dress.  It is quite lovely.

chalk paint and satin gotta love it!



Cheers,
Natalie

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