Umbria Italy, Napa Valley California

The Simple Life

We are in Umbria, Italy now.  The moment I stepped off the plane in Rome I could feel the Italian air, it was just heaven, warm and inviting, thick with possibility.  My girls are so happy to be back, Italian flying off their lips with confidence and ease.  I’ll always sound like a foreigner and I find it funny when people even women say they love my accent.

Magnolia and Tulips Inspiration

The Simple Life
End of May beginning of June.

I can't believe it is actually June tomorrow. This means crazy end of school activity, exams and ballet recitals and my little family heading off to Umbria for the summer.  We are all overwhelmed and thrilled.

PRINCE

No words today only tears, he was loved.
xo, Natalie

 

Hope

It is raining out and I’m drinking peppermint tea and I have just turned on the white lights that are strung high above the garden courtyard.

Sometimes when I’m feeling blue, it is so silly (or desperate?) how one inkling of hope can give me that jolt to the heart.  It is enough to wake me up, at least for that moment and I become utterly certain that-- to quote Prince “joy lives round the corner”.

Embellishment at Sette Design

The Simple Life

Embellish

Verb (used with object)

1.  To beautify, by or as if by ornamentation; ornament; adorn.

2.  To enhance, (a statement or narrative) with fictitious additions.

Pendant Pomegranate

I can’t believe it is raining right now in California as I write to you.  The ground is quenching its thirst from months and years of disappointment.  It is November first and it is raining!  Happy November everyone.

These photos I took earlier in the week.  I wanted to pay tribute to this pendant pomegranate.  I have been tentatively watching it remain, consistently hanging low for weeks.  To me here at Sette Design it is poetry.

Display Empty Frame and Flowers

Oh it is almost the weekend… and today for your pleasure I have a simple display of just a single empty frame and flowers.

2 Houses I Love

Do you ever find yourself driving to work or walking around your neighborhood and falling in love with certain houses, maybe you pass a certain way just for the joy of seeing your special house.

This is how I carry on my days here at Sette Design.  

Living in the Wine Country

Sometimes in the fall in Umbria, I would make the girls stop in their tracks and smell the air of pungent fermenting grapes.  I would say that is the smell of the crush, the smell of home.  Elisa and Lucia would undoubtedly respond, “but Mama it’s GROSS”.

Love Wins

I’m sorry that I have been away for more than a hiatus.

What is more than a hiatus anyway?

My daughter recently told me that in medieval times a moment was measured as 90 seconds.

The dictionary describes a hiatus as:

 1.  A break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

 2.  A missing part; gap or lacuna.

I like it that a hiatus refers to space and action.

Oak Tree Galls a Creative Display

The Simple Life

Hi everyone!

I’ve finished the loft I was painting a while back.  I call it the Californian Bohemian Loft. I plan to show you it in the next post. Today some strange and splendid inspiration, Oak Tree Galls and garden flowers.  

2nd of Spring Vernal Equinox

The Simple Life

Oh it is already the 2nd Day of Spring.

March Already

The Simple Life

I’ve lost my grip on The Simple Life.  I don’t have my calm.  It’s funny because I changed the heading on this blog to The Simple Life in California but it isn’t true at all at this point.  We moved into a tiny little cottage but honestly it is a mess most of the time and not simple.  I don’t make bread anymore either.  I’ll tell you there is a lot that goes on and down when one moves across the world even if it is to a world that you think you know.  I don’t know this life in Cali, I’m learning it all over again.

Crazy for Camellias

I go crazy for Camellias they bring vivid color to any environment in the winter, in Umbria and where we live now in the Wine Country of California they are abundant.  To me they always seemed like a Valentines flower because of all the varying shades of pink, red and white.

This post I have for you today is just a few ideas about displaying Camellias, it is filled with pretty photos, some silliness and always nice design.

Two Houses I Love

If you read this blog a tiny bit, you know that I love houses, tiny houses, rambling big houses, colored houses.  As I wander through my days I fall in love with so many houses.

Today I have for you a couple of houses that I LOVE.

One is a playhouse covered in brambles and winter leafless wonder.

Sette Design

This other house is just gorgeous perfection.  It gives black and white a good name.  Some days I think houses should be white where ever they are in the world, white is always the right color choice.  A perfect iconic white house is always good design.

http://settedesign7.blogspot.com

I understand I am contradicting myself because the playhouse is not white and yes it is just lovely, wood mixed with growing natural wood.

Anyone interested in taking my Online Painting Class for Interiors, Art and Furniture --click the link below.  It is inspirational!

Cheers,
Natalie

A New Year 2015

I can hear the train whistling in the distance.

I’m drinking a Ruby Red Grapefruit Margarita

Why because I’m in Cali not Italy, it is still so shocking.

It was 68 degrees today- unprecedented!

The sky was deep blue, now it is black.

At night I look up in the sky and there are so many stars I know I’m home and this is my big sky.

I’m sorry I disappeared for a bit there I took an unannounced hiatus.

I did just move across the world.  There may be more hiatuses to come.

I’m back now and I want to wish you

Happy New Year.

Painted Ceiling in Perugia

Here is the café at the train station in Perugia, Italy.

The ceiling is fantastic!

I also love the crumbling effect on the walls painted over in deep rich red.  I can see having a loft space with the walls aged in this manner.

Coffee and Tangerines

“Life starts

all over again

when it gets

crisp in the air.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Earthquakes, Espresso and Ice Cream

The Simple Life

Yesterday at 3:20 A.M. there was a huge Earthquake in Napa Valley.

My family in California is fine.

We have a house in the Napa Valley and even one on the coast that the San Andreas Fault passes under.

DIY Beaded Painted Crystal Lamp

For a long time I have wanted to make a beaded lamp.  I  wanted a tall freestanding one, but this is what I had in my studio.  The shade has a good structure to start with because the frame of the lampshade had many parts to attach the wire and beads.