Winter Bouquet Inspiration

I’m back in California and the rain won’t quit.  We have little breaks and the sun tries to come out, but the air and ground are always.  We are all thrilled, after 4 years of draught, the rain is a big celebration.  I like to go for long walks and then scavenge for a winter bouquet.  It is easy just to pick up Lichen, branches of Rosehips or fallen Camellia blossoms.  They are often covered in dirt or mud.  At home I rinse them off and put them in a crystal bowl and an old olive oil bottle.  Even if they faded or browned at the edges the effect is still stunning.

Guess the Photo - Italy or California

It is a rainy day somewhere in the world, now since you don’t really know for sure if I am in Umbria or California today we are NOT going to play a little game, NOR are we going to take a test.  I don’t like to do either of the above, in fact my friends and family think I should begin to like to play games.  I would rather read a book or go for a run, than play a game.

Design View Modern and Antique

I love this photo for its beauty and feeling of solitude.  It may be just that January feeling.  This is a palazzo in our main Piazza in Foligno, Italy. I know the view well.  I like the contrast of the modernity of white lights with the antique façade behind.  It warms my heart.

What Path Do You Choose?

Happy New Year 
from Sette Design

Warming our hearts of the Holidays

I love December and the Holidays, it warms my heart.  Tomorrow we leave to go back to Umbria for Natale in Italy with my darling Alfredo and all our friends.  I still haven't packed!  It would be lovely to return dressed elegantly, instead of the painters whites that I usually bicycled around the city in.

San Francisco Colored Houses

Recently I finished painting an apartment in San Francisco.  It is a space I have worked on before, twice actually traveled from Italy to work on the interior.  Every time I return to the neighborhood of Pacific Heights, I find myself in dreamland, architectural wonder, full on cloud nine o.k. !  It is amazing. On the top of the hill with views of the Bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Then I fall in love with every single house.  Watch and see if you don’t do the same.

Pretty Festive Photos

I’m feeling excited for the festivities and to be home in America for Thanksgiving, everyone is heading out to the beach house, the whole big family together.

I have been working so hard and just finished painting an apartment in San Francisco.  Soon I’m going to show you all the amazing houses in the neighborhood I was working in, each one looking like a jewel.  

Happy Third Anniversary Sette Design Blog

Happy Anniversary Sette Design Blog

#3

To tell you the truth.  I forgot and I got the date wrong.  I'm that bad.  I actually love this blog and so I should have remembered her day. To be honest I just have too much going on right now.  It was November 5th 2012 when I took the leap and started it up.  I was living in Umbria, Italy then.  Click Here if you want to flash back and view my very first blog post.

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.

Charcoal-Grey Painted Dresser and a Bunya Cone

Here we go another week beginning.  At least it is starting to act a little Autumnal here in the Wine Country.  A few leaves have fallen.  The valley looks amazing with vivid green vineyards, ochre and yellow and golden light spotted with the shadows of the deep clouds above.

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.  

Homemade Chalk Paint

Here’s a quick recipe that I use for mixing a homemade version of Chalk Paint.

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.

Small Spaces

The Simple Life

Now since we live in our little California cottage I need to force myself to think small and organized.  The days of rambling around our huge Gothic Italian apartment are gone. Guests used to actually get lost and not find the way out.  There were a lot of doors!

I like to play with scale and so I set up this pretty scene just for YOU.

A little chest of drawers, a silly tiny ice cream swirl chair and a bunch of flowers.

A big rosemary topiary.

A Starting Place

Hello Sette Design readers,

I found this phrase the other day and it humbled me.  It is so simple and perfect.

Start where you are
Use what you have
Do what you can

I'm sure it has been said before and should be said again.  Wouldn't you just feel better if you followed that advice?

Natalie 

Painting Furniture

Happy Weekend Everyone

For Inspiration

Today I’ll show you some of the furniture I have been painting.

I always want to keep all the pieces for myself.  This is silly because it is supposed to be my job not a hobby, but it is like they are my babies.  This little five drawer dresser I really could have put anywhere in our cottage here in the wine country.  It would have even fit up on my loft bed right below the eves.

Bohemian Loft

Here is the loft I finished painting a while back.  Everyone who walked into this space wanted to move in.  I called this loft the House of Doors.  There are five doors exiting the bottom of the loft and no inner doors at all, except one going to the bathroom.  All the doors lead to the huge garden and courtyard area.  To me this is a Bohemian Loft because of the mix of elements in the design and also because I know the people who own it will fill it with books, art, wine and unmade beds.  The Bohemian life we all want.

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.