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The Collected Cottage, by Kathryn Greeley

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Here’s a book many of you will love – Kathryn Greeley ’s The Collected Cottage: Gardening, Gatherings and Collecting at Chestnut Cottage. If you’ve ever found yourself on Pinterest searching for images of cozy cottages and traditional interiors, chances are you’ve come across images of Chestnut Cottage, Kathryn Greeley ’s beloved home in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Known for her exquisite hostess skills as well as her knack for crafting homes steeped in tradition, Greeley dedicates her book to both – entertaining and design – because what’s the use of a beautiful home without the laughter of friends and family to fill its rooms? 

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Our Home | New Bamboo Shades for Our Library 

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On the market for some beautiful bamboo shades? If you are, there’s a chance today’s post might interest you. Earlier this year, when I shared glimpses of our (then) newly painted family room, several of you reached out asking about the woven roller shades we used, and I felt bad for not being able to share them. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I wasn’t sure I loved them and therefore couldn’t recommend them wholeheartedly. They were pretty, they were affordable, and shipping was quick – all sensitive points as we were coming out of a pandemic – but they weren’t perfect. Some of the slats arrived chipped / broken and, although  these imperfections didn’t bother me so much, I didn’t want to recommend them unless I truly loved them and knew you would too. 

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A House Party in Tuscany | Villa Arniano

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I recently got my hands on a new book called A House Party in Tuscany and was reminded of just how much I love the interiors and gardens of Villa Arniano, interior designer Camilla Guinness’s farmhouse in Tuscany. Have you seen it? A House Party in Tuscany – Recipes, Stories and Art from Arniano was written by Amber Guinness, Camilla’s daughter and a self-taught cook, as part memoir, part cookbook and part love letter to a family home designed around beautiful things, gracious people and delicious, Italian-inspired, cuisine. Stunning interiors and mouth-watering recipes… Does it get any better than that?

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Last Week’s Finds

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Happy Monday, friends! Hope you’re well! Despite a particularly distracting weekend, spent mostly outdoors drinking copious amounts of apple cider and sampling one too many cider donuts, I haven’t forgotten about last week’s finds and how they were supposed to go out to you in a blog post yesterday morning. Oops! Thanks for understanding! Here are a few things I found interesting, design stories & decorative items, that maybe you too will find appealing: video tours of stunning homes designed by Caroline Gidiere and Bunny Williams, a new cookbook by the incomparable Ina Garten, and a couple of pretties for the home thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!

Inside Caroline Gidiere’s Birmingham Home – a video tour:

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This Week’s Finds

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Hi friends! I hope you’re enjoying a peaceful weekend, wherever you are! Here in the States we’ll be observing Columbus Day (and now Indigenous Peoples’ Day ) tomorrow and so far we couldn’t have asked for lovelier Fall weather. The temperatures have been soft enough during daytime to allow pleasurable nature walks and some light gardening activities. Yesterday we took a stroll in town and I managed to photograph one of my favorite houses near our public library (the first image below). We cheered for the Amherst College Women’s Soccer team, and the ladies brought home victory against Wesleyan. The Men’s Football team, although sadly not as triumphant, was just as entertaining to watch. But aside from surviving not one but two sporting events in one day, my biggest triumph this weekend was getting my last batch of daffodil bulbs in the ground, just in time before the first frost of the season. When the garden is bleak and empty at the end of winter, I find daffodils to be the silliest, most uplifting flowers to see blooming. They also naturalize well and are deer and critter resistant, a must if your garden is under constant squirrel attack, like ours is. They are relentless, especially this time of year. How are things going in your neck of the woods? Have you planted any cheerful spring bulbs yet?

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