Sunday, January 31, 2010

Kate Spade



Everything about Kate Spade is bright, bold, and beautiful ...
Need I say more?

Scandinavian Style House

This fourteenth century cottage is located in the heart of one of the most beautiful valleys in Switzerland, near the Austrian and Italian borders. It was modernized and restored in the typical Scandinavian style.
The first part of the house dates back to 1300. The structure was classic, with space reserved for animals on the ground floor, two living rooms upstairs with a tiny bedroom and a living room scarcely larger. Food, hay, animal feed and equipment used to be stored here. The house had never been remodeled and was not maintained. More than one meter of the ground had to be digged out as the smell was persistent when the central heating was installed... A large fireplace was added, and a staircase and even a lift to access the second floor.

La façade d'origine


Bienvenue !


Un cocoon sous le toit


La cuisine du bois et du bio ?

Profiter des beautés de l'hiver


Partager un moment chaleureux


Une salle de réception pour repas gargantuesques


Des étagères costauds


On voit double dans la salle de bains


Se détendre dans son bain

More images right here.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

THE WHITE HOUSE LOST MARKET VALUE TOO…



The Palm Beach Post Real Estate News page reports that,  “you and your neighbors are not alone.  The place the president and his family call home was worth 5.1% less last year, one analyst says.”

Zillow “zestimates” 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC (The White House) at $288,494,000.  The residence has 16 beds, 35 baths and is 55,000 sq ft.  They further estimate a monthly mortgage payment would be $1,216,562.

CHARMING 1600’s HISTORIC HOME, ROSEGILL, IN ONE OF THE OLDEST TOWNS IN VIRGINIA



One of the oldest Colonial brick homes in the country still stands, with 11 rooms, built in 1650.  Originally a grant from King Charles I of England of 10,000 acres, it now contains 735 acres in Middlesex County with 2 mils of Rappahannock River frontage in Urbanna, Virginia, a historic port town.

Rosegill was acquired by Captain Ralph Wormeley in the early seventeenth century, as a grant from King Charles I of England.  Myriads of wild roses gave the place its name.  Wormeley was one of the most influential men in Virginia. Rosegill is listed in the National Historic Register of Colonial Plantations. Eventually Rosegill included an airstrip. To wind up the long hill from the little village of Urbanna, along a shady road, and to behold the fine old mansion a way off from its double outer gates is to realize delightfully how well some Virginians planned and built.  The kitchen includes a fireplace.  There is a dining room, paneled in mahogany, sitting room and library in oak and white drawing room.  At either end of a very large hall you will find winding stairs.  Five bedrooms are upstairs.

As the international sailing vessels of the colonial tobacco trade yielded to Chesapeake Bay schooners, then steamboats, then the pleasure boats of today, one thing remained constant: Urbanna’s history and fortunes are one with the Bay.  There is one huge bedroom in the attic with 14 beds for bachelors.  The lawn is 5 miles wide.  The green walk from the house to the river is bordered with roses its whole length.

First area commercial activities revolved around the tobacco trade, then shifted towards retail sales, fishing and tourists.  By the early 20 C. the town was known for oyster beds and packing plants, and as a summer resort.  Most of the original structures remain.  Included are the dwelling, a washhouse, kitchen and storage house.  The house has been continually occupied and is associated with some of the Colonies most prestigious individuals, making Rosegill perhaps one of Virginia’s richest archaeological sites as well as one of the oldest and most historic estates in America.

Stone Crabs For Andi


The pink dot on the right
 is where I come from. Boca Raton, Florida.
The pink dot on the left is where we went to.
Everglades City.
For Andi's birthday her boyfriend flew in from Sweden.
And her father, myself and some other family friends headed over to Everglades City for some stone crabs,conch fritters, soft shell crabs, and key lime pie.
This is where the stone crabs come from for the famous 
'Joe's Stone Crab' on Miami Beach!
We have to drive across the state through this.
Doesn't it look pretty from the air?
On the ground .....
But this is what it really looks like.
If you like weeds , snakes and gators.....
this is your kind of place.
Pythons and gators galore and fighting for turf.
Have you heard about all the 'loonie birds' 
that have let their pythons go free in the Everglades?
Talk about irresponsible....
Well, it is a real mess.
But this is no mess.
This is the gold of Florida.
Our state prize.
Maine has Lobster, and we have stone crabs.


Don't freak out.
But, can you tell me what this is?
I will give you a hint.....it tastes like chicken.
That's my girl!
She loves her stone crabs!!
Not the stuff that 'tastes like chicken.'
I surprised her with a birthday cake.
Okay peeps,
what do you think?
Is he cute?
They met while being counselors at summer camp last year.
They are going back again this summer.
  He is in college in Sweden, and studying law.
I like that.

*But let me get back to where we were......

FLORIDA'S LAST FRONTIER "EVERGLADES CITY and CHOKOLOSKEE, at the entrance to the Western Everglades, were two frontier outposts until 1923 when Barron Collier made Everglades City the seat of Collier County and supply depot for the construction of the Tamiami Trail. Prior to the boom, this isolated region was Florida's last outpost for fur trappers, plumage hunters, Cuban fishermen, and people with a disdain for modern civilization."


There is all kinds of history about this area. 
Great stories.
The towns people actually killed the town bully.

The people that were 'wanted by the law' could safely live here. 
It took law enforcement about 2 days to get out here.
A real city of outlaws in a lawless environment.


The man in the black and white picture....
this is a wax model of him
Note the fly swatter.
This place is uninhabitable from the spring months to fall.
There are mosquito's, nats , 'no-see-ums' (these are really bad), 
I just don't know how they did it for an entire lifetime.
I had enough of the glades in this short visit.
I love nature, but not 'Everglades' nature.
To me is it scary.
Imagine being lost out there.
*Snakes, gators, panthers, and yes, we have panthers.
We took a few last pictures and packed up and headed home.
Hope you enjoyed our day trip.

Would you 
drive through the everglades for stone crabs ?


Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her BLOG.....
Interior Design, Palm Beach, Boca Raton,Ft.Lauderdale,Design Service, Window Treatments, 
TurnKey Interior Design Service,Paint selection, Floor-Plans,Online Interior Design,
Design Center of The Americas, D.C.O.T.A., Stone crabs, everglades city
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Bright and Beautiful Art: Tina Tarnoff


I am so excited to share with you this wonderful papercut art by Tina Tarnoff! Her work has such a lively and romantic feel. She has a fabulous blog as well!

Entry Standard..



Loving this entryway and wishing you a wonderful weekend!

WALTON COUNTY FL VALENTINES HOME TOUR




The Walton County Cultural Arts Association is presenting a tour of 5 homes along the beaches in the area as a fund raiser for their Educational Giving Program.  The tour starts on February 13th at 10 am and concludes at 4 pm Central Time.  The homes are in exception settings.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.
My Ping in TotalPing.com