Retreat in Provence, France - Le Collectionneur

This amazing villa near the Sorgue River with it's Southern facade bordering the Arquet, a branch of the Sorgue River was originally built during the 12th and 13th Century. In 2010 the villa was completely modernised as a luxury holiday retreat. I feel the modernisation has been done sensitively to the buildings original foundations, however, the interior design is an unexpected delight to the artist/designer.  The Interior designer has taken advantage of the spaciousness of the villa and included amazing pieces of artwork and some fabulous contemporary pieces of furniture whilst allowing areas of the villa to remain true to it's history.  I am fascinated by this gorgeous villa and hope you are too. 

Prices for staying in this wonderful property in Provence, France.  is US$1,888 - US$2,334 per night. It has 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms (4 ensuites) plus the gorgeous pool. There is a link at the bottom of this post to the read more about this property or if you have the opportunity to make a booking, and if you do.... don't forget Me! :)

 

Images from Luxury Retreats

The Family Dynamic and Christmas Thermals (Jason's October Post)

Just wanted to let you all know that our 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Thermals are now available in our shop!!! Just click here!

Photo courtesy of JLYNN PHOTOGRAPHY

And now here is Jason with with his October post....

To put it simply, our family is different.

Yes… I know… Everyone thinks that his or her own family is the craziest group of people around and is deserving of its own sitcom. I can’t count the times I’ve heard someone casually toss out the phrase “they should really make it into a TV show” after telling some mildly entertaining story about one of their relatives. So don’t worry, I’m not about to claim that our family is in any way more worthy of having a camera crew follow us around than your own may be—but still, I feel as though it is at least a subject worth touching upon.

For instance, I can comfortably say that under most circumstances we are at least remotely reasonable people, but put us all together on a croquet court or in front of a board game and the result is always at least one utterly savage argument. Now I don’t want to give the impression that we’re all a bunch of hotheads running around and swinging mallets over a possible double tap, I’m just trying to paint an accurate picture of the unhealthily competitive nature of our relationships towards each other (I mean I’m willing to bet you’ve never seen more dictionaries at one game of scrabble). As children, we had to write our own rulebooks for most of our games simply because we came across countless scenarios not covered by the actual rules. And don’t even bring up Cranium… One sister may or may not have declared that I was “not even a real person!” during a particularly ugly battle over the validity of the use of a singular form of a word when the answer called for the plural.

Jenni would probably want me to mention that we aren’t always arguing. In fact, these days there seems to be an unspoken agreement that no games are to be played at family gatherings, and in spite of our childhood clashes, we remain unusually close.  In fact, my youngest sister Jamie is the only sibling to not have lived with Jenni and Jon at one point or another (but with the rising frequency of her visits, I’m actually shocked that she hasn’t started receiving mail at their home). Somehow in our youth, I think Dana, Jamie, and I all developed the misguided notion that Jenni somehow knows everything. Take Jamie, for example… a capable decorator in her own right, she can’t even purchase a piece of furniture for her own home without first seeking Jenni’s approval (or pick paint color for her bedroom… or which book to read next… you get the idea).

Just look what happens to Jamie and her overwhelming fear of crowds when Jenni isn’t around to direct her… It's taken directly from the Boston Celtics' jumbotron a couple of years ago, and trust me, its worth watching.

In recent years Lillie and Lola have thrown a bit of a wrench into the family dynamic. Its not necessarily a bad thing, but should a six month old really be the one determining our holiday plans? To say that our family obsesses over its new additions would be a bit of an understatement. Its as though with each new thing Lola learns, a family announcement is in order, and with each word Lillie says, one of us is ready to pounce on the opportunity to win her affection. Its fine for now, but I wonder if that will all change when they’re old enough to play croquet…

We'll do just about anything for them... For now.

Behind the blogger...meet Jan from The French Tangerine!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!  Who better to feature today than someone who takes the color orange (along with green) to the most elegant and stylish heights. Say hello to......... Jan aka  "Queen of mosaics" of the beautiful blog.....

   The French Tangerine

OK, Jan is a gal after my own heart. I feel like I know her and we both certainly have plenty in common, including an unwavering obsession with pretty things, chinoiserie, blue and white, all things French, and have a wicked sense of humor (I can most certainly laugh at myself as can she which makes her so endearing). I laughed reading over her interview and loved getting to know more about this fun loving gal behind The French Tangerine. Now that 2 of her 3 kids are out of the home, she has devoted herself to her blog and claims it "the best hobby ever"! Her blog always promises a serious parade of eye candy, whether she is playing "investigative reporter" and having her friends open up their beautiful homes or taking us behind the scenes to a fabulous antiques fair or show. Always something gorgeous  going on over there, that much is true. SO if you aren't already a fan, do check out French Tangerine. I cannot take a trip to blogland without stopping by and I am confident you will see what I mean once you visit this style maven. Did I mention that I have unofficially named her the doyenne of mosaics? NO ONE can make a mosaic like Jan, she reigns supreme in my eyes and has taken mosaic making to new heights. You go girl! So, without further ado let me present Jan from The French Tangerine...Jan, take it away!

Click on header to visit Jan over at the beautiful French Tangerine!

So,  how did you end up blogging?

I love spending time looking for beautiful images online. I can spend hours searching for the perfect object to complete a vignette in my home. It occurred to me one night that this inspiration might be of interest to others… namely my sister-in-law Nina. I really enjoy putting together the posts, and it keeps me on my toes… and inspired! I have discovered that I love the writing as much as the images!

A few things I love about fall are....................

No sweating with a sweater, jeans with boots, no fat arms showing, football games with family and friends, that awesome crisp air, dinner parties and the beginnings of comfort food. 

You get to spend a month at the perfect beach house on the beach,  will it be Malibu or Nantucket?

Nantucket. Absolutely Nantucket.

Two weeks first class all the way, is it London or Paris? Yes, please. Both sound perfect, but I'd have to go with Paris, after all, I am the french tangerine!

If I was 18 again I would.......I would switch my double majors from Education/Art History to English/Design… I love writing! (I might have to do a minor in Art History… I would miss that invaluable information!)

What would be on your plate for your ultimate dream dinner and dessert?

Homemade pasta with bolognese… and bread! FYI: Sushi or Pizza are close seconds. Cheesecake for dessert, Definitely.

Tell us as little or much as you want to about your family? I've been married to my college sweetheart for almost 25 years. Our oldest two are away at school, so we are down to one… which is comparable to owning a guinea pig… compared to the three. Come to think of it, I think the sudden extra time had something to do with starting the blog also.

Worst habit? Best trait? Procrastinating exercise – definitely my worst habit. I will wear my workout clothes all day in hopes of getting that workout in… I do not enjoy my workout so it's always at the bottom of the list. Best trait is probably my reliability. You can count on me to get the job done.

Favorite design trend? Hmmm… not really up on the latest trends… I do love the use of reclaimed wood. So many furniture lines are using reclaimed wood or painting wood to look old giving the furniture so much more warmth and charm and character. Not everyone can find or afford antiques… thank goodness the furniture manufacturers figured this one out!

One golden rule/advice for decorating that you would pass on  If you really love it, buy it. You'll find a place for it.

Designer icon Carol Glasser, Dan Carithers, Mary Macdonald

You get to have lunch with anyone in the entire world, could be from Hollywood, a famous author or playwright, a politician, rock star, a cooking guru, religious leader, anyone…who are the lucky two to sit at your table? Obama and Michelle… I have questions. If one of them can't make it, substitute the dog whisperer. I'd love to find out what the hell my dog is trying to tell me!

A perfect day would start with a good night's rest and end with phone calls from my kids.

If we could only live in one season year round, which would you choose and why?

Fall is a renewing time for me… cleaning out the yard, cleaning out closets, getting on a schedule. I seem to be more motivated in the fall… and again, the comfort food thing. Sitting by the fire pit on a cool night with family and friends… doesn't get much better than that.

Describe your favorite outfit. Jeans tucked in my boots, white blouse with a gorgeous scarf.. It's comfortable and casual but smart.

Tell me about a dream vacation for you and your family……Our current favorite vacation spot is La Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico. Our best vacation ever – we're repeating this year! My dream is a trip to South Africa… I think it would be life changing.

Favorite movie or book that you could read or watch over and over? Poisonwood Bible, Beach Music is an old favorite… Really hard to pick just one!

3 qualities that I think fairly describe me are.

Thorough, Funny, Serious

Comedy or dramas? How could I possibly choose? I love Step Brothers with Will Ferrell as much as A Beautiful Life with subtitles!

A book that I have read in the last few years that I really really loved..............The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

In my next life I will .....Be a writer and a runner and naturally skinny

One thing I absolutely cannot live without is...............My cell piece

If I have learned one thing in life, it is...............….. You can't make everybody happy. It's my favorite thing, but not realistic. Another good one would be people believe what they want to believe, not always what's true… which can be frustrating.
And now a little recap on all the things Jan loves....

OK, do you see what I mean? How great is she! My kind of gal....We laughed and found it a little scary (insert haunted house music here) that we are so much alike. From how many years we have been married, to two oldest being away, to  her choice of meals and did you notice how she said "comfort foods" being one of the reasons she loves fall? You know I am always saying that. Be a writer and be naturally skinny (does being that way until I was 22 count) are things once again we have in common! Loved The Help too and really would like to be at your dinner with Oback and Michelle because I have questions too. Lots of them.  Thanks Jan for participating and to you all for stopping by. Do stop by and pay a little visit to The French Tangerine! Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Dining Styles

Dining tables I would love to have if I had endless space and no budget! 

Please let me know by leaving a comment on this post if you like the idea below of displaying Interior design photos as a slide show rather than posting them individually on the page?  Your comments are very much appreciated.

All images from Houzz.com

I hope you had a lovely weekend.  We had what felt like an early Summers day yesterday in Auckland and everyone was out in force. My local beach was absolutely packed with people and the queue at the icecream shop was a mile long!

Lee x

We Played House

You know that my sweet friend Becky and her precious family came and stayed with us last week.  Now that they are gone and things have slowed down a little here in Tennessee, I want to share with you all some of the fun things that we did.

  We ate.  We hiked.  We had a bon-fire and movie night.  We ate more.  We drove around looking at the gorgeous leaves. We went to the Nashville Flea Market.  We played house.

You might be wondering what I mean by “played house”. 

Well, let me just tell you.

I really don’t want to embarrass Becky, but can I just tell you that this beautiful lady oozes with talent.  She cooks, she paints, she designs, she decorates!  Oh yeah, and her husband builds.  What a carpenter he is.  (more on his carpentry skills later)

Now you know that I had to ask her to help me change up some things in my house.   And change up, we did!!!   We worked in pretty much every part of the downstairs in my house. 

You do know how much fun I had, right?

I am going to show you little bits at a time because we really did so much.  I also can’t wait to show you the gift that Becky and her hubby brought me.  Oh My Goodness!!! 

Here’s a little of what we did in the dining room…

I found this great old screen door on a sidewalk where someone was throwing it out.    It looks great here in this corner with my beautiful old ladder that I also found on the side of the road.  So thankful for other people’s trash…

Really loving the little banner I made using my nanny’s old handwritten recipes.  I think it looks great in here.

Isn’t that door just fabulous?  Okay, I know that not everyone wants a chippy old screen door in their dining room, but it just speaks volumes to me.

One of the big things that we did when changing things up was to get things off of the floor.  Yeah, bad habit of mine…

These great old crates were on the floor holding extra glasses and extra white dishes.  Now they are on my buffet making a big bold statement.

I can’t wait to show you more, but I figure this is a good place to stop.  I hope you’ll come back and take a look at the rest of the fluffing that we did. 

Let me tell you that I took all kinds of mental notes while we worked.  I’ll pass some of Becky’s tidbits of knowledge along as I go.  I may even have a little bit of my own knowledge that I could muster up and share.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.  Blessings to you all!

By the way, if you haven’t visited Becky before, make sure to check out her beautiful home at Buckets of Burlap.

Linking up over at:  Funky Junk Interiors

~Simply Me~

If you like Rachel Ashwell from Shabby Chic then you are going to fall in love with this home just like I did when coming across the blog- Simply Me!! I want a home like this one!!  Be sure to check out her BLOG to see more gorgeous Photos!

We found the well!

Today Bryan and I went back to the property to take a few more photos and to deliver a letter to our new neighbors; we want to let them know that we're finally actually going to build and give them an idea of what to expect and when. So far, we know there will be a backhoe on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then not a lot of obvious change until February.

While we were there we started wandering, following a similar path to the one I took on Friday when I took most of the pre-clearing photos. This time, though, we started looking for the well. Yes, one of our wells was hiding somewhere in the dense shrubbery, and we do actually need to find it and to clear a path to it so it can be tested for potability and flow and, eventually, used. I had a decent idea of where it might be, since the boys and I visited the site when the well-digging equipment was there in 2006. I remembered going down the "road" along the western edge of the property and it curving around a bit. Now that road is thoroughly overgrown and mostly impassable in parts, though. Bryan and I approached it from a different angle, from the east, under the stand of firs. We could make out where the road was, and where it curved to the left. We could even see where it made a U turn to where the digging trucks had been parked. But that whole flat area where the trucks were was completely covered in a dense, prickly tangle of scotch broom (in itself easy to manage) interspersed with overgrown blackberry vines (ouch!). We picked and pushed and trampled and crawled and ducked our way through, sometimes only inches at a time, trying not to be stabbed, slashed and snagged by the blackberries. We were thoroughly unprepared for this adventure! We had come to the land intending only to take photos, so we had no clippers or tools of any kind. However, with a great deal of patience and perseverance, we actually found the wellhead! Well, Bryan found it; by that time, I was ready to turn back -- but he'd gotten the bug and was bound and determined. I think it helped that I was confident that we were looking in the right area, especially after we found the winding road. (Cue the Beatles song.)

Lo and behold, the wellhead is literally in the farthest southwestern corner of our property; it must be only steps from the property line, as our down-the-hill neighbor's yard was a few yards away, and the lot just to the west of us was even closer.

Somehow we managed to escape with no major injuries and only a couple of hearty "ouch!"es. Even those were only at the end, when we were growing weary of the whole adventure (and my thighs were fatiguing from crouching through so much underbrush). We'll know tomorrow whether we managed to escape without any poison oak; when we got home we thoroughly showered immediately and washed our clothes (only slightly damaged from blackberry snags).

And we found the well!

The wellhead.

The tangle of bushes we fought through to get to the wellhead (just behind me).
Too bad we didn't know there was an easier way!

Bryan hacked the rest of our way out with a large stick.

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