Home

There is something I love about ivy, and I've always said, "it isn't home until you have your ivy situated".

(Just ask my daughter - I've always said it.)

No matter where we've lived, we've placed our ivy plant in a sunny spot, and felt as if we were home! Saturday I purchased two lovely little ivy plants from The Plum Gallery Florist, and repotted them in an old ironstone pot. Ivy is one of the hardest working plants you can add to your home . . . drawing toxins out of the air and providing maximum oxygen for you to breathe. These are adjusting under my favorite reading lamp . . . and make me oh so happy!

Green

is such a soothing and nourishing color that I've always needed to have some around me. I've come to consider it one of my neutrals - like black or white or cream, and added it to every room of the house. When there is a not so choice view out the window, just place a big fern or ivy plant, a lamp and a mirror, and you have recreated the view and established a new sense of life.

Gray

is another favorite of mine, although it wasn't always. I thought of it as dull and depressing. Some time ago I decided to give gray another chance. I painted the walls in my living room a fairly dark, saturated gray, and the ceiling a very soft dove gray. This lent the room a

romantic seaside aura

It has become a delightful backdrop for my scrubbed pine furniture and white seashell collections. Baskets also provide a perfect contrast of warm wood tones to the coolness of gray.

Silver, mercury glass and white accents glow in lamplight or candlelight. It became very important to allow lots of natural and incandescent

light

to warm the gray, and I added several strategically placed mirrors to double my lamplight.

Texture

is of the essence, with vintage textiles and the worn leather of antique books providing plenty of touch worthy display.

"Naturals"

such as bird nests and twigs and feathers delight my springtime sensibility.

Have fun with your environment. It can become your most personal expression of who you are.