Day Tripping On The Sonoma Coast

 We took a detour on our way home yesterday, meandering through the back roads and little hamlets of Guerneville, Monte Rio and Bodega.

 The Russian River is the main attraction in Monte Rio and has been for years, as people come here and rent vacation cabins for a week or just play in the river. 

 Standing on the bridge, the river scene reminded me of a movie, set in the 60's.

I was also reminded of my childhood in Oregon, with summers spent swimming and sunning on the Siuslaw River.

 Leaving the Russian River, we headed through the redwoods towards the little town of Bodega.

Just a few miles from Bodega Bay, this quaint town had two antique stores to make it worth the long winding road to get here.

This one looked promising...

 I spied a set of red vintage majolica plates collecting dust on the back shelf in one of the stores.

These are pretty rare, so of course I bought them for the tablescape in my head!

 Mr. A wanted to buy the enormous Elk trophy, but I "reeled him in" on that one!

 There is something special about Bodega...

That's right.  The Hitchcock movie, The Birds was filmed here!

 There's even a life-size statue outside the local general store of Alfred Hitchcock!

Weird!

 Really weird!

 More Birds memorabilia inside the store.

This movie made me never look at birds the same way again.

To this day, if there are too many of them, I feel uneasy!

A few miles away, we toured the foggy Bodega Bay with too many birds for my liking.

That's when we called it a day and headed back home.

 This morning, the small red cabbage leaf plates were looking really pretty on the dining room table.

Oh, and the brown McCoy pitcher too, found in Guerneville!

When was the last time you took a detour home?

You never know what treasures and adventures await....

If Summer Had A Taste, It Would Taste Like A Peach

 "I really love your peaches, want to shake your tree!"  ~Steve Miller


Seriously, that is what was playing in my head when we visited Dry Creek Peach and Produce last Sunday.  

 While I'm not in love with peaches, Mr. A is.
 He loves peaches and is forever searching for the perfect peach that reminds him of his grandmother's peaches from his childhood.

 I think he finally found the perfect peach!

Organic, tree-ripened and hand picked, these peaches are so good that the finest restaurants in San Francisco and chefs like Charlie Palmer and John Ash serve them or sing their praises.

"These are the best peaches in the world."  ~John Ash
 Needless to say, we bought lots of peaches, jam and cobbler mix.

I can assure you that the peaches were consumed before they could be made into a pie or cobbler though.

We'll just have to go back for more!

Wishing you all a "peach of a weekend!"

Wish you could taste the perfect peach too?
You can order peaches and jam direct from Dry Creek Peach and Produce here!
Hurry though, the taste of summer is ending soon!

Moonrise Kingdom, A Plaid Lover's Delight

Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom?

It's an adorable movie about young love set in 1965 on a fictitious island.

Within the first ten minutes of the movie, I lost count of plaid sitings.

Beginning with the tartan plaid stairs!

When 12 year old Sam decides to leave his troop and run away with 12 year old Susie, the first to discover his absence was Scout Master Ward and the rest of the campers.

 As the tent was unzipped, I was amazed that the whole inside was lined in plaid, including his plaid sleeping bag!

"Jiminy Cricket, he flew the coop!"

A close up of the note Sam left for Scout Master Ward.

Love the ticking and plaid!

Here is Scout Master Ward dictating inside his plaid lined tent, wearing a plaid robe.

Notice the elk paint by number.  

Of course we all know that tents don't exist with plaid lining.  Only in the mind of the director, Wes Anderson and the production designer, Adam Stockhausen.

It was all part of the nostalgia invoked in this movie.

Here's Susie's reading nook. 

Love the plaid lunch box!  I have the same one!

Oh, and I had those very same shoes back in the early 60's.  I think they were called saddle shoes!

Another interior tent shot.

The set design is amazing, with such attention to detail harking back to a simpler time when we listened to records on record players, read library books and made phone calls with rotary phones.

It was quite nostalgic for me!

The director, Wes Anderson inside the tent. 

If I could, I would love to ask him if he is obsessed with plaid as much as I am.

I've noticed several photos of him in plaid shirts or a plaid scarf, so I would imagine he is.

Here is the official trailer to whet your whistle.

Check it out!

Lantern Love

I've been searching for the perfect lantern for our entry forever!

They are either too small, too big, the wrong shape or outrageously expensive.

This one, as seen in Traditional Home is probably outrageously expensive since it's an antique.

But still, it is what I've been looking for.

I fell in love with this gorgeous wooden lantern from Horchow, but it is way to big.

However, I did order the smaller version but it came with just one socket for a 60 watt bulb.

Perhaps it could have been retrofitted with a candelabra, but I don't have the patience.

This simple square lantern from Pottery Barn has been calling my name.

It is not too big, not too small, a perfect simple shape.

And it's not expensive! 

Here they show it in an entry, similar to mine.

So I ordered it.

It replaced the ornate crystal chandelier that has been here for 13 years.

Don't get me wrong, I still love this chandelier, but want a simpler look.

The new lantern in the entry coordinates better with the chandelier in the dining room.

It's not the perfect lantern, but it gets the job done!

I love the entry with its new updated look.

And since the living room is also getting an updated look with grasscloth walls and fresh upholstery, it will be a nice transition.

The Kitchen Corbel Saga

When this section of the kitchen was torn out to make room for a freestanding oven, I decided to not put the corbels back under the hood.  

They seemed too ornate and and I had a more streamlined look in mind.

Still, I kept my options open should I decide the corbels should go back.

Also, there was a question as to what color they should be after the cabinets were painted green.

Should they also be green?  That would look silly.

I thought they would look great if they were natural wood, like washed pine.

 I gave them to Ian the Master Painter and this is what I got.

He faux finished them to look like a fine piece of furniture, taking his cue from my dining room hutch.

 Although he did a great job, it wasn't the look I had in mind.

 I wanted the corbels to look like I found them in a salvage yard!

I sent them back to be stripped and then finished them myself by rubbing a golden oak stain over them and letting them sit outside for a month.

And this is how they turned out.

Ryan the Contractor came over last week to install them.

We made the decision to not finish them with moulding around the top, just leave them bare and raw.

 I love how they look!

 Before the corbels were added, the stove seemed like it was a little lost on this wall.

Now the corbels box it in and frame it, giving the stove importance.

The light finish echoes the bamboo shade and eventually the raw oak curtain rod that will be installed when I get around to repurposing my dining room drapes for the window.

 I'm really glad I decided to keep the corbels.  

Yes, they are a little ornate, but the rustic finish counters that aspect.

Also, they are copies of the original corbels on the front of the house, circa 1906.

It's only right that they found their way back where they started!