So, a few hours of HGTV viewing, or a perusal of the real estate section, shows that the open floor plan is really hot. Scorching. And, who am I to tell people what they should want? It sounds lovely – the whole family altogether, kids doing homework and craft projects at the counter, Mom or … Read more
What is it about stone wall? I don’t know if it was fictitious Rosehill Cottage in The Holiday that started a revived love of these natural beauties, but they certainly are gorgeous and quite popular. The English cottage, Rosehill, was built on site for the movie and the sets were shot in a studio. It … Read more
I love real estate listings from around the world and when I ran across this article in Forbes of a property in Wales billed as a Scandi New England style home – I was intrigued. It’s always fun to see what folks from other parts of the world think of as something New England. Of … Read more
There’s a strong trend these days for folks – from millennials to empty nesters – to want to experience urban city living environments. There’s a lot of building in the city going on – especially here in Boston. Millennials are looking to avoid what they see as their parents heavy burdens of the big house … Read more
In my last post, I wrote about the Salem Witch House and two replica houses, one of which is for sale. The Witch House dates to the mid-1600’s. The replica houses are both much newer, but they retained the look of the ancient beams and flooring, lower ceilings and brick fireplaces. With today’s decor being … Read more
Here in New England we have a lot of historic homes and one of the oldest and most historic – and infamous – is the Jonathan Corwin House in Salem, MA. This house is also known as the Salem Witch House. It’s infamous because the house is the only structure still standing in Salem with … Read more
Versailles: A Private Invitation with Text by Guillaume Picon and Photos by Francis Hammond The new book from Flammarion called VERSAILLES: A Private Invitation by Guillaume Picon with photos by Francis Hammond is a gorgeous, beautiful and wonderful tome all about Versailles. I really can’t come up with enough adjectives. It’s spectacular. And huge It’s … Read more
I saw this image on Pinterest and kind of fell in love with the magical woodland nature of its carvings and stained glass. It kind of reminded me of fantasy stories like Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. I also reminded me of: Game of Thrones character Hodor (née Wylis) who … Read more
I made my annual pilgrimage to the 2016 Newburyport Holiday House tour on Saturday and this year, we were treated to some amazing homes and lovely, though not ostentatious, holiday decorating. The House Tour is put on and benefits the Custom House Maritime Museum of Newburyport. The first house I visited was the 1774 Lowell-Tracy-Johnson … Read more
This adorable house in Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod sold in 2016 and was considered the oldest house currently on the market. From the real estate listing: Meticulously maintained 1600’s English style cottage on Shawme Pond. Launch your kayak or fish from your private dock. Perfect for a second home, weekend getaway, or year-round living … Read more
This past Saturday was a lovely one to take in the 2015 Newburyport Holiday House Tour which benefits the Custom House Maritime Museum. As I’ve written many times here, Newburyport is my favorite place in the world – I lived there for about five years and still miss it. Unfortunately, everyone in my life is … Read more
Each year, the folks at New England Home magazine put on quite a soiree in honor of the current inductees into the New England Design Hall of Fame. This 9th annual celebration was held last night at The State Room overlooking all of Boston and it was a party to remember! The 2016New England … Read more
In this week’s Outlander The Rent episode, our heroine Claire is taken on the road with a pack of MacKenzie men to collect the rents from outlying tenant farmers who hadn’t been able to make it to The Gathering at Castle Leoch. War Chieftan Dougal figures it would be good to have a healer along … Read more
I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since we were walking and gawking in the gorgeous Garden District in New Orleans. Our first full day at BlogTourNola started with an amazing breakfast at Chef John Besh’s Lüke Restaurant. A big thanks to KBIS for being our gracious hosts. After a hearty breakfast of beignet’s … Read more
I’m back from Maison et Objet with lots of photos of the sights of Paris to share (and a whopper of a cold that has laid me out flat since I returned on Tuesday evening!) So, I thought I’d share my Sights of Paris travel pics first and then will delve into the show as … Read more
