Design Tips for Dramatic Landings and Terraces

While some may wish for a one-level garden, designers like Jill Benshoof and Gary Baker of Plân-aire, a Laguna Beach, California-based landscape architecture and planning firm, are grateful for a many-tiered one. Follow these tips for creating drama in your own yard.

• Designers use changing grades and levels to create intimate, private areas in the garden. (Think about the mood created by a sunken living room and employ the same idea outdoors.)
• Steps and staircases allow for gentle transitions between each distinct space.
• Use each level to showcase a collection of objects, pottery or plants.
• A small bridge or employing a variety of path paving materials—crushed shells, pebbles, wood chips, stepping stones—in different areas will add interest.
• Enclose patios or terraces with vegetation to softly screen the space and create a sense of mystery. Rather than a dense hedge, plant a mixture of evergreen and deciduous shrubs. Light can flow through the openings; niches and gaps offer glimpses of the interior views.

• Landings and thresholds are small but useful “stages” for displaying your favorite plants in containers.
• Provide a place to sit and enjoy the quiet setting. A low chaise, a built-in bench or ledge, or even a cushion placed on the steps invite lingering.
• A free-standing arbor, a gazing ball on a pedestal, and fruit and ornamental trees can serve as focal points and delineate areas with color and height.
• Add sensory details. Make your garden a place for inhaling sweet fragrances, hearing sounds of water and wildlife, touching the appealing textures of leaves, and more. A birdbath or fountain can serve as a focal point as well as invite a variety of songbirds to hear and watch. Cultivate flowering plants that have alternate blooming seasons to provide a constant fragrance. Temporarily place books, pillows, blankets or baskets to invigorate sitting areas.

By Debra Prinzing
Photography by Jaimee Itagaki
Styled by Hillary Black and Jacqueline deMontravel

Tips I have Learned from Flea Marketing

•    Those wheeled carts are not just for grannies who buy their groceries wearing slippers. They allow you to shop freely, and there’s enough room for bags of apples and fresh produce on top.
•    Ask the seller questions. If a piece is of worth, a good knowledgeable seller can share the piece’s provenance and tips for care. Phones are also handy if you want to search the Internet on a particular collectible.

•    Bring cash. Even though many vendors accept credit cards, money is the best currency if you want to make a deal. The asking price does not have to be the same as the selling price.
•    Take measuring tape if you are shopping for a larger item, such as a piece of furniture. Additionally, many sellers in city flea markets work with movers who can transport such pieces, as transportation is not as accessible.
•    Investigate. Read the bottom of china, silver and crystal to see where the item was made and if it is attached to a noted designer.
•    Bad weather days could mean more chances for a better bargain, as there is less competition from more shoppers.
•    Go early for the best selection. Closer to closing time, vendors are more likely to strike a deal.
•    If a piece speaks to you react to your emotion. The luxury of putting something on hold with a day to think about it does not apply.
•    For more information on the Upper Westside Green Flea visit greenfleamarkets.com.


By Jacqueline deMontravel

Victorian Garden Inspiration for Spring

Here’s how landscape designer CJ Forray of California-based Cottage Garden Design
softeneda medieval-style garden’s geometry by using rounded shapes and strategic plantings. 

• A curved walkway along the back portion created two halves of the garden. The curved path uses 12-inch stone pavers.

• Thyme, chamomile, blue star creeper and dwarf strawberries knit together the stepping stones with their tiny leaves and surprising scents.

• Interlocking half-circles of silvery-gray santolina and glossy green germander (Teucrium sp.) form the parterre.

• Planted inside each of the three crescent-shaped sections is a tapestry of edible and ornamental herbs and perennials.

For more landscape ideas and expert advice from CJ Forray, visit victorianhomesmag.com.

By Debra Prinzing
Photography by JaimeeItagaki

Posted by : Victorian homes

5 Steampunk Events You Won’t Want to Miss in 2013

Discover the fun side of Neo-Victorian design style by checking out these upcoming exhibitions and events.

Image(Credit in caption: Photo courtesy of Thinkstock.com)

• April 26-28, 2013
Cincinnati, Ohio
The Steampunk Empire Symposium will gather musicians, fashion designers and writers to discuss ideas and share their work on the ultimate Steampunk website. Visit www.steampunksymposium.com.

• March 8-10, 2013
Tuscon, Arizona
Also produced by The Steampunk Empire, the Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention promises more “high adventure and exploration.” Visit www.thesetampunkempire.com and click “Events.”

• May 17-19, 2013
Piscataway, New Jersey
Last year, the world’s largest Steampunk festival welcomed more than 4,000 guests. Join in the fun this spring by visiting steampunkworldsfair.com.

• July 26-28, 2013
Salt Lake City, Utah
With music, art and expert panels, the Salt City Steamfest is the place to delve deeper into Neo-Victorian ideas and design. Learn more and register for the convention at saltcitysteamfest.com.

• October 12-13, 2013
Waltham, Massachusetts
The International Steampunk City will submerge Waltham in a tidal wave of a whimsy: five stages, two city streets, three Victorian mansions, two Industrial Revolution museums, and more than 15 other venues for live music, art galleries, storytellers, scholarly lectures, workshops and theatrical performances. Visit internationalsteampunkcitywaltham.org.


By Elaine K. Phillips

Save Money on a Custom Home

Architect Steve Giannetti shares his tips on saving money on building your own home.

French doors - We used standard T.M. Cobb French doors, which are about half the cost of custom doors.

Pine floors - We used 10-inch pine shelving boards, nailed and glued to the plywood subfloor, for the look of old floors.

Eaves – There are 2 by 4s for the eaves’ overhangs. They are inexpensive and old-fashioned looking.

Interior doors - The interior doors are standard French doors with sandblasted glass in them for an inexpensive, unique look that lets the light in.

Patios - The front porch is concrete with some beach shells cast into the surface and lightly sandblasted for an Old World look.

Paving - All the paving and site walls around the home are broken concrete reused from the old driveway.

Insulation - Denim insulation was installed in all the walls and ceilings, and a foil liner under the roof to keep the attic cool.

Skylights - An operable skylight in the middle of the house provides natural light and, when open, natural ventilation that keeps the house cool all summer.

Tile - We used only one kind of white 3- by 6-inch tile in the house and Carrera marble to keep costs down and maintain consistency.

Tips for Owning a Cabin Home

Hilde Leiaghat shares her tips as the homeowner of a vacation cabin in the mountains.

• We kept the kitchen as it was but changed the cabinet hardware and painted the walls, which had been a faux-wood color, immediately. We painted them a historic green color that we bought at the hardware store.

• Make sure your home is insulated really well. We replaced the aluminum windows with weatherproof windows to keep the cold out.

• We threw out the furniture and redecorated. It had ugly brown carpeting and ugly reclining chairs from the 1980s. We built a new deck around the cabin; due to the amount of snow, the old one gave way.

• A cabin could be a good moneymaker if you rent it out when you know you won’t be using it.

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookie Recipe

Take the time to bake delicious cookies as a sweet gift for Valentine’s Day this year. They are quick and easy to make and, most importantly, from the heart!

Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl; gradually add to the creamed mixture.
Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for two hours. Roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Leave one inch of space between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cool for one hour before frosting.

Icing Glaze

4 cups of powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons of milk
Stir until smooth (the icing should not be too runny)
Add more powdered sugar if necessary to thicken the glaze
Tint with food coloring
Use a separate bowl for each color needed

Frost the cookie with the icing. Smooth the top with a spatula dipped in water. Use the edge of the spatula to scrape off any icing that has run over the edge of the cookie. 

The icing glaze hardens in a couple of hours.
Enjoy!

Written and photographed by Jacqueline deMontravel
Produced by Diane Sedo