A Window in Charleston…

On September 18, 2015September 10, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Photograph, SCLeave a comment

A window in Charleston, SC – Just look at the colors in that window box! The flowers are beautiful and compliment the color of the house so nicely!

There is nothing like a well taken care of historic home. There is so much maintenance with houses downtown, especially the homes that are built so close together, not allowing sun to get in between, requiring constant painting. But BRAVO Charleston – most homes are just beautiful!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

View From The Gate – Charleston, SC

On September 17, 2015August 27, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Photograph2 Comments

A gate in Charleston, SC — A Gate in Charleston, SC

How many times have I mentioned that I simply cannot walk around Charleston without snapping photos? Ha ha… It’s just so beautiful! Every home you pass is gorgeous, with beautiful landscaping, wonderful ironwork and stunning architecture! This is another example!

Photo taken mid-day, hence the bad lighting, but I think you can get the gist of it :)

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: TNH-GC-09A (Katrina Cottage 480) by Moser Design Group!

On September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

: TNH-GC-09A (KC480) by Moser Design Group

I love the house plans at Moser Design Group. All are classy and full of character, charm as well as being beautiful and functional plans. The TNH-GC-09A (KC480) plan is one of the Katrina Cottages, and is 480 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It has such nice details, such as a front porch, 9′ ceilings, and that classic cottage vibe.

: TNH-GC-09A (KC480) by Moser Design Group

This plan starts out with a wonderful front porch – which would be a favorite spot of mine in nice weather! The door opens into the Living Area/Kitchen. In the back of the house are two Bedrooms, a Bathroom and a Utility room.

This is a great plan for one person without a lot of stuff… Not a lot to heat or cool. A one-story is easier to maintain. It’s a sweet plan that allows you to spend time on the porch enjoying the great outdoors.

All images via MoserDesignGroup.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Hunt Slonem!

On September 9, 2015January 9, 2025 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist, HOME1 Comment

White Diamonds by Hunt Slonem Oil on Canvas 48×48″

Hunt Slonem. This artist is known for his quirky (in a great way!) paintings of bunnies, birds and butterflies. There is just something about these paintings that is unexpected, they tend to make you smile. There are many bunny paintings, often hung together in a grouping – each one is unique in their own way. And… let me tell you, when the bunnies are transported onto wall coverings – WOW! What a statement it makes!

Untitled (Amazons) Oil on Canvas 48×36″

The bird paintings are fabulous as well. I like the birds in the fabrics that are offered. They can really add some pizazz to a room!

“When Art Meets Design” is Hunt’s latest book – showcases a few of his beautifully decorated Southern mansions in Louisiana. Check this book out!

Image

Read a bit about Hunt, from his website, a fascinating bio:

Bringing a whimsical, freewheeling sense of awe, wonder and detail to his wild array of paintings and sculptures and peaceful, mystical living and working spaces, NYC based artist and lifestyle trendsetter Hunt Slonem is considered one of the great colorists of his time.

As vibrant a dresser (favoring bright jackets and ties) and decorator (known for his keen eye for refurbishing homes and pairing vintage furniture with contemporary art) as he is a painter and sculptor, the Maine born creative force of nature is well known for his neo-expressionist works of butterflies, rabbits and tropical birds, the latter often inspired by the 30 to 100 exotic feathered friends he houses at any given time in an aviary in his 30,000 square foot Manhattan studio. Slonem has had over 300 one-man shows in galleries and museums internationally. His work is also in the permanent collections of 250 museums including the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the Moreau Foundation, and is part of private collections all over the world, including those of many celebrities.

Just over 40 years since he moved to New York, and 37 years since first solo show at the Harold Reed Gallery, the ever-entrepreneurial Slonem continues in whirlwind mode. He has 36 exhibitions of his works throughout the U.S. and Europe planned for this year alone, a licensing deal for a new line of Lee Jofa wallpaper and rugs and an upcoming collaboration of scarves and totes with New York based Echo design. He is also playing himself in an independent film called “Stealing Chanel.”

2014 has also been an exciting year for Slonem on the publishing front. He is currently releasing, in association with luxury book publisher Assouline, When Art Meets Design, an extraordinary 300 page, (280 illustrations) photography based volume that offers a dynamic view into his fantastically decorated and meticulously restored homes. These include three historic houses that he rescued and refurbished, including his “first child,” the Cordts Mansion in Upstate New York, and his two Southern mansions in Louisiana, Albania and Lakeside. Beyond its majestic beauty, The Lakeside Plantation captured Slonem’s fascination for history. Listed in the National Register of History Places in Louisiana, it was once owned by Marquis de La Fayette whose close relationship with lifelong friends such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Monroe, John Adams, and Robert Livingston played a pivotal role in the Louisiana Purchase. In a show of gratitude, the United States gave La Fayette the land which is now known as Lakeside Plantation.

Enhancing them with his transcendent, light infused décor, he pairs vintage furniture with contemporary art, including many of his own works in addition to pieces by Alex Katz and Andy Warhol. A truly magical showcase of Slonem’s ability to create spectacular spaces, the book features vivid and expansive interior photography that reveals how he combines antiques, fabrics and artworks. House Beautiful will be running seven pages of this remarkable window into his artistic soul and unique world, including his legendary Oz-like studio in Hell’s Kitchen. Architectural Digest will also soon feature the fabric, wallpaper and rugs he is licensing to Jofa. When Art Meets Design includes a descriptive essay by Emily Eerdmans, an instructor in design history at the New York School of Interior Design and the interior design department at the Fashion Institute of Technology; Eerdmans is also contributing editor for House Beautiful,, and she has previously written books on Mario Buatta and Madeleine Castaing.

As a founding element of his process, Slonem likes to say, “Repetition is very important.” He starts each day painting, treating each moment as one of profound meditation and channeling of God or a higher consciousness. Included in this ritual are his famous bunny paintings – the result of a daily morning warm-up that was sparked during a late-night revelation at a Chinese restaurant: that he was born in the Year of the Rabbit. His famous Bunny Wall combines his art with his passion for collecting, as the paintings are exhibited in Victorian-era portrait frames picked up from his travels across the country.

In March 2014, Slonem published, just in time for Easter, Bunnies, a luxurious, finely designed and crafted first collection of “bunny art” – an exciting, unexpected, impressionistic mega collection for adults and children alike. A treasury filled with enchanting full-color and black-and-white paintings, Bunnies features a foreward by bestselling author John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) and an essay by artist and gallerist Bruce Atlander. Berendt beautifully captures the magical springing to life of these rabbit figures when he writes: “Every morning, upon rising – even before he’s had his first cup of coffee – Hunt Slonem performs his daily warm-ups . He approaches his worktable where a stack of small rectangular panels awaits. Some of the panels are made of wood, some of Masonite. In the course of the next half hour he will have populated all the panels with rabbits. These paintings are what he calls his warm-ups.”

“My work is wonderful to live with, and I love to live with it,” says Slonem. “Unlike a lot of contemporary art which is political or shocking or jarring, mine is non-judgmental, like an eternal witness that watches without judging. I’m also exhilarated by nature, including birds, plants and butterfly forms that most people don’t even know exist. I collected all of those things when I was an exchange student in Nicaragua, and caught my first morpho butterfly, which is an exquisite iridescent blue when I was 16. I think my art comes from being born somehow conscious of other realms, which is what the divine is all about. I grew orchids as a child, and have long recognized that orchids and birds come from those places as a gift to humanity.”

Slonem has long attributed much of his prolific output to his work with channels and psychics. A spiritual sojourner his whole life who is always on a quest for soul freedom and the dispensing fear, his earliest paintings were of Catholic and Hindu saints surrounding animals. He has used his art to raise money for numerous charities (including cancer research) and wallpaper he has created in conjunction with the Lee Josa product line has been installed at the Ronald McDonald House. Slonem combines his passions for the spiritual and historical in his sessions with a medium in which he felt the spirit of Abraham Lincoln – who regularly consulted with mediums himself – tell him to paint doves for a series of works Slonem dubbed “Abraham’s Peace Plan.” Another recurring theme in the artist’s pictorial work is portrait painting, and of the 16th President in particular. Slonem has said that his portraits of Lincoln feel personal, and in surprising ways, he’s close to the long-deceased.

As the son of a Navy officer, Slonem spent his childhood on military bases: growing orchids in Hawaii, collecting stamps in Louisiana, and chasing those butterflies in Nicaragua—the place that inspired him most. The tropical landscape informed not only his process, but also his need to be surrounded by the nature he paints; he often works with a bird or two perched on his shoulder. Hundreds of birds also fill the surface of one of his largest ever projects – a 6’x86’ mural he painted for the iconic Bryant Park Grill Restaurant in NYC. His renowned sculptures include “Tocos,” an 18-foot acrylic and aluminum tower of toucans exhibited at the Polk Museum of Art in 2012. A graduate in Painting and Art History from Tulane University in New Orleans, Slonem has also done large sculpture commissions of rabbits, butterflies and toucans in various spots in Southern Louisiana.

“One of my recent focuses has been doing installations in various places that recreate my studio, including hanging some of my works and replicating my furniture and feather-walls with moulted feathers,” says Slonem. “In many ways, I see my whole life as an installation itself, an ever unfolding play of consciousness that is always fascinating me somehow. I’m always after that wow factor, those magical moments where I create a work and look at it in amazement, as if angels or gnomes had entered my space and created the whole thing. When I was young, I learned that Picasso collected chateaus, and I dreamed of doing something like that my whole life. Having reached that goal with these historic homes, I would like them to become part of my legacy, where people use them as study centers that can educate and inspire new generations of artists.”

If you happen to be in the Brooklyn, NY area:

Hunt Slonem Studio

14 53RD ST. BUILDING B 6TH FLOOR

BOX A-8

BROOKLYN, NY 11232

P.212.620.4835

All images via HuntSlonem.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow

Link updated January 9, 2025

A special day! Hearts and Crosses by artist Barbara Biel…

On September 5, 2015September 1, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist, Lifestyle, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Barbara Biel creates these amazing hearts and crosses and they are stunning! ESD (Elizabeth Stuart Design) in Mount Pleasant, SC has carried them for quite a while.

Both are perfect for this day… friends are getting married today, woot! Woot!

Kate & Hamp…

Congratulations you two, may God bless you both today and for the rest of your lives!

Happy Day!

xoxo, barbara, fred & charlie!

House Plan: The Bucketmouth Bungalow House Plan by John Tee!

On September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

The Bucketmouth Bungalow (1382) house plan by John Tee is 1,970 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. I think this is a sweet cottage plan that fits right in an established neighborhood with older homes. It’s got character and detail, is a great size and the plan… well, John Tee never disappoints!

What I notice right off are porches. The combination of both a covered porch and a screen porch is wonderful! There is a covered porch that leads you to the front door, and off to the side there is a Deck that leads you to the Screen Porch that is off the Great Room. This plan has a Powder Room off to the side of the Foyer area, which is so nice. It’s nice to have a Foyer area, especially in a smaller plan.

The Kitchen, Dining, Great Room is in the back of the house and the Master Bedroom/Bathroom is on the front. The open design keeps the family together. No one is missing out on any conversation just because they’re cooking and cleaning! In nice weather the ability to have the french doors open in the Great Room, pulling a nice breeze from the Screen Porch is heavenly! I wonder if some drawers or a small panty could be built in underneath the stairs maximizing space where you always need it… the Kitchen!

The upstairs boasts two Bedrooms, two Bathrooms and a Game Room (or separate Living Room for those who need to get away, or to use for painting, sewing, working out, etc. Having a separate space is a luxury!

I always love John Tee’s plans, be sure to check out his website – he’s got so many wonderful plans. It never is easy to chose!

All images via JohnTee.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: Compass Cove Plan by Flatfish Island Designs!

On August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

This is the Compass Cove plan by Flatfish Island Designs! This plan is 2,418 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It’s a sharp looking plan, don’t you agree? It embodies true living in this area. The porches are wonderful with the double front door leading inside… (View Detailed PDF). The Compass Cove plan is listed in the COVE COLLECTION… read more here.

Up the steps, onto the front porch and into the entry hall. Very welcoming, and a nice place for a little table with a lamp by the powder room (which is handy, by the way). A wall divides the kitchen from the hallway. Once you enter the kitchen, it’s an open Kitchen/Dining area, with a WALK IN PANTRY (yes!) and a laundry room off to the side. At the back of this plan is a fabulous Living Room surrounded by a covered porch.

A nice upstairs with 2 bedrooms with private baths and STORAGE! I love when people think of the necessities!

All images via FlatfishIslandDesigns.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

I do, I did, and I still do!

On August 22, 2015August 12, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTS4 Comments

This is one of my favorite photos of Fred and I. We were on the ferry to Sausalito, CA when this was taken (hence the windblown look). We had such a great time.

We always have a great time. It’s a blessing. I do not take our time together for granted. I know I am so fortunate to have met the man of my dreams.

No kinder man exists (for me), and I love him with all my heart.

HAPPY 23 YEARS FRED! Here’s to 23 more (and 23 more after that)… bless your heart ;)

xoxo, me

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: 42 Concord Drive by Our Town Plans!

On August 20, 2015January 12, 2025 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House Plans2 Comments

42 Concord | Our Town Plans Front otp — 42 Concord Drive by Our Town Plans

This is such a fabulous and livable plan. I love it. The porches really make it special. Take a peek…

Continue reading →

To roast, saute, bake and PHOTOGRAPH!

On August 18, 2015August 6, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, HEALTH, Lifestyle, Photograph, Recipe, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Produce Aisle – Whole Foods, Mount Pleasant, SC

What a stunning display of color, don’t you agree? Just look at these beets. I always thought beets tasted like dirt, I was so wrong. If you roast them, they have a sweetness to them that you will not believe! Give it a whirl!

You can roast them whole (scrub them good, cut off any leaves, but don’t peel). Then preheat oven to 375 F. Coat them with olive oil, then wrap in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast 45-60 minutes (or until done). Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Peel and slice into 1/4″-inch thick slices. Recipe: Bobbie Flay/Food Network

Ina Garten she peels, slices and roasts and then tops with orange juice, GOOGLE it! You won’t believe the wonderful combinations!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: 500-3 from Houseplans.com!

On August 13, 2015August 5, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House Plans1 Comment

Stunning, right? I would love to be living in this house right now on the coast of Maine, hee hee. This is house plan 500-3, a Signature Plan by Robert Swinburne, available from Houseplans.com. This plan is 1,372 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. What’s nice about this plan is that it’s customizable. Need a bedroom downstairs? No worries, they can figure it out! I love that!

Look at those small windows on the second floor, I love the character they add!

The combination of screened porch and unscreened porch makes this plan hard to pass up. There is so much living to be done in this wonderful space!

Downstairs you will find Kitchen/Dining space and a Living Space as well as a half Bathroom. Perfect if you don’t need a lot of space.

If I could modify, I would add closets (if using this for a regular home, if used for a vacation home, you could get by with no closets) and I would expand upon the half bath and add a shower. What would you do? Anything? Maybe in time add a Master Bedroom/Bathroom downstairs.

Three bedrooms and a full bath upstairs. I’m not seeing a laundry room, which would really be nice, so for the two of us, I think I would make Bedroom 2 a Master Bath, complete with washer and dryer (which is really convenient, that’s how our bathroom is now) – OK, so that was Fred’s idea, gotta give credit where credit is due! So I would close off the door to the hallway into Bedroom 2 and put the door going from Bedroom 1 into Bedroom 2. What would you do, if anything? This is one sharp plan, wouldn’t you agree?

All images via Houseplans.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Morning Walk – Swing in Old Oak Tree…

On August 8, 2015August 8, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, PhotographLeave a comment

Morning walk

Early sun in the tree

Swing just waiting for someone to come along

Why wasn’t it me?

Catch you back here tomorrow! Hey, I think I’m a poet! ;)

House Plan: The Fairview Ridge Plan by Allison Ramsey Architects!

On August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

This is the Fairview Ridge house plan by Allison Ramsey Architect. This plan is 2,097 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.

What a statement! Just look at that entrance. WOW! It’s hard to tell from this drawing but you’ll see a link in this post so that you can see actual images of a real house, interior and exterior. Fabulous porch, wonderful cuts in the roof that add so much charm and character!

A wrap around porch is so wonderful. It makes the sides seem more private and the front out in the open. It would be nice to screen one side to have a place to run in case the mosquitoes make their presence known! Nice open Great/Dining/Kitchen area! And… if you really loved this plan but needed a downstairs bedroom, maybe something could be done to enlarge the sunroom space a bit? I’m no architect but I know they always have great ideas!

I love how Allison Ramsey also includes images of this house plan that was built (interior and exterior).

The upstairs shows the Master in front with a Master Bath, and two Bedrooms each with their own Bathrooms.

All images via AllisonRamseyArchitect.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

At a snails pace…

On August 2, 2015July 17, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Photograph1 Comment

The heat/humidity = moving at a snails pace. Here’s proof, ha ha.

We often see snails slithering their way across the sidewalk, but I’ve never seen one with the shell. I just read about snails… how they create their shells from the liquid that oozes off of them (very technical explanation, eh?) – interesting…

Stay cool if you’re in a part of the world where the heat and humidity really up there right now!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: The Mises Plan (C0512) by Allison Ramsey Architect!

On July 30, 2015July 30, 2015 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

The Mises Plan (C0512) / Allison Ramsey Architect

The Mises Plan (C0512) by Allison Ramsey Architect! This plan is 3,044 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. I love the look of this house. Great porch, wonderful windows, interesting roof line. It’s different. I love different!

The Mises Plan (C0512) / Allison Ramsey Architect

This is a generous size plan, just over 3,000 square feet, downstairs you have three bedrooms. I would use Bedroom 3 as a Study (as they have it marked). That way the person in Bedroom 2 has their peace and quiet. I like the center foyer, that would be fun to decorate! The dining room is more traditional, and the Breakfast/Kitchen/Living areas look like where I would do most of my living! I would maybe even use the formal dining room as an office?

LOOK at that screened porch! That would be wonderful! So many options!

The Mises Plan (C0512) / Allison Ramsey Architect

You know what I’m thinking? The Playroom would be a really nice Art Studio space!! I love to hear your ideas, or what type house plan you’re looking for… Large? Small? One floor? Narrow, wide? Let me know!

Click HERE to see images of the real house!

All images via AllisonRamseyArchitect.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!