CasaSugar

This Just In: House & Garden to Fold

CasaSugar — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:41:32 -0800

According to WWD, Condé Nast's design bible, House & Garden, will fold with its December issue and shut down its website. This is happening after the book's publisher, Joe Lagani, unexpectedly left the magazine to join Glam.com last month. Condé Nast President and CEO, Chuck Townsend, said, "We decided to take a serious look and reevaluate the title. Our investment in House & Garden throughout the years has been substantial and we no longer believe it is a viable business investment for the company." As H&G is one of my most beloved reads, I'm certainly saddened, but somehow not surprised, by this news.
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Breaking the Decorating Rules

CasaSugar — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:38:28 -0700

We've been talking a lot about decorating don'ts, but that doesn't mean that some decorating rules aren't made to be broken. The key is breaking them in style.

For inspiration, check out this feature in House & Garden called Master Class: Break the Rules. The magazine asked a panel of prominent decorating names to share their favorite flagrant violations throughout design history. The list includes such triumphs as mixing 17th-century-style chandeliers with country checkered fabrics, bringing inside furniture outdoors and vice versa, and using industrial garage doors as walls. To see a gallery of the "don't" hall of fame, read more

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via Shak In Style

This Just In: Eat the View Petitions For White House Edible Garden

CasaSugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:30:28 -0700

Edible estates are a growing trend at homes around the country as food costs rise, along with food-safety concerns and environmental awareness, but there are some who think we shouldn't be confined to our own lawns. Eat the View is a nonprofit campaign to plant healthy, edible landscapes in high-impact, high-visibility places, and is petitioning for a vegetable garden on the lawn of most visible home in the country, the White House. I myself recently volunteered at one of these high-visibility gardens, San Francisco's Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, which sits in front of City Hall. The premise behind Eat the View's campaign is that as "America's House," the White House should set a positive example for the country and the world. The fresh, healthy, and environmentally-friendly produce grown in the garden would go to the White House kitchen as well as local food pantries. There is currently already a staff of 13 gardeners and groundskeepers, who maintain everything from the Rose Garden to the presidential putting green. And, it would not be the first time the White House had a green thumb: in the 1940s, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt grew a victory garden of her own. To see a video about the subject, read more.

Do you have your own vegetable, fruit, or herb garden? What do you think about this petition?

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Open House: The Low-Down on Your Garden

CasaSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:00:46 -0700

Since it's Good to Grow month, for this week's Open House, I figured I'd start off the month by getting the details on your garden — if you have one. What's in your garden: flowers, vegetables, herbs? Is your garden an Edible Estate? Is it an anti-garden? A formal, Versailles-style garden? Is it full of native plants or foreign flora? What plants specifically grow there? Do you garden for purely aesthetic purposes, for environmental reasons, or just to feed your hungry belly? If you don't have one, are you hoping to start one? Are you having any "issues" with your garden? Successes?
Let me know by leaving a comment a below, and we'll get this green thumb rally started!
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Open House: How Do You Deal With Pets in Your Garden?

CasaSugar — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:30:00 -0700

My mother-in-law has amazing flower and edible gardens at her cabin on Whidbey Island, off the coast of Washington. She also has a very exuberant ball-fetching standard poodle named Zoe. When I visited the cabin last weekend, I walked around her property, stunned by the bursts of color from her rhododendrons, peonies, roses, lilacs, honeysuckle, and numerous other flowering plants. And then there was Zoe, who diligently followed me and dropped her ball at my feet whenever I'd pause.
Even though Zoe is a big, active dog, her damage to my mother-in-law's fabulous garden seems minimal at worst. There are several gravel paths, upon which Zoe usually travels when outside. Two grassy patches seem to be her preferred outdoor lounging spots, and she's well-trained enough not to tramp around in the surrounding flowering gardens or strawberry patches.

Do you negotiate the issue of shared garden and pet space? How do you deal with pets in your flower garden? Do you train Fido to stay out? Do you use fencing or natural deterrents to keep your pets away from your favorite plants? Tell me all about it!

Open House: Winter in the Garden

CasaSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:00:44 -0800

My brother, who lives in the Midwest, is definitely done with his garden, since snow is on the ground. Like many other Midwestern garden enthusiasts, he's busy plotting out next year's veggie patch. While my garden has definitely slowed down thanks to the cold and rainy weather, that doesn't mean nothing's growing. This morning, I took a photo of what I'd harvested before heading to work. Figs are still ripening, and my Easter egg radishes are coming in - though oddly, it's primarily the white-colored ones that are mature. And, of course, mint, which is nearly impossible to deter or kill, is keeping my mornings filled with fresh herbal tea.

What's happening with your garden? Is it hibernating under a dusting of snow? Or are you still harvesting some vegetables and fruits?

Metropolitan Home Folds

CasaSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:56:46 -0800

Another one bites the dust. Hachette Filipacchi Media announced today that it will fold Metropolitan Home with its December issue. The company plans to focus its efforts on its other shelter glossy, Elle Decor. HFMUS President and CEO Alain Lemarchand said, "We believe the best strategy in the upscale shelter segment is to boldly focus our resources and investment on Elle Decor, which is the ad-page leader within the US market. Despite the downturn in ad pages that has affected all magazines, the Elle Decor brand has multiple opportunities for growth across all platforms.” Met's longtime Editor in Chief Donna Warner and her staff will leave the company.

This closure follows a long string of folds in the shelter world, including HFMUS's own Home, House & Garden, Blueprint, O at Home, Cottage Living, and, of course, Domino. So while it's not a shocker considering the economic climate, it is still sad news indeed. But at least this glossy went out with a bang, wowing us with the Metropolitan Home Showtime House and the exquisite Modern by Design Showhouse this year.

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This Just In: Nicolas Cage Lists Two New Orleans Properties

CasaSugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:30:36 -0800

Prolific real estate investor Nicolas Cage is on the loose on a wild selling spree. Cage has already put his Las Vegas, Bel-Air, and Rhode Island properties on the market, and today we have news that he's listed his two properties in New Orleans. According to WDSU and Real Estalker, Cage has listed his historical property (shown right) in New Orleans's French Quarter, the most haunted home in the neighborhood, in addition to a Garden District mansion. The haunted home, known as the LaLaurie House (which I wrote about here), is listed for $3.9 million, $400,000 more than he paid for it in April 2007. To hear about the other property and see photos, read more.

The listing for Cage's 13,176-square-foot, six-bedroom, five-full-and-two-half-bath Garden District mansion, which was once an active Catholic chapel, reads:

The most superlative of Garden District mansions with the best of every amenity. Ample room for a large family and big-time entertainment venue with formal gardens, parking, and everything anyone could possibly want in a most grand of grand, star-quality home.

It also features a pool and central air, which are ideal for the broiling NOLA heat. If the house looks familiar, it's probably because I quizzed you on the owner of it once, as it was once owned by gothic novelist Anne Rice. I've passed by the property hundreds of times myself and I can tell you it's an idyllic example of New Orleans architecture; I'd love to see interior photos.

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How-To: Hanging a Window Box

CasaSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:00:22 -0700

For all of you small-space gardeners out there, window boxes are a great way to maximize growing space. Find out how to hang one with this how-to, from the experts at This Old House. If you have basic carpentry skills (and know how to operate a level and a power drill) then you can decorate your house with gorgeous, flower-filled window boxes.

Depending on the type of windows your home has, you'll have to hang your window box at different heights. For a house with double-hung or sliding windows, measure down one inch from the bottom of the sill. Make a pencil mark. For a window that swings out, measure down 6 to 8 inches.
Now you're going to install the top screw on the bracket. To do so, hold the first bracket with its top on the pencil mark. Mark the bracket for the top screw hole. It should hit close to the first section of siding below the window.
Next, use a countersink bit to drill a pilot hole and counterbore into the bracket on your pencil mark. Fasten the bracket to the house with a 3-inch-long galvanized decking screw through the pilot hole.

For the rest of the directions, just read more.

Make sure that the bracket is level then install the second screw. Then check again that it's level. Bore a pilot hole and counterbore for the second screw through the bracket just above the horizontal leg, where it will be hidden by the window box. Then drive another 3-inch screw through the bracket.

Next, install the second bracket. Use the same technique as for the first bracket. Be careful though! You'll want to use your level to make sure that the second bracket is at the correct height.

Next, you'll want to make sure that the window box is centered. Do so by placing the window box on top of the brackets with the angled side of the box facing out.

After you've measured to ensure that it's centered, fasten the window box to the brackets. Drill and counterbore pilot holes into the upper rear edge of the box, directly in front of each bracket. Then drill a 2-1/2-inch-long galvanized decking screw through the box and into the upper end of each bracket.

Congratulations! You're done! Now fill the box with potting soil, and plant with gorgeous flowers, vining plants, and herbs.

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Cool Idea: A Haunted Wedding

CasaSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:00:29 -0700

After I wrote my post about California haunted houses, one of my Sugar friends emailed me to say that she'd actually gotten married in one of them!

She writes, "I got married at Madrona Manor in Healdsburg. It’s such a beautiful old house, and the grounds are absolutely breathtaking. The main house is the part that’s supposed to be haunted, and I have to admit, it is a little creepy. It’s charming and old-fashioned, full of gorgeous antiques, but it absolutely feels like a haunted house. We held our ceremony in the gardens, our reception on the patio, and stayed in a carriage house behind the main building, so we pretty much avoided the potentially haunted areas entirely (and that wasn’t an accident)!"

Have you ever attended a wedding in a haunted home, or someplace that was rumored to house spirits? Tell me about your experience in the comments!

Photo courtesy Kristyn Stroble Photography