BUTTERFLIES ON MY JOE PYE WEED

For the past few years I've been creating a cottage garden.  One of my lovely perennials is Joe Pye Weed.   It's not a weed at all, but rather a butterfly-covered plant that blooms from mid Summer to Fall.  At the end of this post there's a link if you want to know more about this plant.

Click on the highlighted words for more information about Joe Pye Weed.

MIXING MY MODERN LUCITE COFFEE TABLE WITH A CHINOISERIE PILLOW

There is a very modern lucite coffee table in my family room.  I recently changed it up a bit with some over-sized photography books, bleached antlers, and a bowl of artichokes.  

MY RE-STYLED COFFEE TABLE

I have both green and orange in this room.  To pick up the green in the room, I placed some artichokes in a bowl.  The bowl is a demijohn base with an added copper rim.  A linen chinoiserie pillow brightens up the sofa and repeats the orange found in other parts of the family room.

ARTICHOKES IN DEMIJOHN BASE AND CHINOISERIE PILLOW

 Not only does the linen pillow pick up the green and orange in the room, but it also has the most wonderful piping.  If you look closely you can see the gathers in the corners. 

It's all in the details.

ORANGE AND GREEN CHINOISERIE PILLOW

 I love that you can see my leopard pattern rug through the coffee table.   The shape of the spots is slightly blurred and the pattern is perfectly named Cezanne Leopard.

MY LEOPARD RUG

MY WONDERFUL ARTICHOKES

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE BOWL AND ARTICHOKES

The coffee table has two side pockets for books or magazines.  I leave them empty because they're the perfect spot for my granddaughters to tuck their stuffed animals or for them to drive their toy cars and trucks.

SIDE POCKETS

In addition to the demijohn bowl, I added a stack of large photography books and some bleached antlers.  Of course Bella photo bombed the picture.

DOG PHOTO BOMB

STACK OF OVER-SIZED PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS

How do you mix and match your decor?

BLACK EYED SUSANS IN MY SUMMER GARDEN

One of my favorite easy-to-grow perennials is Black Eyed Susan.  I started off with a few plants that I've been dividing.  They're pretty much in all my sunny beds now.

The original location was along the porch walkway.  Over the years the few plants multiplied and filled the space.

BLACK EYED SUSANS ALONG THE PORCH WALKWAY

They spread so much that they worked themselves into my purple phlox.  I never thought I'd like purple and yellow, but it works in the flower bed.

PHLOX AND BLACK EYED SUSANS

The butterflies love this garden.

BUTTERFLY ENJOYING THE GARDEN

Did you know that there are giant Black Eyed Susans?  A few years ago I planted them near the kitchen window.  They grow to be about five feet tall. Even though they don't look much different than the other regular Black Eyed Susans, they certainly reach up and fill the window.   Our kitchen table is beside this window.  They create an ever-blooming bouquet to enjoy with our meals. 

GIANT BLACK EYED SUSANS OUT MY KITCHEN WINDOW

LOL.  They even match my draperies.

Do you have a summer bloom that thrives in the heat?

RETAIL DETAILS CAN TRANSLATE TO YOUR HOME DECOR

I've shared many times before that you can translate store merchandising techniques to your home decor too. There are many strategies for unifying a space and creating a pleasing cohesive style.  For this sale @ Buckeystown Design Co-Op, I focused on color and texture. Try grouping the treasures in your home with this in mind.  Let me know how it worked out.

I just restocked the European bread boards.  There are natural wood tones on the bread boards, beads, and tray. The woven planters add texture and repeat the raw wood color to unify the display.  

BREAD BOARDS AND WIRE BASKET

I still have some blue and white botanicals in stock.  How wonderful are these weathered shutters flanking the prints!  They're from a Victorian home in Pennsylvania.  Blues and oranges complement each other.

Earth tones make this work.

EARTH TONES IN FOX COLLAGE AND CANDLESTICKS

Gold sprinkled in a space always ties it together.  There's lots of texture on the vintage mirror frames and on the wicker covered bottles too.

 GOLD PULLS  TOGETHER A VINTAGE FRAME LAYERED OVER VINTAGE MIRRORS

WICKER COVERED BOTTLES WITH A GOLD CROWN AND GOLD FLEUR DI LIS

GREEN AND BLACK---MY FAVORITE COLOR COMBO

GOLD ACCENTS

MORE GOLD 

Natural materials make this work.  The spheres and beads add natural texture.  The roses surrounding the vintage plaster compote add texture and a nod to nature.

WHITES AND WOODS AND WOVEN GRASS SPHERES

I repeated yellow in this grouping. Yellow appears on the chair seat and the book cover.  A yellow faux tortoise shell is propped next to the chair.  Above the shell are two prints with ochre tones. 

POPS OF YELLOW

Nature-related items in earth tones unify this space.

FERN LOVE

  Just repeat green.

GREEN

The vintage document boxes and the red bead garland repeat the black frame and
red poppies in the prints in the background.  

STACK OF VINTAGE DOCUMENT BOXES

All unrelated decor items, but they all wear black and white and blend together.

BLACK AND WHITE

How do you create your home designs?