WOW! I can't believe I found this snippet of an article in a local trade daily yesterday. It is about Marcel Wanders, Founder of Moooi - who I now realize most people don't know who he is. Being a huge fan of Dutch Design, this came as a total surprise to me...... so read on........

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A collection of “romantic” home décor pieces by Netherlands designer

Marcel Wanders is set to roll out to Target stores in time for the holiday selling season.

Like Target’s other new 209 holiday collections by designers like Carlos Falchi for handbags and Anna Sheffield for jewelry as well as cosmetics from Jemma Kidd Napoleon Perdis, Petra Strand and Sonia Kashuk, the discount retail chain’s Marcel Wanders line encompasses giftable items priced at $25 or less.

Titled Marcel Wanders for Target, the new exclusive tabletop and home decor limited-edition collection portrays the designer’s whimsical style on the more than 40 decorative pieces, such as dinnerware, ceramic vases, pillar candles, stockings, ornaments and wrapping paper. Prices will range from $2.99 for place card holders to $39.99 for a tree skirt.

Also for the home categories, 1,719-unit Target has added holiday throw pillows, flannel sheets and cable-knit throws as well as festive table lines like chargers, napkins, placemats and candles – all priced to retail for less than $10.

Target said its holiday assortment of new electronics, toys and other items will be priced with the challenging economy in mind.

The Mondrian Hotel, Miami - Marcel Wanders

..and again, the Mondrian.

The Zeppelin Pendant, by Marcel Wanders....

OK.....Target? Really? Don't get me wrong, I love Target, I shop at Target, but I was kinda bummed when Tord Boontje and Thomas O'Brien did a line and now I am REALLY bummed. Is it just the money or is it really about the design? ..and what about the quality? What does that do to their "real" lines? Where is the exclusivity - or do they even want that anymore? I promise I am not trying to be sarcastic, this is a serious question. On the flip side, yahoo for target! What a coup! Marcel Wanders is the Founder of Moooi and I am sure whatever he does will be amazing. I am just really thinking out loud......I am sure I will head over Target the day after Thanksgiving to see what I can get my grubby little paws on for a good price.......

What I found in Chicago at the outdoor market...

I had a great time at the Outdoor Furniture Market at the Chicago Merchandise Mart this week. Attendance was up and it was bustling! I needed to place orders and find some new vendors for our spring collection of outdoor goods at the shop. I was soooo happy with what I found!

Sometimes it just takes one thing - an item, a color - to act as your muse or inspiration and get you going.....I found this rug at The Rug Market - it is truly an outdoor rug - and it inspired me for the color palette I chose for our Spring merchandise. We will be receiving all our outdoor stuff during the first week in March. I know it sounds far away - but it's not!

This is my color inspiration! I think it is lovely! Our palette for Spring will be chartreuse, turquoise, cobalt blue, white and gray. I saw navy and cobalt blues in Paris and thought I would bring them in through outdoor furniture.

My favorite outdoor line, Fermob, is showing this lovely Luxembourg lounge chair and ottoman in a beautiful shade of chartreuse - they call it verbena - and I have ordered a pair of these. Beautiful....picture it with the rug! YUMMY!

More from Fermob, also from the Luxembourg collection. We have also ordered the pictured colors, turquoise and cobalt. Note the chaise lounge in the back...I ordered a pair of them in a double weave turquoise and gray with a turquoise frame.

..a fun striped deck chair from La Fuma.....more of my color palette!

This is a beautiful offering from Jardin de Ville from Canada. I would love to have this piece in the shop - it looks like the commanders chair from Star Trek.


This lovely is from EMU - LOVE LOVE! I will be ordering it in a turquoise/peacock color.

Here is a gorgeous outdoor firepit - it uses pourable gel. It is glossy white powdercoated metal. So sleek, modern and not fussy! We have one coming into the shop in about two weeks. I would love to have one of these at home as well. hmmmmmmmmmm.............

What is not to love about 50's motel chairs....pick a color , any color. These beauties are really well made and so damn cheerful I can barely stand it. As you can imagine, I ordered a ton of these - I could not even wait until Spring - they will be here in two weeks!!!! YIPPEEE! Beautiful and affordable!

Doesn't that just cheer you up???

ooooooohhhhhhh....I found this new company Kannoa from Florida and I love everything in their collection - we are getting the above piece in a driftwood white - with an umbrella hole and we will put the Sywawa shade lace parasol with it - LOOK OUT!

These are also from Kannoa - and we have ordered them in a chartreuse green - these totally remind me of the Frank Gehry cardboard chair...don't you think???

....more Kannoa - we got these in white with striped cushions...simple and lovely!

.....with little side tables / cubes to go with the collection....

These last pieces are from the Veneman Collection, which I have been coveting for the last two years, and I finally decided to order. I ordered 2 biedermeier side chairs in orange powdercoated metal - really the most beautiful shade of orange/red-ish - I will be putting loose down cushions in peacock on them...and I ordered two pieces from the Roger Thomas collection..the Bellechase lounge chair and the 2 person settee - also in the orange - but with apple green Kravet outdoor chenille for the cushions. This line is to die for. I am so happy I ordered it! FYI - Roger Thomas is the designer of the Wynn and Encore resorts in Las Vegas (plus a whole lot more!)
The Bellechase lounge chair - I ordered it in orange with green cushions.

The Beidermeier chair. I ordered mine as sidechairs, not armchairs,

Allright then, I am done for! I have not had a decent nights sleep in days - my mind won't stop imagining all the great stuff we are getting for Spring '10. I had a blast in Chicago - quick trip as it was - thank you to all the vendors who took their time with me!

Have a great weekend!

end of the season in my garden.....

I love my front yard this year. It has finally come into its own and has become lovely, layered, textured and lush! I LOVE IT!!! If it looks this good this year at the end of the season, I can't wait to see how fab it will look next year.

The above is from my front steps-ish towards the walkway to the street and the pond area. the pond is between the two orange pots and behind the hakonechloa. I love the hostas in the foreground. Hostas are a great shade problem solver as it does not matter what varieties you plant together - they all look great. I love them en masse.

The above is the left side of my front steps - so much color from the coleus and the potato vine...of course the orange pots add to the mix!

This is the right side of my front steps...more fab color! It looks like this weekend will be the weather turning point here in PDX. By next weekend, I may be adding orange and black (super dark purple) violas with some dark purple kale to the pots for the fall/winter. That's the great thing about pots...they are so easy to change out. I always like to have a lovely grouping of pots at the front door. It really is the first impression your visitors have of your home - it should have a bit of WOW! ...it's not hard and it's not expensive. I am teaching a container gardening class in November for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon...just in case you are interested in learning a new skill....

OK then.....enjoy your day!

Kym Pokorny......what a rock star!!!
The darling Mr. Darcy!!!!!

I am so excited!!!! My favorite garden radio talk show - In the Garden with Mike Darcy - has asked me to join them Saturday morning – Sept. 19th – at 10:30 am. Please tune in to KXL AM750 or go to www.kxl.com. I have been listening to Mike Darcy for years and have been lucky enough to be on his show several times. I adore that man! LOVE LOVE!

This Saturday, Kym Pokorny from the Oregonian, and a very good friend of the darling Mr. Darcy, will be filling in for him as he is taking a well deserved VK. Kym was kind enough to call me this week and ask me to join her for a bit on air and talk about shade gardening and a bit about container gardening. I am teaching a container gardening class next Saturday, the 26th out at Farmington gardens on SW 213th & Farmington Rd. from 10-1. www.farmingtongardens.com. The cost of the class is $49 and you can register at www.mindglo.com. I would love to see you there!

So tune into KXL AM 750 tomorrow morning and listen to In the Garden with Mike Darcy – with special guest host Kym Pokorny from 9-12 ….and don’t forget that we are on the radio at 10:30 sharp!

I cannot believe how many pictures I have piling up.......I thought I should put them out there before I procrastinate a bit more...

I found this line of fabric taxidermy at the Maison show in Paris. Ironically, this booth was literally right across the hall from a REAL taxidermy booth. Funny. All four of these images are by a French artist. I bought the camel (below) and the water buffalo (above) for the shop. I should have them in the next few weeks. I was completely blown away by the artistry of these. I can't wait to have them and I don't care if they ever sell!

Camel.....

Beethoven.......AMAZING! Note the red dot......it was sold before I got there! DAMN!

I would LOVE to have the whole wall! I LOVE LOVE THESE!

I've ordered this beautiful line of porcelain from Limoges in fully saturated colors - this collection has a beautiful toile-ish, fragonard-ish pattern. I chose the federal blue and the spice color.

I have ALWAYS wanted a Citroen 2CV..ALWAYS....so imagine my lust-meter when we found this version - completely upholstered in leather. Crazy cool!

Sorry, this photo is out of order and is from the Limoges collection I ordered. Look at the red chair and see the blue and spice colors.....yummy!

This was, by far, my favorite thing at the show...and there is a bit of a story behind it. So I was in New York at the gift show in August and I went into the DROOG gallery one afternoon while wandering SoHo. There was this AMAZING art installation of a long and wide wooden table with hand blown glass vessels that had been blown directly on the surface of the table - thereby allowing it to ooze over the edges of the table and singe/blacken the top of the table where the glass was placed. Needless to say, it was outlandishly priced and completely out of my reach, ever; but it was truly one of the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and the image had been stuck in my head for weeks. So, imagine my surprise while wandering the aisles in Paris and running into these...... The best part......totally affordable....so what choice did I have but to order them for the shop? (or me!) These are actually made in France but the wood is reclaimed teak from demolished Thai houses and the glass is blown directly onto the top of the stump..... So freaking cool!!!!!

The above is the new palette for my living room, thanks to the darling Miss Stella. As you will see in the photos below, Stella decided to eat the top edge of the chair - nice - which means it now has to be recovered. This is the chance I have been waiting for - the chance to use my favorite fabric of all time - Schumacher Chiang Mai Dragon. I am using the dragon fabric on the inside back and on the seat of the chair and I am using the Kravet Sunburst pattern in the rest of the chair. The sunburst pattern in the fabric mimics the mum pattern on the dragon fabric. The green is by Pindler and Pindler and will be my draperies which will frame the window the chair sits under. The chair is one of the coolest pieces ever.....Heywood Wakefield......such a cool shape! I will post the after photos in a few weeks. I am so excited to see how it turns out!

Stella thought that this looked tasty.....

Such a sexy shape.......

This is a client project in the works......getting closer to completion photos...it is going to be a stunner!

In June, I was in Victoria, BC for the HPSO (hardy plant society oregon) for a study weekend. We visited a number of killer gardens and I lusted after so many plants! Enjoy the photos...

ooooooohhhhhh...succulents.

This was an artist from Victoria - great pairing....

What a combo.....Eryngium & Euphorbia

Looks fake doesn't it?

I love the acid green....

Martagon Lilies - I am kind of obsessed with them at the moment - so dramatic in the garden. These were about 5 feet tall - unbelievable!

I have never seen pine-cones quite like these. I have no idea exactly what conifer this is.......maybe someone could identify it....oh please, oh please.......

My favorite of all magnolias- sieboldii - note the Martagon Lily in the background and the color echo....a beautiful combination!

So clearly a David Austin rose - but unknown which variety - anyone? anyone? Bueller? I do have a rose in my garden with the same coloring - a little orange - a little brown - the one I have is called Hot Cocoa. It is amazing in the garden...so unusual.

Another Martagon Lily.......such a beautiful and rich color! Must.....have......martagon.........

This oak tree had the most beautiful branching patterns - it was stunning against the super blue sky - we had a great weekend!

OK then...that's it for now........