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Hooked on Rooftop Gardens!

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Elevated Retreat 1I’m completely smitten with rooftop gardens.  A big city filled with high rises and concrete but hidden at the top of the stairs you find an oasis.  My love of rooftop gardens began years ago watching a very sappy chick flick staring Christian Slater. Bed of Roses is not a great movie, but the garden is fabulous.  I found all of these rooftop gardens at Chicagogardens.com. I am slightly jealous that not only do I not have a rooftop garden but I can’t even have one at my home.  Trust me it just isn’t the same in the ‘burbs.  I’m thinking you have to have a spectacular skyline to gaze at!  I love the cedar deck and the lounge-style furniture from Barlow-Tyrie.  Can you imagine morning coffee with the paper or a glass of wine in the evenings with friends…I can.

Elevated Retreat 2

That built in flower bed is simply gorgeous.  I think I would fill mine with Daisey’s…one of my favorite flowers! This elevated retreat is truly spectacular.

Skyline Terrace 1

Love this!  I love the awning over the dining area. And those flower boxes on the rail. I bet it looks great from the street level looking up.

Skyline Terrace 2

They used cedar decking,  but they also added all weather carpeting.  This is a living room right in the heart of the city!  I live in a very suburban neighborhood, but I’d like to think if I lived in a big city I’d have a rooftop garden like this one.  It looks inviting and comfortable. Just my style.

Mediterranean Oasis 1

And lastly,  I love this Mediterranean Oasis.  The cedar pergola looks wonderful with those billowy white drapes.  Oh the dinner parties you could throw. I’m already working on the menu, yet I don’t have a rooftop oasis!

Mediterranean Oasis2

And after dinner, we would retreat to this sitting area.  The floor here is made of ivory marble deck stone.  It is so warm and rustic looking.  Love it.  Yes, I can definitely see myself entertaining here!

So, this week I’m totally hooked on rooftop gardens.  I’d love to see more…so help a girl out and send me any photos or links to rooftop gardens.  You know I’m a lookiloo through and through!

deseyeright

California Daily Art: Landscape Paintings

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

California Daily Art: Landscape Paintings

Artist Prakash Chandras paints the essence of California — every day. He gets up each morning, makes himself a big cup of tea and takes it to his studio above the garage in South San Jose. Then he paints for two or three hours of California landscapes before he moves on with his day. Each painting is a postcard size and a distinct image of California — a poppy, the Big Sur coastline, Coit Tower in San Francisco. He displays and sells them on his website at California Daily Art. He calls it a “visual vacation.”

He was inspired by a poet he heard on the radio one day talking about his daily writing inspiration on his short walks to work, whether it was a flower or a cloud. And Chadras, who teaches art at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, knew how such an exercise would not only be a creative one, but a good daily discipline.

Coit Tower - California Daily Art: Landscape Paintings

“I wanted to push myself every day,” said Chadras, who earned a Masters in Fine Art in 1983 from San Jose State University. He also had developed a special painting technique he calls linearism, where he paints only with parallel lines. And each of those paintings takes upwards of six months. His postcard images gave him a daily sense of creativity and achievement. He sells them for about $100 each.

“I only paint the places I have seen and experienced,” said Chandras, who takes snapshots of his California travels and refers to them in the studio. “When I paint in the morning, I remember being there. In my mind, I’m indulging myself with all these memories.”

Julia - lookiloos.com

Related stories:
Jill’s Living Room
Sonya Paz – Art Out of this World
Everyday is Valentine’s Day at Debbie Marie’s Gallery in Campbell
Another Etsy Find – San Jose Artist Paul Chung
Rebecca Peragine: Prints to Brighten up a Rainy Day
Hand-painted Tiles for a Special Pirate or Princess
Love and Valentine’s Day Gifts: Rae Dunn Clay
A few Etsy Ideas for your home gallery

Romantic Home in Little Four-Plex

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Romantic Home in Little Four-Plex

Cindy Kihn-Santiago’s “My Romantic Home” blog about her shabby chic Campbell apartment is so popular, with readers so loyal, that if she neglects to post a story one day, she gets emails asking, “Are you OK?”

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