3 Outdoor Accessories to Add to Your Summer Yard

Irwin Weiner ASID - Summer decorating outdoors usually means setting out the sets of porch, deck, patio, and pool furniture (lucky you, if you have all four!), but it should also mean accessorizing. Our philosophy on outdoor decorating is the same as indoors: be eclectic and mix up styles and looks and add objects of interest outdoors just as you would indoors. We like the look of "outdoor rooms," and just as we dislike matchy-matchy sets of furniture indoors, we think it's important to break up the monotony outdoors as well. Here are three outdoor accessories that will help personalize your outdoor spaces.

Kadai Fire Bowls (first photo) - We have four fire bowls outdoors, two small and two large, and for years we've been using them as planters. We now realize that they are truly Indian in origin and are used to prepare grilled food for family and guests at weddings and ceremonies. We know they work just fine for planters and water features, but add a tripod or base as shown in the photo, and you have an excellent handmade accessory to add warmth to your outdoor world.

Kensuke Coffee Table and T-seats from The Third Nature (second photo) - What a lovely set of contemporary concrete outdoor furniture! Durable, timeless in design, and intimate, you can add benches and tables in the same style to the individual T-seats and coffee table shown here.

Classico Pergola from Metal Design Furniture (third photo) - A pergola or gazebo creates an instant focal point for a yard, and in the case of the configuration shown in the photo, it helps further define an outdoor room by giving it a suggestion of walls and a ceiling. In this case, one would trail vines up the iron posts and train them to form a green ceiling, perfect for summer dining, conversation, and entertaining. A pergola is the ideal accessory to finish off any space (the Classico and other Metal Design features are availabile in a wide range of colors and finishes).

Bonus

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Do-It-Yourself Video - Repairing Bare Spots on Your Lawn

Irwin Weiner ASID - Has winter weather left your lawn in rough shape? Everyone has those burnout or dead-grass bare spots to fix, and I found a great video from The Family Handyman (they're our special focus this week on Design2Share) to help us all stop singing the Bad Lawn Blues. 

Click on these links to learn about Lawn Care: How to Repair a Lawn and how to Build a Rain Garden in Your Yard (wonderful for saving your lawn and home from water damage and preventing harmful runoff). 

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Design2Share Travel Video - The Cellars-Hohenort

Irwin Weiner ASID - I enjoy returning to my native South Africa to visit family and rediscover truly exotic and beautiful places. Last October, Jay and I visited family staying at The Cellars-Hohenort. It's a beautiful resort in the foothills of the Constantia Valley wineland country, just north of Cape Town.

The Hohenort building is a historic Cape Dutch building that now houses 52 luxury suites and rooms, along with a chic lounge and restaurants.

The accommodations, which we didn't get to see, vary from luxury suites to smaller rooms - but we were told that all were meticulously appointed.

But to us, the amazing gardens took the cake. (Perhaps we'll "borrow" a few ideas for our own garden!)

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Let's Tour the Romantic Vizcaya Estate

(Vizcaya - East Terrace)

Janet Ramin - If you ever fantasized about being transported to another world ... back in time to a period of glittering balls, palatial mansions, formal gardens, and old-world European charm, you may want to visit Vizcaya in Miami, Florida. Yes, Miami! The city of bikinis, nightclubs, and pink flamingoes may not be the first place you associate with old-world charm, but nestled south of its famous beaches is a local treasure, the Vizcaya estate. 

Vizcaya was home to James Deering, a wealthy executive at International Harvester. Deering envisioned Vizcaya as a winter retreat reminiscent of Italian palazzos. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many industrialists built mansions inspired by European palaces to announce to their peers that they have “arrived.” Deering hired designers F. Burral Hoffman, Paul Chalfin, and Diego Suarez to create the mansion, its interiors, and its romantic gardens.   

(Vizcaya - Front)

Vizcaya was completed in 1921, taking two years to finish and employing nearly ten percent of Miami’s population - about 10,000 at that time. In the photos above, you can see the East Terrace as well as the front entrance. Invited guests can arrive in two ways: by automobile or by yacht. Those driving would pass by a forest of rockland hammock trees, fountains, and a circular driveway to finally gaze upon an Italian Renaissance façade made from local limestone.

Those arriving by yacht encountered a Venetian stone barge, at once beautiful and highly functional. The barge provided a unique outdoor space for parties as well as acting as a breakwater against tidal surges. After docking, a guest would enter the mansion via the East Loggia (see photo below), a foyer decorated in classical columns and busts, vaulted ceilings, and marble floor. A model ship of San Cristobal, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon’s ship, hangs in the center.

(Vizcaya - Stone Barge)

(Vizcaya - East Loggia)

Despite the Italian Renaissance exterior, the interiors were decorated in a variety of styles – Italian Rococo, Baroque, and Chinoiserie (Chinese-influenced), as well as the neoclassical style. One of the most beautiful rooms is the Tea Room, decorated in both neoclassical as well as Baroque manner. The grandiose iron gates with gilded detail, bought from a Venetian palace, certainly reflected the more flamboyant Baroque style, as well as the floor torchieres that light the room. The walls itself are decorated with

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