Book Release : DREAM of VENICE

The city was cloaked in silence. As we glided down the Grand Canal, I looked up at the darkened palaces.  

The ancient facades glowed in the moonlight. Once in a great while, a piano nobile would show signs of life, glowing like a beacon in a sleeping city. 

Windows thrown open to take in the late summer air allowed muffled conversation or music to waft over the water.  

These lit rooms granted us a glimpse of ceilings that groaned under the weight of sculpted plaster figures supporting vast, celestial paintings.  

I felt like the outsider’s outsider with my mouth

 agape and a suitcase at my feet.  

I looked up at these rooms illuminated by enormous chandeliers made centuries earlier in this very city. 

They didn’t sparkle like the crystal chandeliers of Paris—the Venetian chandeliers glimmered. 

They glimmered with a dim luster like the inky water that held us aloft as we floated into the heart of my dream city.  

~Matthew White 

from the book DREAM OF VENICE 

United States release date Dec. 5, 2014:  { $26. }

Intimate thoughts, memories, poems and stories of notable contributors from the world of art, literature, design, cuisine, music, and film making...

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...Woody Allen, Linus Roache, Julie Christie, Claire Bloom, James Conlon, Roger Crowley, Patrizia Gucci, Peggy Guggenheim, Dianne Hales, Marcella Hazan, Saxon Henry, David Hewson, Patricia Highsmith, Erica Jong, Paul Mazursky, Nicolas Roeq, Sylvia Sass, Giampaolo Seguso, Jessica Spiegel, Alberto Toso Fei, Susan Van Allen, Adam Van Doren, Matthew White and Hutton Wilkinson.  

Photography by Charles Christopher

Edited by JoAnn Locktov

Foreword by Frances Mayes

I was given the opportunity to preview this creative collaboration by JoAnn Locktov, a fellow Italophile with a special affinity for Venezia.  Described by her as a true "labor of love"  it is not only an ode to her beloved Venice, but a call to action —  supplication from the City of the Sea herself. 

Order DREAM OF VENICE - United States release date Dec. 5, 2014:  { $26. }

A portion of the proceeds from DREAM OF VENICE will be donated to Save Venice, Inc. to support vital art and architecture restorations in La Serenissima (the serene Republic of Venice.)

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Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita - Matera, Italy

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Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita  - It's easy to see why this tops the list of our recommended hotels.  The design was carried out to perfection...honoring the rustic history while adding luxurious modern day amenities.  The sensuous ambiance and spectacular location perched high above the ravine make it ideal for a romantic get-away, an inspiring yoga retreat or a fairy tale wedding, –be it an intimate ceremony for two or a grand affair encompassing the entire hotel.  

What makes a place special to us is that oft intangible quality - the "spirit of the place" - the synergistic result of just the right elements coming together in a most magical way...Le Grotte della Civita has this in abundance.

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{A summer update from LeAnn}

Alex and I have been busy with the usual and not-so-usual line-up of summer activities - 

Our family celebrated my sister's wedding just a few days ago. She and her long-time beau married the end of December and had a beautiful celebration this past weekend in Topanga Canyon.  The gorgeous blossoms above are just a small indication of what was an idyllic, romantic setting my sister put together.  I was given a couple of arrangements to take home hence the in-depth photo shoot that ensued. 

A few more shots (of many)

 - exceptionally lovely, aren't they?

Also on our agenda this summer were house guests and road trips and beach days as well as two trips to my childhood home to help my parents decide on and then install new flooring. 

At our house, we just installed a new shower flower.  We got a little creative with some flat landscape pebbles. 
(These you see are the result of several hours of us washing and sorting for color and size so be forewarned if you plan to give this a try!)

Our installer had no idea what he was in for (his boss having misunderstood our design plan), but he was soon on-board and by the time he was finished, very proud of the result.

This is the pebbles installed before grout...the sunlight coming through the window and skylight above enhancing the very zen quality of the concentric design.

Finished and in-use, the coloration blends well with our existing stone floors and the pebbles not only give the natural zen aesthetic we were looking for, they work perfectly to massage tired feet. 

Plans are still being discussed as to how exactly we are going to enclose our deck. (This has been ongoing for months.) When we renovated the kitchen and did new stone floors throughout the house, we continued the same stone floor and radiant heat onto the deck without any interruption in the height or pattern to visually expand the bedrooms and to capture more livable space we can use year-round.  

A few pics I've collected with various elements I hope to incorporate:

Simple windows...

 ...wall of windows and doors to garden...

...love these paneled bottom doors.

We've been tossing around several ideas with regards to the roof configuration...we want to add ceiling height and bring in as much light as possible but also want to keep the whole project as simple as possible...not wanting to take on major re-structuring of the whole back of the house.  (Wish us luck!)   Our architect is sending new drawings soon based on the last meeting we had with her (engineer) husband and we hope to begin work the end of September.  (Stay tuned for updates.)

Many of you have written asking questions about the various phases of our renovation and my former life as a designer.  I'm always happy to provide advice, ideas and sources.  If I can't get back to you individually, I will address oft-asked questions in a post or within the pages of our digital magazine...(much of our kitchen renovation featured in the next issue.)

Currently, Alex and my youngest sister Kim (an inspiring yoga instructor) are in Portland Oregon visiting friends and scouting out the city to see if Kim wants to make it her new home. 
 This is an image Alex sent me today:

Heart-shaped crema and hydrangeas -check and check.  

-Looks like their in-depth investigation is coming along fine.   

Before I finished writing this post, I received another iphone pic from Alex (see below.)  This is an area adjacent to the hospital where her friend is interning and she says the whole city of Portland is this way, - just a few steps from where you work or live you can be on trails like this, completely immersed in nature.  

This led me to look up a few stats:  I did not know that for over a century Portland has been known as the "City of Roses" with a climate ideal for the petaled beauties. Portland is also often referred to as the "Greenest City in America" having made green space planning a priority as early as 1905. Amazingly, with a population of over 588,000,  80% of Portlanders live within a 1/2 mile to a park and over 16% of Portland's city area is parkland. - (statistics via:  Portland, Oregon, Wikipedia)

In the works and almost ready for public consumption is the latest issue of our digital magazine. We've had many inquiries about advertising - please be aware that we do not take on traditional ads. We do, however, create features on products and businesses we love.  If you have a product or service you think meshes well with the l&l aesthetic and lifestyle, please send your proposal or questions here: linenandlavender@ {gmail.com}. We're happy to review your ideas and explain the opportunities we have available.

Coming up - a feature on a most amazing hotel we simply can't get enough of ...we'll reveal all in our next magazine.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful 

August with family and friends!

LeAnn

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NOTE: If you arrived here from Belgian Pearls, 

you may be looking for this image/post:    Simple Home Essentials

Where I went today...

...I started out in Montecito, California  visiting a Spanish Colonial home by Architect Thomas Bollay...

...with authentic detailed tiling and old wrought iron doors salvaged from the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel...

...and a charming outdoor living space complete with the ambiance of a wood-burning fireplace.

Next, I was off to Europe and found myself looking down from the bell tower in St. Mark's Square admiring the Byzantine architectural features of "Chiesa d'Oro"  also known as Saint Mark's Basilica.

I'm not sure how I ended up here, but running across this impressive guy reminded me there was an article on horoscopes I'd been emailed from ArchetypeMe  introducing "Archescopes"– (combining your astrological forecast with your archetypes.)

If you think this sort of thing is fun too, follow the ArchetypeMe link to take a quick quiz to learn your top three archetypes, then go to the Archescopes page for a chart showing alignments between your sun sign and each archetype.  To delve deeper into all the archetypes that influence your life, read Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss.  Then, learn about your friends and family's archetypes with the board game Identity Pursuit, inspired by Caroline Myss'  work.  

From there, I somehow found myself back in Italy.  This time, somewhere over Tuscany...ahh my home away from home.

Suddenly I had arrived at this portal.  Where am I?  What is the inscription above the door?  I never did find any answers (write me if you know, will you?), but my quest... 

...somehow led me to a kitchen located in Le Château de Montgeoffroy...

A beautiful place located in the Loire Valley...

with all the traditional trappings you would expect of a grand château in this region.

...towers and turrets and such...

...These beautiful creatures reminded me I had "wildlife"photography of my own to edit and so I returned to my workspace for awhile...

...and prepped a couple of images to share on l&l at home including this one of our comical resident squirrel enjoying a snack.  

It wasn't long before I had the urge to travel again and within a few seconds, I had been transported to somewhere in the deserts of Egypt...

Scouting about, I learned it is the White Desert and while there, I came across someone who has experienced this other-wordly landscape first-hand, even camping out under the stars there. {visit Egypt Sites here}

Then my phone rang and I was brought back home again.  Our architect friend next door was calling about our deck enclosure soon to be conservatory / sunroom / orangerie.  

We've considered wood doors (something like the above) but haven't ruled out iron and glass doors like we did in our kitchen:

A few phone calls and emails later and I was headed back out - to France again...   

...this time to the picturesque village of Saint Cirq Lapopie, but rather than touring by foot, I took to the air for a bird's eye view:

{Piano solo "Petite Valse" by Domenico Curcio}

I spent quite some time lost in several of the most

{beautiful villages} of France, but eventually made my way

 back to Italy...

...and discovered the Sanctuary Madonna della Coronna in Veneto.  The sanctuary is built into the vertical rock face of Monte Baldo,  (it's a 400 meter drop to the valley below.)

Can you imagine this being your trek home?

Speaking of home, I realized it was almost time for dinner.

On my way back, I stopped over to tour the eerie ruins of Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire England. 

(It's easy to see why it inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, isn't it?)

...and finally home, I headed out to our garden and kicked off my shoes to reflect on my day of sightseeing.

What a wonderful world we live in where we can connect in mere seconds with people of other cultures and lifestyles, and gain inspiration from the four corners of the globe.  

I love to travel and take in the sights, sounds and smells firsthand, but how fortunate we are to be able to explore the world from the comfort of our own home anytime we wish!
  

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