Photos Ideas, Tips & Guides

Floral prints are everywhere this summer, much to interior designers' delight.

Ever since my grandpa passed away this past May, my family has been processing our grief by sharing stories and wiping the dust off the many photo albums piled up in my grandparents’ garage. At one point, their dining room table was completely covered in photos dating all the way back to the 1930s. Most of them had multiple copies, too, and when we talked about how to best preserve and store them, I immediately thought of Amanda Titchenal, the organizing pro behind full-service organizing firm Well Organized.

Happy Friday GPODers, and welcome to our second installment of GPOD Vignettes! In case you missed it, check out our first installment of this series here: GPOD Vignette #1.

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Gardeners just getting into garlic have some decisions to make: there are dozens of different varieties, and choosing which one to grow can be difficult. But it’s hard to go wrong. Experimenting with various varieties can lead to a new appreciation of a crop you already love.

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Hey GPODers! Today we’re getting a summertime update from Lee Miller’s garden in Long Island (check out her first submission: Long Island Garden Tour). She sent over lots of photos and great information, so I’ll let her take it away:

“Then followed that beautiful season…Summer…Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light.”

Happy Monday GPODers!

Magnolia Network

If you love rustic or country home decor but are living in more of a modern space, there's no need to alter your aesthetic entirely. It's more than possible to artfully fuse these two styles in a way that looks cohesive and sophisticated rather than random.

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Your dorm should be your home away from home, but it can be hard to imagine that when stepping into the empty space for the first time.

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Hi GPODers! Today we’re off to Wisconsin to get an update from Anna Tsai’s garden (you can check out earlier posts of Anna’s garden here: 21 Years of Hard Gardening Work Pay Off, Anna’s Wisconsin Paradise, and Anna’s Wisconsin Garden). Despite dealing with the harsh winters in Wisconsin, Anna is able to create timeless garden beauty with a multitude of fabulous flowers.

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~May Sarton~

Many interior designers are all about shopping secondhand when it comes to sourcing furniture and decor for their client projects.

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If you've always been curious about secondhand shopping and are wondering how to make the most of your first trip to the thrift store, keep reading.

There’s no shortage of reasons to thrift home decor. In addition to being more sustainable, shopping secondhand is typically more cost-effective than shopping new. 

“Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals.” ~Aldo Leopold~

Hi GPODers! Imagine never having to pack up and leave the lake house after summer vacation is over. Today we’re in the garden of Peter and Geri Riendeau, who made that dream a reality. However, after finally settling into their retirement dream home they built on a beautiful lake in southern Maine, they were still hard at work. They spent nearly a decade creating the dream garden to match this slice of paradise.

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Hi GPODers! While most gardens could certainly be described as “special” this space gives that adjective even more meaning. Today we’re looking at the memorial garden that John Svinos created for his late father in New Jersey:

Hey GPODers! If you’re savvy on social media and your IG feed is full of gardens that make you say, “How do they possibly do it??” You might recognize today’s submitter, Valerie or @cottageandblossom. Today we’re looking at her enviable greenhouse and gorgeous cutting garden:

Hi GPODers! Today we’ve got an incredible garden story from a frequent GPOD contributor that is a demonstration of how magically small our big world can be. Bas Suharto has previously shown off gardens he has designed and built (check out some of those submissions: Building a Garden With Bas and Building a Japanese-Inspired Garden) as well as his own incredible home gardens (Parterre Garden in Ottawa and A Japanese-Style Garden in Ottawa). But the garden in this most recent submission caught Bas’ eye long before he was asked to lend a helping hand the space.

I was planning on taking the contents of whatever vase I created to Julie, whose Pilates class I have been attending for 12 years but who is stepping down as of today; however, she is poorly and unable to take the class so I will arrange to see her with a fresh bunch when she is well enough to mix with people again. I shall miss her weekly classes, but have always enjoyed those taken by her replacement, who has covered for illness and holidays and teaches a slightly different style, so all is not lost.

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Selecting the best exterior paint color for your personal sense of style, neighborhood, natural surroundings, and landscaping setup can feel overwhelming— and picking the color you will be painting your entire house in is a big commitment.

“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.” ~Sigmund Freud~

First impressions matter, and that's why having a welcoming, well-designed landscape is a priority for many homeowners. But, trying to keep up with extravagant setups and perfectly manicured lawns can feel impossible, both in terms of time and money.

Happy Friday GPODers! We’re on the road again, this time seeing a slice of an expansive botanic garden in Texas with Frances Watson.

Home renovations are a big undertaking. Not only are they a lot of sweat, blood, and tears, but they can cost a pretty penny too. Therefore, it's important to choose renovations that will provide maximum returns.

There are two types of people in this world: those who prefer a simple pillow arrangement with just a few sleeping pillows and those who like to dress up their beds with decorative pillows. 

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