Beautiful interiors from Bungalow Staging and Design

I have to keep this on brief, but these images speak for themselves anyway - quiet, serene, and pretty - they offer some calm on a hectic day. Visit the site Bungalow Home Staging for more, and check out co-founder Megan Arquette's blog, Beach Bungalow 8.

A facelift for your mirror - and a discount code for you!

I was introduced to MirrorMate a few weeks ago, and I found their idea to be really creative - and hopefully inspiring to all of you. Pretty much, MirrorMate is a frame that more or less adheres to your mirror. Considering most homes come with plain mirrors in the bathrooms, a frame is a great way to style them up a bit.

Many styles/colors are available, and I was impressed by the quality of the samples. Most were solid wood, and some MDF. The company is also eco-aware which is always a plus with me.

They also generously provided me with a 15% off coupon for you guys! Use the code DECOR15 (good through Dec. 31st, 2009) Go to their site, MirrorMate.com, to take a look!








Three step instructions:



Has anyone else come up with any cool ideas to dress up a blah mirror?

Relaxed, beautiful homes by photographer Laura Resen

After being in Alaska for a week, I was ready to go home - even if it meant 14 hours of flights and layovers. These gorgeous photos by Laura Resen conjure up the warm feeling I get when I've been on the road too long and thinking of home...















This would be a cheap and easy way to decorate -- some stones found outside, some wildflowers from the yard, some glass vessels around the house...



What an awesome archive


All images property of Laura Resen

Guarding the Phlox

Deer eat phlox and rabbits eat phlox. However, I'm determined to grow my favorite perennial phlox paniculata varieties for summer blooms.

To keep the deer away, I grow all of the garden phlox inside the cottage garden fence. The rabbits fit under the fence. Since planting a few new varieties this year, I've had to spray an organic repellent on the tender young phlox.

The tall garden phlox that I grow:

unknown	warm salmon pink; 2-4 feet; zones 4-8
Robert Poore	deep pink; 2-4 feet; zones 4-8
David	white; 2-4 feet; zones 4-8
Nicky	rich purple; 3-4 feet; zones 4-8

Since the salmon pink doesn't work well with the deep pink that I favor, this phlox is mixed with the blue flowers of hardy geranium 'Brookside' and platycoden. At her feet, is heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies' a perennial ground cover with blue-lavender blooms. This year, some of the blooms appearing from this plant have reverted to a deep pink-purple. I'm going to mark these stems with floral tape so that I can divide and move them this fall.

Phlox 'Robert Poore' is an outstanding performer that bloomed from late June until early autumn last year. The deep lavender blooms work well with purple foliage plants such as heuchera 'Palace Purple'. I also use a mass planting of 'Robert' in front of the stone chimney behind a semi-circle of Indian Hawthorne evergreen shrubs.

This spring, I added phlox 'David' beside the Knock Out® Roses 'Radrazz'. The rabbits found the new, tender perennial and ate the top off. That's when I started spraying the phlox with I MUST GARDEN Rabbit Repellent every two weeks. The white phlox is shorter due to the pruning and has just started to bloom. I have also planted geranium 'Rozanne', annual ageratum and petunias in purple at the feet of the 'David' phlox. The geranium has to be protected from rabbits, too.

Another new addition is phlox 'Nicky' that is a very rich, deep purple. This was an impulse buy, so 'Nicky' is currently being tried out with the yellow border as it advances into the hot summer. However, I think 'Nicky' is a bit too red for the yellow border, so I will transplant the six young plants to the large cottage garden bed that includes purple coneflowers, raspberry monarda, purple agastache, salvia guarantica and salvia greggii.

Phlox grows in full sun and should be watered regularly at the base of the plant and needs good air circulation to prevent powdery mildew. Phlox provides huge blooms for the summer garden and attracts bees and butterflies. With so many colors to choose from, it's a great perennial for the garden!


Story and photos by Freda Cameron

Can You Have Too Many Flowers?

I was planting yet another wheelbarrow full of flowers. I do that a lot. A person passing by drove down the long driveway to chat with me. She jumped out of her car and exclaimed... you have too many flowers!

What went through my head, although I didn't say it out loud was... Really? Isn't that like saying that the sky is too blue?

And so it goes with those of us who dare to garden out front, in the open for all to see!

We live on 4.5 acres of land in a rural setting. Still, we are in a neighborhood and have to abide by covenants. If I could plant it up, the two acre grass meadow out front would also be filled with flowers. But, the grass must remain and it must be kept mowed per our rules.

The south-facing exposure of the front is great for full sun flowers, but during the summer and times of drought, it can be a harsh environment.

We have no backyard space for gardening. Our wooded area of 2.5 acres comes right up to our back deck. We built the house in 2005, so all the garden areas are young. There's still much tweaking to be done.

Sharing land with wildlife is part of the gardening equation. I've learned to garden with the deer. Everything outside our cottage garden fence has to be deer resistant. There's too much garden to use repellents, so I select accordingly.

I keep the birds and butterflies in mind, too. With both a NWF Backyard Habitat and a Monarch Waystation certification, all of the gardens include nectar, host and habitat plantings.

In addition to the front gardens, the butterfly garden wraps around the east side of the house. There is also a waterfall garden with a patio, as well as a fragrance garden with a dining patio, on the east side. Nothing has been done on the west side of the house, other than a few shrubs and perennials to soften the guest parking area. A dry stream garden was also built there to manage the runoff from the meadow and downspouts.

Inside the cottage garden fence, I grow full sun plants that I love, without concern for the deer. However, I've come to prefer the deer resistant perennials of agastache, salvia and monarda. I recently pulled out shrubs and added a mass planting of those right in front of our porch.

Too many flowers? After the spring and early summer rush of weeding, planting and gardening, I start to feel like I have too many flowers for one person to manage. But, as for how it looks... I still have a very long wish list of more flowers for the front gardens!



Story and photos by Freda Cameron for Gardening Gone Wild Design Workshop; June 2009