Chic Camping, Cabanas, Outdoors-y Living Styles




Darling, Please Put Up The Tibetan Tent

The Tibetan Tent And Mount Everest - Sandy Hill has been climbing since she was a teenager, and with her Everest ascent she became only the second American woman to have climbed the Seven Summits.


In Chris Casson Madden's book,  "A Room Of Her Own," Sandy Hill is profiled for her tent private sanctuary and her accomplishments.

Sandy Hill is a former cable television executive, contributing editor at Vogue, and uses her Tibetan tent located on her Connecticut home property to unwind and work. For more info on her climbing accomplishments, click here.




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article, including Bonus Recipe, Grilled Pineapple With Brown Sugar
Rum Sauce

How To Do French Style: Homes, Gardens, Living, Beautifully




The French have a way of doing things that is just about perfect and is seldom pretentious.



France is a tradition, a romance,  a style. Some more formal and others less so, but style is always present. Let me dish on how France celebrates this abundance.

As shown at left, even today on the streets of Paris, one still observes the prototypical Frenchmen wearing
their berets, bicycling along and carrying baguettes under their arms.

And even today the Frenchwomen go about their business - wearing their everyday scarves - tied ever-so chic.  (Serious style tip.)

These small things are part of the art of daily living, in France.




Click Here to continue reading article and to see Bonus Recipe Chicken Fricassee With Tarragon

Decorating My Loft In Rockford, IL



My lovely loft was located in the William Brown Building, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, states about what is one of the last remaining commercial buildings of significant Romanesque Revival architectural style in Rockford, Illinois:


". . . with the recent rehabilitation
of its first story storefronts, the
building has excellent integrity,
particularly in its exterior detailing
and design . . ."  

I moved into this old bank building (built in 1891-92) which now hosted 30 loft-style apartments and a first floor anchored by commercial/retail space.

Those apartments, with their high reaching 11' tall walls overlooked Rock River. (I was on the fifth floor.)  My kitchen pantry was a huge, old bank vault. Is that cool or what! I found it extraordinary.





Here are photos and narrative about the decorating of my loft (you gotta' get you one!)




Whether it is working with a design client or whether I'm designing my own home, I am looking to create a surround of collections that reflect memories - or - of items that are cherished, items of interest or even that can be of interest. I have decorated using the things that I have, things that I love, integrating them into this incredible space.



Click here to continue reading article and for bonus recipe, Brown Sugar Grilled Peaches.