Small Water Features for DIY Projects

Vintage celadon vessel makes perfect table-top water feature!

Large vessels make focal points for fountain features. Large containers or bored stone boulders are perfect sculptural elements for the glistening appearance of running water, the gentle sounds and refreshing effects. While we have had great fun creating dramatic site installations for outdoor living scenes, we realize that there is great merit in the smaller versions that DIY buffs can create for their interiors or patios.
First, find an interesting container. I found a pair that are footed and are dolphin figures to boot – what luck!! This celadon glazed ceramic has a nice diameter of about 12” and is raised up by its three dolphin figurine feet. It’s a perfect aquamarine theme for this table-top water feature.
Select your container and then gather things that you enjoy. You might already have pieces of glass, tokens, stones, shells, coral, miniature figurines…use what you have or collect more for this specific use.
Get a small pump at the local home-improvement store or hardware store. This should be relative to the size of your container. This one is a little smaller than my fist. The cord will drape out of the container, up over the rim and behind the fountain to plug into your electrical source. This will conceal adequately if you place your fountain on a surface that backs up to a wall where the electrical outlet is located.
Arrange your collectibles on and around the pump to conceal it from view placing the more interesting pieces at the surface.
I use distilled water to insure no residue from harsh mineral that might be present in your tap water. Fill the container to the appropriate level. It will cover much of your collectibles in the bowl. Here I have used a couple of vertical slices of local travertine to add height, texture, color and interest. Once your first turn on the pump – or plug it in as this one does (no switch), you will be pleased at the calming, refreshing results.
Send photos of your finished products!!!!!

Shown here…Nestled into the landscape, this brilliant blue glazed fountain with interesting textured exterior is tall and splendid amidst the greenery as its water recirculates and flows into a bed of stones.

Posted On June 11, 2013 By pattisays In art and interior design, art as gift ideas, design, design trends, DIY design, exterior - outdoor design, interior design, landscape design, recycle design /

Tangerine Dreams – a Fresh Design Scheme for Inside and Out!

Inspiration is often a pleasant surprise. It happens with a spark that ignites a theme and the project evolves. In a very dramatic transformation of a simple yet dated living room, we skinned two walls with stacked white stone. The slivers of horizontal texture brought a clean-lined organic feel to the space. Existing sage green carpeting was a cool contrast against the clean bleached stone – we also painted the walls white to mimic the tones in the stone. The perfect punctuation in this sage and white scheme became the fresh pop of orange. Call it melon or coral our color is that somewhat rosy version to slightly soften the contrast. See more of this project at PATRICIAN DESIGN http://bit.ly/YQCyrE

Roll the footage along over the course of this last year and the finished product receives rave reviews. We are encouraged to take the scheme outdoors and continue this project now called Tangerine Dreams. Once outside the orange can be released to express brighter versions melding the coral tones with other shades more bold and brilliant.

Existing white patio furniture provided an open invitation to continue the thread of white that was introduced inside with the white stone wall. Making things look intentional and incorporating existing elements is a cost-effective approach. But the trick is not to let it appear as though the scheme was sacrificed for savings.

So with the lush green foliage of the desert’s semi-tropic offerings that were already mature in this landscaped yard – all we needed was to introduce floribunda of orange to carry through with the tangerine themed color scheme. We planned and prepared, planted and potted for the perfect patio party! Pillows, placements and pottery also brought orange tones sprinkled throughout the design.

A new water feature will replace a lemon tree lost in the last freeze. A brilliant orange trumpet bush will nestle against the towering ceramic urn of luminous green tones where cascading water will re-circulate from beneath the stone bed.

See more photos of this project in our facebook album at http://on.fb.me/13TVGUm and watch for future posts as the plantings mature and the work continues.

Posted On May 13, 2013 By pattisays In art and interior design, color and temperature re: interior design, context of interior design, design, design trends, exterior - outdoor design, interior design, landscape design, lighting /

NYT article on Outdoor Living

Here’s a great article on outdoor furniture and the expansion of actually living outdoors. The practical thoughts on the subject, historical references to designers and their style influencing the scene as well as consumers influencing the designers and the marketplace provide a fascinating commentary on seasonal living parameters. It’s not just a trend – its a true morph of people’s habits and lifestyles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/garden/outdoor-furniture-with-an-indoor-sensibility.html?_r=2&ref=gar

Thank you Julie Lasky for compiling this interesting information about an important subject in exterior/interior design. You have given it some “tooth.”

Posted On July 8, 2012 By pattisays In exterior - outdoor design, landscape design / 1 Comment

Design a Brunch – Alfresco Dining

Brunch to me used to mean “blow the day.” I have always viewed brunches as over-eating buffets that require the balance of the day to recover. However, I am renewed with a fresh approach to brunch to start the day, gather with friends and celebrate, in this season, the pleasure of dining outside.

Fresh lavender and mint – both out of the garden. In the winter we long for the days when we can go outside and enjoy the warm weather and gather growing things to eat and adorn our tables. I love fresh mint – refreshing to chew – I like parsley too – everyone teases me when I eat everything right down to the garnishes! Dining outside is another one of those examples of expanding your living space in the summer months. Even if you have a tiny balcony – setting up a table with your morning coffee or a glass of juice is so relaxing and feels like a mini escape. Even if you don’t have a balcony – moving a small table to a space beside a window that you can open will provide a sense of that connection to outside that we miss for so many chilly months that force us to be encapsulated indoors.

In this photo you can see the lavender in full bloom in the background. The mint grows invasively along the side of our house. The luminous blue glasses, indigo placemats, large chartreuse chargers used as the individual serving plates punctuated with hot pink napkins dressed-up in silver napkins rings speak of all the colors blooming in the surrounding gardens. Local NM Gruet bubbly with fresh squeezed orange juice in these lovely little vintage cut glass stems, fresh seasonal berries, slivered almonds, fresh quail eggs raised by a friend…hard-boiled little delicacies laced with a light curry-cream sauce, plump sizzling brats just grilled, fresh asparagus roasted crisply, English peas, ripe tomatoes topped with a fried egg…a lovely way to start the day.

Posted On July 7, 2012 By pattisays In DIY design, exterior - outdoor design, food and interior design, seasonal interior design, table dressings / 3 Comments

Plastic Infringing on Tradition – and The Lorax!

Stacked in colorful layers on the sidewalk – an inviting statement of approaching spring – I came upon a brilliant inventory of plastic stacking Adirondack’s chairs! These classic designs in plastic rather than the traditional wood – although often painted brightly – will withstand the elements without decay and due to their light-weight, can be moved about for changes in placement around the yard and stacked for convenient storage! Sizes for children and adults – fun for all ages!

This display happened to be at an ACE hardware store in Goodyear, Arizona – but they’re out there all over the market for anyone inspired enough to want them! Funny how some plastic renditions of the real thing are quite acceptable – in a certain setting. Then today we watched the newly released movie, Lorax – the Dr. Seuss story about a place without trees – all the would-be growing things were artificial – inflatable plastic, metal, or other materials and yet, there was one young person (Taylor Swift) who wanted the real thing, and one older person (Betty White) who remembered the real thing. Lorax – nature’s protector, Dannie DeVito is defeated by progress but revitalized by peoples’ appreciation for what they have lost and stand to regain by restoring the natural world. Then Zac Efron is the kid who saves the day for all! And I thought about the colorful plastic Adirondack’s chairs and I pondered…

We dash and dart between the allegiance to natural, organic, and original things in our world and then celebrate the man-made polyester, acrylic and modern versions of so many. And so it shall be – in balance. We are destined to invent experiment and explore new things – while maintaining an awareness of what impact change might have. Yes, destined – because it is incumbent upon us to be aware – but not manipulative.

Global warming – maybe, maybe not…maybe for reasons not popularly explained – maybe for reasons of cyclical patterns of nature – maybe man-made…but we all must be sensitive to our impact on the state of our immediate environment (“toss no mas” and pick –up litter even if it is not your own) and cumulative effect on our planet over-all. There is a humorous but poignant “green” commentary circulating on the internet about how “back-in-the-day” they didn’t know about “green” but they received milk delivered by a milkman in a glass bottle which was returned for refills, drank from water fountains, taps and wells without using individual plastic bottles…it goes on…and the point is that we are embracing this GREEN initiative and rightly so – but are too self-important to recognize that much of what we are doing is just plain wasteful and NOT necessary and that the things that we romance as better are often not. Try sitting in a room with “green” linoleum surfaces and keep from passing out from the off-gasses – seriously.

But I liked the colorful plastic stacking Adirondack chairs – but would LOVE a wabi-sabi wooden version of that chair with or without layers of paint that had withstood the elements and brought joy, absorbed character and communicated silently the history that it had shared from years of affectionate use…

Oh progress! – when to embrace it with its colorful whimsy and ease of maintenance and when to sit back in a well-worn comfy chair and reflect…

Posted On March 5, 2012 By pattisays In environmental, exterior - outdoor design, furniture finds, green design, recycle design, seasonal interior design / 1 Comment

Simple Ornaments Make Signature Style Design Statements

We are greeted by a Caribbean Christmas season in the tropics! This is how one McDonald’s decorates for the holidays – their signature Happy Meal boxes dangle from a palm tree! What better ornaments than these happy red boxes – a brilliant contrast of eye-catching red marketing material and the fresh green of nature. Environmentally visual – those little cardboard art pieces dance in the breeze.
During the summer months, we created a play area beneath our large blue spruce tree. The low branches provided an eye-level decoration area just the right height for the smaller kids. So we drew images and colored them with crayons and cut them out and laminated them between two pieces of waxed paper – like you would when pressing fall leaves in autumn. We then punched a hole in each and tied them to the branches with a loop of ribbon. They created a lively, colorful personalization art exhibit in this secret hiding place and defied the weather there in the protection of the big tree for a remarkably long time.
We have wild gourds in our area of the high desert in New Mexico. They are nearly perfectly round and about the size of tennis balls. After the magnificent white blossoms have passed, the new gourds each harvest season are hard and fresh, but the previous years’ forgotten fruit nestled amidst vines are in varying stages of drying out. These dehydrated orbs are perfect for painting, decoupage, or applying decorative embellishment. I preferred to paint a simple red poinsettia on them –using fast-drying and easy clean-up acrylic paint – leaving the background color of the natural gourd exposed and then glossing them with gel gloss medium. Drill a hole in the top and glue in an eye screw and Voila! The finished ornament weights practically nothing and is quite durable. I’ve even used a hair pin – not a bobbie pin, but the old zigzaggy hair pins that when squeezed together and forced down into the drilled hole spring back with just enough tension and held by the zigzag of the metal make an even easier hanging mechanism! An ornament hook or a ribbon and you’re ready to hang!
What creative homemade ornaments might YOU create as your signature style?

Posted On December 5, 2011 By pattisays In art as gift ideas, DIY design, exterior - outdoor design, seasonal interior design, travel and design /

Screaming With Quiet Talent, Susan Geissler Makes Her Mark

Geissler’s studio is front row seat on Main Street for Fireman’s Field Day parade Youngstown, NY

Freedom Crossing, Lewiston, New York

Susan Geissler with miniatures in her studio Youngstown, NY

To come upon a screamingly talented yet humble artist in a quiet storefront studio on Main Street in the sleepy western frontier village of Youngstown, New York is a contextual experience that dazzles the senses. The town has one flashing stop light. The emerald green Niagara river flows parallel to the Main Street and spills powerfully, yet quietly into the blue expanse of the great Lake Ontario . Surrounding farms offer fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the season while fishermen venture forth and sailors race across the waters between Canada and the United States sharing this joy of the fresh water sports. Steeped in history, this area marks significant battles between British, French and American troops trading occupancy over the land for ages.
Susan Geissler is a local artist and her outstanding larger than life sculptures have entertained, provoked and educated her public all across America far from this quiet rural pocket of western New York. Proud, loud can can dancers that have been commissioned to travel aboard cruise ships to teachers reading patiently to students atop colorful alphabet blocks, Geissler captivates her audience.
She’s funny and self-effacing – brilliantly talented and sensitive. She sees amazingly intimate detail in anything that she selects to depict. Water turtles balancing on logs, carp swimming with nymphs, cheetahs lanky and elegant bodies stalking, butlers at your service, sunbathers reclining in camaraderie, her subjects are as real and varied as her imagination and real life can provide.
We strolled along the waterfront park in Lewiston just up the road to the very compelling Freedom Crossing Monument Installation. The intention was to “honor and pay tribute to the enslaved, who against all odds, sought a new life of freedom, and to the local volunteers who protected and helped them on their journey.” A bit larger than life, this action scene filled with desperate emotion captures the plight of escaping slaves on their way to freedom via the underground.
In addition to honor and pay tribute, this important sculpture is intended to “highlight and celebrate the historical importance of the Niagara River as a gateway to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Once fugitive slaves crossed the river, they were free forever.” This multi figure passionate study of a scene depicting “ the moment in time when fugitive slaves saw Canada for the first time after traveling hundreds of treacherous miles, avoiding slave catchers who were paid to capture and return them to the South.”
The Historical Society of Lewiston, New York continues to describe “handing the baby to the fugitive mother is Josiah Tryon (1798-1886), Lewiston’s volunteer “station master” for the Underground Railroad. A man of simple means, Tryon was quiet, humble and religious. By secretly escorting the slaves to freedom in his rowboat under the cover of darkness, he gave them hope and became a champion of justice and equality. He truly had a rainbow heart, embracing people of all colors and creeds.”
“With her outstretched arm pointing to Canada, Laura Eastman is the iconic heroine in the historical fiction book, “Freedom Crossing”. Laura has become the symbol of the triumph of the human spirit over oppression.”
From that historic and incredibly important portrayal of a time in history to the sculpture of long-haired, muscular Friesian (also Frisian) horses quietly grazing in a pasture just minutes from her studio, Geissler loves her subjects. She knows her subjects and she feels what they might be feeling to the best of her ability to do so.
Never been to Niagara Falls? Take a trip and make your way another 25 minutes along the river to Youngstown and the Old Fort Niagara. On your way, stop along the short stretch of Main Street and have a latte, maybe a grilled cheese sandwich, a beer and an ice cream cone on the corner and see the art in the window at Susan Geissler’s magical studio and if you’re fortunate and she’s there – you’ll meet an extraordinary individual who will welcome you with modest enthusiasm and quietly express her limitless talents and present fascinatingly animated subjects to dazzle your senses!

Posted On September 29, 2011 By pattisays In art and interior design, art as gift ideas, environmental, environmental design, exterior - outdoor design /

Whacky WATER PARTY BALL fun at the NM State Fair!!!

This ingenious creation – so much fun to watch – must be crazy to participate! Although the weight limit is 200lbs, we did not see any adults partake while we watched the kids go wild!! Splashing water from the shallow pool scattered with clear plastic orbs inside of each are kids of all ages rolling and running like hamsters on a wheel! Some will lunge at the walls inside of these giant bubbles thrusting themselves against the side and instantly rolling down to the bottom…while others relax and float amidst the insanity around them. It’s like running on water! Standing is a trick, challenging the most balanced of ballerinas. You can hear the squeals and laughter coming from both the kids and the on-lookers! It was incredible entertainment for all. And the time allotted is quite generous – great value for your Fair dollar!
Aside from the energized activity of it all, it reminded me of Chihuly’s colorful glass orbs floating gracefully in the reflecting pool at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens during a magnificent site exhibit a couple of years ago. So to the designers of this refreshingly fabulous feature at the Fair – touché! It should be the best backyard birthday party favorite for adults and kids alike!

Posted On September 20, 2011 By pattisays In design, design trends, exterior - outdoor design /

Oil Cloth and Lots of Color!

Table dressings priced right with plenty of color

Oil cloth – that vinylized – coated fabric with the brilliant colors – 50ish in nature, it is still available in running yardage! Yes – you can still buy it by the bolt, use it for upholstery, cut and hem the edges for placemats, use pinking shears for a no-sew solution to table toppers, etc…Here we have a festive table setting where the gerbera daisies pop with happy faces from their squat water vessels.
What once was a decidedly lower economic material – is now the fabric of choice for those folk-art, camp, tablescapes! Choose your favorite – will it be cherries or branches of apples, bouquets of flowers or spilled baskets of mixed fruit? Everyone of them will be bursting with fresh, crisp, bold color and opportunities for coordination with you flowers, plates, napkins and the entire scheme of the party!
So dash down to your local fabric store and inquire about these fabulous oilcloth treasures! Have your own fiesta!!!

Posted On August 16, 2011 By pattisays In DIY design, exterior - outdoor design, seasonal interior design, table dressings /

Soak in the Pure Pleasure of Nature’s Spa

When parts of the country are suffering record heat and staggering humidity, we out here in the desert southwest wonder what it would feel like to be washed with fresh rainwater rinsing everything everywhere and satiating all the parched plants and surfaces so badly in need of hydration.
Tonight we had a gully-washer by most standards…the thunder and lightning were an exhilarating sensory symphony while the rain pelted an acoustical beat against all that it hit from rooftop to skylights, car hoods to pavements. We drove upward – east toward the majestic Sandias like salmon upstream against the river’s current – in this case, rain rushing from the higher elevations down toward the mighty (we hope tonight) Rio Grande valley. Here is a shot at 2nd and Osuna as the lighting pierced the sky behind the traffic lights – quite the spectacular pyrotechnic scene – courtesy of man and Mother Nature. Looks like a color scheme of dark chocolate, amber and turquoise/greens with a purple punctuation…from where does interior design inspiration arise? Then know that the windows were cracked just enough to get that intoxicating smell of the elements and rain!
It was a beautiful natural saturation of the environment and tomorrow all will burst forth with renewed growth and promise as a result of this most welcome cleansing and thirst-quenching downpour. In fact…listen to the quiet night after the rain has passed and hear the tiny frogs that come forth from the moisture that permeates their hiding places and brings them to life with their chorus of happy chirping sounds.
Rather than hiding from it and skirting between the drops – why not stand smack dab in the middle of the rain and soak in the pure pleasure of nature’s spa?
The art and song of the desert during and after a good rain. Take a deep breath!

Posted On July 24, 2011 By pattisays In environmental design, exterior - outdoor design, green design, Uncategorized /

exterior – outdoor design