In America, most people I know have lawns with a few trees and maybe some landscaping around the perimeter of the house with some shrubs and plants.

In England, I've been to many friends and neighborhoods gardens and it is an entirely different affair. Even though every garden that I’ve seen is probably a fraction of a size of a typical American lawn or backyard, they are intricate spaces, bursting with plants, flowers, small corners to seat, ponds and statues.

We have a garden that is about 40 X 20 feet, which is probably typical of many terraced homes in London. As much as I would like to just throw some grass on it, some time ago I realized that it’s not all that practical for two reason: 1) it probably would end up looking like a long hideous landing strip and 2) I have no lawn mower and even if I had a lawn mower, I would literally have no place to keep it.

I've been looking at London gardens today and decided that I am probably going to need someone to help me figure out what to do because even if I find some plants or flowers that I like, I have no idea if they will be happy where I put them.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the year, I'll be stuck with building construction mud but it does give me time to come up with a plan. For now, I can only pull together pictures of designs I like and so far, I think the garden below by Charlotte Rowe is my favourite.

It's formal and controlled with beautiful sandstone paving with Scottish pebbles, three little olive trees and a calming white, blue and pink palette.








I thought these two below were also pretty good representatives of some of the gardens I've seen. Notice the grass and non-grass variety. I don’t know all that much about gardening but probably the most important thing I’ve learned so far is to never call someone's garden, a backyard.

First, take a perfectly good kitchen...



And make it look like this... The window just might be the only thing you can recognize from the first picture.




Then, bash the heck of the garden and throw out the bath tub.




Just kidding, that is a fish pond. The previous owners had three of them in our garden and I didn't like them so they had to go.


Now, I can only spend time here...



Because practically everywhere else look like this...






But maybe, just maybe someday it might look like this...

Since living in London, I have developed an appreciation for French interiors. I found a paint color from Brissi called Parisian Grey and have just ordered this chair for my guest bedroom.

I love the symmetry, structure and balance of topiaries and they are absolutely everywhere in London.

When Interior Designers Alison Jackson and Tricia Tallon found it difficult to find dining room chairs, they decided to create their own company and The Dining Chair Company was born.

They have a large selection of both traditional and contemporary styles and you can can also choose from a selection of upholstery fabrics. If you want to take a closer look at their stuff, they have a showroom near Sloan Square.

Some of my favorites are below:


Look, my chance to own a little piece of Helen Green Designs with this chair she created for The Dining Room Company







Photo Credit: The Dining Chair Company

When you can have a pretty wreath on your door all year?







You can find these beauties at Williams Sonoma.

Here's an adorable idea for Easter breakfast. Try hanging colored eggs from your dining room chandelier with some colorful ribbons. I think I would probably drain the eggs of yolk and not use hard boiled eggs so it doesn't get to heavy!

Photo Credit: Yvestown via Flickr

I was walking along the King's Road in Chelsea when I spotted this gigantic capiz chandelier in Graham and Green.

Normally, I wouldn't like something like this but I've seen several pictures where capiz/shell chandeliers are integrated really well into traditional interiors. It sort of becomes a traditional interior with a modern flair. Beautiful!

BEFORE


At the beginning of the year, I said that I wanted to have the top 2 floors of my house redecoated. We are by no means even close to being finished but I thought I would update you on our progress.

This is one of the bedrooms on the top floor of our house, but we will be moving up here while work continues in other areas of our home. The ceilings are only just over 7 feet tall so I wanted to do everthing I could think of to give the room more height.



One of the previous owners decided to put shiny tiles around the fireplace insert.



Sadly, I see this look far too often. Please people, stop hanging lamp shades from the ceiling.

In Progress



Items that make up this room include:

Bedside tables from Heals. These were not my first choice, but my husband thought that my choice didn't have enough storage room so there you go. Who says I won't compromise?!

Class Spheres Lamp Bases and Gemma Shades in Oyster.

Dupioni Silk Drapes in Brownstone from Pottery Barn.



Items that make up this room also include:

Silver plated Bamboo Clock and Silver Tray, also from Pottery Barn.

Sliver Plated Julep Cup from Jamali Garden

Belmonte Cushion in Dark Lilac

Alberta Cushion in Pebble

Como Cushion in Pale Rose, All from The White Company

Most likely, I will reposition these cushions after a purchase a chair, but for now, I am happy with them all on the bed.



We replaced the old fireplace with a new limestone mantle. The carpet was removed and now you can see the underlay. Unfortunately, we can't replace the carpet just yet because we need to do it at the same time as the other bedrooms, which aren't ready just yet but it should all happen within the next couple of months.

I have some tie backs for my curtains and a custom mirror for above the fireplace which will arrive some time later this week. I still need to pick out a chair, order some roman blinds and pick out some kind of bench for the end of the bed.

The floor length curtains are a little impractical given that the radiators sit directly below the window, but I thought the previous curtains really chopped the room in half so my plan is to keep them permanently open and use the roman blinds for light filteration.

I will keep you updated on our progress and post another picture when the room is complete.

I discovered Black Orchid Interiors from the February 2008 issue of Homes and Gardens and I love, love this coffee table.

It's got a great classic style with a contemporary, modern twist and it would look perfect in my living room.