#architecturaldigest

Weekend Meanderings- Nancy Meyer’s Remodel, Wimbledon, a Day Out in Danville & More

July 2, 2022 By kimwheeler 19 Comments

It’s time for our Weekend Meanderings with Elizabeth and Juliet ! It’s been a week so this extra holiday weekend is much needed by all here in America I think.. We are heading to Tahoe for a few days and I hope we will to get some quality nature and family time in and if I’m lucky some reading by the lake..

A few good things this week..

Nancy Meyer’s Home Remodel in AD

I was very excited to hear Nancy Meyer’s own Provençal style Los Angeles home was going to be featured in Architectural Digest this month after my Instagram friend in the Netherlands alerted me. Thanks Sally!

This article delivered with many beautiful photos of the home and Nancy herself. In the article Nancy tells how once she was an empty nester in the house where she raised her daughters, she felt it was too large, so began building a smaller replica of her home next door. In the interim two years while it was being built, she had fun changing up the original with paint and little tweaks, and fell back in love with it, stayed and sold the new build. The California classicist, Mark D. Sikes did the design with her and there is more about how they worked together in the July issue of the magazine.

You could say her style is California elegant- lots of white, punctuated natural elements like rattan, a little black here and there, stacks of books, pretty pillows, lovely pieces of art, and fresh flowers. This is good living at it’s best and her interiors always look comfortable and inviting! I’m all for this kind of style that’s homey more than showy.

Are you a Nancy Meyer’s fan? If so I am interested to know what’s your favorite film or interior? My favorite is It’s Complicated, and the Santa Barbara home of the baker heroine played by Meryl Streep. The whole article and all the photos online here or in the July issue of AD.

Wimbledon Chat

Are you glued to the television like we are during Wimbledon? I have been trying to limit myself to one match a day, sometimes I record it and watch in the evening. I’m rooting for all the young players who are making it up the ranks. Emma Raducanu who won the French Open is one of my favorites.. How do you like her $37,000 worth of pearls and diamonds she is wearing? Apparently she is sponsored by Tiffany! I just wonder how much sun and sweat those kind of pearls can take?

Also loving Coco Gaufe and I am a fan of Tsitsipas only because he looks like my teen crush Bjorn Borg who adorned my teenager walls.

Vogue has a fun piece with the best on court looks at Wimbledon over the years. You know they are very strict still and you are supposed to wear white and only white, no exceptions, and no accents! They still ask people to change clothes. Some of my favorites from the article.

Lunch date in Danville

Last Friday I met Juliet for a working lunch and a little shopping. I hadn’t been to Danville in about twenty years and it has changed a lot. The little downtown is very charming and there are many sweet shops and restaurants. We stopped in two of them, Eye for Pretty a wonderful home shop, and Flaunt, that has home and beautiful clothing. Flaunt is owned by Ashley, who writes the fun blog, Modern Glam Home. Both are great shops and Juliet and I were dying over so many things..

Juliet at Eye for Pretty, above

Flaunt below .. I loved this dress on Juliet in the blue stripe with little lemons. It was made for our Ms Spritzer..and she looks good in everything !

Juliet made us reservations at the cutest restaurant, Locando Ravello, where I had caprese salad and she had a chicken parmigiana.. I highly recommend the very authentic and delicious Italian food here. Normally you’d want to sit outdoors in the cute patio, but that day was nearly 100, so we opted for inside.I plan on coming back here with Max some summer evening.

I loved the blue decor, which reminded me of Sorrento. The caprese dish was so delicious, it inspired me to recreate it in a small version on our Travel Inspired Appetizers, earlier this week, in case you missed it.

Serena & Lily Sale

I know I have mentioned Serena & Lily sales before, but I get a lot of inquiries about my house things like my Montara Mirror below, and I like to let people know when their things go on sale. Right now the entire site is 20% off – use code SPLASH.

It’s also a great time to get their towels which I love, and I am seriously considering three of these Headlands Pendants for above my kitchen island. My current ones are no longer functioning, and these have a pretty look and decent price too..

From the S&L website.. I kind of love this look..

The Serena & Lily sale ends on July 5th.

Our rights…

Thanks to all who read and left messages, many very personal about the overturning of Roe last week. I was so moved by the comments and some private messages, which I will share on stories. I am collecting them all. Women amaze me, what we go through in our lives with pregnancies, births, and also those living with the trauma of sexual assault..

More of us than not, have had struggles with all of these things and yet we are stoic. So many move through life and others don’t even know what scars we are carrying. It blows me away the bravery and toughness of women and the selflessness. That’s one reason why taking the right to decide what happens to our own bodies and consequently, our lives, for half the nation is beyond cruel.

This article about the participants of a years long landmark study was a shocking and sad comparison of what the lives were like in later years for the women who were denied abortion, compared to those who were not.

Amy Odell’s Back Row ( an excellent blog) this week, exposed the hypocrisy by some companies who say they’ll support women needing abortion help, and yet have money going to PACs that support lawmakers who have be vocally opposed to Roe.

An article we all need to read on Global Citizen- ‘What happens in nations where abortion is banned? Lessons from around the world.’

This page has all the abortion funds in the United States by area, so you can choose to help a fund near to your home, or perhaps one that needs more support.

Well that’s my meanderings for this week. Please stop by Elizabeth and Juliet’s blogs and see what’s on their minds this week..

PINECONES AND ACORNS

MAKE MINE A SPRITZER

Thank you for being here.

Kim

If you missed last weeks meanderings, living like an Italian, California casual dresses, a day trip in Aptos, a cite Santa Cruz cottage for sale and more here.

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Suzanne Rheinstein’s Montecito Retreat in AD

March 4, 2021 By kimwheeler No Comments

Suzanne Rheinstein has always been one of my most favorite California tastemakers and designers to follow. Everything she does is uniquely beautiful so I was super excited to see her new Montecito getaway she built for herself , after her husband’s death, in my new Architectural Digest. It was everything I love in a house- part modern, part traditional, and incorporating beautiful landscaping and nature. She started with a 1971 home with some Spanish influences and crafted this beauty and the grounds to her specifications. The full article and more photos, here in AD. Below some of the gorgeousness to inspire you.. Photography by Laura Resen.

The views of the mountains are so pretty. I love that she has a flower arranging room…Love the bags and hats on a peg!

Have you all been to Montecito? It’s one of my favorite small California towns. So much charm and beauty.

UPDATE: Joni, who writes Cote de Texas, one of my favorite blogs , has done a more in depth post on this house- the before/afters and Suzanne’s other homes, and her daughter’s homes. If you are as obsessed as I am you will enjoy it.

Have a good day!

Kim

Wallpaper Dreams

January 22, 2020 By kimwheeler 4 Comments

I just got my February issue of AD and am in love with this cover home, a gorgeous California gem in Altadena, California. The whole thing is stunning- the yard and every detail ( cat included.) It renewed my interest in wallpaper and choosing it for the house.

I’ve always planned to wallpaper after the remodel and even had some walls prepped for it. When we first moved in I was all ready and then I got overwhelmed with all the final choices and I just had to put the breaks on making one more decision. I just couldn’t go there with the holidays coming and all. Now that I’ve finished the last bathroom, we are about to get the media room started and I’m feeling ready. I’ve even had dreams about putting it up and not getting it to stay up. Is that a bad omen?

Oh man there are so many choices, too many. I know I want something fun with punch in the new entry, something neutral on the long wall leading into the house that wraps around the dining room, and something floral and romantic in the bedroom. A few choices I’m considering below…

Love this Wave Wallpaper from Anthro.

I think this Lattice Paper is nice for the bedroom- the mint would be pretty with an all white bed, no?

Serena & Lily has many choices and one favorite is the Granada Wallpaper in the Fog/Smoke color. I can see it on my long wall with these tones. Fun, but in this color, a bit chill.

I also adore their Palm Wallpaper which would be cool in the black/ white in the entry and make a statement.

Alternatively in the white/sand for the bedroom..

The other thing Serena & Lily has is grasscloth and I have always loved the look of that. My mother had our living room covered in cocoa colored seagrass growing up and it was very pretty. Just coming back from Hawaii, It’s been on my mind, especially for the entry and long wall. I also like the ability to hang things wherever and not worry too much about wall marks and holes, as I change decor up a lot. Fixing the walls makes my husband nuts, so that’s a plus. Just a few of the pretty grasscloth they offer..

Anthro also carries Farrow & Ball and I’ve had a crush on this Helleborus from Farrow & Ball for a long time. I think in the bedroom this would be so pretty..

Silvergate by F&B is so cool. Would I get sick of this dark color on a long wall or would it be the pop of color this house needs and some fun? It could go only in the entry as another idea.