Building a Cottage-Core... Pool??
Hello friend,
I recently read a design article that was shouting the praises of color.
“The world is done with white!” it proclaimed boldly, pointing out that we are individual people drawn to different shades and palettes at different times of our lives and that colors make us feel things.
But we know that already, don’t we?
In my gardens, the bright-pink cosmos dance against the bright-blue doors, surrounded by green Virginia Creeper, yellow sunflowers, and apricots. This time of year is an absolute explosion of color in my poorly-planned-but-highly-enjoyed gardens, as vibrant self-seeded flowers pop up in all sorts of unexpected places and ripe fruit hangs from the vine.
But color doesn’t stop there… it simply walks through the threshold of my bedroom door and finds a new home amongst the reds, greens, and golden yellows that surround this special room. While seasonal flowers come and go, a backbone of vibrant colors hums in my home… welcoming in our collected, cottage style.
And in this slightly overcast August sky, those colors are looking *chef’s kiss*.
(Also, yesterday was cleaning day, which is why there are no gym shoes or tea cups gathered ‘round.)
Sometimes all it takes to have a renewed love of your space is more color… and perhaps a bit more tidying.
And speaking of color…
We bought a bright blue, above-ground pool. How on earth are we going to make this fit into our cottage-garden style? We didn’t know either — but we were hot and sweaty enough to take on the challenge. Come along with us as we work on figuring it out and catch a vision for what’s next…
I’ll be blunt: I wanted to impress people.
That was the goal behind this month’s Cooking Community recipes + videos, pictured above. I want to give our Cooking Community members (and myself) some aces up our sleeves when it comes to summer entertaining and putting something wow-worthy on the table.
I tested a bunch of options while developing it (my friends and family very much enjoy this process). If I brought a platter out to the table and guests didn’t “OOH!” and “AAH!” then it was back to the drawing board for me.
In the end, I think we nailed it. I told members that this was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had preparing recipes because they all looked so fantastically delicious. Like painting with food and flavors.
If I were you, I’d make these platters on repeat for the rest of summer…
Have a beautiful weekend, my friend.
