On July 3rd, my friends at Garden Rant invited me to be their guest-blogger. This kind and generous opportunity gave me a platform to share a little essay about my shed odyssey, the fascination I hold for tiny backyard architecture, and the experiences Bill Wright and I had creating “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways.” I was tickled to see that Amy Stewart titled the piece “In Praise of Sheds.”

I asked Garden Rant readers to share their thoughts, ideas and inspiration in response to the question: What is your dream shed and how will you use it?  More than 30 clever readers sent in their answers, vying to win a copy of our book, and a set of note cards with our wellies-under-glass photograph (seen at left), taken by Bill while we were on location at Brenda Lyle’s outside Atlanta.

I was touched by reading so many awesome posts – you can go to Garden Rant to read them for yourself. It was a tough call, but I chose as the winner of this small contest a wonderful gardener and writer in rural Massachusetts.

Pat Leuchtman has a blog called Commonweeder. She and her husband created their “Cottage Ornee” (pronounced Cott-aaagh Or-Nay, preferably in a heavy French accent, Pat says), a stylish shed imagined first in their minds and then built by their hands. This little gem of a building resides at their “End of the Road Farm,” in Heath, Massachusetts. I was struck by Pat’s written description of its design and charmed by the narrative of how she and her husband use it. Here is Pat’s post about winning our little contest: “Cottage Ornee is a Winner”

Cottage Ornee  [Pat Leuchtman photos, here and below]

Here are some photographs, provided by Pat. I was so curious about the cottage’s creation and sent Pat several questions. Her comments appear below. I hope you find this little hut as alluring and enticing as I do. I am already scheming about how to get myself up to visit Pat one of these days. In the meantime, I am enjoying reading her delicious words, so make sure to visit Commonweeder.

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July in Southern California dishes up a haze of purple in every hue. I recently snapped a few photos to capture the floral bounty around us.

It’s the weekend; time to be lazy and enjoy a little eye candy. So here we go:

Lavender-blue agapanthus cascades down the hillside in my neighborhood

This time of year, AGAPANTHUS takes over our “East Hills” neighborhood. Seattle gardening friends, eat your eyes and hearts out! When I first visited this neck of the woods, in spring 2006, I was blown away by the appearance — shall I say ‘explosions’? — of lavender-blue agapanthus blooms on every corner of town.

“Okay, I guess I can live here after all,” I thought. I mentioned loving this plethora of agapanthus to my friend Nan Sterman, a California native and author of California Gardener’s Guide, Vol. 2.

“Oh, Debra, they’re gas station plants!” she exclaimed.

As I’ve said before. . . one woman’s gas station plant is another woman’s rare collector plant. Imagine describing it as a commonplace “filler” for the corner convenience store! I know of a few passionate souls in Seattle who willingly forked over $15 for a 2-inch Agapanthus ‘Blue Heaven’ cultivar from Heronswood (or, elsewhere spent $20 to $40 for larger pots of this pretty purple South African native). And then. And then. Well, if my efforts were at all representative, there was the breath-holding that occurred through the wet, chilly winter months, as we pretty much realized the true-blue agapanthus wasn’t going to emerge in great shape the following spring. Like many tender perennials, well, they were pricey annuals. Or, they were in need of massive amounts of pampering, such as potting up the fleshy rhizomes and moving them indoors for the winter.

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My pals at Monrovia made sure to add me to the press list for dwell Magazine’s first-ever design symposium in Los Angeles (I think the two previous conferences were held in the San Francisco Bay Area).

Dwell on Design’s hip graphics and giant magazine covers filled the LA Convention Center. The addition of plants, provided by Monrovia, helped soften the ultra-modern flavor of the event and infuse the setting with something living and green.

The four-day conference included panel lectures, home tours and a trade show featuring the best contemporary and sustainable resources for the home and beyond. I missed Thursday’s panels, but met up with Nan Sterman to attend some of Friday’s panels and the trade show.

Having spent many hours of my professional life uncomfortably confined to stiff, industrial-grade chairs while listening to lectures, I was thrilled to see that conference sponsor Lounge22, a Los Angeles-based furniture company, provided v-e-r-y cushy sofas for those of us smart enough to show up on time and get a place near the front of the room. Sleek, low-profile sofas, upholstered in white or black leather, made sitting still an easy (and luxurious) endeavor. Very classy, folks.

Stylish attendees reclining on sleek Lounge22 sofas – it beats a folding chair!

First off, a panel of leading hotel and restaurant designers convened “Home and Away: the nexus of hospitality and domestic design.” Moderated by dwell editor Sam Grawe, the panel featured Cass Calder Smith, principal of CCS Architecture (San Francisco-based), Peg O’Brien, founder/principal of O’Brien Design, and Theresa Fatino, Chief Creative Officer, SBE Entertainment Group.

I asked myself, why do I care about hotel and restaurant design? I haven’t written about the hospitality biz since I was a reporter covering the hotel beat for Puget Sound Business Journal back in the late 80s-early 90s. But I remembered that my experiences reporting on hotel and restaurant trends strongly influenced and shaped my design sensibilities – and helped train my eye to look for creative design influences everywhere around me. I’m pleased to say, it was worth my time to slouch into the white leather sofa, stretch my legs and listen to the presentation.

Of the three panelists, it was Theresa Fatino who blew me away. She has been described as having a sixth-sense for observing cultural tastes and trends. Fatino is a passionate keeper of the faith for her current project, SLS Hotels. As a project of SBE Entertainment Group, the first SLS Hotel is slated to open later this year in Beverly Hills (Las Vegas and South Beach, Florida, properties are also in the works). 

You may ask yourself: What does SLS mean? I finally found a clever reference to the acronym on the company’s web site: Some Little Secrets. The hotel is pursuing a high-touch, but understated niche in the crowded hospitality market.

Fatino is the organization’s key collaborator with master designer Philippe Starck on its hotel, restaurant and lounge concepts. In addition to SLS Hotels, these include the Katsuya restaurant brand, recently-opened S Bar and a yet-to-be-named upscale supper club on the Sunset Strip. She has an impressive resume that includes a fine arts degree from Syracuse University, followed by design positions with Ralph Lauren, Pottery Barn and the W Hotel.

Fatino described the intricate development of SLS Hotels’ “brand” management message, summed up by a list of “emotional touch points.” I might be missing a few of them, but here are the themes I quickly jotted down during her lecture:

Conscience

No Compromise

Internal Reward

New Functionality

Semi-public

pre-Googling

Curated Consumption

Customization

Customer-made

Out-Experience-In

Niche Growth

Online Oxygen

Planned Spontaneity

Buy Now

To me, these ideas are symbolic of broader consumer trends. Far-reaching, such ideas aren’t limited to the hospitality industry. They serve a kind of marketer’s shorthand to describe and highlight the present mood of popular culture, media (and media consumption), technology, product design and art.

Fatino illustrated a few of the ideas:

pre-Googling: This refers to our reliance on the Internet as a “preparation” tool. For example, how many of us “Google” someone in advance of a planned meeting (this could be a work-related contact or even someone you might encounter at a dinner party)? We’re addicted to Google as a verb!

Curated Consumption: As a design writer, I find this one fascinating. Certain arbiters of taste are given the “power” to curate our artistic and aesthetic choices. Fatino describes Pottery Barn as the “curator of casual living,” Williams Sonoma as the “curator of the kitchen,” Oprah as the “curator of the books we read,” and Martha as the “curator of flowers.” “We are following and obeying the new curators of taste and style,” she explains.

Online-oxygen: “How many of us wake up in the morning and before we do anything else, we reach for our Blackberry?” she asked. This habit equates our need to breathe oxygen with our need to constantly access our online lives; it is shaping design decisions made for the new hotel. She illustrated this concept with a slide of a man seated in a Zen garden, using his laptop. Hmmm.

Internal reward: There is a need to balance our “wired” lifestyle with an “unplugged” response. “We need to rejuvenate, nourish the mind, replenish, engage in spiritual activities,” Fatino suggested (at this point in her lecture, I leaned over to Nan and whispered: We all need a Stylish Shed – that will provide ample internal reward, the antidote to everyday insanity!)

After identifying these emotional touch points, Fatino cited a list she called the “catalog of experiences” the new hotel will offer. I suspected her list would be geared to customers willing and able to pay for this level of luxury. But surprisingly, many of them are emotional experiences rather than tangibles. And in a way, that’s what’s so appealing about these ideas. These experiences seem to require an attention to detail rather than a big budget. Here they are:

Elegant

Timeless

Intelligence

Community

Authentic

Human-Spirited

Organic

Respect

Reliable

Humanity

Inspiration

Discovery

Soul

The challenge, said Fatino, is to “translate the ‘experience’ into a physical product,” but to do it with sincerity and integrity (people can easily spot a “copy job,” she says).  

For example, the hotelier has decided to eliminate little plastic bottles of shampoo and lotion and replaced them with high-quality, natural body products in large, glass, refillable bottles. Not only is this environmentally smart, it is a small gesture that communicates the desired guest experience. Some are tangible, such as warm, fuzzy-feeling Egyptian cotton towels or “bronze-tinted” lighting flattering to the face. Others are intangible, such as how guests’ children and pets are treated. “We know when to create a surprise and when to whisper,” Fantino explained.

HOW WILL HEARING THIS NEW INFORMATION CHANGE THE WAY I OPERATE?

I think I will come up with my own “emotional touchpoints” and “catalog of experiences” to describe how I want to live, conduct my life, work, relationships and immediate surroundings. I’ll be tracking SLS Hotels as they open and begin to execute Fatino’s vision.

NEXT UP. . .

I have two more reports to post, but this is already too long. The next one will highlight Dwell Outdoor, the exhibit area featuring landscape and garden design ideas and products. That will be followed by a report on a Sustainable Interiors panel.

 

 

 

I’m joined by my friend and party hostess Kathy Fries. We’re standing in front of her rustic shack-turned-Doge’s Palace, built by John Akers

The Seattle sun was shining, perhaps a little too brightly, on Saturday, May 17th. In fact, I heard later that temperatures reached close to 90 degrees, a record high for that date in history.

Kathy Fries, aka Shed Diva (she owns four of them!) and her cast of talented gardener helpers, nannies and caterers, threw an unforgettable garden party to celebrate the launch of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways. Scheduled as an open-garden, which encouraged guests to stroll the peaceful, shady paths through the Fries property, the party paid homage to the fanciful little buildings we captured in the book. The man of the hour, shed-builder John Akers, was “missing,” but we know he likes to avoid crowds. His artistry was well received, oohed and aah-ed over, and festooned with bouquets and champagne. Good job, John! Wish you had come!

The menu included plump strawberries with brown sugar and Devonshire cream, meringue cookies, little sandwiches, iced tea, champagne . . . all served on Kathy’s potting bench-buffet

With more than 120 in attendance, the three-hour event was a bit of a whirlwind. Bill Wright and I felt like we signed books nonstop, greeted friends, hugged and thanked the owners of no fewer than 10 of the sheds featured in our book, and then signed more books. Gillian Mathews of Ravenna Gardens was our cheerful bookseller. She figured out how to get a copy of Stylish Sheds into the hands of anyone who wanted one, even if that meant raiding Kathy’s personal stash or taking orders once she ran out of inventory. We were truly touched with her support. You can find signed copies of Stylish Sheds at her stores.

Xander Fries, collecting eggs for the pages of our book [William Wright photo]

Thank you, Kathy and Ed: you threw a doozie of a party. I have spent many fond hours in this magical landscape, but honestly, it has never looked more beautiful. The flowers bloomed larger and brighter, the vines threw out new, spring-green tendrils, the ferns glistened in the dappled light. Our guest-signer, Xander Fries, who is featured on page 73 collecting eggs from the Palais de Poulets, charmed guests by autographing “his page” of the book.

A highlight for me was seeing so many dear friends in my (former) Seattle gardening community. It has been nearly two years since I left for LA, and it was a treat to return for this celebration. Owners of all nine Washington sheds featured in our pages came to help celebrate. Without them, we wouldn’t have completed this awesome project and we are honored they came and helped mark the publication!

Bill, Steven and Sylvia Williams, and me

But the prize goes to Sylvia and Steven Williams, who traveled from Texas to attend the party! Only two weeks after throwing a party for us at Stonebridge, their garden in Bertram, Syliva and Steven flew to Seattle to join us. They represented their home state in Texas style, dazzling everyone with their out-sized friendship, not to mention cowboy hats.

 

The party treats were simply fabulous, including Kathy’s elegant version of my amateurish “shed cookies.” She gets the “Martha Prize” for decorating with a piping tube and marbling the frosting. Really, Kathy. You are amazing.

 

Marty Wingate’s review of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways appears in today’s issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

My former colleague, also known as The Grounded Gardener, devotes her column to “Retooling the old garden shed.”

I love the way that Marty weaves an engaging tale about the relationship between garden-makers and the structures that occupy their landscapes.

These new “garden accessories,” as one of my editors describes the architectural gems cropping up between the herb garden and the mixed perennial border, are places that draw us outdoors, to spend even more time in the garden. Marty writes:

“Once the denizen of dusty corners in the backyard, the garden shed has emerged to become an outdoor living space. No longer does it store lawn mowers, bags of grass seed and rakes – or if it does, you’d never know by its exterior.”

Marty’s piece features Bill Wright’s photography of Jennie Hammill’s lovely glass house in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. First of all, we should acknowledge that Gillian Mathews of Ravenna Gardens suggested the inclusion of Jennie’s delightful “room with a view.”

Out of the blue, as often happened during the course of working on Stylish Sheds, I received a letter in the mail. It read:

“Dear Debra, Gillian, of Ravenna Gardens, tells me that you are writing a book on Garden Houses. I wondered if you would be interested in mine. It was designed by Randy Keller, ASLA, and I built it. Randy has a really neat garden house as well, built of of recycled windows and doors (as is mine)….please feel free to call if you would like to come visit.” Sincerely, Jennifer Hammill.

I remember visiting Jennie and her husband Tully on a misty June morning in 2006. After walking through their bungalow (where there are two side-by-side grand pianos occupying the heart of their living room – Jennie is also an accomplished pianist and teacher), we exited the kitchen door onto the back porch. As I noticed the fabulous glass house, constructed with no fewer than 43 recycled and hand-built windows and doors, I nearly began to hyperventilate with excitement.

Like a miniature conservatory, the glass house is fascinating to study (Volunteer Park Conservatory, seen at left, has crossed windows that inspired those on Jennie’s structure). She calls hers the Teahouse. Light pours into, through, and out of the 10-by-14-foot shelter. The divided windows – glass squares, rectangles and triangles — form the shapes between mullions and render a slightly surreal scene. Depending on where one stands, at dawn when the garden day is awakening or at dusk when Ballard’s sky is illuminated by a setting sun, the distinct shape of each glass pane is outlined in sharp detail.

While she first worried that the teahouse would crowd her garden, Jennie says it has done the opposite. “I thought it would make the garden look totally minuscule, but the garden feels more spacious now,” she says.

Randy’s tiny glass house at Rosentangle, his garden

Her partner-in-design, Randolph Scott Keller, ASLA Landscape Architecture, has been urging Jennie to get into the glass house-building business. An accomplished fine cabinetmaker who owns Ballard Woodworks, Jennie has many beautiful pieces of furniture and cabinetry to her credit. But this project is probably her most personal. And she’s not ready to build one again for a long time. I like to imagine that Jennie’s time is divided between teaching piano, building exquisite cabinetry, and spending moments in the teahouse. That’s pretty satisfying.

Good news: The Los Angeles Times has a wonderful “Web Exclusive” featuring Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways in today’s HOME section.

Bad news: The article surrounding this gorgeous photograph/caption puts us smack next to a very strange neighboring article with the off-putting headline: “Confessions of a chronic shed slob.”

EEEK! Stylish Sheds is the antithesis of that notion! Kinda worrisome to see our gorgeous, design-driven book about small architectural gems appear side-by-side with an essay by a gardener who calls herself a “shed slob” and basically treats her shed as a storage unit for “. . . Christmas ornaments of a festive but forgetful lodger who moved out in 1998, a Food 4 Less shopping cart filled with kinked and leaky hoses and broken sprinklers, a toilet with a cracked lid, sacks of concrete that set without ever having been mixed, mismatched curtain rods, rusting tomato cages, and all manner of paper files that became somehow hard to throw away.”

Even after she cleaned out said shed, scheduling a “Bulky Item” pickup with the LA Bureau of Sanitation to get rid of her junk, this woman still isn’t using her shed to its highest and best potential. She appreciates the tools nearby and at-hand, resting inside the doorway, but it doesn’t seem like she uses the shed, either for gardening or a higher purpose, such as a backyard retreat. What a lost opportunity! Maybe I need to write a new article: “Can this Shed be Saved?”

To me, when presented with a little building in the garden, even one that was once packed to the gills with clutter, it is inconceivable to ignore its design potential. As my friend Lorene just wrote to me: “I was immediately transported by your lovely words exhorting us to find a place of solace and sanctuary – at home!” And then she added: “This is the summer I do the trailer!!” (that’s for Lorene, and not me, to write about though. Mosey over to planted at home, her fun blog, to learn more).

Lorene and Jimmy’s trailer-retreat-in-the-garden

You know how they say “everything is bigger in Texas”?

When it comes to throwing a party, I think it’s true!

Last weekend, Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways was feted at two separate gatherings: one in the country; another in the city. Our hosts are some of our favorite Texas shedistas, who invited their friends, family and fellow master gardeners to toast this project. Here is a recap:

HILL COUNTRY HAVEN, Steven and Sylvia Williams

Sylvia and three of her talented friends, Claire, Suzi and Nancy, pulled out all the stops to create a dazzling spring-afternoon-in-the-garden last Friday. We arrived, champagne in hand, to find these four doing the creative cooking of an entire catering crew in Sylvia’s kitchen. These gals were also “on-location” with us last April 2007, when they posed for a tea party portrait in Sylvia’s garden shed. We laughed and giggled our way through a very fun photo shoot. The final party photograph didn’t make it into the pages of Stylish Sheds, so I’ll share it here:

From left: Suzi Campagna, Nancy Kinard, shed owner and hostess Sylvia Williams and Claire Harrah [William Wright photo]

Stonebridge Gardens in Bertram, Texas, the site of last Friday’s book party, was in its glory. The charming limestone rock garden shed that Sylvia and Steven designed (built by Sylvia’s son Brad McCasland and Paul Solis) was at the heart of the celebration. The menu included delicious garden-inspired food, floriferous cakes and little edible “flowerpots” that fed the eyes as well as satisfied the palate. We greeted 60 or 70 of Sylvia and Steven’s friends and signed copies of Stylish Sheds. Thank you to local, independent bookseller “The Bookshop” in Marble Falls, Texas (and owner Dortha Feaster-Coalterand her daughter Robin) for handling the book sales and sending everyone home with a gift tote-bag!

Robin and Dortha of The Bookshop – happy book-sellers

Bill and Debra meeting Sylvia’s son Brad and granddaughter Jessica inside her wonderful shed

Party Number Two: 

MOD POD, Austin, Texas

Loretta and Terrill Fischer, owners of a wild-and-crazy modern greenhouse-inspired shed in the heart of Austin, threw their shed shindig  on Saturday night, drawing nearly 100 guests. It was a perfect foodie occasion, featuring Loretta’s famous cheesecakes. She pulled out all of those secret recipes from her days of owning Loretta’s Fabulous Cheesecakes of Texas, a popular Austin bakery. Jalapeno cheesecake, anyone? Bite-sized chocolate and original mini-cheesecakes with a fresh raspberry on top! I’m ready to promote her as the next hot cookbook author after sampling a savory Gorgonzola and onion cheesecake, which Loretta served like a spread (you just scoop up a bit with the knife, slather it on a cracker, and you’ll never think of an ordinary cheesecake again!).

Clearly, the food was swell. So was the music, the candle-lights and lanterns, and the centerpiece of the party, the stunning garden house. Designer and builder, Harrison Bates (Loretta’s creative brother), was on hand to shyly accept kudos. Thanks to sister Pam for handling book sales (thank goodness she’s in accounting) and to Terrill, husband extraordinaire, who bar-tended and kept everyone happy. Loretta – you are amazing! We loved every moment and even though I didn’t go to bed until midnight (and then had to get up at 4 a.m. to race to the airport), it was so worth the jet lag and sleep deprivation to celebrate with you!

P.S., It was great fun to meet Cindy Widner, managing editor of The Austin Chronicle, who attended the party and posted a blog about Loretta’s awesome “shed.” She took a little video of Loretta and bro’ Harrison as they “discussed” who gets design credit for the fabulous Mod Pod. Typical sibling rivalry, to be sure. Fun to see them rib each other. Cindy wrote:

Another excuse to navigate the McMansion debris and bewildering streets of West Austin (the better to appreciate the Fischers’ classic gem) came last weekend in the form of a book release party for Debra Prinzing‘s Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideways, an addictive tome that features William Wright‘s pretty much perfect photographs of fetching outbuildings, including Fischer’s greenhouse and two other sheds from Central Texas (though hailing from Cali, the nutty Norwegian-wood pavilion with grass roof might be my second favorite).

Out-takes from the April 2007 photo shoot. Top: Loretta and Terrill Fischer; Bottom: Harrison Bates (shed designer and builder), hams it up with one of Loretta’s orange balls [William Wright photo]

Showin’ off Stylish Sheds in Austin

 P.P.S., “Style Matters,” a blog by Austin American-Statesman columnist Melanie Spencer, highlighted Stylish Sheds in the May 15th issue.  The headline reads: “Sheds can be a Stylish Retreat.” Melanie writes:

‘Stylish Sheds’ fetes backyard retreats

When it comes to sheds and outbuildings, most of us think of them as utilitarian storage facilities, but some envision a creative, calming or fun backyard retreat. The latter is the case in “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations,” by Debra Prinzing ($30, Clarkson Potter Publishers). The book features lavish color photographs by William Wright of sometimes chic, sometimes rustic guest houses from across the country, including writing retreats, gardening cottages and everything between. Of four structures in Texas, two are in Austin, one is in Fredericksburg and another is in Bertram. All will make you yearn for a hideaway of your own.

“Old garden sheds can see new life as office space, artist studio, dining pavilion, party room or just private hideaway.” 

Alice Joyce, author of Gardenwalks in California and Gardenwalks in the Pacific Northwest, wrote a very kind review of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle. We couldn’t be more excited to read her generous words describing this project:

Here is an excerpt:

“Maybe you’ve conjured up a funky backyard folly purposefully set aside for daydreaming. Or considered adding a sophisticated retreat in which to enjoy cocktail hour, an intimate space separate from the home yet connected in spirit. If so, you might be inspired to take action after perusing Prinzing’s handsomely produced sourcebook, with nearly 30 projects pictured, five in the Bay Area. . . .

“Whether restored, refitted or built from the ground up, the ‘cool backyard structures’ presented are brought to life by Prinzing’s engaging writing and Wright’s alluring photographs, revealing personalities and design sensibilities.”

Riding on the celebratory wave of two festive book parties in the Austin area, we are so thrilled with Alice’s affirming review. Here is a link to the full article in the San Francisco Chronicle, May 3rd.

Tom Spencer, Debra Prinzing & Bill Wright – on location

Bill and I had a wonderful experience today, taping an 11-minute segment on Stylish Sheds with Tom Spencer, host of “Central Texas Gardener,” a popular show on the Austin PBS affiliate, KLRU.

The show will air on June 26th – stay tuned for a link to the segment.

Tom was a delightful host, a kindred spirit in the conversation about gardening as sanctuary, sheds as shelter, places for meditation and destinations for creative expression.

Our thanks to producer Linda Lehmusvirta, who not only “gets it,” but who helped me find many of our Austin shed locations when I was scouting here in January 2007.

Here is a peek of the Austin/Hill Country structures we found and photographed last year. We’re lucky to feature four terrific Texas sheds inside the pages of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways:

Sylvia and Steven Williams’ “Hill Country Haven”

Loretta and Terrill Fischer’s “Mod Pod”

Beverly and Eldon Sutton’s “Texas Teahouse”

Carol Hicks Bolton and Tim Bolton’s “Heart’s Content”