Rogue rooms

Interesting and unique finds are everywhere and sometimes even can even be free of charge. For example, while on a walk along the beach, or through the orchard with the dogs, I keep my head down looking for interesting rocks, shells, nuts, pinecones, pieces of drift wood or even a full tree branch that I find interesting and will bring home and place on a table top or mix in with my bowls of succulents that I keep in the outdoor rooms. Saturday mornings are spent scouring estate sales and garage sales where you can often discover a curio cabinet or an old dresser that you can bring home and cover with graffiti or decoupage and then set the artful piece in your entrance way. I've bought old silk designer scarves at flea market and had my seamstress transform them into amazing throw pillows.

Discount stores are always on a design rogue's radar, there you can find treasures at a fraction of the 'regular' cost.

It's innovative thinking and an adventurous approach to design that can truly take our homes to new heights. Always keep your eyes open for unexpected treasures to transform your house into a home.

WEEKEND PROJECT

Fresh herbs are great when you grow them yourself. Start a container garden for herbs. Find some simple white bowls, glass vases or cheery pots, add an inch of gravel or river rock in the bottom for drainage, fill the next five to six inches with organic soil and then plant some herbs. Mint is an easy grower that is simply yummy in lemonade, dill is one of my all time favorites for salads fresh tarragon is amazing on chicken and fish.

DESIGNER NOTES

Do you know the reason that high-end restaurants and wine connoisseurs only fill the glass one-third full? If you think it's because they do not want to share that's not the reason. Wine glasses are generally filled a third for several different reasons. Firstly, filling only a third provides space for the aromas to be released and it allows for frequent refills of chilled white wine. Having a partially filled glass will also encourage you to sip rather than gulp the nectar of the gods. When you are shopping for new wine glasses look for a wine glass to be at its widest at the one third mark - that's a mark of a well engineered glass.