It's as simple as soap and water. It's all you need for most outdoor furniture. You may want to ...pick up a power washer.

• Acrylic Cushions
• Resin Furniture - Resin furniture is easy to clean. Spray off dirt and grime and let dry. If there are scuff marks, use a gentle abrasive to remove. To remove mildew, follow the instructions above.
• Wicker -You can use a hose or pressure washer.
• Wrought Iron, Steel Frames & Aluminum -Use mild soap and water to clean.
• Fabric
• Umbrellas
• Wooden Furniture

The only maintenance we recommend for your teak furniture is occasional cleaning. This should be done with a mild soap (such as gentle hand cleaning soap) and warm water to preserve its natural elements.

Chat tables are new this year, says Jan Booth of Patioworld in Fresno. These tabletops are higher than coffee tables but lower than dining tables. "It's high enough that you can put a cup there, but it's not like sitting at a dining table," she says.

Mesh on metal or wood pieces: Patio pieces that have mesh-type material over metal or wood frames also are popular.

"You can lay a towel on it or go without a towel, and you can lie on it. You don't stick to (the mesh), and it's very comfortable. You don't lie there and get sweat on your back and tush."

I don't know if you all noticed that Brocade Home, a subsidiary of Restoration Hardware, is no longer taking orders. Perhaps it is because of the launch of this site: Restoration Hardware Baby & Child.

I was looking for a Dining Table and noticed the new logo at the top of RH's website, so decided to check it out. There are quite a few nice things here (like the sweet personalized crown piece above).

The furniture, I would suspect, is the same high quality you would expect from the parent site. This four poster is a really timeless design I think. And the bedding hosts a hive of little bees fit for a little Josephine.

The lamps are great looking and quite a good price. This gourd lamp is $119, plus the shade at $25.

Cute lamp reminiscent of Jaime Young. Painted ceramic, comes in a bunch of colors (as does the gourd lamp), and different shade choices. $69! Plus a shade at $25. This is not a tiny little lamp either. It stands 22" high. (Sometimes with a price like this I double check the size to make sure it is not a mini lamp.)

And there are area rugs and window coverings as well. I thought this woven rug (comes in other colors also) was very nice!

I was very impressed overall. Restoration Hardware has great things that blend in with many different decors, so I was very pleased to discover this site. Hope you will be too. Worth a visit for sure.

image source

image source

“Plum says calm; plum says clean; plum says health,� said a rep at Penta Water in Carlsbad, Calif. “Other products in the water category are blue, clear, red,� he added. “This color came out as a consistent representation of vitality, a pure product.� source

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The Plum Card from American Express for business owners.

“When we were looking at the color of the plastic (during the planning stages), we wanted something classy and sophisticated, and the choice was a shade we called 'burgundy.' " But the company did not want to call it burgundy when marketing it, he added, for fear of confusion with wine brands.

We usually don’t do “ripped from the headlines” types of posts here, but it’s hard to not think about how this week’s economic news is affecting the value of our homes. Personally, I have been dreaming about moving into a larger space to accommodate our growing (and recently crawling!) family. But that would mean putting our one-bedroom place on the market. Suddenly an idea that was simmering in our heads for a springtime “perhaps” has become a “better sooner than later” boil. Are you having similar debates in your home? Or are you thinking of hunkering down and doing a little remodeling? I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we probably need to make a decision in the next few weeks to either stay the course or act fast. I’d love to hear your thoughts, and perhaps enjoy a little company during the crisis. Please share! — Angela M.

Posted by Bluelines

We took an unexpected and unintended hiatus for the past few weeks.

Will be up with a fresh idea from Lena shortly.

From Sarah:

Our favorite San Francisco store, Rose and Radish, is outfitted with these hand-blown Murano glass Perseo 44 Suspension Lights from Produzione Privata, which are reminiscent of Noguchi’s paper lanterns. Designed by Michele De Lucchi, the Perseo 44 is available in satin or transparent white glass for $1,080 from Lumens. YLighting carries the full line of Perseo fixtures as well: The Perseo 44 is on offer for $1,188; the medium-size Perseo 28 is $792, and the small-size Perseo 15 is $638. Finally, the Perseo Wall Sconce is $704 (N.B.: YLighting offers a 110 percent price match).

Let's start our weekend with a big dose of glamour... as in these wild acrylic Ice Sconces designed by Billy Haines. Although the faceted acrylic pieces were created in 1953 for the May house of Holmby Hills, CA, they seem reminiscent of 1930s Hollywood. I like that the facets are rather aggressive- it's like a combination of Joan Crawford's brash personality and Carole Lombard's feminine allure.

The sconces have been reissued as limited editions and are sold as opposing left/ right matching pairs.

(Contact William Haines Design for more information- (310) 289-0280)

It was hot in Marrakech.  Oh, very hot.  So she escaped to that town on the Moroccan coast, Essaouira, her favorite Summertime (and anytime) haunt. 

Now she was no longer a Spring chicken (sadly, so sadly).  And so she had stayed in quite a few guest houses and hotels in her time.  Some luxurious with down pillows and beautiful bath products and some......well, not much better than sleeping on the floor of the bus station (oh dear). 

But had she ever stayed anywhere - anywhere at all -  like Dar Beida?  No never.  It was organic and Moroccan and African and modern and high/lo all at the same time.  This was the sort of place that you could imagine yourself staying in, well, forever.  This little house on four floors was so lovely, that she promptly began thinking up all her best arguments to get the British owners to sell it to her.  (My, weren't they tired of Morocco yet?  What did they mean, No?)

It was all in the details, you see.  Now she couldn't possibly share them all in one batch.  But here's a few to start..........

A charming place to hang the house keys........Each key with a treasure from nature attached.

Two chairs in the entry where you could sit and gaze at.......

This darling little rustic steer display....The blogging girl was quite fond of cows, and this suited her to a tee.

There was an interior courtyard in the center of Dar Beida and African art placed here and there. (The girl had her very own body masks like the one in this image that she had collected in Tanzania, South Africa, and Kenya.)

Oh yes, please do perch on this little  stool and read from the enormous trove of interior design magazines...........Heaven!

This vintage African chair was covered entirely with tiny beads.  How very amazing. 

The chair was in this charming little bedroom.  The bed was covered with a fine wool vintage haik, worn by Moroccan women once upon a time.  (The girl had several of these horded for her shop.)

Oh the view from the roof terrace......She could smell the sea.  (And the girl had these very same mod chairs for the roof of Peacock Pavilions.  Could it be that Dar Beida had everything she liked?)

The girl sat and talked on the phone while checking her Blackberry.  She told everyone she might be staying in Essaouira for a good, long time...........Could she be a stowaway at Dar Beida?

***********

Dar Beida, Essaouira, rented only in its entirety (which is a good thing because you'll want it all for yourself...)

emma@castlesinthesand.com

mobile:  +212/67965386

today’s in the kitchen with is a special recipe that i was lucky enough to have land in my inbox this week. brooklyn based food photographer jessika creedon sent over these gorgeous photographs of a picnic she attended in prospect park and i was blown away by the special presentation of the food. rather than using plates or napkins, the hosts decided to use natural “containers” like lemons and avocados. top that off with jessika’s incredible photos and i was sold. so today the group behind the special picnic, sidedish, was kind enough to share one of their delicious picnic recipes with us- a summery chilled avocado soup. i could live off of avocados so this is one that’s definitely going into my regular repertoire. i just wanted to thank jessika (whose website can be viewed right here, and her flickr page right here) for sharing these photos, and to sidedish for sharing this incredible (and incredibly easy to make) recipe. CLICK HERE for the full recipe (and more photos from the picnic) or just click “read more” below.

about sidedish: sidedish is an ongoing experiment in staging uniquely engaging food experiences. at sidedish events, a rotating list of diners enjoys a full five course meal with an unrepeated, custom-made menu. sidedish dinners pivot around food, but go much farther, with each event exploring a particular theme. renee baumann and keren weiner, two alumni from the french culinary institute, are the heads and hands behind sidedish (with much organizational assistance from andrea montejo). photos and past menus from sidedish events can be seen at sidedish’s facebook page right here.

Photos by Marv Bondarowicz THE OREGONIAN
Moving to the Pearl Design Center allowed Bev Landfair to more than double the space for her store, Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery.

Debbie Madden, whose husband, Mark, is a principal in the development company Stark Group LLC, had spent an entire day crisscrossing the greater metropolitan area to look at fabrics and furnishings. After cruising nearly every county -- and enduring a car accident to boot -- she lamented Portland's lack of a design district where a person could see all these things at once -- hopefully without incident.

So, in classic Portland fashion, Stark Group bought a city block under the trusses of the Fremont Bridge and transformed buildings that once housed Quimby Welding into the Pearl Design Center.

Photos by Marv Bondarowicz THE OREGONIAN
Studios and storefronts now occupy the Pearl Design Center. The space used to be Quimby Welding.

Set between Northwest 14th and 15th avenues and Northwest Raleigh and Savier streets, the approximately 34,000-square-foot showroom and studio space opened last spring and is about 60 percent full, says Tami Wood of Stark Group.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery, a showroom of furniture, fabrics and accessories, is its largest tenant. A handful of other businesses -- Architectural Elegance, Quince Flowers & Events, Studio Olivine, Northwest Framing Commercial, Progress Construction, Intrinsic Design and WDC Properties (which manages Stark Group) -- are scattered about the complex.