A great movie, trompe l'oeil finds, and the first snowdrops
plus English Gardens, the Troy Hill Art Houses, and some storage solutions
It's still dark outside as I wait for the coffee to brew. With Argus settled at my feet, I'm writing to you amid the chaos of transitioning from vacation back to our regular routines. I felt a sweet rush of productivity this week as I tackled all the various to-dos that had been circling the runway waiting to land: doctors and dentist appointments, putting all the spring sports and afterschool activities into the calendar, and organizing the basement while I climbed ‘laundry mountain’.
Reading Notes
Our daffodils and snowdrops have emerged, quiet harbingers of spring. One of my favorite gardening inspiration books is English Gardens by Kathryn Bradley-Hole. I am tempted to dig up all the small clumps of snowdrops and cluster them as below—the drama! The splendor!
As the wealth of reading material on the coffee table suggests, I sometimes fall behind on periodicals. 😂 As I excavated the depths this week, I happened upon an October 2024 World of Interiors and this article on The Troy Hill Art Houses. Two artists were commissioned to recreate a lighthouse inside a Pittsburgh row house (!!). I had to re-read the article twice to fully grasp the scale of this artistic endeavor. But once I did, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I find it very hopeful that a project like this 1) sprang from someone’s mind and 2) came to be against what must have been considerable odds.
We've been in a dry spell in terms of movies and TV, but boy, oh boy, are we back! We watched Black Bag tonight in the theatre. It's a great spy thriller and a tongue-in-cheek meditation on marriage and partnership. Highly recommend!
We also binged Laid. It's raunchy and a little gory (the premise is that every single person the main character has ever slept with is suddenly dropping dead, in the order she slept with them). At its heart, the show is a love letter to the intimacy of female friendships. At one point, the main character's best friend references saving every text between them, which she then uses to recreate a detailed timeline of her friend's sexual relations - which is hysterical but also SO true to a certain kind of deep friendship. It’s a laugh out loud funny show (and fair warning, in a sometimes dark way!).
Design Notes
A. This 'Bellport Madras' Wallpaper is warm and colorful - too much would be too much, but in the right spot: stunning!
B. I keep seeing trompe l'oeil objects like these: B. Plate with nuts, C. Tiny bowl with ladybugs, D. Tiny bowl with a bean! E. Hercules Soap!
F. Ever since my friend Abbey (different Abbey!) - who wrote the OG blog Aesthetic*Outburst - shared her door signs, I’ve wanted some of my own. This rotating style means I won’t have to choose just one.
Found Objects
G. A floral delight from Zara!
H. This tote profoundly appeals to my desire for order in all things … and my dreams of summer and regular trips to the farmers’ market.
I. Speaking of order, these Ikea bins are excellent narrow storage. I use them on our porch for organizing gardening tools and outdoor toys.
J. These bins (also from Ikea) have become my go-to. The 34 gallon size is gloriously BIG.
K. A practical magic item: I knocked over the recycling, and a not quite empty bottle of red wine flew through the air and dramatically landed on our upholstered loveseat in a shower of red wine droplets! Mercury is definitely in retrograde. However, these wipes saved the day!
An Instagram Small Joy
Spring break is winding down (just two more days), and while I'm craving the return to our routines, I'm also grateful for this in-between time together. These transition periods - whether around change of season, a vacation, or a child’s developmental stage - often feel messy (on the coffee table and in life), but they're also where I’ve found unexpected moments of growth and joy.
As the snowdrops emerge and our calendars fill up again, I'm reminded that there's beauty in both structure and spontaneity. Here's to finding small joys in the week ahead, whether that's planning your garden, discovering a creative project that seems impossible at first glance, or simply sharing texts with a friend who knows all your history.
Until next Sunday,
Abbey
Sunday Daily Dose of Green
Bonus Notes - Subscriber Section
I often have a few finds that don't fit into the main image (my favorite part of the newsletter and the hardest to get ‘right’) or the overall flow. For the next couple of newsletters, I'm going to experiment with putting a few bonus finds here for subscribers as a tiny thank you.
Do not be sucked into the snowdrop fantasy! I have been trying for YEARS to get these to clump and naturalize here. No idea why it’s been such a bust!
We have so many daffodils yet NONE are so perfectly arranged either! I've been soothe-binging old episodes of Gardeners World as it's the only thing my soul can handle and every spring episode is crammed with swathes of bulbs strewn in clumps like brushstrokes across every garden. How do they do it - and just so effortlessly!