P. Allen Smith

I really enjoyed this NY Times Article on P. Allen Smith. As terrible as I feel saying this, I really did not have any idea who P. Allen Smith was before stumbling across the article. As an avid subscriber of Martha Stewart, she is my go-to gal for project inspiration, recipes and etiquette advice. I like to read her Monthly calendar so I know when the appropriate times for me might be to say, air out my duvet's, prune my roses and start baking that Christmas cake. Do I follow her advice to the T? Sorry Martha! I'm not nearly as prudent as you are... It helps that she has branded herself so well and has been able to apply the Martha Stewart name to so many everyday goods and objects. Whether you like her designs all of the time, or not, you know you are getting an aesthetically minded object when you purchase her goods. Okay, enough of Martha- for now. P. Allen Smith's gardens are beautiful, his home is really the "everyman's" home, and can I tell you how much I just love fans on a porch? Of course you can really only have that in the South... I've always felt a Southerner at heart. I am absolutely drooling over his outdoor bathing area.

{photo credits: Robert Rausch for The New York Times}

Spending a good amount of time on the shoreline I understand perfectly the concept of the outdoor shower, but an outdoor bath to soak, relax and (privately!) enjoy the out of doors just seems like a dream.

And I love the lighting in this kitchen... has me giddy.

{photo credits: Robert Rausch for The New York Times}

By the way, did anyone else think that the September issue of Martha Stewart Living was lackluster? Martha looked A-mazing on the cover (maybe too good?) but the rest seemed kind of... meh. I did appreciate that Swans Island Blankets, beautiful, homespun wool blankets from an island I grew up going to off the coast of Maine and one which my family still frequents, got a nod on page 46 but the rest was kind of dull and maybe a bit redundant?