Several years ago, while meandering down to Petite Riviere, I found a carpenter’s box at a little antique store, just closing up for the season.  Now, this old pine container is the centrepiece for our family dining table.  In the past few weeks, our carpenter box has welcomed spring with a profusion of low-mounded white chrysanthemums, bird’s-foot ivy, and an unknown white-spotted plant (it looks better than it sounds).  Amongst the plants and flowers are two cream-coloured pillar candles.  And that’s it—white, green, and cream in an old brown box delivers us from late-winter blahs.  As the seasons turn, the plants rotate.  Fresh ivy, and maybe geraniums are early summer’s call.  In the summer, fresh cut lavender from our garden fill the senses, and maybe some miniature roses.  By late fall, when the plants are tired, the living plants move out to the garden porch, and the box receives evergreen boughs and branches of red winterberries.  Of course, when the first daffodils and tulips appear in the stores, the whole cycle begins again.  Whatever the season, just remember colour, texture, and fragrance, and remember to line the box with a green garbage bag for watering spills!     

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My new favourite book is “Living in the Countryside” by Barbara & Rene Stoeltie.  It’s a Taschen imprint (www.taschen.com).  It was published in 2003, but I just found it last week.  The Stoelties are already known for their Country House Series, featuring houses in England, France, and Tuscany, of course, but more interestingly to Northern Clime living are the houses in Sweden.  My only other Taschen book is this one on Sweden, and I must say, it enriches the mind.  The bleached woods, the simple fabrics, and the subtle use of paint are lessons to be emulated.  If you haven’t heard about the Country Swedish line of furniture and wool rugs, you should seek out their website too (www.countryswedish.com)

The Stoelties don’t stop with Sweden; they also feature country houses in Holland, Ireland, Majorca, and Greece.  This is their first compilation book, so if you haven’t already introduced yourself to the individual tomes, you might want to start with this hefty coffee- table-sized survey.  These homes are both beautiful and sensual; some refer to the Stoelties’ private glimpses as “decorator porn”.  

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It’s springtime, and I’m off to Toronto for the National Home Show and a walking tour of Davenport Road’s antique and design shops.  I’ll report back on those findings next time.  Of course, I won’t see many simple country houses in big TO, but I hope to learn something that helps us to enjoy living simply on the South Shore.

Thoughts?