Velvet & Linen

patina farm book update...

Over the past few months, Steve and I have been spending most of our free time working on our book, Patina Farm. It's been a lot of hard work, but we are thrilled with the final layout. 

After looking at MANY options for the front cover, our team decided on this gorgeous image of our breakfast area. I really love how this photo captures so many of the design details that make Patina Farm so unique. The old beams and the stone fireplace, the soft color palette, the open floor plan... 

Our amazing photographer, Lisa Romerein, framed this image so that your eye is drawn through the breakfast room to the living room beyond. I love seeing a glimpse of the limestone quatrefoil and the Gracie wall paper panels that hide our television. Even the collection of plaster pieces from Giannetti's studio hanging on the wall makes an appearance.

image by Lisa Romerein 

 To balance the interior image on the front cover of the book, we selected this exterior photo for the back cover. I think this photo feels so welcoming... the door is open, inviting everyone to come inside for a visit. 

image by Lisa Romerein 

Lisa Romerein took both photographs during our Veranda Magazine photo shoot last summer. She is so talented!!!

Steve created fantastic drawings for each of the chapters. Each sketch points out unique details in the various spaces of our house and gardens. Steve also includes floorpans to help you understand how our house is organized. Click on the image of this drawing to get a clearer look...

 

Steve and I finished our tasks for completing the book last week.  Our talented book designer, Doug Turshen, and his associate Steve Turner are also done doing their magic. It's now in the hands of our wonderful editor, Madge Baird, and her team at Gibbs Smith. 

We can't wait to share it with you when Patina Farm is published in Spring 2016!

To stay up to date on everything else that's going on at Patina Farm, please follow me on Instagram (VelvetandLinen).

xo

Brooke

 

mano farm...

 

Every Sunday, Steve and I take our wicker shopping basket to the Ojai Farmer's Market. A couple of months ago, I stopped at one of the booths to admire this lovely herb bouquet.

 

 Shawn Fulbright, the woman at the booth, introduced herself as one of the owners of Mano Farm, a local organic produce and seed farm. I recognized the charming graphics on the seed packages. I've seen them in several garden stores. It was such a nice surprise to meet the farmer behind the seeds!

 

 I mentioned to Shawn that I was new to the process of growing vegetables from seed, and she was kind enough to invite me to visit Mano Farm so I could learn about the process. I enthusiastically responded "Absolutely!!!"

Last Thursday, I drove to Mano Farm to get my hands dirty planting seeds! 

I have to say that there is nothing better than "hands on" learning.

Shawn and I planted a couple of trays of pepper seeds before heading to the greenhouse, where Shawn watered our newly planted seeds.

 

Shawn uses these plastic trays divided into small cells for seed planting. We placed two seeds in each cell and covered them with a thin layer of seed starting mix.

The greenhouse was full of trays filled with seedlings of varying sizes.

These lettuces are almost ready to be transplanted into the garden....

Mano Farm is so charming and serene... the perfect place to grow vegetables and flowers.

 

All of the vegetables were thriving under the warm sun in the fertile soil.

 

I loved how they mixed flowers and vegetables in the same area.

 

Sweet peas were starting their ascent...

 

Hints of Spring color were popping up in the fields.

 

It was a pleasure to meet Kim, Robert, and Hester (pictured here with Shawn), a few of the wonderful people who help to grow everything at Mano Farm.

 

If you happen to find yourself at the Ojai Farmer's Market, please visit the Mano Farm booth and support this local farm.

 

You can pick up some produce and herbs, or some seeds for your own garden....

 

or a bouquet of flowers for your home!

To learn more about Mano Farm and their mission, please visit their website.

In light of my garden obsession, I've decided to celebrate my birthday in June with a garden tour in England! I've just started my research, but our flight is booked. I plan to document the trip here on Velvet and Linen as well as on Instagram. I'm so excited!!! 

During my research, I found this book, The English Country House Garden,  by George Plumptre to be very helpful... 

If you have any recommendations for "must see" gardens while Steve and I are in England, I'd really appreciate if you would share them in the comment section of this post. 

xo

Brooke

 

patina farm update: exterior stone and cedar wood siding...

I'm so glad you stopped by! Well then, where were we when I wrote last week? ...

Inside, the stone walls are starting to dry and are (thankfully...) looking less yellow and more cream... 

 

I know the outlets for the sconces look low... We are actually planning to use swing arm lights to help us read the newspaper in the morning at the breakfast table.

The firebrick hearth will be flush with the wood floor.

 

Tim Lee (our plasterer extraordniare) has started plastering the ceiling in the great room. 

 

The clean plaster is a wonderful contrast to the antique beams.

 

In our Master Bedroom, Tim Grant, from Superior Masonry Builders, is installing the antique firebrick in a herringbone pattern. The firebrick will be much lighter when it dries.

Our original mantel  didn't work out (we discovered it had a dark spot located in the center). This is our antique mantel from Exquisite Surfaces that we've selected for our bedroom. It's going to look stunning in the simple contemporary space.

 

Let's go outside where Tim Grant's wonderful crew is installing the wall stone at the base of the house.

 

The area to the left of the arched steel doors will become a built-in seating area.

 

The steps outside our bedroom will be covered in stone...

 

Steve's wood sided office will have a stone base as well. 

 

Antique barn beams surround the three glass doors to Steve's office.

 

Beyond Steve's office, you can catch a glimpse of the chicken coop.

 

Inside the coop, the "Chicken Kitchen" has been covered in stained Cedar boards this week. Superdeck "Weathered Grey" was used on all of the Cedar, which will turn a silvery gray as it oxidizes. 

 

 

The house is starting to solidify!

 

The stone is also being placed at the base of the entry.

 

This coming week, the tower will officially become the "Stone Tower". 

 

Steve gave me two drawings detailing the tower windows... no stone surround or...

 

a 4" stone surround detail? I think I like this one... Thoughts?

 

Please feel free to ask questions! I will answer all of your questions in the comment section of this post. For Velvet and Linen e-mail subscribers, you can click here to link to this post and the comment section.

Finally, thank you to our General Contractor Harold Rody, Owner of Craftworks for his amazing coordination and oversight of the building of Patina Farm!

 

As always, I wish you a wonderful week!

 

xo

Brooke 

patina farm...

My friend Joan writes one of my favorite blogs, For the Love of a House. Joan's blog is about her and her husband Dan's "journey turning a once unloved antique farmhouse" into their home.  

In a recent post, Joan beautifully explained how she and Dan moved from Texas to New Hampshire even though they didn't know anyone who lived there. As much as they tried to convince themselves that it was crazy to purchase an old farmhouse that needed a lot of work, they felt it was their destiny. This was their house. Many people may have thought that Joan and Dan were crazy, but I completely understood their passion. 

Like Joan and Dan, Steve and I believe that things in our life happen for a reason....

Steve and I have always had a dream of  living on a farm when we retire. The farm would include gardens and animals and room for an art studio. Unfortunately we never thought we'd be able to afford it. Then we discovered Ojai. Not only is Ojai beautiful (you can see some of the natural beauty of Ojai in my last post), but the land is a great deal cheaper than the property in the neighborhood where we live now. 

For the past several months, Steve and I have been spending our free time exploring Ojai. At first we thought we would buy an older home and renovate it, but after doing some research we realized it would be easier to find a piece of land and build our dream home from scratch. That's when we found this...

During the weeks before we made an offer on this property, Steve and I spent our morning walks trying to convince each other that we were crazy. During the same walks we also shared our dreams of our future life in Ojai. Steve will paint. I'll take art classes, garden and raise chickens and a couple small horses (yes, I know. I'm crazy!). We will take long walks into town, and we will  continue to design homes for our clients, of course!

For the past couple of months, we visited the lot on the weekends. Steve drove up the coast several times to talk to  Sherry at the Ojai Planning Department to see if there were any issues with the property. During one of his visits, Steve sent me this photo. One of our neighbors was grazing his miniature horses on our lot. We both saw this as an omen. We were meant to live here. 

Here is Steve's first sketch of Patina Farm...

The main living space of the house will be very open, with the living room on the left, the dining area in the center and the kitchen on the right...

The entrance to the  master bedroom will be on the left, at the far end of the living room. There will be a garden outside of the master bedroom. Beyond the garden, a guest house, built out of an old barn, will sit here with a view between the trees. 

Although it will take a couple of years to become a reality, Steve and I are so excited about our new home! We hope that you will join us on this new adventure as we dream, design and build Patina Farm!

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.

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