10 Stunning Summer Sanctuaries for Outdoor Living

by EMERSON SLOANE

In Minnesota, we have a short summer season.  If people are not hitting the roads to spend those comparatively few summer days at their lake cabins, they're outside on their decks, in their yards, and on their patios with friends and family, cooking food, enjoying drinks, and storing up all the sun and energy they can, in full knowledge that in a short while, winter will return.

Since I moved here from the southeast, I've been more aware of the importance of summer than I ever have been.  Creating beautiful, comfortable, and useful outdoor living spaces, even in the smallest of spaces, has become a passion.  When you know that in a few months, the skies will darken again and the first flurries will appear in the air as soon as late October, you really start to embrace moments spent under the kiss of the sun, caressed by lake breezes.  Here are some outdoor sanctuary inspirations from some of the most talented designers in the country.  What will you take away from these beautiful images to incorporate into your own outdoor sanctuary?

Where is this?  You might be surprised to find out that this Moroccan inspired patio is located right in the heart of New York City.  Imagine the accessories you can find at local markets or online that will easily transform your nondescript patio city space into a vision of a getaway to Marrakesh.  

Blogger Nanette Wong has created a private sanctuary outside her charming apartment in the Mission district of San Francisco where midcentury meets modern.  This charming and simple space, filled with greenery shows that you don't need huge amounts of money to carve out a quiet space filled with beauty and tranquility.

This tucked away garden retreat space can be found in Costa Mesa, California.  Crisp, fresh, and clean, it invites day-long lounging either alone with a great book or a stack of magazines, or good times with friends, long into the evening.  The canopy framing turns this outdoor space into a true room of its own.  By Molly Wood Garden Design.

True alfresco living is the big statement of this patio in Seattle, Washington, designed by the firm of Scot Eckley, Inc.  The fireplace, the beautiful stone hardscape, the inviting seating and bright colors almost make you wonder why we would bother living indoors.

Sometimes sanctuary means solitary relaxation.  A place to get away from it all and enjoying your own company is the goal of this uniquely colorful and singularly inviting space created by R Brandt Design for a client in Dallas, Texas.  That amazing chair is manufactured by Kettal,  Ready for a nap?  A great book?  This is where it all starts.

Kate Eyre Garden Design crafted this meditative and relaxing outdoor sanctuary that is one of my personal favorites in the collection.  With a well-maintained lawn, container gardening and a bit of patio space, you can separate your work life from your desire to reconnect with nature, no matter if you live in the country or in suburbia.  Outside, in the back yard is where you can recharge your batteries.

You'd expect nothing less of this sublime extravagance of outdoor living direct from Santa Barbara, California.  This outdoor living room in Montecito was luxuriously designed and styled by J. Grant Design Studio.  This place is a natural extension of the interior part of the house, where a more generous climate allows seamless transitions between inside and out.  Overstuffed love seats and inviting cushions and throws make this space a destination day and night.

Across the pond, in London, space is at an expensive premium for those living in the city proper.  But, really, any urban space can be transformed into a corner of personal sanctuary--it just depends on how you're willing to live with and work with the space you have (or don't have.)  WHAT_architecture is the designer for this imaginative and purposeful use of the small space outside this city flat.  A simple bistro table with simple seating and an eye catching focal point with the tile can take you from the bustle of intense urban dwelling into mindful relaxation.

We move from strategic use of intense urban recreation space to this more expansive and generous footprint designed by Alderwood Landscape Architecture and Construction.  The outdoor "kitchen" and dining space elevated above the fire pit and relaxing space creates a true home under the sky.  The stonework is absolutely gorgeous, lending the whole design a rustic yet luxurious space.

Personally, this is my favorite in this collection of great outdoor living spaces.  Inspired by an elegant French country garden, Margie Grace of Grace Design Associates put together this space also in Santa Barbara, California.  Books everywhere, comfortable spaces to lounge and read or talk with friends and family...cozily sheltered and filled with greenery--this place is for contemplation, relaxation, and intellectual stimulation.  And completely achievable.  What are you waiting for?

© 2015 Haven Style.

AT HOME | Glassware for the Home Bar

by EMERSON SLOANE

Of the many objects used for home entertaining, glassware is among the most traditional.  For the properly stocked home bar, you'll need the following basics in as many a number as you wish for entertaining.  You can find all of these glasses in varying levels of quality and price from the highest-end stores down to department stores like Target.

BEER GLASSES 

Mugs and pilsner.  We like the pilsner because of its statuesque proportions.  They're used for many types of light beers.  The slender glass will reveal the color and  carbonation of the beer.  The broad top will help maintain a beer head.  Keep with tradition and use the pilsner only for beer.  Beer mugs, however, can also be used for iced coffee, ice cream sodas, and the like.  Some mugs have tops on them--believed to be a holdover from the days of the plague when they were meant to keep diseased flies out.

SNIFTERS

These are more about about shape than size for trapping the aroma in the bowl.  This glass is used to serve aged brown spirits such as brandy or whisky. You can put a fun spin on the snifter by using it at your next luncheon or dinner party with apple cider (in the fall) or lemonade (in summer.)  The large surface area of the glass helps evaporate the liquid.  The rounded bottom allows the glass to be cupped in the palm of the hand, warming the liquor.  Also used for serving cognac.

SPARKLING WINE (CHAMPAGNE) GLASSES

We prefer the classic coupe. The flute still makes lovely music, but when you sip from the wide glass bowl of a coupe glass, you'll feel like you're in an old Hollywood movie.  The stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink.  The bowl is designed to retain the carbonation.  The flute has largely taken over in popularity from the champagne coupe, a larger, shallow, broad-bowled stemmed glass.  Rumor has it that the shape of the coupe glass was modeled after the breast of Marie Antoinette although this is probably not at all true. Yet, it still makes for interesting chatter at a cocktail party.

COLLINS GLASSES

These are thinner than a highball, and a natural for a Tom or Rum Collins.  This is a tumbler used to serve mixed drinks.  You can also use it to serve Bloody Marys.  The Collins glass is between 8 and 14 ounces, but look for a 12 ounce glass as the perfect size.  They may be frosted or clear.

CORDIALS

Also known as "pony" glasses, these smaller, stemmed glasses are often used to serve after-dinner liqueurs, although a true "cordial" contains no alcohol at all and is a fruity drink diluted with water to achieve the desired level of sweetness.  But, in the US, especially, they are used to serve alcohol, sometimes even wine, when a restaurant or bar is looking to make a little more money per glass.

HIGHBALL GLASSES

At 8-12 ounces, these glasses are meant to accommodate everything from gin and tonics to bloody marys and sometimes even beer.  The highball glass is taller than an old fashioned glass and shorter and wider than a collins glass.  The highball glass is an elegant necessity for your bar since it is the most commonly used for all your mixed drinks.

MARTINI GLASSES

It seems like these days, martini glasses are filled with everything but soup.  Why mess with a classic?  Only a martini belongs in a martini glass.  A proper martini glass is a stemmed glass with a cone-shaped bowl and a flat base. Its form derives from the fact that all cocktails are traditionally served chilled and contain an aromatic element. Thus, the stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink, and the wide bowl places the surface of the drink directly under the drinker's nose, ensuring that the aromatic element has the desired effect.  I once had someone at a club serve me a martini in an old-fashioned or "rocks" glass on the rocks and I sent it back for a proper glass, minus the ice.

ROCKS GLASSES

Also known as a lowball glass or old-fashioned glass, these glasses are between 4 and 10 ounces.  It's a short tumbler for drinks such as whiskey with ice ("on the rocks").  They typically have a wide brim, thus releasing the flavours of the drink. They also typically have a thick base (or tunc), so that the non-liquid ingredients of a cocktail can be 'muddled' (mashed using a muddler) before the main liquid ingredients are added.

SHOT GLASSES

This one-sip only 2-ounce glass is not just for pouring and measuring.  You can use these glasses  for serving your best whiskey neat or your tequila fast. The Oxford English Dictionary's first citation for the term "shot glass" is in The New York Times during the 1940s, but several examples exist from the 1930s. However, although it was used by some, the term apparently did not come into common usage until much later.

WINE GLASSES

For good reasons, red wine is best in a balloon-shaped glass and white wine is best served in a smaller glass typically with a narrower nose.  Red wine glasses measure 8-14 ounces; white wine glasses measure 6-8 ounces.  High quality wine glasses are often made of lead crystal. Lead crystal glasses' advantages are not only primarily aesthetic. One factor of lead crystal is it is generally considered to have a higher index of refraction, thus changing the angle of the light passing through the material. Lead crystal is also rougher than glass on a microscopic level, allowing wine in the glass to breathe more efficiently when swirled in the bowl.   Glasses for red wine are characterized by their rounder, wider bowl, which increases the rate of oxidation.  As oxygen from the air chemically interacts with the wine, flavour and aroma are believed to be subtly altered. This process of oxidation is generally considered more compatible with red wines, whose complex flavours are said to be smoothed out after being exposed to air.  We recommend skipping the wine glasses that are without their stems.  The purpose of the stem is to hold the glass without having the hand alter the temperature of the wine by touching the bowl.

© 2015 Haven Style.  All rights reserved.

Room Anatomy | Erinn V Design Group

by EMERSON SLOANE

This room of the week is from the vision of Erinn Valencich of Erinn V Design Group, based in West Hollywood, California.  

Born and raised in the expansive farmlands of Northern California, Erinn began her design career early.  

"I grew up on a ranch outside Sacramento, " she explains. "My grandfather was a fine cabinet maker; I grew up making Barbie furniture out of his scrap wood! My father had studied architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright. We were a very creative family."

Erinn's style is simple elegance--filled with air and beauty and color.  Her expertise is sought after from producers of television programs ranging from The View to HGTV specials, and from celebrities of all kinds.  She's designed some of the finest home interiors and she's also tackled the complete design of The Downtown Grand, a 650 room hotel in Las Vegas.  

The gorgeous glass bottles in this room are from Elizabeth Lyons and all the furniture is designed and manufactured by Erinn's own brand.  The table is the Cage Base table from her very own furniture collection.