Contact Us
If you are interested in finding out more about Patina and Company, or require garden design, garden coaching, or consulting services for your interior decor project, please contact us by commenting below or by telephone at:
(905) 833-1744 during business hours, and ask for Leslie.
patinaandcompany 
Hello! I really love your blog & I would like to nominate you for the Liebster Award!
It is voluntary and you can view it here if you are interested! http://missingplacidity.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=410&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2
Great job!
Thank you so very much for this honour. I sincerely appreciate your nomination and I have also been enjoying your blog.
You are most welcome! you have earned it! I am glad you enjoy my blog. I hope you continue to enjoy!
Hi, remember me with the 6233 Singer sewing machine? I have a rather dumb question… where does the oil go? Everywhere online I’ve looked has been very cagey about that bit of information.
Ooooh, actual mechanical maintenance–I don’t actually know the answer to that and if mine needs oil it has been very co-operative without it all these years. I’ve only had it maintained once since 1986! Ask me any sewing question but I’m no help on maintaining any machine! I hope you find the answer . . . .
darn. Maybe I should just fire it up, if it dies I’ll just go back to hand sewing. Thank you.
Mine has been an amazing, carefree, maintenance-free workhorse! But if you can find a sewing machine maintenance person in your area to make sure it’s fine or tune it up I’m sure that it would be a good idea. Is it giving you symptoms that something is wrong?
where did you get the beautiful fence around your pool?
Hello Judy. We actually got that fence through a liquidation company that was involved with someone tearing down an house and garden to build new. So it is reclaimed–very solid compared to new ones.
No blog post from you since February. Are you well?
I hope you’re just busy!
Happy spring!
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. You’re right, I am ridiculously busy. I have my hand in too many things and I have not been able to post anything.
Thanks for checking up and have a lovely spring yourself! Take care.
Good to know all is well.
Take care of yourself. I live in Ontario too.
Isn’t it good to finally have spring?
Read your tips on drapery. Made sense to me and helped me articulate to my husband my thoughts on the subject . One question. We have Pacific Northwest coast property. This allows a view of green ( garden) , dark grey rocks, and various shades of sea & sky colors . That said, weather ( therefore available light) is mostly grey & rainy. My question is how do I best present ” the view” out of our windows? It seems that framing the windows with dark drapery best presents the outside, the way the glow of a tv is noticed in a darkened room. “Match drapes to wall color, ” you say… But you an see where this leads…. A dark tunnel. . Any thoughts to help me make this cottage truly a dream come true?
I’m glad you found the drapery article useful. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver Island), so I know exactly what you are talking about. Much more than in the east, the weather and landscape absolutely demand that you take them into account in your decorating and colour scheme. I think this explains why so many west coast homes have large windows with no window coverings at all.
You don’t say what your wall colour is, so I will assume that you have some flexibility with that.
In terms of grey, I would stay away from greys that have only black in them and, instead, go for warmer greys (greys that have a little brown in them) or blue-greys. However, I would prefer to look at other colour variations in the sea and sky, because I think you can get a more pleasant living environment if you go into blue-greens, greens or taupes (the warmer shades of driftwood and forest). Any of these can work with white walls, which are popular out there for a reason, I think. I love the lighter blue-greens or teal shades especially for west coast ocean views. The subtle version on the couch in this photo gives you the idea and I think this colour would be a beautiful frame for the sea, bringing out the complex colours of the ocean and vegetation instead of the colder shades: http://livingstonfurniture.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/LR-16-247×300.jpg All of the colours in the picture would work, in fact.
The taupes can work with coloured walls or accents as well. Taupe with light blue accents: http://cdna.tid.al/traditional-living-room-victoria-hagan-southport-connecticut-201208-3_1000-watermarked.jpg Page 34 of the September issue of Canadian House & Home shows design elements in a perfect taupe which evokes the warmer shades in driftwood. These tones would work beautifully with west coast views. Stay away from taupes that have too much yellow in them.
For greens, I love the way the green and white draperies in this picture unite the interior white walls with the trees outside: http://designfile.architecturaldigest.com/photo/traditional-living-room-gomez-associates-inc-kean-williams-giambertone-long-island-new-york-201208-3?sponsor=
Not every green goes with the Pacific Northwest, but I think the green used on the walls of this house is especially well-suited: http://www.onekindesign.com/2013/11/03/stunning-cliffside-property-overlooking-bc-coast/ It contains enough yellow to warm the views and enough grey to embrace them. Notice the beautiful variations of brown in the stone used in this house.
I also think that you can go for light blues in your draperies, if you have warm taupe or wood accents. Light blues (e.g. similar to Benjamin Moore Seattle Gray, or a little less grey than that) go beautifully. This photo (slide 7, hopefully) shows pale blue drapes working beautifully with the warm accent of wood in a B.C. waterfront home: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/AD100/2010/robert_stern/stern_slideshow_102007/jcr:content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_pagination_container/cn_slideshow/item7.rendition.slideshowThumb.arsl08_stern.jpg
I would not use these blues in the absence of taupes or subtle wood accents; however, as they appear too cold on their own.
There are also some shades of smoky plum that seem to work with coastal skies; they are warm and perhaps they pick up colours in the sunsets.
Although I have seen darker teal and blue drapes used in very large houses, I would stay away from any dark versions of any of the colours I am recommending and try to keep the colours fairly light. In the case of west coast light, you want to look more to the colours you see on brighter days for inspiration, rather than the intense, moody shades of the rainy days. That way, you’re still working with the natural colours but emphasizing the most livable versions of them. Also, darker colours will chop up lighter walls too much, and I don’t think you want both the walls and drapes to be dark in your setting.
Linen-white drapes also look breezy and bright, and frame a waterfront view unobtrusively. I think they look particularly good with unweathered cedar interior features, and that natural cedar is popular on the coast for its ability to warm the sometimes chilling look of west coast ocean views. The house in the above slide also has a room draped in white that could, nonetheless, never seem cold because of the subtle warm accent colours: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/AD100/2010/robert_stern/stern_slideshow_102007/_jcr_content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_pagination_container/cn_slideshow/item5.rendition.slideshowHorizontal.arsl06_stern.jpg
I hope you find some of that helpful, and I would love to know what you decide to do. Best wishes with your gorgeous setting!
Dear PatinaandCompany, Leslie
I’ve just read your wonderful post from Sept 2012 about using drapery to make a room feel more expansive. ( I googled “décor expand appearance of window”). I am so impressed that you have the detailed (shall I say, scientific?) information about the ways the eye receives a space.
Could you help me with this question?
In addition to, or perhaps instead of draperies, can I use the wall that surrounds the window for the same expanding result?
In my New York City studio apartment, the 2 windows (one large frame around the two) have a blank wall on each side, about 36″ wide. I’m thinking that I could expand the appearance of the outside view either with paint or wallpaper. The concept is to make those two panels of wall look like the vista in the windows.
The vista is: a row of brick townhouses about a block away, a large slice of sky filling the upper half of the window space, as you get closer to the window, you can see slightly to the side, a lovely red brick church from 1800’s and a church yard below (I’m on the 5th floor)
If I use faux brick on the two walls, to make them look like an extension of the townhouses and church, I fear that would visually push the walls inward.
If I use paint in sky tones, I doubt it will have much effect, because the sky changes coloring all the time.
Or, what if I try to “match” the view… I could take a high quality photo of the actual view and have it turned into a wallpaper-mural.
Could you share your opinion about this opportunity? I could email you two photos of the view if that is helpful. Many thanks for any thoughts you can provide.
Kathleen
Hello, and thank you for this interesting question (and your kind feedback about my post). I would definitely generate better ideas with a couple of photos to work from, so please go ahead and email me the pictures you have of the view and the layout of these windows. You can send them to lwhicher@rogers.com. I agree that putting a brick finish on your walls would visually pull them inward and make the room smaller, so I probably would not go that route. I am wondering how much variation is in the brick colours outside. I look forward to seeing your pictures and considering how to expand your room. –L