Remember drains on your back patio

When the builders were discussing our back patio, we spent a lot of time discussing gentle slopes that would allow for water to drain to the sides. In all of this discussion, I simply cannot fathom how Mr. Big or I didn't question whether we should put a drain somewhere in the patio.

Fast forward to this morning and you would find me rinsing down a few morsels of potting soil, just begging for a drain in this mammoth patio.


That would be today's little nugget...definitely think about those drains!

Reason enough

I'm speechless. The fireplace is reason enough to swoon over this room. But then they go and add gorgeous detailed mouldings and a laser cut wall hanging. Yes, it's sweet (and I'm usually not so into sweet design), but this room rocks it. I can't stop applauding the fire place. Bravo!

Image photographed by Rachel Smith

Exquisite and different lighting

These pendant lamps featured at Terrain are so unique. Wouldn't they be beautiful hanging as pendants in a bathroom? Or over a kitchen island? They might not give off the most amount of light, but boy, they are beautiful.

Finally, wine by the pool

The month after we moved into the house, I was accosted by a friend for drinking wine...gasp from a wine glass...while sitting on our pool steps. I suppose that I hadn't fully understood how difficult it would be to hunt down a single piece of broken glass in our monochrome pool (another home ownership secret revealed). Oh how quickly we learn.

Last weekend, Mr. Big and I had the delightful pleasure of visiting Old Montreal. A stroll through the streets yielded us the perfect solution, Govino wine glasses.


These puppies are shatterproof, reusable, recyclable plastic glasses that don't break the bank ($2.99). Supposedly they have properties consistent with crystal for color and aromatics, but we haven't yet tested that theory out yet.

I'm ready to give them a whirl. Poolside party anyone?

I could survive with this mirror in my house

From Elle Decor via From the Left Bank to the Right Coast