Marianne Brown, W Design Collective, Angus and Zara Gordon Lennox, Gordon Castle, Yellow Kitchens and more on Weekend Meanderings.
WEEKEND MEANDERINGS
Good morning and a happy Saturday to you! Today I am joining my friends Kim and Juliet for our weekend meanderings series.
How was your week? Did you have a nice Valentine’s Day? What did you do? We went to lunch, took a nice long walk and then later shared some chocolate ganache mousse that I made. A low key but enjoyable celebration.
The time between winter and spring is so strange weather-wise, one day it is hot, sunny and 70 and then next gray, chilly and feeling a little winter like. On the sunny days I find myself thumbing through gardening magazines and seed catalogs dreaming of a cottage garden that I would love to create. What about you? How is your weather? Have you ordered your seeds and bulbs?
I have lots to share today so let’s meander.
One to Follow~W Design Collective
W Design Collective is a new to me design firm I discovered on Pinterest. The moody, collected interiors are just my style, they are timeless. Each room is filled with beautiful art, interesting collections of furniture and fabric and they feel homey.
W Design Collective was started by former blogger Marianne Brown. Marianne shared her home remodel and diy projects and from that took on design projects for other people. Over the years her firm has grown from a one woman(Marianne) to a 16 person firm designing projects all over the world.
Their mission statement: “to create enduring spaces and experiences that serve as a reflection of our clients, honors the principles of sound architecture, and celebrates the soulfulness of home.”
If you are looking for design help for a project Marianne and W Design Collective offer virtual consultations for smaller jobs as well as full service new builds. Or do a consultation via The Expert.
More about W Design Collective
Why this Utah designer got rid of junior designer positions in her firm
GATHRE CREATIVES FT. MARIANNE BROWN OF W DESIGN COLLECTIVE
Designer Spotlight W Design Collective
You can see more or Marianne and W Design Collective work on their blog, Instagram, W Design Collective Website.
Design Trends~ Yellow Kitchens
Every week there seems to be a NEW design trend. Recently I have been reading and seeing yellow kitchen all over the place. It is a sunny and beautiful color and in the right house and space looks beautiful. What do you think?
Truthfully, I am a white kitchen girl. Yes, I know they are “out” and colorful kitchen and dark cabinets are in, but I personally have never followed the trends. I think people should live with and how they like, if you love the farmhouse look, or are a minimalist, love white rooms and furniture, enjoy. We only have one life, enjoy it.
Gordon Castle
Did you see the spectacular Gordon Castle gardens in Veranda magazine? The gardens and the story are inspiring and a testament to the love and hard work of the owners, Angus Gordon Lennox and his wife Zara. They have transformed a castle and its grounds in need of love into a beautiful and sustainable estate.
Completed as one of Scotland’s largest houses in the 1770s by the Duke of Gordon, Gordon Castle is the historical home of the Gordons, one of Scotland’s oldest families. The castle was used during the Great War as an auxiliary hospital for soldiers returning from the front and was then sold back to the Crown in 1938 following two successive deaths leaving the family with unmanageable death duties to pay. It fell into disrepair before being ‘rescued’ by Lieutenant General Sir George Gordon Lennox, after World War Two. He was forced to knock down much of the original house due to dry and wet rot, but he and his wife began the loving restoration, which Angus Gordon Lennox (Grandson of Sir George) and his wife Zara, continue today.
When Gordon and Zara took over the estate in 2008, their idea was to restore the 8 acre walled garden, make it sustainable and create an income from it. The entire garden was grassed over and they only thing left were 250 fruit trees trained to the garden walls. While that sounds like a money maker the remote location of the estate meant that they had to create and sell products with a long shelf life.
They decided to grow herbs and vegetables that could be used with the fruit to make products, apples to make cider, vegetables for chutneys, lavender for essential oils and gin. The castle now produces over 200 products that are sold worldwide.
In addition to the products they create and sell, the Castle offers self-catering cottages, salmon fishing, the Walled Garden tours, a cafe, fresh produce and tween and bone china products inspired by the castle. Angus and Zara have diversified and created a sustainable business that can hopefully support and keep the castle running and in good repair for generations to come.
If you have a trip planned to Scotland, add Castle Gordon to your itinerary, it is just 50 miles from Inverness and is not to be missed.
For more details about visits and accommodations please visit Gordon Castle.
How to Buy Jeans
Do you have trouble buying jean? Me too! It is almost like buying a swimsuit and my least favorite piece of clothing to buy. On Signature Style this month Kim and Cindy wrote about jean trends and styling jeans after 50. They did all of the work for us and have come up with the perfect pair for every size, shape and style. Thank you Kim and Cindy, we really appreciate all of your hard work!
Speaking of things that are hard to buy, sheets! Juliet has done the research for us and this week shared her thoughts and new linen sheets for her primary bedroom refresh! You can see all of the details on her post.
Read, Watch, Listen
30 Areas of Life Where Subtracting Can Add More
David Lebovitz on the Paris food market: the Marché d’Aligre
How To Stimulate The Vagus Nerve To De-Stress And Find Calm
1 Thing We All Forget When We’re Not Feeling “Good Enough”
I can’t wait to see The Taste of Things.
Inside the World’s Largest Comics and Cartoons Collection
How a ragtag band of internet friends became the best at forecasting world events
Classical Figures Plunge into Contemporary Life in Alexey Kondakov’s Era-Blurring Paintings
How Much Should a Big Mac Cost?
In case you missed it~This Weeks Blog Posts
This is one of the bests books I‘ve read this year and this is one of my favorite outfits! You can read the entire post and see everything else I shared.
The trench is classic and it a piece that you can wear again and again, year after year as are the rest of the pieces from this outfit.
February is the month of Love and Friendship. There are many things to celebrate in February aside from Valentine’s Day and you can read all about them.
Healthy living and a health journey looks different to everyone and may look different as we age. I shared 15 Easy Tips to Live & Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle.
Last but not least, Friday Favorites! Sheet pan meals, gluten free quiche, books, fashion, decor and lots more including this outfit for Spring.
Outfit details.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
I hope that you enjoyed Marianne Brown, W Design Collective, Angus and Zara Gordon Lennox, Gordon Castle, Yellow Kitchens and more on Weekend Meanderings.
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Have a great day! Don’t forget to pop over visit my friends Kim and Juliet you can find the links below.
If you missed any of the previous Weekend Meandering posts you can find them all here.
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Elizabeth I love a yellow kitchen! I’m a huge fan of yellow in decor.. Maybe it’s a California thing. White is always wonderful for kitchen, I can’t really get on board with the dark walls trends. I don’t like dark spaces at all, and they seem to be everywhere. Every time I went dark with paint, I regretted it, but that’s me.
The Gordon Castle is beautiful. What a wonderful story!
I just read your healthy lifestyle post. I am sorry I missed it. It was so great and I added it to my blog this morning. I think this is the time of year we need all those reminders to start on a good path.
I think you Valentine’s Day sounds perfect. I like low key too.
Thank you for sharing the jean post!
Hope you have a great weekend. We have these three days off and have all rain in the forecast., I still hope to get to the garden center!
xo
Happy weekend, Elizabeth! And a holiday weekend at that. Thank you so much for sharing my European linen post … I’m loving these sheets so much and wonder what took me so long to try linen. I also enjoyed Kim and Cindy’s run-down of denim styles and glad they did all the hard work so I don’t have to. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I love that yellow color in the kitchens. My mom loved a deep yellow kitchen, and at the time I did not. But these make me reconsider and I do love color in the kitchen. I love white kitchens too and have had both. I guess it depends on what a house call for … but I’m a lover of all kitchens in all colors. Looks like I need to pick up the latest Veranda … Gordon castle looks enchanting. My list of places to visit continues to grow. Haha. xoxo