French Basketeer in Romantic Homes

French Basketeer is in the April issue of Romantic Homes Magazine, I am so thrilled! The event was the arrival of our Norfolk Terrier puppy, "Honey." We invited our friends, family and everyone's dogs, of course.....and we had a party on the terrace and under the loggia.

The Editors started the layout at our kitchen door, where I have the concrete hound I gifted to my Mom a few years ago for Mothers' Day:

Next in the layout was the dessert table: do I love burlap? YES! Here layered in with some pressed damask tablecloths and French silver and other goodies. The lace water bottles are Evian, designed by Christian Lacroix; every year Evian does a limited edition bottle, though it's hard to find in the US. Here is my shot of the table:And here is the one in the magazine:
I wanted an old world theme, so we had lots of neutrals, greens, and white flowers. Most of the flowers were from the Pacific Palisades farmers market, and a lot of greens came from the garden; especially boxwood, which was used on this page for accent for the napkins, on the little rum cakes. I like greenery with the ice and bottles; it has a nice look, and avoids the klinking of bottles.

My friend Susie did the food for me, and it was a treat to not have to do all the food; it was all super yummy and included Beef Wellington in puff pastry with various sauces:

And salmon:
The magazine did a nice montage of various elements:
Dessert was rum cakes, other misc cakes, bars, and caramels dusted with lavender sea salt.

Here is another page from the magazine: when I first saw this, I was aghast: my silver in a pile! Why didn't I have time to organize it? But everyone thinks it is "attainable" and not too organized. I love how the roses looked here:

My favorite page of the spread is the full page of Honey in her doghouse; I had to throw turkey bits in the dog house a few times to get her in there so we could take this photo; she is quick and was so happy running around with all the dogs. I added the homemade boxwood garland and winter wheat, though the dogs ate all but one piece of the wheat off that day. The dog house now belongs to my friend & neighbor Yvette.

We hauled the pine "bakers table" desk outside, which has over the years been waxed to a nice cognac color and has served me well:

The little dog on that page is my friend Priscilla's Louie, she brought her Chihuahua in a pink tu-tu: what you can't see in the magazine are the jeans Louie is wearing:I did ask everyone to bring a toy for the little girl, so I wanted to have them leave with a gift: orange blossom, wildflower and avocado flower honey in three sizes of jars, with silk remnant tops tied with fine jute string; you can't see the tags well, but they say "with thanks and sweet puppy kisses - HONEY" and overstamped Merci. Also honey-scented soaps in tiny guest-sizes:

There are several pages from the magazine I can't upload, including the tea service:

It is so amazing to see your home in a magazine, I thank Jacqueline and the Editors of Romantic Homes for honoring us by having us in this issue!