Oprah's Santa Barbara Guest House

I saw Oprah's estate in her own magazine a few years ago and have never forgotten it's jaw dropping beauty.  Yes, she paid $50 million dollars for it (and that was before the decorating)!  And yes, she has her own tea house!   And a flower garden with 'hundreds of rose bushes, thousands of hydrangeas and a sea of dahlias!'

But, it was the guest house interiors that were featured that day that left me wanting to move in there.....she can enjoy the 'big' house, but who would want to leave the guest house?  Would you?

And guess who her decorators were?  Her hairdresser and his partner......who were wannabe decorators!  I'd say they are pretty good at decorating, wouldn't you?  Of course, when it comes to decorating, money talks.....sometimes!  In this case, it helped.......along with a lot of great taste!

Hope you enjoy!  I'll do her Hawaiian property another day!

Oprah's Santa Barbara Estate

Guest House Living Room Fireplace

Dining Room

(Collection of art by a single artist)

Dining Room

Library Fireplace

Library opposite fireplace

(Notice the African American doll in pride of place)

Den

(This den was designed around the large Lincoln penny)

Den Fireplace

Study

(Green (serene) study designed around painting of black lab above sofa)

Guest House Master Bedroom

(Lavender for optimum relaxation)

Master Bedroom Fireplace

Tea House - Oprah's Sanctuary

(Surrounded by thousands of roses, hydrangeas and dahlias)

Tea House

Tea House

All photos via Oprah.com

Garden Arbors

Let me know which you prefer - the painted arbors or the natural look?

Comments welcome below!  You can guess my favorite!

Images 1 and 2 Country Living, Images 3, 4 Unknown

Image 6 Pottery Barn, Image 7 John Carloftis

My Blue Heaven

Country Living

Carolyne Roehm

Mario Buatta via Architectural Digest

Diamond and Barratta

Coastal Living

Traditional Home

Carolyne Roehm

Carolyne Roehm

Carolyne Roehm

Mario Buatta via Architectural Digest

Mario Buatta via Architectural Digest

Unknown

Unknown

Loving the artful designs of Kit Kemp!

Remember the Crosby Street Hotel and dog art I mentioned a few days ago?  I thought I would share that lobby with you, along with some of Kit Kemp's other hotel rooms and her private residence in London, while it is still fresh on our minds.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Crosby Street Hotel Lobby

Crosby Street Hotel Drawing Room

   

Crosby Street Hotel Lobby

London hotel suite

London hotel suite

The Kemp's townhouse living room

The Kemp's library

The Kemp's dining room

The Kemp's master bedroom

The Kemp's kitchen

Hotel photos via Firmdale Hotels

Kemp's townhouse photos via Elle Decor

The Roses

Arrived in New York just in time to see Will Ryman's art installation of sculptured roses!  They ranged in size from 4' tall to 25' tall and were placed in the Park Avenue boulevards between 57th and 67th Streets for all to enjoy........the exhibition lasted from January to May 31.

Take note of the giant lady bugs, beetles, etc.  These pics were taken just as they were beginning to be removed.....until then they were surrounded by grass.  Delightful!

Photos via Kay Furlong

Serendipity II

My second serendipitous moment in New York came when we happened upon this spectacular "Circle of Zodiac Heads" exhibition by controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.  We were approaching The Plaza Hotel when I saw this collection of bronze sculptures, each standing on a post approximately 20' tall.  The heads are about 4 feet tall each and weigh about 800 pounds.

After doing a little research on this temporary New York exhibition, I discovered that Weiwei is the same artist who displayed over a 100,000,000 porcelain sunflower seeds at the Tate Modern in London earlier this year.  I remember reading about it at the time and now know that Weiwei captures attention to help expose the true living conditions and repressions in China.
 
This is a very impressive work of art and I felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to see them first hand.

For more on this artist and his creations, check out this address http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/8507394/Ai-Weiwei-Zodiac-Heads-Somerset-House-review.html

Photos via Kay Furlong