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Landscapes

Rising From the Mud and the Ashes – Restoring Montecito

August 30, 2019 By //  by Rena McDaniel 16 Comments

*This post was originally published on The Art Of Outdoor Living by Margie Grace

We hear about disasters around the globe on a daily basis, but it’s hard to imagine that such devastation will ever hit so close to home. In early December 2017, the Thomas Fire swept through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties to become the second largest fire in California history. On January 9, 2018, before the fire was even fully contained, the first measurable rain of the season fell, generating massive debris flows that devastated Montecito. In a matter of moments, 23 people lost their lives and over 400 homes, 33 commercial structures and 92 outbuildings were destroyed or damaged.

The debris flows left this site covered in three feet of mud and detritus. Below are images from before, during and after the disaster. The images on these pages were taken a mere eight months after the award-winning garden – which we had built in 2004 – was restored from the ground up.

Before the destruction. This naturalistic garden, prior to the disaster, was home to a range of wildlife. Notable species included coyotes, bobcats, hawks, quail, dove, owls and mallards. Songbirds, bats, butterflies, native pollinators, reptiles and amphibians are plentiful too.

Before the destruction. The pre-disaster garden was designated Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

Before the destruction. The modest residence, guest house (above) and garage flank the motor court. The structures – pre-disaster – were covered in vines and adorned with charming pieces of sculpture and comfortable, inviting furniture.

January 2018. Several feet of thick mud cover the driveway. Mud entered the garage and guest house, destroying two cars and most of the surfaces and furnishings inside. The main residence, having been built two feet above base flood elevation, escaped inundation, both inside and – incredibly – in the crawl space below.

January 2018. Mixed with the mud, debris from all over Montecito – massive beams and other lumber from decimated homes; broken ceramics, furniture, figurines and garbage – are strewn about the property.

January 2018. The pond is filled with mud and debris.

Clean up. February-May 2018

The mud was sifted meticulously and sorted into piles of soil, wood/green waste, boulders and garbage.

Garden objects and building materials were salvaged for re-use. Most of the salvaged items were from on-site — but some came from as far away as Casa de Maria, over a quarter-mile upstream.

Rather than haul all of the mud offsite, we built three massive berms: two by the pond and one along the west property line – the only places on site where the soil could be placed without impacting surviving trees.

May 2019 – Eight months after restoration. “Sycamore and Poppy Mountain”, a massive mound of mud, was put in place and compacted during the clean up, above and below. We shaped the mound and added boulders, steps and gravel paths. Newly planted Sycamores, poppies and other natives are growing at an astounding rate in the fertile soil.

May 2019 – Eight months after restoration. The garden and grounds are nearly back to their former glory.

Life has returned with a vengeance. So far this year, we’ve counted three batches of Mallard ducklings and two rounds of owlets in the new owl box. Quail are beginning to venture back as the plant shelter grows denser. Songbirds, hummers and butterflies are superabundant as well.

As the wildland surrounding the property continues to recover, it’s just a matter of time before the larger mammals return and this beautiful place is once again a burgeoning wildlife sanctuary.

Our sincere thanks to our clients and the whole restoration team: Accurate Construction (clean up), Giffin and Crane (general contractors) and Dan Siebert (Estate Gardener) – both for his institutional knowledge during the garden restoration and for his ongoing care and stewardship.

Rising From the Mud and the Ashes – Restoring MontecitoRead More

Filed Under: Article, Design, Family, Friends, Garden Design, Gardens, Home, Landscapes, Montecito Gardens Tagged With: disasters, Margie Grace, mudslide 2017. rebuilding, The Art Of Outdoor Living

Montecito Gardens: Our house featured in Santa Barbara Seasons magazine!!!

January 24, 2018 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 2 Comments

GLORIOUS GARDENS: FRENCH COUNTRY STYLE MEETS CALIFORNIA COOL

When Penny and Adam Bianchi bought a modest slice of undeveloped land off of East Valley Road 20 years ago, they had a golden opportunity to build a custom home in the heart of Montecito. The property sits at the entrance to the pristine 42-acre Ennisbrook Preserve, and Oprah’s vast estate borders the property on two other sides. A single home edges the property in the north. “The terrain and plants reminded me of France,” recalls Penny, “so we went to Provence and took thousands of pictures of roofs and crooked roofs and chimneys and floors and doorknobs.”

The Bianchi’s worked with Grace Design Associates to create their own Shangri-La that sits lightly on the land blends in naturally with the surroundings. Photograph by Amy Barnard.

Once home, they began to build a French country-style home and a guesthouse, surrounded by about 2.5 acres of magical gardens and wildlife habitat. The walls were washed with lime from pigment mined from the ground in Provence—no paint was applied at all. “Lime wash lets the mortar breathe,” explains Penny. “This is how stone and brick houses in Provence are traditionally treated.”

Penny has worked as an interior designer for nearly 50 years and has filled her home with antiques from all over the world. Much of her collection was inherited from her mother and grandmother, and Penny appears to have inherited her family’s amazing knack for finding one-of-a-kind treasures, as well. “I’ve been collecting things my whole life because I don’t like anything new,” she says. “I like everything old, weathered and used. Even my linens and light fixtures are mostly antiques.”

Generous use of color and texture spotlight Penny Bianchi’s great eye for detail. As an interior designer for nearly 50 years, she uses her own home to showcase her designs. Photograph by Amy Barnard.

High ceilings and plentiful windows fill the home with light throughout the day. The main entrance leads into a spacious hall, which leads to the bedroom (there’s only one) and master bath on one side, and kitchen, office and guest bathrooms on the other. Adam Bianchi works in the office—he sold his family’s poultry business 30 years ago and has run Penny’s business operations ever since. Penny changes the furniture slipcovers several times a year so the mood always reflects the season.

As an interior designer for nearly 50 years, Penny Bianchi uses her own home to showcase her eye for detail to charming effect. Photograph by Amy Barnard.

Treasures that appear at every turn include antique lace lampshades and oriental rugs, screens and other works by French artist Marcel Vertes, shower tiles from 17th-century France and an 1860s bathtub from Paris. The guest powder room features bird murals with bird figurines that hover over the walls. The kitchen has furniture pieces rather than built-in cabinets.

Views of the gardens—designed by Grace Design Associates—are always on display from the Bianchi’s breathtaking country kitchen, photograph by Amy Barnard.

The gardens, designed by Grace Design Associates, are a welcome haven for humans and wildlife alike. The National Wildlife Federation has named the Bianchi property as a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat, which means it provides the basics needs for wildlife: food, water, a roof over their heads and a place to raise their young. Carefully selected trees and shrubs nourish and protect ducklings and other creatures, and floating houses anchored in the middle of a pond allow nesting ducks and their offspring to escape from predators. Heirloom chickens roam free during the day and put themselves in the coop in the evening for protection.

 

Heirloom chickens happily roam free during the day, along with multitudes of other wildlife. The Bianchi property is a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Photograph by Amy Barnard.

 

Views of these glorious gardens (designed by Grace Design Associates) are on gorgeous display from Penny Bianchi’s indoor/outdoor office. Photograph by Amy Barnard.

All in all, the Bianchis have successfully created a haven in which every nook and cranny evokes coziness and a connection with the natural world. In Penny’s words, it’s “a cozy, collected and patina” home where they, their grown children and seven grandchildren thoroughly enjoy daily life in a remarkable Montecito setting.

Montecito Gardens: Our house featured in Santa Barbara Seasons magazine!!!Read More

Filed Under: Article, Bedroom, Blog, Design, Dining Room, Gardens, Home, House Featured, Kitchen, Landscapes, Living Room, Montecito Gardens, Press, Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine Tagged With: birds, butterflies, decorating, gardens, Montecito, national wildlife federation, nature, wildlife

My definition of “luxury”!

September 25, 2017 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 15 Comments

luxury

My friend who writes the blog “Splenderosa” asked us to
write about our “definition of luxury”!
Here is mine!!!
 
noun (pl) -ries 
1.
indulgence in and enjoyment of rich, comfortable, and sumptuous living
2.
(sometimes pl) something that is considered an indulgence rather than a necessity

3.

something pleasant and satisfying: the luxury of independence
This definition works for me!
Now;  I will tell you what this means to me!  And I suspect it will be quite different from others!
But maybe not!

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I will start here!  My picnic table my friend found in the nearby “collective antique store” for my 18 chairs I found in  Paris

at the flea market 30 years ago!  And my beloved bantam “mille fleurs Belgian chickens”!  Every morning I let them out of their

coop!  The joy of seeing them…indescribable!!!..the roosters, the chicks…and they change every day!

Not to mention their delicious eggs!

LUXURY!  Not to most;  but to me!!!

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Meeting my friend Brooke for the first time!  She and her husband Steve are two of my

most treasured luxuries!  who could have known how close  and

beloved we could become!  When she called me her “mentor” and said that

our house had inspired “Patina Farm” (I get goosebumps typing this!!)

was one of the great “luxuries” of my entire life!!!

Honestly.

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My family!  Here is my darling husband and two grandchildren at

“Grandparents day” a few years ago!

Tremendous “luxury”!!!

5 out of  our 7 grandchildren  live within a mile of us!  Lordy!  LUXURY!!!

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My Balinese chicken coop;  designed and built by my beloved talented Radisha!

Every single day I see it;  I think of him….and what a luxury!  (as you can see the chickens love it too!!)

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One of my greatest luxuries EVER were my parents!  My Daddie died when I was 4;

and my Mommie when I was 33;  but I had the luxury of the most loving

and supportive parents…in every  way!  And then I discovered this

amazing video a few years ago!  (my cousin’s contractor discovered)!

the BIGGEST LUXURY OF THE LAST DECADE!

(see my blog about it if you are curious!)

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An enormous luxury is our amazing house and garden we created

out of a “vacant lot”20 years ago!  With more birds and creatures

than you can imagine!  The quail running to their roosts; and their sounds

in the morning fill my heart with joy….and are a luxury far beyond!!!

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My mother’s pink azalea in a pot…I’ve been dragging that thing around for

60 years…..(honestly, I have proof!) and every year when it blooms;

It is as though she is saying hello!

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Our pond!  (It was a luxury before when we dug it and it filled with water)

But then;  with the drought…..it went away!  (see previous blogs for story.  SOB!!!!)

My husband Adam spent a fortune to line it.  The minute it was lined and the water

trucked in;  we set the duck houses in position;  the

mother duck for the last 7 years showed up and claimed our pond and her house!

Hatched 7 ducklings the earliest ever in 17 years!  March 6th!

My idea of Luxury!

More pictures of things I consider luxuries!  Friends, places I have stayed,

things I love.  Those are true luxuries to me!

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My friend Renees house!

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My friend James  visit and his partner’s photo of us with dogs!

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My husband and my visit to the Columbe d’Or 30 years ago or something!


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My deer I bought from Nathan Turner when he was moving his shop!  Above my living room window!

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part of our garden!

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My office!

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my path to the pond!

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My collection I discovered of china collected over 65 years!

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My ducklings every single year!  (this was last year….they narrowly escaped by walking a mile to my neighbor’s pond!!!

8

My collection of the artist Marcel Vertes started by my mother in 1961;

and greatly aided by eBay!!!

and I haven’t even started on my great luxury of true and talented friends.

I am a very rich woman;  indeed!

So to wrap it up:

luxury

1.
indulgence in and enjoyment of rich, comfortable, and sumptuous living
2.
(sometimes pl) something that is considered an indulgence ratherthan a necessity
3.
something pleasant and satisfying: the luxury of independence
All those things apply to what I consider “luxury”!!
Thank you Splenderosa for affording us the terrific opportunity to express our
different viewpoints on so many subjects!
BRAVA!!!!!
You are another of my Great Luxuries!!!!

SaveSave

My definition of “luxury”!Read More

Filed Under: Article, Blog, Design, Family, Friends, Gardens, Landscapes Tagged With: "grandparents day"', "my mommies wedding", animals, azalea, Balinese chicken coop, blogs, Brooke Giannetti, cats, chickens, chicks, creative friends, decorating, dogs, duckhouse, ducklings, ducks, family, friends, garden, grandchildren, habitat for quail, James Andrew, luxury, mentor, Nathan Turner, National Wildlife Federation backyard habitat, patina, pond, quail, Radisha, Splenderosa, Steve Giannetti, vacant lot, Velvet and Linen, you tube

Tara Dillard – Beautiful Easy Landscapes

September 16, 2017 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 1 Comment

Tara Dillard – Beautiful Easy LandscapesRead More

Filed Under: Blog, Design, Friends, Gardens, Home, Landscapes, Press, Tara Dillard Tagged With: friends, gardens, landscapes, Tara Dillard

The inspiration for our French chickens!!

September 13, 2017 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 5 Comments

Our granddaughter feeding the chickens!

About eighteen years ago;  my husband Adam and I went on a trip to France.

I had read a lovely review of a new hotel opened in Burgundy that sounded wonderful.

The name was” Chateau Vault de Lugny”.  The owner was a young woman

who had grown up in the Chateau as her family’s country home.

She wanted to turn it into a country hotel; and described to us all the work and all the requirements

to qualify for a ”Relais and Chateau” member.

Our room was beautiful;  and best of all;  the labrador retriever “Licorice” slept on our bed!

(We missed our dogs; so we were encouraging him.  Not everyone’s cup of tea!)

This is the moat that surrounds the Chateau.

This is a view of the chateau from the air.  I remember at the  time there were only 6 or 7 rooms.

My favorite thing was in the morning seeing all kinds of birds!  Not wild birds;  although there were those,

but turkeys, ducks, geese ,chickens and peacocks!

Here are some peacocks, chickens,and maybe a turkey on the left. They wandered about on the lawns and driveway!

So much fun to watch!

The geese were especially friendly and vocal.

This is what gave the inspiration to do something like this at home in Pasadena!

Why not??  I just needed a predator-proof coop for them to go into at night!

So I remembered my friend Eddie!!!

Eddie and his family had these beautiful bantam speckled chickens with feathers on their feet!

He was in San Diego training race horses at Del Mar when I found out there were some “bantam Mille Fleurs” chicks

at a feed store in San Diego!

I called and asked him to pick some out for me.  He said, “I’d be happy to;  but how are they going to get to Pasadena?”

(about 3 and a half hours away)

I said, “You’re going to send them in a taxi”!

Dead silence.

Then, “You are serious!!!!”  Indeed!

When the taxi arrived in the driveway, we were taking photographs,(unfortunately not digital!) and there were

4 small hens and 1 rooster about  4 weeks old in a cardboard box on the back seat!

I asked the driver, “What do I owe you?”

He said, “Mr Gregson told me to tell you that it’s on him;

because  he’s going to be telling this story for the rest of his life!”

I never even knew what  it  cost!

I can’t even tell you how much pleasure these chickens have given me for all these years!

We had them in Pasadena when were there;

and people would be walking up the street and hear a rooster

and stop dead in their tracks thinking they were “hearing things”!

And for the fourteen years we have been in Santa Barbara!  Our grandchildren love them too!

We have hatched 14 this summer!   They eat all the slugs and snails, fertilize the garden,

provide delicious eggs and wonderful entertainment!

The inspiration for our French chickens!!Read More

Filed Under: Blog, Landscapes, Travels Tagged With: baby chicks, bantam mille fleur chickens, Chateau Vault de Lugny, chickens in a taxi, French chickens, garden, geese, grandaughter feeding chickens, peacocks, predator-proof coop, roosters, turkey

The Garden Sphinx

August 15, 2017 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 9 Comments

This is an updated version of a post from 2011!

Our house was briefly on the market then.  Then we took it off!  So glad it didn’t sell!

 

 

I have always been a lover of gardens, especially the wild ones!  I love statues, birdbaths, and accessories  (although when overdone;  I am reminded of a cemetery)!  Two of my most prized possessions are a pair of terra cotta sphinx that sit on the entry way to my house.

…

The Garden SphinxRead More

Filed Under: Blog, Gardens, Landscapes Tagged With: animals, antique terra cotta, decorating, entrance, garden, garden statues, gardens, history, Madame DuBarry

Monterey Colonial garden update! Big difference!!!

May 24, 2016 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 3 Comments

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Hi there!  I have had a lot of requests for more updates on the Monterey Colonial our daughter

purchased a few years ago here in Montecito!

The previous posts are at the end of this post!

She removed some shrubbery crowding this beautiful jacaranda tree; and changed the planting

behind the boxwoods to only purple agapanthus.  There were lots of them sprinkled all

over the property; so she moved them all here.

When they bloom under the purple blossoms it will be a show!

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Here is the front porch with the Anduze pots with topiaries. Everything simplified!

there is a lovely new gate in the background on the left.  It was made to match the back gate.

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Around the back of the house;  she has added oak leaf hydrangeas,  and star jasmine.

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Right around  the corner.

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Another new gate to match the back gate!  The pool is on the other side!

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Remember when you couldn’t see the pool from the garden?  She opened up the hedge!

It is still private; but you have a glimpse!

The beds are also simplified with white agapanthus, iceberg roses and Viburnum.

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The original back gate!

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The other side!

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Behind the above hedge is another whole garden!  Avocado trees, wildflowers, fruit trees

and raised potager beds!

3 avocado trees all different species so they fruit at different times!

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My favorite! Lavender, matillija poppies,  artichokes and herbs!  And roses!

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I think they are doing a beautiful job of this garden!

I think my favorite of all are these oak trees in the front which were never

“trimmed up”!!!!

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Congratulations to our daughter, her husband and their gardener!!!!

Monterey Colonial garden update! Big difference!!!Read More

Filed Under: Blog, Design, Gardens, Landscapes, Montecito Gardens Tagged With: Anduze pot, boxwood, gardens, Joseph Plunkett, Montecito, Monterey Colonial

New tv show! “The Real Houses of….”

October 19, 2015 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 7 Comments

Our house is featured in an episode of “The Real Houses of…..”  on the W network in Canada!

The series of shows were filmed this last Spring;  and were shown this fall season.  We were in the episode “Southwest USA”;  and we thought they did a nice job of showing our house!

They were lovely to work with;  and it is fun to see  what their perspective was !  The other houses in the episode were completely different!

It is always an experience to see yourself on television!

https://mccormickinteriors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/My-First-Project-3.m4v

 

If you want to see the whole episode;  here is the link to download and watch:   http://we.tl/rXzhWdviVH

I hope you enjoy!!!

New tv show! “The Real Houses of….”Read More

Filed Under: Bedroom, Blog, Design, Dining Room, Gardens, Home, House Featured, Kitchen, Landscapes, Living Room, Radisha, Video Tagged With: decorating, decorator in Montecito, French farmhouse, monograms, patina, pigments from Provence, provencal farmhouse, Provencal home, Provence, Radisha, tv show, Vertes

Question: “Do you follow trends in decorating?”

February 10, 2015 By //  by Penelope Bianchi 18 Comments

(Don’t forget to click on the title!! To see the whole post!)

“Do you follow trends in decorating”?

That is the topic on “By invitation only” on the blog:  splenderosa.com.

 Everyone is different;  but this

is something I decided many years ago  (43) to be exact!

I do not follow trends for my own decorating;  and being a professional decorator; I avoid it in my work

for others when I can.  Since I try to give my clients a house that represents their tastes, family and likes; sometimes

they are dying for something “trendy”.   Usually I try to dissuade them if I feel it will

be a dated mistake shortly;  and really if it is very expensive.  I avoid trends like the plague!

“Santa Fe” decorating belongs in “Santa Fe”;  my goal is timeless decorating.

I find it a disturbing trend that many people when they move start all over with their

furniture, rugs and even art!

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 This is a picture of our “big hall” from outside.  Nothing trendy!

This our main room in Pasadena which I decorated in 1985.

I still absolutely love it!!

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This is the master bedroom the same year.  Same thing!

patiomag

 Our terrace in Montecito designed in 1997 with furniture from our loggia in Pasadena

Circa 1985.

It has been “pinned” 50,000 times on just one website!  (my landscape designer’s)

In my view,  furniture, rugs, art and should be personal and mean something to the homeowner.

Family heirlooms I work into houses all the time!  They are a priority!

And classics stay classics!  They don’t go out of style;  they weren’t “trendy”!!

I feel my house is a scrapbook of my life!

Permanent things like tile, flooring,appliances  and plumbing fixtures should NEVER follow

trends.  I encourage classic white tile, (or at least white background) white plumbing fixtures,

and classic appliances.

(ever seen a bathroom all done in black plumbing fixtures?  I have!!!  TWO, 10 years apart in different cities!)

Lord have mercy!

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Trompe l’oeil window with  trompe l’oeil curtains in a Reginald Johnson Italian Villa in Pasadena done in

1988.  Fortuny on the sofa, family heirloom antiques , and original 1919 sconces with paintings framing them.

Absolutely the same today.   And I wouldn’t change one thing!

My goal for myself and my clients is “Timeless decorating”.   I doubt anyone could date anything

I have done!  And I keep things young, and fun, and full of meaning!

One of my idols is Mario Buatta who just published a book of 50 years of his work.

I wouldn’t change so much as a lampshade!  Now, that is “timeless decorating”!!!

Question: “Do you follow trends in decorating?”Read More

Filed Under: Bedroom, Blog, Design, Dining Room, Gardens, Home, Kitchen, Landscapes, Living Room, Montecito Gardens, Press Tagged With: antiques, appliances, classics, family heirlooms, furniture, lampshade, landscape designer, Mario Buatta, Montecito, plumbing fixtures, rugs, tile, timeless decorating, trends, trompe l'oeil, troupe l'oeil

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