floating duck house

Veranda’s First Ever Outdoor Living Award For The Montecito Garden Restoration Project

March 30, 2020 By // by Penelope Bianchi 3 Comments

Exciting news! The new issue of Veranda March-April has the 2020 Outdoor Living awards. The first time ever! And our garden was selected to be one of the eight awardees!!! The talented garden designer who originally designed our landscape came back after it was almost totally destroyed and restored it. I haven’t posted a blog in a long time; and I am going to post one showing the before and after with some description of the experience. I know I showed things on Instagram, but want to describe the experience of a disaster and its aftermath and rebuilding.

Calling it A Wildly Beautiful Revival, the venerable magazine lauded the garden’s wildlife-friendly, naturalistic design.”I always look for a strong design plan, and each of the winning gardens had beautiful architecture to it,” says interior designer Bunny Williams, who, together with Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) president Peter Lyden, judged the entries.

Lyden agrees, adding that for him, the projects that embraced and built on the natural characteristics of their environments rose to the top. “I really admire the way these gardens and outdoor living spaces did just that,” he says.

This Montecito Garden’s Wildly Beautiful Spirit Is Awakened After Enduring Destructive Mudflows

Less than a year after disaster struck, a mudflow-ravaged garden reemerges as the thriving wildlife habitat it once was, using the very material that decimated it.

BY ELLEN MCGAULEY

PHOTO CREDIT: HOLLY LEPERE

FEB 20, 2020

Before the catastrophic Montecito mudflows of 2018, everything that grew on this two-acre property in Southern California was “magic,” says landscape designer Margie Grace. Roses would bloom in the shade; hydrangeas relished the blazing sun. A grassy, serene pond drew ducks and quail and owls, all against an extraordinary backdrop of towering palms and live oaks belonging to a neighboring estate, like a regal army watching over it.

Once cloaked in mud, the Boston ivy on the main house and guesthouse (inset) was cleaned up, and “the roots just started sprouting again,” says landscape designer Margie Grace.

Then came the mud. “Everything was wiped out…plants, fences, animals. It was biblical,” recalls Grace. “We learned the absolute power of nature.” In the eight months that followed, another lesson emerged for Grace and the homeowner, designer Penelope Bianchi of McCormick Interiors: The magic hadn’t been swept away with the sludge. If anything, it had strengthened tenfold.

montecito-dining-terrace-outdoor-awards-veranda

Behind the main house, a Coast live oak shades a rustic dining terrace.

As they washed two feet of mud from the guesthouse and garage and cleaned up whatever they could salvage, they faced mountains of leftover sediment. “We had to do something with it, and I thought, There’s no reason the land has to be dead flat,” says Grace. So she began working it into the restoration plan.

At the south side of the house, she repurposed a portion of the muddy sediment into a 28-foot hill planted with sycamores and poppies and another into soil for a 12-foot redbud knoll. Along the property line, a four-foot berm became an organic solution for a washed-away privacy fence.

grace montecito pond outdoor seating ideas

“Everything I put in the ground grew lightning fast,” recalls Grace, who trained in biology and geology. “I thought the new soil would be full of toxins, but the levels didn’t even register. What was left behind was amazing dirt.”

The restored pond borders a 45-acre nature preserve and was critical to the return of wildlife like mallards.

And the wildlife returned in multiples. “In California, we have trees like sycamores and redwoods that grow in the stream beds. Winter will come and water will whoosh down, and the trees may get buried with three feet of dirt and still live. They grow character instead of giving up. This garden has always had good vibes, and that’s part of it. But you just get out of the way and let nature fix it. Nature doesn’t give up.”

Veranda’s First Ever Outdoor Living Award For The Montecito Garden Restoration ProjectRead More

Photos by Mark Lohman from a few years ago! So nice to see before the restoration is complete! Hope!

June 18, 2018 By // by Penelope Bianchi 50 Comments

A few years ago, one of my favorite photographers; Mark Lohman, an excellent and well-known interior and exterior photographer

(whom I have known for many years!) called me about a new magazine!

“French Country”!

Fifi O’Neill, the editor ,has written books, and has two other magazines, “Romantic Prairie Style” and” Romantic Country”

Her books are “Romantic Prarie Style” and “Romantic Prarie Cookbook”

She has been searching for real “country” (not fancy, not formal; but rustic and authentic) French houses in the United States!

My blogger friend Contessa sent her my blog on Renee; and she had Mark come take “scouting shots” of both houses!!

Lucky me! He took some wonderful shots of things that have not been photographed before!

I hope you enjoy them!

Here are some new angles of everyone’s favorite room! Remember, the heat is in the floor out here (and all through the house)

and we live out here all year long! Even in the rain; I don’t have to move the books!

My Corgi-mix rescue “Pete ” likes this ottoman!

By the way, the paintings on the right are of the identical room in our old house in Pasadena!

This ivy on the ceiling is my favorite, the panel was a shade on an Italian verandah we found in Florence; and the Italian stove

is another favorite!

Here are our ducklings getting bigger and enjoying their repaired house!

The main terrace with the previous room behind the umbrella! The deer is wrought iron!

A pretty plaque on the chimney; and an unusual way to hide those ugly metal things at the top of chimneys!

The Spring slipcovers and pillows!

My collection of Quimper salt and peppers on the mantle; and showing how the “convent table” works! The nuns would work

at the table all day; then take their dishes out, have a meal, and return them! Very practical!

The teeny Portugese chair on the table I bought at a museum in Portugal! I found the identical chairs at an antique shop here in Montecito!

My mother’s first Vertes painting! (Once, on a tour, a man insisted to his wife that it was a painting of “Mrs. Bianchi”!

“Can you imagine having a nude portraitof yourself in your living room?”

(It was painted before I was born!)

These lovely chickens were a gift from Oprah when there was a tabloid story quoting Oprah complaining about our chickens!

The card said: “Contrary to tabloid opinion; I absolutely adore your chickens!”

This panel in the kitchen was one of a pair I found for a client who only needed one!

The soup tureen on the bottom shelf has chicks poking through her feathers

The cat jumps on this antique stool to reach her food on the island!

Radisha makes us an “initial painting” for our birthdays! These are Adam’s by his sink.

This is my “pride and joy” Vertes screen which was owned by Gypsy Rose Lee! and my sink on the other side of the bathroom!

More Vertes lithographs mostly from the “Cirque” series!

These bookcases house my millions of decorating books!

The checked ottoman is a pop-up TV!!!

two antique valances and a favorite Vertes silk screen of his dog; an Airdale!

SaveSave

Photos by Mark Lohman from a few years ago! So nice to see before the restoration is complete! Hope!Read More

Backyard Wildlife Habitat (National Wildlife Federation)

September 8, 2014 By // by Penelope Bianchi 76 Comments

I have many new subscribers!! I am going to post a few of my favorite (and others’ favorite posts)

In between new posts, so the new subscribers don’t have to go searching!!

(Be sure to click on the title to see the complete post!)

In 1997; we decided to move to Montecito from Pasadena.

We spent our honeymoon here in 1978; and I had grown up in Pasadena coming up every August!

We sold our house before we put it on the market in Pasadena!

I looked and looked for an older house; and my real estate agent almost gave up!

One day, she announced that she was showing me a “vacant lot”!! Oh no! I don’t want to build!!

She drove up to this!

(When you see where the pond is; this is where it is “before”!!! there was a pond! Nothing!)

(The one house next door is shown above.)

She said, “There is a 45 acre nature preserve on one side; there is the 45 acre property of your Mother’s friend Mrs. Bacon on the other two sides It can’t be subdivided!;

and there are deer in there!”

She has known me since high school; and she knew that would clinch the deal!

The day we bought the property; I looked at this view; and there was a command in my head!

“A pond wants to be there!!”

(and right there is where it is!)

I told my husband that day! He said, “Slow down, honey! We have a house to build; all kinds of more important things!”

“I said, no, you can’t dig a pond with a house in the way!!”

I wouldn’t let go of that! So he let us have the bulldozers dig a pond!

It filled up with water!

My goal from the beginning was to create a “nature preserve” of our own; and a “not too big house”!

I read every book I could find on attracting and keeping birds, butterflies and wildlife of all kinds!

And then I found that the National Wildlife Federation had a “Backyard Habitat Program” to assist homeowners who want to

assist wildlife! It is a fascinating program that anyone can qualify for; even if you only have a balcony!

I used two landscape designers; one in the beginning, and then I switched to my favorite! I

took Margie to the “nature preserve” next door, and said ” I want a landscape a lot like this!!”

Margie listens; and she can do any landscape someone wants! Her range is amazing!

The first thing we found out is that our lot is the “drain” of Montecito! All the flow charts end here!

So there was a massive drainage system that needed to be installed!

The “dry creek” below is connecting one “catch basin” to another! Designed by Margie to be a lovely part of the landscape!

Margie Grace Links to website

I worked with my favorite architect David Serrurier. There was another caveat: The building envelope was 65 feet square; which meant he had to fit a house, a guest house and a garage

in that space! The property is over 2 acres; but it couldn’t have anything built on any other part of it!

The guest house is above.

It feels like a little village! But the landscaping was crucial to the “animal habitat”!!!

look at the size of the tree on the left. That was about eight years ago!

That sycamore tree is 60 feet tall now!

To learn about the “Backyard Habitat Program” click here!

National Wildlife Federation : this links you to the Garden For Wildlife Program/ Backyard Habitat.

Look at all the ducks that come back every year!

I had one duck house in the beginning; and now have two!

Thanks to my friend in Georgia!

Winston Brown, at www.lwbcreations.com !

Three years after we moved into the house a lady who had grown up nearby looked out the window at the pond, and said,

“I think it is lovely dear, that you put the pond back”!

In shock, I said….”Back? What do you mean?” She explained that in the early forties,(before I was born), there had been a pond exactly where we dug it!

Same size, same shape, same. There were stables here for polo ponies; and the pond was filled in to make a riding ring!

I still get chills telling that story. This land spoke to me, that is all I can say!

the duck house in the front was built in England by

http://www.granddadrobdesigns.co.uk/epsom-eight-floating-duck-house-p-40.html

I just found out!!!

I keep the duck treats under this bee skep!

They recognize my voice, and come to me when they hear me! They are wild mallards; and they nest every year, laying their eggs inside

the duck houses! If a stranger comes out; they are “guarded”! And ducks return to

where they are hatched, so lucky us!!

Here are the sycamore trees recently!!!

My poor gardener had to “unlearn most of what he has spent a lifetime learning!

“No blowers, no mowers, no hedge trimmers, and I like the roses climbing the trees! And the vines on the rooftop!!”

We planted a whole bunch of milkweed for the monarch butterflies! He was completely horrified to see this, above!

Those monarch caterpillars eat all the leaves!! Yes! And then they make chrysalises and there are monarchs all over!!

When my granddaughter was in kindergarten; I decided to do the “Backyard Habitat” project with her!

We filled out the following questionnaire, and took pictures!

She had such fun!! “Granny, take a picture of THAT thicket!! It’s like an apartment house for birds!”

She proudly presented this certificate to her class; and said, “Granny and I won first place!!”

Now, (of course, there isn’t a “first place”! But she learned so much!)

Now, after 16 years, we have a covey of California quail, hummingbirds (3 kinds), and every kind of bird!

Not to mention, bobcats, coyotes, raccoon, Great Blue Heron, (I have to chase away when there are baby ducklings!)

The lady , (Joan Lentz) who wrote the book , “Birds of Santa Barbara County” identified 120 species in two hours

by their song!

I was outside playing my “iBird Pro” app on my iPhone and it was making the “Hooded Oriole” song;

and a male oriole landed on my hat!!!

The questionnaire is as follows:

The National Wildlife Federation is a wonderful source of information on what to plant to attract and nourish wildlife! It has been the most gratifying

thing about living here! Hummingbirds make their nests in the tendrils of ivy; and we even saw one baby fly for the first time when we were standing inside the

guest house front door! I said, “WOW! That is a once in a lifetime experience!”

(there were two babies so big they were perched on the top of the nest)

She said, “Granny, was it the boy or the girl?”

You just guess what I said!!

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Duckling update! And a rare bird nesting!

June 9, 2013 By // by Penelope Bianchi 3 Comments

Well!! Look how big the ducklings are!

They are now 57 days old; their wing feathers cross over on their backs! They CAN fly!!

But they don’t seem to be going anywhere!!!

Do we think it is because I fill up their dish twice a day with duck food???

I will certainly miss them when they leave!

I know these are terribly blurry. But we have a bird in our nestbox with her babies

that is a “Federally endangered species”!

A California Gnatcatcher! She has been feeding the babies (we can hear them begging!)

And yesterday they fledged and flew into the bushes! 6 of them! She continues to feed them!!

Duckling update! And a rare bird nesting!Read More

Renee's Kitchen

July 2, 2012 By // by Penelope Bianchi 4 Comments

The very first time I went to Renees house; I got so excited I forgot to take pictures of the kitchen and dining area!

I thought the design was so creative and practical that it really should be shown!

So, back I went! How divine is this bicycle?! She rides it with “Bittersweet” the Yorkie in the basket!

The trumpet vine amazes me more every time I see it!

The green cabinet makes one half-wall; It seems like it was a counter in a butcher-shop or some kind of shop. The crack in the marble makes it even better!

Her French press and espresso cups are on the adjacent counter with a farmhouse sink in between. Note the green lantern and sweet chandelier!

The window with the shutters on it look out to the ocean! The outdoor dining area is straight ahead; and the most charming fireplace is in the corner.

Here is “Bittersweet ” on his bed!

On my way out; just look at the roses…..and she also has the cutest car!

Renee's KitchenRead More

Success story with ducklings!!!

July 2, 2012 By // by Penelope Bianchi 17 Comments

Well! After the trauma of the drowned ducklings (good thing I never had to go to war)

The same Mallard female trusted Winston’s duck house from Georgia…….and laid 6 eggs in the back nest box!

Another mallard mother trusted the newly fortified ” old” duck house and also laid 6 eggs!

First time ever (in 14 years) we have had two female mallards sitting on eggs. Also the first year we and they have had the luxury of two duck houses!

It is quite a story!

A new mallard mommy laid 6 eggs (they lay one egg a day); wait until there are at least 6; they start sitting…….so they all hatch on the same day!

Now; just in case you did not know this……..(wild birds and chickens do the same) You are in the vast majority ! 100 CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies were asked this question!!

2% knew the right answer. (We need to educate people about these things…………That is pathetic!)

So the first mallard laid 6 eggs…….we counted! The first one hatched…….off she went with the first one……..the other five did not hatch! (my theory….first time…..only child is easier?)

My happy tale is that the same mother mallard who lost her first brood..(because of our leaky house……..sob!)….(we can identify by some markings on the back of her head) went to Winston’s new house!

She laid six eggs………and we watched her stay right in there for 2 days after the first one hatched! Until they all did! Bravo! No egg left behind !!!

Winston had that new house here so fast………and I drove a truck! Winston is the hero!

Here are the pictures!!

The back house is Winston’s “new house” from Georgia which arrived in 6 days! This is the female who hatched one chick….left the rest of the eggs in the old house…..and when the new house arrived……well……..here you are! “WOW! This sure a pretty place”!

She laid her eggs and that one hatched in the old place (all fixed up and waterproofed ) in the foreground!

The girl who lost her brood was not trusting that old place……..was so pleased with Winston’s she laid 7 eggs in Winston’s!

I will not bore you with my photos of her every single day for 28 days……..sometimes I could see her beak…..sometimes I could see nothing and despaired!

Then! Tah Dah!! Here she was with 7!!

They are honestly the size of bumblebees!

This is the mother who lost all six one day old ones in our house that leaked.

I am seriously into their survival.

Mother Theresa…….no…..but” mother duck” I have become obsessed……this mother duck I have a debt to. I cannot tell you. I practically slept on the bank.

They hatched!

It is hard to see them!

This is the same mother duck!

This is a happy ending to a very sad story!

And they are still alive; growing up way too fast…….(just like children) !

And I will be starting my before, during and after story of our daughter’s house next!

Penelope

Here is the mother with the “only child”!

(lots of my friends think she is “smart”

easier than 6 or 7 for sure!

I almost forgot the chicks! Yikes!

Here is the first set of our “mille flour” bantam chicks……..7!

The bobcat has been visiting……and decimating our flock…..so inside everyone! for a few months!

Look at the little chick peeking out of the Mommy’s feathers! (I will now get 500 withdrawals ) (I promise there is some serious design work coming)

Here are seven!

And then the other one hatched 9!

Now comes the “before and after” of what I think may be the very best house in all of Montecito!

Honestly. It was built in 1935. The golden era of proper scale; views, proportion…..and “enfilades” !

Designed by a gifted architect…….who did the airport in Santa Barbara; the Arlington Theatre……and a few houses…….and would be much more famous had he not died at 46!

Joseph Plunkett..part of “Edwards and Plunkett”…

The loveliest house! I will begin with the “before”! Where it was when I found it!

Just about the opposite of all “spec” houses and “McMansions” being built today!

Charm, warmth, proportions…….light……exposures……..(does everyone know what that means?); graciousness and cosy!

Next post!!!

Stay tuned!!!

Success story with ducklings!!!Read More