Here are some more beautiful shelves from flickr member hnxing. Check out the way she had the stamps framed. I’ve been meaning to do this with my Eames stamps before I use them all up on bills!

photo from flickr member hnxing

photos by flickr member Ivy Style 33

Decorators should never insist on throwing out everything the client has. Even when they are far from perfect, loved possessions add personality.

-Billy Baldwin

What are your loved possessions? Please share them with us! I’ll start: Two of mine are these Staffordshire dogs that were my grandmother’s. They always sat on her mantle on Cape Cod and they always remind me of her. She was the ultimate animal lover - every bird and stray cat in her neighborhood was fed by her, and her dog Guinness had gourmet meals prepared for him every night.

Now they have separated, one of them has a place of pride on my Parson’s desk:

“We’re all collectors by nature. But if you’re talking about an orderly life, there has to be a stop sign somewhere. Building a collection requires a strong constitution and the ability to resist.”

-Albert Hadley, The Story of America’s Preeminent Interior Designer

It also requires good eye for assembly. Through Jenn Ski, whose blog we mentioned last week, I found myself linking over to the fabulous Junk Culture blog, and from there I linked over to Lost Found Art. Lost Found Art describes itself as “a unique design company that specializes in sculptural installations and assemblages using antique and vintage pieces. Our works are created with an eye to scale, balance, color and surface interest, and the end result is a strong visual statement that combines artistic statement, whimsy, form and uniqueness.”

It makes me think that a collection of just about anything can look good if it’s arranged the right way! Here are a few favorites. There are about 70 more here.

Do you have an artfully arranged collection of something? PLEASE SHARE IT WITH US!

All images are from Lost Found Art

Just wait until summer! Jenn has all the concrete poured. Here is the story of the work in pictures on flickr.

We also love Jenn Ski’s prints, available in her Etsy shop. Here’s a teaser:

images via Jenn Ski;

• first image: Garden Art & Decoartion, A Sunset Book, ©1962
• second image: she found at Junkcultureshop, one of my new favorite blogs.
• third image by Jenn Ski
• fourth image: Home Sweet Home giclee copyright Jenn Ski. See link above to purchase on Etsy.

I should have known when I went to find a picture of Lovejoy Plaza on flickr that my favorite one would have been taken by Ken McCowen. To see more beautiful images of Halprin’s work taken by Ken, click here.

Halprin was that perfect combination of conscientious urban problem solver who understood natural processes. He did such an artful job of understanding the greater context of a place and bringing his interpretations of ecology into cities in an artful way. Lovejoy Park is a perfect example of this. He contributed so much to the American landscape; whether helping to heal the gash a freeway cut through a neighborhood in Seattle or protecting the land by leaving a soft footprint at Sea Ranch. He will be missed.

For more information on the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, click here.

• Sketches by Lawrence Halprin, via The Halprin Landscape Conservatory site.Click over there to see the rest of the project. P
• Photo by flickr member Ken McCowen

photo via flickr member ivy_style33.

So this is right off the deck on Stockbridge Bowl in the Berkshires. The mountain in the background, I think it’s called Mount Lenox, or Lenox Mountain. I only wish one of us would have had a real camera so that we could have captured it better, but my camera phone was better than nothing!