Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Bunny Williams Trade Secrets Garden Tour

The incredibly gracious host, Bunny Williams.

Over the weekend I had the IMMENSE pleasure of helping out at the Trade Secrets Event in Sharon CT. As an added bonus, I took all the garden tours offered over that weekend and my absolute favorite one was Bunny Williams. I've always loved her but my love has been re-ignited since her masterpiece at Kips Bay and it continues to...burn...even brighter since the weekend. Look how sweet she is!



The tour started at her famed Greek temple styled pool cabana. It's not your typical CT style Greek Temple though, she used bark, and pine cones so that it feels like a woodland creation.

She had a lovely and relaxed scene set with coffee tables and lots of seating looking out onto her gorgeous yet simple rectangular pool, and the rest of her property.

I DIED when I saw the chicken wire on the cabinets in her small kitchen in the pool house. The color those dishes add is so beautiful. A treat to the eye.

Obvi Bunny has a huge compost. Not just your every day run of the mill compost though--look at the sticks lining the sides arranged very artfully.

The entrance to the guest house was this amazing conservatory with plants galore and a farmhouse table in the center.

I fell in LOVE with this cabinet with so many drawers/compartments. This is in her guest house, which we had the pleasure of touring as well. Love the rooster, too. So charming.

Of course, she has a grocery list casually placed on top of some cookbooks and magazines for when guests come--she must be prepared! Yeah, I photographed her list--what of it?


A comfortable, relaxed and attractive place to kick back with one of the many classics she has in her bookcases. See the next pic.

I wish I had more bookcases so that I could do this (above).

Full bar. That's all.

One of my fave parts of this incredible tour was this area she seemed to be working on with 7 or 8 different bird houses. This one was my favorite because it looks like a old abandoned mansion. The bird houses which I've seen lots of may become a new trend. I'm just going to say it now.

The aspect that I loved the most, design wise, was that Bunny had a lot of stuff. Objects. I have SO many objects, things I've collected, and things that I treasure and everything looked great but not neurotically organized. It looked like she was okay with all her books being out of order, or not all the same height. Not all the soaps in her dishes in the bathrooms were the same color! She's been tagged as someone who has mastered "organized clutter," and while that is true, I don't know if it looks all that organized, all the time. It felt less calculated, and more lived in but not in a messy way. Thoughts? I know some people don't care for her...personally I adore her.

Alicia B.