This is for my fellow ~ beautiful gardens, adorable animals and spectacular homes ~ lovers.
I have two favorite events each year, the Ojai Holiday Home Tour in November, which I attend as a tradition with one of my girlfriends and the Ojai Garden Tour which I attend in May with my husband.
There was a very special home on the Holiday Tour last year, called Patina Farm. It's the home of Brooke and Steve Giannetti, she's a designer and he's an architect, and Patina Farm is a dream come true for them. Literally, they dreamed it, designed it and built it from 5 acres of nothing in Ojai CA. It's a farm complete with in and outdoor animal access, veggie gardens, barns and greenhouse. But this is not your grandpa's farm, this is farmhouse chic at it's finest. And it's dreamy to say the least. Every detail just makes you want to move right in. (My grandpa actually had a grocery store in Queens lol).
Also, last year was a special year for the tour as the previous year, in December of 2017, Ojai was on fire from the horrific Thomas fires. So the 2018 Holiday Home Tour was special and we were going no matter what, except that now the West Valley and Malibu was on fire and our neighborhood was just one neighborhood away. I won't rehash how hard the decision was to go because you can read it on my original blog post here. From the crazy experience of getting there, the hour trip that took three hours, to driving passed landscape engulfed in flames and getting lost in a rock query! Just a note ~ all of the pictures on my blog posts are taken by me with the exception of the Ojai Holiday Home Tour because, out of respect for the homeowners privacy, there are no photos permitted inside the homes. So I used the photos from the web site and brochure, since they're already out in the public eye, so check out that post to see inside the gorgeous home that is Patina Farm and for an extra up close and personal peek follow Brooke on instagram at @velvetandlinen.
OK so now we're up to speed and into this past May and I find out that Brook and Steve are hosting a book launch party for their new, and amazing book, Patina Living at Patina Farm. I knew I had to get us on the invitation list. After all, I had blabbed about this home to Mike for months and now he could actually see it for himself. I was beyond excited. And, drum roll please, it was going be the same day as the Ojai Garden Tour! Be still heart.
It was so lovely and so interesting to have Steve (homeowner and architect) himself give a tour of their home and explain the ideas behind some of their architectural and design decisions, so much creativity.
Brook singed my book and the next day I read it from cover to cover and when I was done I literally felt like I had just been on a very relaxing vacation. Not to say that taking care of that kind of space and all those animals isn't hard because just taking care of our 3 dogs and one cat sometimes feels like we're running a zoo, but the rewards from that I totally get. Brooks honest depiction of their life and how they take care of that many animals was a dream read for me and her intro to the book where she describes having to evacuate all the animals when they where surrounded by flames the morning of the Thomas fire is extremely moving. So get the book!
Again, if you want to see their home check out this post, and Brooke's instagram. I just took pictures of the animals because I was totally obsessed. And with endearing and hilarious names like Thelma and Louise (those are the sister pygmy goats) Dot, Linen, Paisley and Cashmere, who wouldn't fall in love? There's Señor Hector Fuzzbottom, the adorable rabbit that lives in Steve's office and the donkeys Blossom and Buttercup. There's the quail habitat and the doves, the ducklings and the chickens and they just adopted the cutest three little pigs, Prudence, Alice and Frank. And I'm sure I've only put a dent in the list.
Just going to start with this Shayna Punim (that's yiddish for cutie patootie). I mean seriously this face!
And this one!
Look closely, I was photo bombed by a Donkey.
When I started following Brooke on Instagram I saw that they have a store in Santa Barbara so I followed @giannettihome and I noticed the store has a beautiful court yard, I'm a sucker for a beautiful courtyard. It looked really familiar to me and sure enough I scrolled through my instagram and there it was from a few years ago. Before I had ever heard of Patina Farm I had walked passed that courtyard in Sant Barbara and took this picture to post on my instagram! That's just a little tidbit that probably only I think is cool :/
Now, as if that wasn't enough, here are the beauties from The Garden Tour.
And guess what!? It's almost time for the Holiday Tour again. Well that just made my head spin.
