Italy is always classic!

I just came back from a trip to Rome and Florence. Rome is my favorite place and I hadn’t been there in about 9 years. I brought along my 8 year old (I guess you can figure out why I hadn’t been there in awhile!) and my friends who are originally from China came, too. It was amazing to see Italy through their eyes because none of them had ever been there before. And of course, they all fell in love with it. For me, this time back was like revisiting an old love. And while there were some changes in Rome – more touristy pizza places, security checks and xray machines in all the museums, more crowds, more graffiti – Rome is still about walking through history. The interesting thing when you’re a photographer and when you revisit a place, is that many of your memories are photo memories. My memories of places are of the places themselves but also of the frozen moments I caught on film. So sometimes when I’d wander around Rome, I’d see some little insignificant detail that was so familiar because I had photographed it years before. I would remember how to find a street by a photographed detail I’d looked at a hundred times. Other times, I’d purposely go back to a place I’d photographed before, because I had caught some sort of transcendent moment and wanted to get the magic again. But it wasn’t the same – the light had changed, it was a different season so the flowers weren’t there or there was scaffolding. I even remember photographing some places before because of the colors and now rephotographing them and noticing that the wall colors had faded from the sun. The first time I went, I came home and immediately painted part of my living room the beautiful terracotta orange color you see everywhere. And I got a new sofa in celadon. I felt like an honorary Italian. My photographer friends who traveled with me came home and went for the Tuscan yellow. We all hung millions of photos of Italy everywhere in our homes. We were smitten and we all traveled back to various parts of Italy many more times over the years. And while I’m interested about reading about the new colors in home decor in all the decorating magazines and blogs and finding the best art to go with the busy flocked wallpapers, it’s nice to always revisit classics. Only in Italy, would the vines color palette be so glorious!


If you’re like me, you get tired of trends. And being trendy when decorating can get very expensive! Italy never goes out of style and art showing classic, timeless images never goes out of style either. You can never go wrong with the warm colors of Rome or the more masculine olives and mustards of Florence. Black and white photography and even more colorful images of the Italian landscape, the statues, etc. are timeless. Some of them are on our site now at http://www.willitlookgoodoverthesofa.com/ and some will be available soon for purchase. In honor of Italy, this month's Photo of the Month is Boboli Gardens. 5% of the profits of this photograph will benefit Reading is Fundamental. Reading is Fundamental "prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most." Even though I have taken courses in Italian, I've forgotten most of it over the years. About all I could read were the menus. When you're in a foreign place, you really get a sense of how frustrating it is not to be able to read or write.

And don't forget, if you'd like to purchase some of our photos but like to see them in a room in your home (this is a great service if you're renovating to see before and after pictures!), visit our friends at Design by Photo.

Ciao for now!