Isabella Sparrow

Just a little peak at our shop in the garden yesterday. (Look for more in our stories.) So grateful to see so many sweet faces. ... We’ll be back from noon to five today.

Happy Saturday, Friends! We’re back at the shop today, with new scents and Autumn echoing deep in our bones. Come enjoy the outdoor version of the store, in the garden ... from 11:30 - 6. ... Image by my dear Margaret of @hausofhiraeth for @lodestone.candles

From the weekend at the shop.

Scenes from that lovely restaurant I get to design for. Their Autumn menu is just swoon-worthy. Pop over to @meetinghouseprinceton if you’re not already following and have a peak. And if you’re anywhere near Princeton soon ... you can visit for dining indoors or out. It’s even worth the easy 60 minute trip.

Grateful for the pleasurable work of Autumn. These window boxes on Spruce Street were a pure delight to design and install.

Just a beautiful morning at The Meeting House. I restaged the interior for socially distanced dining a few weeks ago ... and that giant space that had once been a challenge because it felt too big to be cozy became just the perfect setting for a new arrangement for interior safety. At every step of this strange 2020 journey ... my dear client-Friends @meetinghouseprinceton have just stayed open and creative to adapt to what their community wanted and needed from them. ... The word for 2020 must definitely be ADAPT. And the best way to do that is always with Beauty. #isabellasparrow #princeonnj #restaurantdesign #commercialdesign #philadelphiadesign #lovewhatyoudo

Feeling nostalgic this morning. Gathering myself in from outside. How many of you have loved this candle since it looked like this? It’s been seven lovely years with this favourite scent and cherishing the world of the beautiful people who create it. Thank you @sydneyhaleco for giving me the signature scent of my little shop, in all its versions, large and small. ... Looking forward to opening the box of goodness arriving today and lighting that familiar aura of Home.

And all of a sudden it was the season of Asters and grasses. I don’t know how time passes so quickly ... but here we are in September, scratching our heads (or at least here’s me scratching mine) saying how is it somehow September??? I think that’s a good name for it this year ... Somehow September. I hope it finds you all well and cheerful, with a renewed skill for finding all the unexpected blessings in amongst the peculiarities and predicaments of 2020. One among them for me, is that I feel PROUD of Philly. (Knock on wood, of course ... but yes, proud.) What’s your first September blessing?

My dear friend Caroline (@plantbasedblonde ) is one of the kindest and most sincerely loving people I know. She’s also an incredible force for goodness and change in the world by being at the forefront of celebrating and sharing a nourishing vegan lifestyle that is cruelty-free in every way. I had the pleasure this week of helping her to stage and then photograph this absolutely beautiful collaboration she’s doing with @ketelonebotanical and @phillymagevents and in the setti...ng of a porch-top garden that I got to design earlier this Summer for our other cherished friend Holly. The colours of the Ketel One bottle and the gorgeous food she had prepared inspired the gathering of flowers for a bouquet from Holly’s garden. The lush green of the ivy, ferns and boxwoods made a perfect backdrop for Caroline’s gorgeous dress (and her radiant self) to grow from. We only used her @iphone_11__pro__max and my trusty little iPhone SE (which is what I use for almost all of my own shots) to collect an incredible group of pictures that will inspire you for days. You’ll probably need to go out and grab this botanical mixer right now to have at the weekend, because it’s truly sublime. Then visit @plantbasedblonde, especially her story today, for the easy cocktail and hors d’oeuvres recipes as she goes live with her mixologist friend Raul of @diageo on the 27th to share all the beauty in real-time. Sooooooo delicious! Thank you, my Sweet Friend, for allowing me to share a creative evening with you on top of an already blissful energy between us whenever we’re together. . . . #plantbasedblonde #isabellasparrow #summerlove #summercocktails #phillymag #phillymagevents #vegan #veganbeauty #gardendesign #alfresco #garden #phillygardendesign #summerinphiladelphia #summeronthehill #garden #outdoorentertaining #summerstyle #plantbased

Things I forget to share from Instagram to Facebook. (Too often.) _____ I still have so many pictures to share from this wonderful garden ... but this is one my beautiful friend/client took after she returned from her trip. ... Summer here is just magic.

Another bit of the porch. We’re going to change the position of this incredible architectural piece I found ... because I think it needs to be lower with a drapey fern or ivy in a pot on top ... but isn’t it fantastic??? This is one of those rare finds that are almost impossible to give up ... but getting to visit it makes that o.k. . . . #isabellasparrow #englishgardenatyle #architecturalantiques #salvagestyle #gardenantiques #keepitonthehill #phillygardening #chestnuthillpa #phs #chestnuthillpa #chestnuthillcommunity #potager #homesteading #mtairypa #philadelphiagardendesign #phs #englishgardens #englishgarden

Part II. (Sorting through pictures from my tending visit to my favourite garden design project. I’m trying to be better about posting images, rather than just capturing them and keeping them locked away in my phone forever. @ West Mt. Airy

Part I. (Sorting through pictures from my tending visit to my favourite garden design project. I’m trying to be better about posting images, rather than just capturing them and keeping them in my phone forever. . . . #isabellasparrow #englishgradenstyle #phillygardening #chestnuthillpa #phs #philadelphiagardendesign #englishcourtyard ... #summerinphilly #phlgardendistrict #summeronthehill #philadelphiagardens #mtairypa #chestnuthillpa #chestnuthill #chestnuthillcommunity #englishgardens #gardendesign #phillygardendesign #englishgardendesign See more