TOP, LEFT • Fly the Coop. A chicken coop that Vanessa built and uses as a greenhouse teems with life, thanks to her green thumb.“Both of my grandmothers were garden lovers, especially my paternal grandmother,”Vanessa says.“I have always had plants and trees surrounding me my entire life.” She started gardening when she was 19-years-old, and it’s the center of her life.“Because of the Arizona climate, my garden comes to life with a second spring in October and November,” she says. It coincides with the heat declining, which makes time outside much more enjoyable. TOP, RIGHT • Caravan Couture. Two caravans sit side by side in Vanessa’s garden.“They were built by travelers and pulled by oxen back in the day,”Vanessa says. “Children were even raised in these wagons for many years.” She had been wanting a caravan wagon for twenty years.When these were offered to her, she snapped them up.“We love to make treats and tea out here and play guitars under the stars,” she says. “It's a very magical place, and we are soon beginning a renovation on the blue wagon.” BOTTOM, LEFT • Pumpkin Patch. This is the porch of one of Vanessa’s caravans, and she’s lled it with carved pumpkins.“I love carving pumpkins, but I do sneak in some antique pumpkins that are not real but look like they are,” she says. “We carve a lot of pumpkins for Halloween, and I adore the oldfashioned vibe about them and how they smell with a candle inside—it evokes beautiful memories of the season for me.” OPPOSITE, TOP LEFT • Full of Hot Air. One of the décor elements Vanessa is drawn to is balloons. She nds them festive and celebratory. “Balloons are one of those elements that breathe life and movement into décor,” she says. 106 HOLIDAYdécor | 2022
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