| Gay Penney lives in Corona del Mar, California with her two children. She started the business now known as Gay Penney Designs in 1994 focusing on flowers and small decorative items. Since 1994 it has grown to include all of the design services she is involved in today.
Gay grew up on the East Coast where she developed her passion for flowers and simple living including the cottage lifestyle. She developed a love for flowers tending her mother's garden during the warm summers at the beach and she experimented with different finishes and fabrics in the family home. That passion has only intensified in her years on the West Coast. Having spent her life on both coasts gives her a unique perspective in her work.
She loves to carry themes from nature and the garden into the home. The cottage lifestyle allows for beautiful floral fabrics, vintage linens and fresh flowers from the garden all to co-exist in harmony. She is especially drawn to the comforts of this casual lifestyle ~ where a flea market 'find' brings just as much pleasure as an heirloom.
One of her favorite things is to take interesting items and make extraordinary things out of them. For example, creating a floral arrangement in a vintage birdcage, using tartan plaid ribbon on a wedding cake for a Scottish couple and using a refinished vintage window as a swinging door in her own kitchen.
Gay reminds us, "Our homes are our retreats from the hectic pace we all keep. To walk in your door and be immediately transformed into comfort and tranquility is the cottage lifestyle ~ beautiful touches and inviting furnishings, a candlelit chandelier in the corner of your living room, cabbage roses on lamp shades, linen pillows, cozy blankets ~ all the things that quiet the soul." |
