Sep 24

A white Farewell

Posted in art walls, displays, Hamptons style, neutrals, white

First off, I have to apologise for my terrible lack of posts this week! I’ve actually been feeling quite inspired but just haven’t seemed to find the time to sit down and share it. It’s been a bit of a hectic week and on top of the usual work and end-of-term stuff, my big boy turned 7 yesterday. Amazing to think where those seven years have gone, and all the magic that has happened in between!

 

I have a client who mentioned that she wants to have a wall in her entry way covered in framed prints. Straight away I thought of something like this (above): a wall of framed black and white maps or topographical drawings, framed in classic frames above a console that can act as storage and also display, with a couple of chairs on either side. The symmetry of this sort of arrangement always appeals, and I do love a good print/art/photo-covered wall.

I’m really drawn at the moment to these barn-like extensions that house a combined kitchen/living/dining area. I love this one because of the concrete-clad walls around the fridge and because of all the white – white beams/ceilings as well as white floors and white furniture, with some timber thrown in. Can you imagine this being your holiday house? Heaven!

Finally, isn’t this such a neat use of a little bathroom corner? The curved ‘floating’ bench is unobtrusive and I love the little niche below for the towels! My favourite parts of this bathroom though are the floor tiles and the twin high windows, twin industrial pendants offset by the centred mirror.

I’m off today for the school holidays so I’m afraid there will be another slightly extended break in transmission! I’ll be back next week. Have a great weekend All, and where it applies, Happy Holidays!

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Sep 21

Some beautiful country homes

Posted in Architecture, country style, french style, Gardens, Uncategorized

In my search of country ‘weekenders’ for sale I saw this amazing stone palace overlooking the sea. To me there is something a little austere about the facade, but it’s very beautiful. I love the gardens (with view of course!), and the beamed ceilings inside.

It’d be like showering inside a fort!

Then there’s this amazing French chateau property (below). I love the outside (which I might soften with some climbers) and the gardens, and the inside is very grand, but if I had to be critical a little McMansion-y for me – yes, I can afford to be picky as I’d never be able to actually buy this place!

Then, there’s this place (below). This one is actually potentially within reach and though it’s not grand or impressive like the first two, it’s my favourite house of the three. The house and the trees have a real New England type of country charm, don’t you think?

And I just love the windows looking out onto trees, the windows seats and the small-ish rooms..

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Sep 19

My country house

Posted in Architecture, bookshelves, country style, Gardens, Hamptons style, Uncategorized

How was your weekend? Sadly I didn’t get a chance to do any cottage-hunting, though I’ve been thinking about it (a lot). I’m keeping a close eye on the houses coming up for sale on realestate.com, but so far in the areas I’m thinking about there is nothing old for sale- and I can’t get away from the appeal of a little old cottage, hopefully with an old established garden to match. Sadly, there don’t seem be many run-down French stone or Hamptons-style villas in the areas just outside Melbourne! But of course, that doesn’t stop me from dreaming..

A cute little stone cottage like this one (above) would be a dream come true!

How I’d love to happen upon something like this, complete with glowing leafy forest and swimming pool.. and here’s the guest house, or maybe a very fancy potting shed:

I think I’ve posted this photo before (above), but I just love everything about it! Just love the look of climbers growing on the outside of buildings.

The floors would be stone or terracotta and there’d be no shortage of charm and character.

I would spend my weekends cooking, reading, pottering about and gardening, and creating tasteful arrangements of potted herbs in a sunny corner..

Here’s one version of my Dream kitchen- Hamptons-style joinery and polished nickel pendants, but some rustic elements too; old timber ladder, a timber-topped island bench, branches from the garden displayed in old jars..

The kitchen might open onto a little courtyard, where I’d grow espaliered fruit trees, loosely-clipped topiaries and lots of fragrant things in pots.

I just love the rustic brick arches of this outdoor room – too much for a little country cottage?

Inside, I just want one big living room with a pitched barn-like roof, with lots of books and comfortable chairs.

Maybe with an old spiral staircase leading to a mezzanine kids’ area.

But if all of this is too rustic for the rest of the family’s tastes, then I could happily suffer living in a slicker version of a French-country inspired barn conversion:

I just love the double height ceiling over the kitchen, the upstairs balcony ‘bridge’ overlooking, and the timber beams to create a ‘ceiling’ over the kitchen area (above).

Imagine the kitchen being where the bar is (above) – This is perfection! Love the moody feeling and the low lighting in particular.

And I love the colour scheme and mix of textures of this open-plan room…

 

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Sep 16

My morning and some decorating bargains

Posted in fabrics, geometrics, lighting, Shopping, Uncategorized

I had to pop into Spotlight this morning to pick up some bits and pieces for client room installations next week, but actually saw a few bargain treasures that I wouldn’t mind for myself (as often happens, I must admit). If you have the patience to sift through lots of ugly vases, artificial (and artificial looking) flowers, floral bedspreads and acrylic rugs you can occasionally find something great (and cheap). Case in point, the blue and white trellis and geometric cushions (above). I was very tempted to buy some of these (especially the top one), and I think they were only around $30.

This combination of greens and white also caught my eye (after a bit of searching behind the lime greens!).

Or, for a more ‘country’ look, you could throw in a green toile and bring out the beige piping.

But at the end of the day I am a classics kind of girl, so these are some of the blue/white/neutral (boring? No! beautiful!) haul that I couldn’t resist for my house (above)..

They also sometimes have some nice fabrics..check out these red and blue geometric-printed hessians (above).

There was also this European-text cotton dhurrie rug (above), which could be pretty great in the right room.

Some more of the treasures I came away with (above) – they had all these goreous quilted pillowcases and euro cases reduced to $10 (usually something like $50) so I stocked up on white and taupe. And the glass vases and hurricanes were all half price! So I figured a few more to add to the collection couldn’t hurt..

After Spotlight I stopped at Freedom to look for candles for my new hurricanes (no luck, such a limited range!), and saw this extra-long rustic chest of drawers- might be perfect for the kitchen in my new country weekender I thought!!

Freedom seems to be trying to cater to the slightly industrial take on country style at the moment, and I quite liked this iron and glass pendant light.

This weekend between birthday parties I would like to try to get out of town to look at some properties – anyone know of a beautiful-but-rundown-ancient country house up for sale??

Have a great weekend x

 

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