Live Breathe Decor

Nov 27

Saturday House of Inspiration

Every Saturday I want to share with you a home that I have been meditating on that week for inspiration. This week’s home represents something I dream of: a tall townhouse with original features that blends old with new: it belongs to New York’s (incredibly lucky) Betsy Morgan.

Owner Betsy Morgan in her study

I could (and have) sit and soak up this house for hours! This office is my dream room and perfectly comines the styles that I love: white modern elements like the desk, chair, dome light pendant and Saarinen ‘tulip’ table (I want one!), mixed with french and feminine elements like the fireplace, mirror, potted pink orchids and mercury glass jars.

I also love the rug - it looks like a patchwork of white cow hide - and the way the black framed photos are arranged. They look expensive don’t they? But Betsy frames pages out of photography books as art.

Colour-coded books always look good

(Apologies for the substandard scanning here - obviously the two images above go next to each other)

front door

Living Room

What I love about this house is the blend of styles and the surprise factor once you’re in the front door. From the outside it looks like a classic townhouse with its classic black front door. But the rear of the house has been replaced with a huge double-height glass atrium which houses the kitchen, dining and living areas. I love the pale palette and the glamorous lighting. All the finishes are family and child friendly.

upper deck and atrium ceiling

Two things that (one day) I want my house to have: a deck off the main bedroom looking into treetops, and a double-height living room where you can see the sky- I’m in love with this house! I love the idea of not needing curains closed at night, seeing the rain on the skylight window and never having to worry about neighbours peering in at you.

colour-backed bookshelves

Black and white with pops of bright colour - this is what I think of as ‘Domino’ decorating - using modern classics (White Louis Ghost chairs here) and bold coloured accessories on bookshelves.

french windows in bedroom - all images from Vogue Living

Again, the pale palette, touches of french style combined with plain white walls and modern silver vase really appeals.

Can I please live here??

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Nov 23

Feminine Style

Posted in Decorating Styles

I have never been a ‘girly’ girl. I wasn’t exactly into reptiles and motorbikes, but I had no interest in frills and flowers and all things girly. Decorating-wise, I never wanted a pink bedroom. I have always been attracted to what I consider quite masculine style: think leather, concrete, raw timbers, tweed. And for years I was the only girl in an all-male household with a husband and two boys, the result being that even though I started to toy with the idea of a pink dining room and ‘softer’ surroundings, I felt that I couldn’t (or shouldn’t) have them.
But the birth of my daughter earlier this year had me celebrating in my now-justified longing for a more feminine style. By feminine I don’t just mean pink. I find I am attracted to a muted palette of soft greys and pastel pinks, blues and purples - so gorgeous! Here are some of the interiors driving my ‘feminine style’ at the moment..

image from Inside Out

Kazuko Hoshino in House & Garden

Vogue Living

I love this image, but the combination of french antiques, damask fabrics, an ornate gilt frame and a chandelier could have been too much: the bare dark floorboards, white walls and seamless, wallpapered cupboard doors gives it a lighter, more modern twist.

UK House & Garden

Aged Gustavian style: how beautiful is the pale palette and the antique foxed mirror?

Laura Ashley

The wallpaper really ‘makes’ this room. So feminine styleisn’t always subdued, it can be bold too!

Homes and Gardens (UK)

This is one of my favourite images and I have had it in my ‘inspiration files’ for years. I love, love grey, and the combination of the wall colour and curtains slightly draped on the floor is so elegant. What makes this room? The pink posie of flowers and a hint of pink cushion. I want a bedroom like this!!

Homes and Gardens (UK)

I see this as a country cottage with a modern twist. The twist is the ball lamp, black and white photos and the silver-lined light shade. What makes it feminine? The delicate wire candle holder, the old portrait of a woman, the pink roses in a jug and of course, lots of pink candles.

House & Garden (UK)

Beautiful hand-painted walls and romantic staircase. I love the way the underside of the staircase is stepped and not smooth.

This home, feautured in House Beautiful and then in the book ‘the Southern Cosmopolitan’ uses feminine shades of pink, blue, aqua and green to perfection!

Homes & Gardens

House Beautiful

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Nov 20

Sunshiny blue day

Posted in Architecture

It’s been raining this week in beautiful Melbourne, so when I woke up today and saw that the sun was shining I went outside to our garden to cut some flowers to bring inside. Sadly, there were no flowers out (or more accurately, I have almost no flowers planted -yet), though the hydrangea is starting to flower - can’t wait until it’s ready to cut!

I know some people think of them as ‘granny flowers’ but I think they are just gorgeous! Mine are the white ones.

Anyway, instead of flowers I just brought inside some green foliage, which can be just as nice as flowers and still brings that feeling of freshness inside. I would LOVE to have a garden full of things I could cut and have in vases around the house, but my garden is definitely a work in progress.

And what better to do on a beautiful sunny day than go house-hunting! My parents are looking for a new house project and my Mum wants something very run-down with lots of character and lots of bushy garden and of course, lots of potential. The house we looked at today didn’t tick those boxes, though I loved the front porch:

But as we were walking up the street another house caught my eye, not for my parents but for me!!

Oh how I would love to get my hands on this beautiful old home and restore it (and that garden). Now that’s what I call a fun project!

Finally, as we drove away I spotted the perfect house for my parents in the perfect location:

I just loved the way it was hidden behind a bit of a secret garden and shaded by established trees. I loved the ivy growing up the outside walls, too. It had (hard to see in the pics) bay windows upstairs and downstairs and lots of charming lttle windows- now I just have to talk them into buying it!

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Nov 19

Thinking Pink

Posted in pink

Who doesn’t love pink?

When I think of pink the first room that springs to mind is the gorgeous and famous living room in Windsor Smith’s house:

Windsor Smith

But I remember the first time I obsessed over a pink room in a magazine. It was years ago in a Christmas issue of British Homes & Gardens in a spread on Suzanne Sharpe’s (of Rug Company fame) London house. She had painted her dining room a dark lipstick pink and hung the walls with neutral drawings in fine gold frames. The table was covered in a simple white cloth to the floor and there were pink and gold tealights glowing everywhere. I know I still have the clipping somewhere and will post it when I find it!

She had also painted her hallway in the same pink:

Here are some other pinks I am loving right now…

images of Betsey Johnson's apartment via stylefiles blog

image via home design interior

How gorgeous are those lanterns!? I love the big squashy sofa upholstered in different coloured fabrics.

image via home design

I love the black framed black-and-white photos against the pink wall- a good option for those who are tentative using bold colour.

image via dec0rs

I don’t know that I would ever be bold enough to have a kitchen this pink in my own home, but I love it nonetheless! The pink and black work so well together, and I love the double layer of tall cabinetry.

Jonathan Adler

I know everyone has seen this image a hundred times but it just works so well, the black and white and mirrored surfaces teamed with pink, then the gold mirror to glam it up another notch.