May 1

A living room work-in-progress

Posted in blue and white, Hamptons style, projects/ my work

Hello All! Things have been really busy here and I’ve been feeling guilty about not taking photos of what I’ve been doing and posting them on the blog. I really admire other bloggers who seem to always have the camera at the ready and who find the time to keep up to date and post every day! So I thought I’d share some progress made in a client’s living room instead of my daily happenings.

 

This casual living room off the kitchen is part of a more comprehensive house redecoration, and the client loves ‘Hamptons’ style using blues, white and greens. We used brighter colours in this room and more subtle versions of those colours in adjoining rooms. Above is the room before. It was pretty sparse. We moved the long basket hamper to another room and got rid of the sofa. Below are some quick snaps I took of the room in progress. We still need a big palm tree for the blue and white Chinese planter in the corner and a couple of other bits and pieces.

The client wasn’t a huge fan of the existing floor tiles in this room but we couldn’t replace them, so most of them were covered with a big sisal rug, with another blue and white striped rug layered over the top to define the sitting area.

I wanted to accessorize the coffee table and the whole home with a mix of new pieces and vintage finds. The round cream pot on the kitchen bench I found at an op shop, and the green Chinoiserie vase on the coffee table I bought on ebay. I like to use little accents of silver and brass in accessories, and of course there are a lot of shells throughout the house, and loads of wonderful coffee table books!

This room opens onto the garden, which was landscaped before I came on board. It’s a gorgeous mix of magnolias, box hedging, climbing jasmine and gardenias.

 

I’ve been busy house-hunting and have a few more houses to share, hopefully this week!

Naomi xx

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Jan 10

Loving Navy

Posted in beautiful blue, my home, Uncategorized

It’s always been a favourite colour of mine, but lately I’ve been really loving and needing navy around me. Because in our living room I have to work with our large brown classic-style leather sofa, simple but strong navy and white combinations are a good fit. Think stud detailing and quite masculine. I loved that sofa when we bought it 9 years ago and I love it almost as much still. It’s just not as versatile as a white sofa! I do love this classic, slightly nautical look.

 

I had a whole bunch of navy/white/natural linen cushions made up just before Christmas in Ralph Lauren and Kravet fabrics, which help the brown leather sofa, linen dining chairs and curtains, white daybed, sisal rug and blue and white ceramics all tie together. The day bed at the moment is a veritable feast of blues!

I’m just loving a mix of navy and white fabrics with blue and white Chinese ceramics, some interesting antique pieces and lots of books and art. This room is my favourite at the moment:

It’s got that relaxed country house vibe while still feeling elegant, which I love. Here’s another favourite from UK Homes & Gardens mag from years ago (below). This is the sort of colour I want to paint our bedroom:

Here’s another moody navy room; love the pairing of navy with warm camel in the sofa and curtains and the navy trim. I like this sort of feeling for my country weekender!

And here’s my navy blue front door:

I love this eclectic mix of pieces and how great white, navy and wood tones look together:

I’ve posted it before, probably more than once (sorry), but here’s my favourite navy blue library by Nate Berkus - I think I can get away with posting it again as it’s a different shot to the one from Elle Decor..

Naomi xx

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Oct 19

Ebay finds and Blue and White

Posted in blue and white, ebay, fabrics, Hamptons style, Uncategorized
Hello! I know it’s already half-way through the week, but I haven’t had a chance to share any of my ponderings since the weekend. So, I had a bit of a lucky ebay this weekend past and came away with a couple of great things that I have big plans for. The first was this long French-style sofa which was one of my best bargains ever and which I think is going to suit either my barn-style country house (haha - of the future), or if I can stand to let it go, a client’s home.. when it’s delivered I’ll have to see what the proportions are like and how much I fall in love with it!
I also picked up this pair of rustic timber mirrors which I am thinking of using in a bathroom I am working on against white subway tiled walls above twin sinks..
As soon as I saw the sofa above I had a plan in mind, if the sofa stays with me. I want to lime the timber frame to lighten it up a lot then cover it in one of these:
with some white armchairs and cushions in this:
(all fabrics by Ralph Lauren)
I was picturing a rustic British Colonial type of look, with lots of timber pieces, worn tan leather and bare floorboards. I think a cross between British Colonial and Hamptons styles is my ideal, with a touch of French Provincial and English country styles thrown in. Anyway, I had visions of my new blue and white striped sofa sitting in my barn-like room, with something like this behind it- an antique refectory table:
I’d also add in some brass lamps to give it some country warmth (nickel lamps would be too Hamptons, I’m thinking of a look that is more masculine and rustic):
-and lots of stacks of books! All of this pondering got me thinking about how much I love classic ‘Hamptons’ blue and white - but how much I like the slightly more masculine approach to using blue and white - I think of it as more ‘Ralph Lauren’. I think this association began in my mind when I tore these clippings of Ralph Lauren’s home from a magazine years ago:
Very elegant and with a good mix of tastefully worn antiques, fresh white upholstery and linen, dark walls and timbers and comfortable country house style. This is another of my favourite Ralph Lauren rooms, featuring blue and white but not too light and beachy:
This dining room by Michael S Smith (above) mixes blue and white with heavy dark timber pieces in a way that I love..
(Kravet)
Barclay Butera is another designer big on blue and white, and mixing it with a British Colonial sort of look:
I can’t recall the designer of this house (below), but I do love the Hamptons-meets-country-cottage style:
Here are a few blue and white rooms by Victoria Hagan (below).I particularly love the last one (the bedroom), with subtle blue and white paired with a heavy dark timber bed. It could just as easily be in an English country house as in a house by the beach.
This bucolic arrangement by Grant K Gisbson puts me in mind of my dream country house- just a hint of blue and white, but the space and the staircase is the real attraction here!:
Finally, I just love the light the timbers and the huge potted indoor palm for a British Colonial-style home:
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