Apr 24

A Gothic country property

On the weekend my parents-in-law and I went to take a look at a beautiful old house that has come up for sale in the area outside Melbourne that we are hoping to buy in. When I’d seen it on the internet it seemed to tick all the boxes; a reasonably large block of land (4000 sq metres) for a residential area, loads of character, and beautiful established trees.

On arrival it has these beautiful iron gates and an impressive view through them up to the house. Doesn’t it look beautiful? Even the weather suited the house - all dark and rainy and gloomy - my absolute favourite kind of day.

The garden was full of mature English trees, with lots of gorgeous autumnal colour - reds, oranges and yellows. Can you see the twisted brick chimneys on the house?

And lovely views of the garden through all of the windows. I didn’t take any interiors photos simply because of the number of people at the inspection. The property must be some sort of local landmark because it seemed half of country Victoria was there taking a look!

Unfortunately this house didn’t tick the boxes for me. Though beautiful, the property is surrounded by modern new-builds, and I dream of not having any close neighbours. It also needed more work than we would realistically be prepared to take on, including lots of rising damp. But the main problem for me was it just didn’t give me ‘that feeling’; I felt no connection with the spaces and couldn’t really imagine spending time there.

My dream country house would have one large communal living space (this house didn’t have that):

via velvet and linen

I particularly love this double-height barn-like living space filled with comfy sofas, books, paintings and antiques.

Room for lots of books:

via cote de texas

Lots of relaxed, cosy corners:

And scope to use some dark greys and blues, maybe even black for walls:

And you know I’m a sucker for that traditional, masculine, ultra-warm and cosy den-like look (here it’s Ralph Lauren’s country library):

So, my happy search continues.

Have a great day,

Naomi x

Nov 4

Some pops of colour

Would you be brave enough to paint a room in bright aqua? Doesn’t it look great as a backdrop for lime green and purple?

Love the greeny-blue books stacked on the right-hand side (above).

That green vase paired with buttoned charcoal velvet and the modern lines and crisp white of a tulip side table is magic to me (above).

I love this pic - deep purple upholstery paired with leopard print, and a peek of kelly green geometric on the side..

Short but sweet on this busy Friday - have a great weekend!! x

Aug 24

Neutrals and bookshelves

Posted in bookshelves, neutrals

 

I love all shades of neutral and white paired with dark charcoal grey, it’s just a combination that always works. I’m a big fan of walls covered in books - where the shelves are full to bursting with them - but I also like more sparse displays where the spines are all old leather, vellum or pale canvas, and where the books are mixed with pieces of coral, shells, pieces of bone or natural stones. This last pic says it all- the display is all about the natural, where leather is paired with wicker, stone, timber and coral. So beautiful!

Jul 8

Another incredible designer’s home

I picked up a stack of old Madison and InStyle magazines at an op shop the other day, which I do from time to time to look at the ‘living’ sections, and came across the amazing home of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. It’s a display of such incredible eclectic style, but so liveable, and not fancy and designer-ish at all. In particular, I am absolutely smitten with her library/living room, with the wall-to-wall bookshelves and the library ladders! I want a room just like this one in my next house (my dissatisfaction with my current house grows every time I see something like this and have to confront my home’s unbearable inadequacies. Forget only having one bathroom, what I’m really lacking is a huge library room!) The rug is pretty great, too. I love her use of colour and mixing of styles.

 

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...