Mar 1

A relaxed country/beach house

Posted in beach style, country style, red

You might have seen this Hamptons beach house before in House Beautiful, but I’ve just come across and love its casual, relaxed style. It wouldn’t even need to be near the beach - I can imagine this as a country cottage opening onto a beautiful garden, where you can keep the doors open all day as you cook, read, relax and potter about outside. I love the faded reds, the antique rug, the kitchen’s chequered tile floor, the toile chair - I’m still a fan of this fabric, and you can’t have a country cottage without a bit of toile!

Naomi x

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Jan 24

Feeling Beachy

Posted in bathrooms, beach style, green and blue, Hamptons style, Kitchens

You know those weatherboard houses I mentioned in my last post? I’ve been pondering them and am becoming a little obsessed with the idea of finding a little place with lots of timber-lined tongue and groove walls and also- and this would be critical - pitched ceilings! It wouldn’t have to be a ‘beach shack’; there are lots of houses with ‘cathedral ceilings’ (real estate agent speak) built in the 70′s that are heavy on the orange timber - I’d break out the white paint big time!

I just love this airy outdoor dining area with the big iron lantern.

Maybe it’s the hot weather we’re having at the moment here in Melbourne, but I’m really craving those pale sea and sand colours, lots of white-painted timber, open airy spaces and lots of greenery.

There’s a house around the corner from me that’s doing an upstairs extension and they’ve just installed a window upstairs very similar to this oval one - it looks great and makes me very curious to see inside..

There’s another oval window! (above)

This to me is the perfect relaxed kitchen, with stools around a table instead of an island with storage underneath, and the long open shelving.

I remember reading about this room in house beautiful mag (above), where they had used a rough raw silk to upholster the chesterfield sofas but then a leather on the seats - great idea! I also love the collection of inexpensive framed pictures lined up above the square doorways.

My dream butler’s pantry (above)!

caitlin creer

In this hot weather all I want to do is hibernate at home, but with school starting next week and my being away all next week, there’s a lot of last minute school shopping, labelling of a million books and items of school apparel and cleaning to do (whenever I have to go away I expect to return to the world’s messiest house under husband’s watch - but as long as everyone survives it’s ok. It’s nice to feel needed right?).

Have a great Tuesday,

Naomi xx

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Dec 10

Summer blues and my favourite garden

Posted in blue and white, Gardens, green and blue, Hamptons style

Well I guess summer has officially arrived- the past two days have been rather warmer than I would like! I am certain I will have mentioned in previous posts that I am not a hot weather sort of person- give me a grey stormy beach walk or cocoa by the fire over a hot summer’s day every time! This weather is reminding me why dark reds don’t really go hand-in-hand with Christmas in Australia, not in the same way that the colour lends warmth and richness to a Christmas in a colder climate- sometimes it’s just too hot to crave warm colours! So my thoughts are straying away from traditional Christmas colours today and towards soothing blues and greens..

I love this room (above) because of the blues and greens, the mix of patterns and because it has a bit of an English country manor vibe to it.

One of my all-time favourite libraries! Not long after I started this blog I remember doing a post on blue libraries (read it here)- and I am still obsessed with them! This one has it all for me: the grey-blue colour, the flowing silk curtains (for me loose, flowing curtains correspond to an active and wandering imagination, so they are the perfect complement to a library!), the symmetry, the bookshelves and ladder. All beautiful.

I love these very subtle blues and greens mixed with neutrals (above). Those barn doors seem to be popping up all over the place, and I like these ones because they are full-height. The herringbone brick floors (which I covet big-time) with steps leading up to the kitchen makes the room infinitely more interesting.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned (probably more than once) that I wanted to get some brass lamps (here and also here- the ones I ended up buying). Well I picked them up today which gave me the chance to stop with the kids to visit my parents-in-law, whose home and garden is one my favourite places, particularly on a hot day. It’s just so beautiful and inspires me every time to apply greater activity towards my own green-thumb aspirations..

As I have been writing this post it has started to rain here which means the arrival of a cool change - lovely!! Hope you’re having a great weekend.

Naomi x

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