Displaying posts from April, 2016

If truth be told most Australians would live, sleep and eat outdoors. If we have four walls around us at home we scheme and plan for sliding doors and windows that lead onto decks and balconies and patios. We spend thousands on beautiful kitchens then prefer to cook our evening meals on barbecues. We are even known to pile on the woolies and stand out there cooking in the middle of winter. Which is why we all dream of having the perfect outdoor room like this clever extension in Taringa, Brisbane by Nielsen Workshop. The great outdoors have never looked so stylish.

It took the owners 3 years to find the perfect art deco apartment… well almost perfect. That’s when they turned to Sydney-based interior design studio arnoldlane to create their dream home.A few judicious tweaks of the floor plan and the spatial flow was just right. The all white colour palette was enhanced with added mouldings and panelling providing the perfect backdrop for the antique and mid century furniture. It’s elegant, restrained, classic yet contemporary and simply beautiful.

This 70m² apartment on the 30th floor of a highrise in Moscow may be a bit on the small side but it sure has alot of style. To keep the space looking as large as possible, designer Eugene Zhdanov used some smart techniques such as mirroring one wall in the living room to reflect the view outside, using the same colour palette throughout the apartment and keeping the curtains the same shade as the walls. Even the resident cat has a designated space – that bed is adorable! Via The Village. 

The folks over at CanvasPop contacted us the other day offering a canvas print from a photo of our choosing. I jumped at the chance because as I have mentioned many times here, photography is my favourite form of art. I had a 16″x24″ canvas to work with and chose this incredible photo by my friend Tom who loves to shoot around the streets of LA where he lives. He kindly sent a copy to me in high resolution so the result would have good clarity. I am in love with the finished product! This company is fantastic and makes it SO easy – especially if you are working with a photo that is not quite up to snuff. You can print from any source – mobile photos, Instagram, Facebook or directly from your computer. If needed you can use their filters and effects to tweak the photo into exactly what you want. They even offer design services if you aren’t so photography saavy. When your photo is ready they have tons of options for layout and sizes – including triptychs and panoramic prints. And this is nuts – they have a love it for life guarantee, so if you don’t love your canvas they will reprint it or refund you. I hung the canvas over my new sofa (more on that soon) and the size ended up being a bit too small for the space so I hung some Puerto Vallarta finds around it to fill it in more. I think I will look for something a bit bigger for this space but I have other ideas for this awesome canvas when I do. Thanks CanvasPop!

Taking an old structure and, restoring the beautiful original details while giving it an eccentric modern vibe in the decor is something I gravitate towards and I am doing with my own home. Rome based interior designer Ilaria Miani takes this to another level with her spaces. Miani’s passion for restoring abandoned farmhouses, palaces and villages is inspired first and foremost by the building itself. A bit of colored plaster still holding onto a crumbling wall; a stone niche carved by ancient hands; or the sagging massive wooden beams that once supported an existence that has long since faded are her starting points. Tiles are handcrafted of clay and baked in nearby kilns; tables and beds are forged with the same hammers that have been used for generations; and chairs carved by carpenters using ancient tools. The landscape too, informs and inspires. Whether it is the rolling hills of Tuscany, the gentle waters of a Venetian canal or the cobbled streets of Rome, Miani’s treatments speak the same language, evoking and reinterpreting a timeless language. While Miani’s creations are rooted in the past, they are very much a thing of the present. Her own designs – modern, sleek and colorful – encompass every detail of her projects. From the chairs and the lamps to the forks and the linens, the effortless casual sophistication that has become her trademark, creates a uniquely cohesive whole.