This custom home was built along the shores of Mercer Island, WA and may have breathtaking views but the views inside are also pretty great 🙂 Katie LeClercq added vintage and modern elements in mostly neutral tones and lots of dark accents (I’m always a fan of that) that create a light-filled but cozy and cocooning vibe that really lets the spectacular scene beyond the windows be the focal point. Architecture: Katie LeClercq Design Studio and Okano Picard Studio; Builder: Mercer Builders; Photography: Aaron Leitz

Interior designer Polly Ashman transformed this semi detached Victorian home in West London into a family-friendly, warm and cheerful home with the use of lots of colours and patterns in the most pleasant and easy-to-live-with ways. Bold but not too bold. Bright but not too bright. Maximum comfort level. And she even added the prettiest green to the kitchen crittall doors.

The edifice’s layout is typical of others in this town where buildings interlock with one another and stand around inner courtyards and gardens. The property extends from a main street on its north side, where you find the shop space and apartment, both currently rented out, to a secondary parallel street on its south side, where you enter a garage. It is made up of three distinct buildings that stand between two parallel streets. These sections are separated by outdoor spaces: a patio, a garden and terraces. The first building faces the main street. It has three floors with an unconverted loft space. Its entrance hallway leads to the grand town house and to the ground-floor shop space. The hallway also leads up to the apartment. The second building has a single-storey 18th-century main section made of dressed stone that faces a court, which is partly covered. A four-floor medieval tower with a loft adjoins this section. This edifice has a wooden terrace on its south side and a walled garden. On the narrow street on the south side, there is a separate stone building that adjoins two other properties. It houses a vast ground-floor garage and an upstairs space with sloping attic ceilings that could be converted.
This property in the town of Lectoure could sound more intriguing. You get a little bit of everything you could possibly want, and more! All of the pleasures of owning a castle, without the burden of owning a castle. I am DYING over this. For sale via Patrice Besse for 1 295 000 €.

This apartment in Wrocław, Poland is such a note-worthy example of how to take a small space and make it grand. Not being afraid to use some colour (particularly loving the unexpected chartreuse baseboards), not shying away from using rather large furniture (that squishy sofa), adding an adorable hex tile floor in the kitchen to delineate it without taking up space, and all that built-in bedroom storage. Finchstudio did a wonderful job designing this apartment. Photos: Aleksandra Dermont.

London-based designer Isabella Worsley takes a fresh and characterful approach to design. Her use of colour and pattern, in both furniture and on the walls lends itself to a more youthful and vibrant approach to design with a British flair. This isn’t stuffy nor is it granny-approved, and it sure is family-friendly.