Formerly the Church of St John, constructed in 1896 on the outskirts of Ford in Wiltshire, the building has recently undergone a thoughtful and sensitive conversion, creating spectacular spaces for living and entertaining as well as three lovely bedrooms. Extending to 2,844 sq ft internally, the building retains its ecclesiastical integrity yet provides a number of cleverly designed, intimate spaces. The structure was built entirely out of distinctive, honey-coloured local stone and a barrel-vaulted ceiling.
My dreams of living in a converted church will never die if I keep finding homes like this 😉 Currently for sale via Inigo.

This rustic barn in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire is a texture-lovers dream. Exposed brick walls, rough-hewn reclaimed wood, steel and add in some crittall windows and you have an industrial treasure trove. Barn living at its finest! Design: Lauren Gilberthrope Interiors; architect: Javelin Block; (most) photos: Emma Lewis.

Casa Morelli is a vacation home in the hills of Chianti in the heart of Tuscany, completely restored by Holzrausch and extended with a spacious outdoor area. The center of the house is now a modern, open living-dining area with a kitchen. A large panoramic window that can be opened completely, combined with specially handcrafted cotto floors, creates a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces and allows views of the rolling Chianti hills. In the spirit of reducing the variety of materials as much as possible, cotto is also used as a wall covering in the showers, by the fireplace and in the kitchens. Wood paneling in bog oak, washbasins made of solid travertine blocks, and slightly iridescent wall plastering emphasize the handcrafted character of the house. The freestanding furniture was specially designed and hand-built by Klaus Lichtenegger. 

Old (15th century!) and new blending together so perfectly and effortlessly. This home is an exceptional example of this and the dark tones, earthy elements and minimal approach throughout add such a dramatic and modern elegance. And worth a look at the before photos here to see how far it came.

Perfectly imperfect, disordered to perfection, expertly curated and delightfully haphazard… this is absolutely wonderful Kensington flat of Swiss decorator Christophe Gollut. Via Cabana Magazine, photos by Emma Lewis.

The lovely folks of Expand Furniture reached out to me recently about their products and I have to say after all of these years of blogging not much surprises me anymore…but this company sure did. As their name may suggest, their specialty is space saving, multi-functional furniture, and creating space in your home that you did not know you had. And they have such unique ways of saving space that my mind is literally blown. I could not get over the options they offer. How about the Wall bed Revolving Bookcase Table – a bookcase that hides a dining table and revolves to uncover a murphy bed! WHAT?!?! A mirror that stores your dining table extensions! A bunkbed couch transformer! A sofa bookcase murphy bed combo! A wall desk that converts into bunk beds! An ottoman that stashes away stools! One that I think is super-handy in this era of working from home is the coffee table that converts into a desk so you can work from the sofa. I could go on and on they have so many unique options. It’s really incredible what they have come up with and the multi-functional needs they service. Such amazing small space furniture options.

With just my husband and I in a reasonable sized 4 bedroom house and with a staircase with a 180 degree corner that makes bulky/long items near impossible to get up the stairs, I opted to go simple and try out one of Expand Furniture’s modular sofas. I chose the Migliore modular love seat with an ottoman for our tiny media room that we have created out of one of our spare bedrooms.

When they arrived I got a little nervous about the size of the boxes but fear not! Everything made it up the stairs easily. This was one of the most exciting unboxings I’ve done in a long time 🙂

I also need to commend them on great packaging. Thick boxes (that I of course recycled), then tightly wrapped in bubble wrap with the sharp leg edges covered in fabric and taped up (the legs were removed and packaged up in bundles).

With a house filled with cats I was ecstatic over this grey fabric I chose. It’s really thick and durable and a gorgeous shade of grey. The weight of the cushions are substantial and they’re memory foam topped with goose feathers. It is so freaking comfortable that even my husband has been commenting how much he loves it. And I love knowing that in the future if we move it to the much bigger living room we can purchase additional pieces from this line to suit the space. It’s a winner!

I love that for each major cushion there’s velcro and a sort of microfibre panel so you can put each cushion exactly where you want them and nothing slides around.

I took out the old sofa, put in the new, and tried it out for a week or so and fell in love with it. But the room needing a makeover. The blue and white walls weren’t living up to the expectations the new sofa now set. So I went to work on a little project.

The Farrow & Ball Inchyra Blue is such a unique colour and I really love it so I decided to wrap the room in stripes in that colour as well as Drop Cloth. And despite it being a pain in the butt and time consuming I love how it turned out and I could not love the room more. It really makes the new sofa pop.