Traditional, mid century, contemporary or just quirky, photographer Nathan Schroder shoots them all. Schroder’s work captures the rooms we all dream about. Love the light, the composition, the angles. One minute formal, the next intimate. And the colour! Always centre stage. Painterly and passionate.

A man with a dream, an obsession, a domestic drama that unfolds through ten rooms over almost 200 years. House as museum, house as living history, house as an unfolding play. Dennis Severs’ House, Spitalfields, London. No electricity, no mod cons. It is as if the members of an 18th century merchant family have just stepped out of the room. Half eaten meal, beds still warm, the litter of everyday life. You can read more about the artist who uses his visitor’s imagination as his canvas and the friends who keep it going  here.

High on the ridge of Bishopscourt in Cape Town sits a glass pavillion with views to die for.  The house, Montrose, with its slick modern aesthetic is by South African design firm SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects. Like all their work featured here on DTI, finishes and joinery are first class, the pool and grounds a pleasure playground. No curtains, no need for privacy and everywhere the view. For miles and miles….

I look out at my garden and I see brown. A long dry winter without a hint of good rain and brutal frosts have seen my garden curl up its roots and almost give up. I cajole and threaten but spring is looking lorn at the new old house. For a little fantasy on a dry brown day I have turned to Sydney landscape designer Anthony Wyer. Verdant green and fantasy shapes. Cloud trees and bamboo, pools and spreading canopies of green. I close my eyes and all is beautiful and lush and green. Aaahhhhhh……

Essence of form and function. Beauty in the purity of design. Pared back and understated but high on style and impact. Minimalist in a rustic context. Clean lined and spare within the historic. It is about domesticity distilled to its simplest essence and placed carefully within the existing character of the building. Italian born, Paris based architect Antonio Virga.