Hooked on the rough luxe look? Rustic with industrial, worn with vintage, unfinished fab and imperfectly wonderful. Then Rough Luxe Design by Kahi Lee for The Curated Collection by Farameh Media will have you drooling. I need to get my hands on this book. Rough Luxe Design features the interior designers, furniture purveyors, industrial designers, and trend-setting entrepreneurs leading this future overlays past, raw meets regal movement. Birthday present dear husband of mine? Hint. Hint.

Hanne Borgeyngland Norway Cabin copyright Madeline Söder as published in Rough Luxe Design for The Curated Collection

Bykenyan Accord Home copyright Grace Kelsey as published in Rough Luxe Design for The Curated Collection

Ricardo Bofill copyright Lluis Carbonell as published in Rough Luxe Design for The Curated Collection

Rough Luxe Hotel copyright Marcus Peel as published in Rough Luxe Design for The Curated Collection

Ace Hotel NY copyright Eric Laignel as published in Rough Luxe Design for The Curated Collection

No not in a balaclava but in Balaclava, the Melbourne suburb. A 3 storey timber and block townhouse with a groovy young family vibe. Love the kitchen/dining area. The pops of yellow. The mirror. The rumpus room leading out into a fab courtyard. The casual vibe where everything is laid back but still cool except that brown velvet couch. Don’t get me wrong. I do like a brown velvet couch but… it’s sloppy and slouchy and not at all hipster family cool. Perhaps it is in real life and perhaps it is soooooooo comfy that you would forgive its down at heels, shoulders hunched, hands shoved belligerently in its pilled acrylic cardigan, don’t look at me, it’s not my fault the rest of the room is empty vibe. Yes the living room needs work but with just a little zhushing how cool would this house be! Link here while it lasts.

After we have finished our stay in Le Grotte della Civita we can wind our way up the Italian roads to Abruzzo, to the hill top village of Santo Stephano di Sessanio. To another albergo diffuso, another Sextantio property. Scattered around the village are rooms in sympathetically renovated buildings, their spartan beauty saved from a modern desecration, just enhanced by simplicity and touches of hedonist luxury. Fine sheets, fine bathing, fine food and, of course, fine wine. You’ll find me soaking in the tub by the fire.

You may remember a post from January this year that featured photos of an albergo diffuso. A stunningly beautiful series of hotel rooms in caves scattered down a slope in Italy. Today I fell in love all over again when I revisited the now fully up and running website for Sextantio Albergo Diffuso at Le Grotte della Civita. Can such a special place become even more special, more beautiful, more stunning the more I see of it? I am smitten. This is definitely a must see (and stay) spot on my wish list. The hardest thing would be choosing which grotta to stay in. Then again there is another albergo diffuso in Abruzzo… but that will have to wait till the next post.

… to paradise. Because the man is a genius with a lens he can take me anywhere. Lucas Allen.