Desire to Inspire covers all corners of the world from the UK to the Seychelles and Alaska to New Zealand. Homes in the USA, Australia, Norway and today Singapore. As any of you who have travelled to this small nation in Asia will know, many of the population live in highrise apartments. Row after row of them.  Stanley Tham and Kusnin Tan are KNQ Associates and their specialty is what they call Home Rejuvenation, transforming Singapore’s cookie cutter apartments into something special. We’ve featured their work before but Stan sent over one of their latest projects. Based on their client’s love of all things Renaissance, KNQ has taken a modern twist on the sumptuousness of that time. My favourite? The dark and brooding dressing room. Imagine being able to indulge your fashion fetish in your spare room!  For the full story go to their blog Home Rejuvenation.

(P.S. Home Rejuvenation are once again running their 10 Most Influential Design Bloggers poll. Just by nominating you are in the running for one of three Wallpaper* subscriptions. More info here. )

No I’m starting in the wrong spot. Let’s go back to the beginning. The entry then the living spaces, the guest bedroom come music room and finally the master bedroom.

mmmmmmmm… m. elle. It’s easy to see why this mother and daughters design team (Mary Lynn Turner and Marie and Emily Turner) made Elle Decor’s 5 to watch list. Sophisticated interiors throughout their portfolio but it was this mountain home that had me from the first picture. Understated elegance yes but also casual and inviting. Cocooned in dark rooms with blazing fires and layered textures. Enticed by the bright and white. It’s a stone and aged wooden beam dream with conifer clad hills thrown in for free. Retreat is definitely the right word. What a wonderful interpretation to match a stunning site.

Behind this beautifully restored Edwardian facade is a house with two personalities. There is little to forewarn you as you stalk on by this Hawthorn, Melbourne home. Through a purple door the original rooms of the house give a hint at an owner who, while respecting the past, embraces modern design… the chairs, a light here and there, the colours. But then as you break through to the rear of the house a second home awaits you. Clever and contemporary, sleekly modern and  definitely 21st century. But wait there’s more! The garden. OMG the garden! Did I say two for one? Make that three! If you need to ask the price you cannot of course afford it. It even has it’s own website for the sale.

Alistair Nicholls loves architecture. Alistair Nicholls loves interiors. Alistair Nicholls loves design. Alistair Nicholls loves photography and quite frankly is more than pretty bloody good. He’s fab. It’s the Brit effect. He cuts though the affected, feigned and faux. Rooms are real and their beauty is genuine. And all this revealed through a talented photographer’s eye. Enjoy!

… lot of work, dodgy and wobbly but city views… I’m jaded

WINKS – weekend links. Here we list what has come in during the week, things we’ve found and things we think you’ll want to see. If you’d like to see your blog or website featured email us and if we think it fits with our readers we’ll link you. So what’s in this week?

• Bemz have released a new line – Loose Fit Country Style. Part shabby chic, part English rose, a dash rural French. Taking IKEA in another direction. Scandinavian goes farmhouse.

• If casual beach style with layering of raw naturals, recycled timbers, rattan, corals and shells makes you quake at the knees then Kate and Emma at Island Style Living are kindred spirits. So evocative of Aussie beachside holiday living. The memories!! Online store with simply gorgeous (and simple in their beauty) pieces for your home. Shells are my weakness!

• I also have a weakness for the brutal and the natural, the rough with the smooth and furniture that is more sculpture than big box cookie cutter. Love the work of New York based John Houshmand.

• Haus Interior let me count the ways I love you. I so wish that I could walk through your doors and shop shop shop. I guess there is always online. Summer 2010 stock in store now. Wire vase you will be mine 🙂

• Award winning British textile designer Selina Rose’s new 2010 collection is a cool mix of eye popping colour, simple yet sophisticated, nature-inspired pattern and her trademark fretwork-like felt cut-outs. Love love love!