I love a good eat-in kitchen. Nothing too big or too fancy. Somewhere to create great food and great family memories. And I love this kitchen by Los Angeles based interior designer Amy Sklar. The floor, the moveable island bench, the mix of metals, the wall of pots and pans and those sweet little windows above the sink.

Salt and pepper. Nuts and bolts. Milk and cookies. Needle and thread. What goes better together than books and bed? Falconer Street by Nest Architects.

The view is to die for and the house is simply beautiful. I like my beach house to be relaxed and laid back but still with a certain sophistication. (Listen to me! As if I have a beach house!) Stylish, chic, private and elegant but not too precious that you can’t see kids in swim suits and towels over chairs. I’d move in here in a heart beat. Warm sun, the sound of crashing waves and that view. Amaroo at Whale Beach north of Sydney is available for holidays via Contemporary Hotels.

For those of you who have to drag yourself into work on a weekend I have nothing but sympathy. I do it myself. I’d have no problem finding the motivation if my workplace looked this good. Game Design Studio, Manhattan by Sheep + Stone.

Photography by Nicole Franzen.

Like many of the Australian houses I feature here the Trellis House by West Australian design firm Fringe Architects involves an extension to a late 19th/early 20th century building. These inner city homes are small, often dark and not at all suited to our modern way of life. Their location in desirable inner city suburbs will see owners extend them to embrace more space, the open plan living we all desire these days and an almost culturally ingrained need for Australians to open the indoors to the out. This Perth home sees the marriage of old and new, modern with mid century, polished concrete, exposed brick and a set of pivoting doors that would not be out of place in a Palm Springs mid century pad.