Simple luxury and luxuriously simple. An eclectic mix of old and new whether casually elegant or out and out glam. Layers of texture and eras. Today’s interior designer is Sydney-based Melissa Collison. But there was so much I loved about her portfolio I couldn’t choose. What to do? I’m focussing here on the lighter side of Melissa’s work. Oh don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean light weight. Oh no. There is nothing frothy and inconsequential about these rooms. The attention to detail, the mix of eras and the quality of finishes as well as the joy and creativity. These are happy rooms. Fresh and vibrant and young. But wait till you see Melissa’s dark side.

Where have I been? Why haven’t I seen photographer Bob Martus‘ work before? The light. The colour. How everything is so real that I feel I can just reach through the computer monitor and pick up a flower, spin a globe. Hello! New photographer crush.

More dreams. More wishes and wantings. More beautiful images captured by photographer Anna Williams. Images that whisk me away to another place, images that whisper to me. Simple but lovely.

(Previous post here.)

And this one again because I love the way this intimate little corner of a kitchen has been captured.

Still continuing the relationship that the architect has with their home space. In the previous post it was b-arch’s Alessandro Capellaro. Now it is his colleague and co-founder at b-arch Sabrina Bignami’s personal space. Casa Orlandi, a late-18th century palazzo was underwent a minimalist restoration acknowledging its history and the passage of time. Inserted into this time capsule is a modern home of contemporary design classics and found objects. It is as if the old house is a stage and the contents a set on which to play out the owner’s life. Whatever it is, it is a fabulous juxtaposition of old beauty and cool new style.

I’m fascinated by the spaces that architects call home, by the designs they create for themselves. Today I am posting the homes of the principles of Italian architectural studio b-arch. This is the Florentine home of Alessandro Capellaro. 300 old ballot boxes were used to delineate space, provide storage and formed the basis of furniture pieces inside an old carpenter’s workshop. Capellaro’s home explores the nature between the historic and the contemporary, between the empty and the filled and between the new and the re-used. It is a story of what has gone before, what can be re-imagined taking on a new life and what is necessary for the present. It is downright cool.