Displaying posts labeled "Outdoors"

I’m real estate hunting in the oh so upmarket suburb of Point Piper. Built in 1905, this Edwardian mansion has expansive north easterly views across Point Piper and Rose Bay to Manly. I must admit my favourite luxury indulgence in this house is the master bedroom’s bath perched in its own alcove overlooking Sydney Harbour. The photos don’t do this property justice. You can get a better idea of how serenely beautiful it is from the video. Link here while it lasts.

Hey folks. I got back yesterday from the most amazing 2 week trip to my favourite places – Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita, Mexico. If you have been following the blog a while you’ll know I do this trek almost every winter and I can’t get enough. This time it was husband and I staying at the condo in PV my folks’ rent each year – 3.5 months this time – and then because we love the bohemian surf town of Sayulita so much, we rented a totally adorable Airbnb there for 3 nights partway through the trip. We ate at soooo many incredible restaurants, shopped and shopped and shopped (I need to look into the cost of a shipping container LOL), and lay in the sun for as many hours as possible. I cannot think of a better way to welcome spring after such a horrendous winter (and to make me regret returning home even more, it had just snowed here in Ottawa). Our next objective is finding a way to move to Mexico…at least for the winter months. Here is a bit of a glimpse into our trip from some photos I grabbed off of my phone.

the colours in Mexico blow my mind

one of my favourite decor shops in Puerto Vallarta – La Colleccion

first time spotting this mural – LOVE!

my love for pink and orange is strong

since I was a kid I dreamt of living in a climate where cacti thrive outside

Hotel Hafa in Sayulita

at every turn in Sayulita is something photo-worthy

a simple but beautiful church in the Sayulita town square

surfing vibes

plants as far as the eye can see in Sayulita – and this was just a random alcove on a main street

I can’t get over how cute they display their plants

sansevieria/snake plants taller than I have ever seen

many, many, many dogs run loose all over Sayulita
they’ve tried getting a handle on the stray dog population over the years… but then we found a little 8 week old puppy in the middle of the road one day
NOT OK!

kinda love this, especially when I realized we kept walking past this for 3 days before I noticed

the colours!!!
we need to take note up here in bleak Canada

I didn’t buy that tapestry
a travesty
especially when the sweet kid at that stall took a good minute to try and come up with how to say 3000 pesos (in Spanish)

oh, did we eat!
the view from Barcelona Tapas Thursday night – a favourite restaurant of ours for many years in Puerto Vallarta

what’s not to love about tiles and plants

we stumbled upon an antiques shop we had never seen before and I nearly had a stroke at all the things, like this massive mirror, I wanted to bring home

this Mexican restaurant wins an award from me for having the cutest exterior

a beautiful shop in Sayulita called Nakawe Trading where I bought some gorg pillow cases

I wanted all the things in this store – Suré Moda y Casa

Evoke The Spirit

I’m stalking a Victorian terrace house in the best street in one of my favourite Sydney suburbs, Redfern. In case you couldn’t tell it’s an interior designer’s own home. Which designer the listing does not divulge but if you know then spill the beans. Link here while it lasts.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the interiors in this Battersea house, a collaboration between Todhunter Earle Interiors and BLDA Architects. Beach meets country in the middle of London forms the basis of this elegant and light filled contemporary home. But it’s the tousled, blowsy, artfully overgrown garden by Osada Design that has stolen my heart.

I have always dreamt of having some type of greenery/outdoor space indoors. With cold seasons here lasting about 8 months a year, we Canadians crave some life during these months and having a year round space to grow a tree would be amazing. Whoever lives in this award-winning house in Toronto that has an indoor courtyard is VERY fortunate. Designed by Atelier Sun. Because of the limited lot area with a request of a large scale house, the interior designer immediately thought about an indoor courtyard to bring greenness, light and shadow inside the house. A double height ceiling interior courtyard was at the center of the house with a series of landscapes and bamboo to integrate outdoor nature with indoor dwelling. The kitchen, dining room, living room, tea room and study room were placed and stacked around the central courtyard to give users visual access. Rooms are stacked and arranged around the central courtyard, creating a vertical village like spatial relationship while providing a certain degree of privacy. Stairs were located adjacent to the courtyard, providing access to all floor levels. Family members can communicate across the courtyard and maintain visibility of each other. With large windows placed at four sides of the building, and the skylight on top of the central courtyard, this stacked spatial planning enables light to stream into the entire house.