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This Boston Victorian designed by Michelle Gerson is elegant and luxurious with some bold statements in Hollywood Regency, art deco fashion. Like the kitchen. Agreeably not for everyone but if Michelle’s client was after some drama, she sure delivered!! And that dining room is absolutely stunning. 

This eclectic Tudor home designed by Indiana-based design firm Haus Love has a modern aesthetic and a neutral colour palette with black accents that has me completely captivated. I could stare at this all day. Dark furnishings against a white backdrop is always soooo good. 

Want more? Previous features on Haus Love here and here. 

It’s Monday. There I said it, the dreaded “M” word. The end of the weekend and the start of another dreary working week. But wait! There is a way we can escape the drudgery of yet another Monday. Time for a virtual escape to Sydney’s Watson Bay, to a stylish house with an iconic view and just a few steps from one of the city’s best fish restaurants. What’s even better is that the house is part of the Contemporary Hotels‘ luxurious stable of vacation homes. Maybe we can book it for next Monday.

Friday I featured a must-have book and today I thought I would share a few others you may want to add to your Christmas list. The first one will get you wanting to have lots of get-togethers and get your craft on. Second Bloom: Cathy Graham’s Art of the Table is a book that is bound to start those creative juices flowing and you may just want to start heading to your nearest florist now.

 It came in the cutest box wrapped in ribbon with a little notebook. 

Cathy Graham is an entertaining guru and celebrated hostess and artist, and this book is all about her specialty of planning magical events. But it’s not just about fancying up your table for a dinner party the photos in this book are of gorgeous settings inside and outside, from mantels to gardens to tables decorated with the most beautiful flower arrangements.   

Some favourites in this book: Cathy loves to make flower arrangements in individual vintage glass bottles interspersed with miniature replicas. She also makes the most charming watercolours and are featured throughout the book.

The photographs in the book are really pretty, thanks to photographers Quentin Bacon and Andrew Ingalls (and written by Alexis Clark). The books in this feature are all published by Vendome Press. This one you can find on Amazon here. 

Next up is David Hicks scrapbooks, edited by his son Ashley Hicks. Of course anyone who is a fan of David Hicks should pick up a copy of this, and everyone else can pick up a copy because it has the coolest cover and well, for some of us that’s reason enough!

For those that don’t know him, Davis Hicks was a British interior designer that became an icon in the 1960’s with his glorious geometric prints, bold and unique colour combinations and his quirky design style where mixing antiques with modern furnishings was his signature. 

For many years David documented everything going on in his life within scrapbooks, 24 in all. These scrapbooks included press clippings, photographs, sketches, party invitations, fabric swatches, magazine articles….and Ashley selected over 300 of his favourite pages from these scrapbooks, making this book a really special tribute to his very talented father. You can find this on Amazon here. 

Next up is a real treat. Versailles: The Great and Hidden Splendors of the Sun King’s Palace by Catherine Pégard was made possible because four talented photographers (Christophe Fouin, Thomas Garnier, Christian Miles and Didier Saulnier) were given unlimited access to Versailles during a period of time when it was closed to visitors.

They were able to photograph the private suites of Louis XV, the boudoirs of Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour, the celebrated Hall of Mirrors, the Royal Chapel, the charming Orangerie. The result is total eye candy. Elegance as its absolute finest. Versailles is truly a magical place filled with interiors you will never see anywhere else. You can find this one on Amazon here. 

If there is one book you should buy this year (or put on your Christmas list), it is this one. Hand down my favourite book. Maybe ever. The title Haute Bohemians could not be more perfect. This is bohemian with a glam factor, in some of the most beautiful homes in some of the most beautiful countries in the world. Layers upon layers, textiles and patterns and colours in the most unexpected combinations. Antiques, oddities, vintage pieces you won’t see anywhere else. One of my favourite photographers is responsible for this book – Miguel Flores-Vianna. Miguel traveled to four continents to capture the homes of some very creative people. Artist Alexander Twombly’s farmhouse and studio in Italy, textile designer Nathalie Farman-Farma’s London home, landscape designer Madison Cox’s home in Tangier, decorator Gert Voorjans’ home in Antwerp and many more. This book will soon become dog-eared as I have already flipped through it several times since it arrived in my mailbox. Thank you Vendome Press! (Amazon link here)