black and blue

Eclectic harmony! I love this masculine black wall and mantel, crazy shelving, retro sunburst mirror, powder blue wingback chair and girly hydrangeas. It all works...

via cocokelley

diy at it's best

A deconstructed rug. Yarn. Backing. Silk fibres perhaps. No, the simplest and most effective way to give a room a border or a decorative floor feature is simply with paint. 

While parusing one of my favourite design blogs to read - Style Files, I read a post about the beautiful Greek home of designer Paola Navone where she has taken to the floors with a brush (or maybe roller) and laid her carpet with minimal tactility but maximum appeal.

Further through the blog I saw a link for Royal Design Studio - they sell stencils online so you can decorate your floor...or wall... with intricate detail or simple pattern. 

Clean white rectangle or Morrocan mock tiling...Stenciled or free form...

Paola Novone's home in the Cyclades Islands

 A view of the Agean Sea

 white on white on white on grey

 Or on floor boards

Lovely lace from the Royal Design Studio

bigger scale pattern

 

 Moroccan Stencils from Royal Design Studio

all images (except the last 2) are via style files

piled

A fire place is the best spot for a winter gathering; team those flames with good food, some red wine and fun company suddenly the frightful weather outside seems so far away.  Not to mention there is nothing that says warm, inviting home like a crackling fire place, and depending on how you look at, the fuel for the fire can either be a messy display or a mighty tower of timber.  

123 via style files; 4 via emmas design blog; 5 via inspiration bubble

beam me up

We have exposed beams in our place, painted in the same off white as our walls - which I always thought is nice because it fades them a bit (our ceilings aren't especially high!)...but after seeing how much impact is added to a room when they're in a contrast colour/finish to the walls, particularly black and white, it is a new direction I might be willing to go for with our main living space.  Contrasting beams just add such lovely linear detail and strength to room.

via apartment therapy

via apartment therapy

via blissfulb

via casavogue

via casavogue

via liveworkdesignblog

via liveworkdesignblog

the cold's a comin'

I love this time of year, Autumn's ending, the skies are getting more grey each week and Winter is around the corner...which means boots, coats, woolies, scarves and all those wonderful winter colours like navy, forest green, dark reds and an array of greys.  I'm obviously a June baby...

via french connection AW12

fresh air

A rustic table and chair to enjoy a breath of air in your front yard, back yard or court yard can transport you to another place. Finding a shady spot under some green or soaking up the sun on the cobblestones, its so relaxing to share a drink in the great outdoors!

via desire to inspire

via room envy

3-8 via style files

shoe house

These shoes must be so happy to live in such a cosy home where they can show off and be on display! Obviously this kind of shoe housing needs to be fitted in a big space, I'm thinking a loft or warehouse conversion...so raw, yet so refined!

via A Beautiful Living