THEY SAY all good things must come to an end, and that is now true of our bestselling Windsor Bamboo Top Handle Wicker Handbag. Introduced in 2018 while we were living in Spain, and it has been a runaway bestseller ever since. Like many of our other wicker and rattan items, the Windsor is completely handmade by artisans in sunny Spain, about an hour by train outside of the city, past acres of sweet-scented orange groves and a castle ruin nestled high in the side of a mountain ...
THE BIO ON Deborah Needleman's Instagram page says, "Baskets, flowers, other people’s houses, the occasional dog, things like that". And for the most part, that's true, except that recently, she began posting images of her own home, a country house in Garrison, Upstate New York, which was published in Architectural Digest about a week ago, and we couldn't help but be absorbed with every last detail.
IT'S THE FIRST of March after a long winter and the sun is streaming through the windows. The brighter mornings and longer days are calling us outdoors, even as we type away at our keyboards. The sounds of cars driving by, people rushing along to shops and appointments, and it feels like a new beginning ...
THE LAST TIME we featured the 1928 Hollywood Hills, California home of interior designer Mark D. Sikes was in 2016 (see how it looked here). It was the second iteration of the place, we believe? Three years ago, in 2019, the designer embarked on a third redesign that was featured at Architectural Digest that we only discovered now, and quite a lot has changed. New fabrics have been brought in, most notably the blue white Brunschwig & Fils check that ensconces the dining room from floor to ceiling. ...
ON FRIDAY WE travelled to a seaside village about an hour from here to celebrate something special. P had made late lunch reservations at a new restaurant that has only been open for less than a year (and much of it during various lockdowns) and we'd heard that it was supposed to be good, locally grown produce and all that. It's one of those charming places that have several roaring fires and wood-burning stoves and promised to be cosy ...
WE CAME ACROSS the beautiful kitchen of designer Jasper Conran's vacation home on the island of Rhodes on Instagram and instantly fell for its rustic charm. Nothing looks too perfect, and yet everything looks perfect. There are stacks of old pots and pans on lower shelves and large terracotta platters displayed casually above, a pebble mosaic floor (something we had never seen before), irregular white plaster walls and a thatched ceiling. We, of course, were intrigued to see the rest of the home, which once belonged to Baronessa Beatrice Monti della Corte von Rezzori.
IF YOU'VE NEVER dreamed of running away to Italy to open a B&B with your husband, Valdirose will change your mind. A family-run Bed & Breakfast situated among the hills of Lastra a Signa, not far from the centre of Florence this beautiful place to stay is situated in a 19th-century building 14 km from the 15th-century Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and Boboli Gardens ...
CHANCES ARE, you're already familiar with the work of Canadian interior designer Ashely Montgomery, for her designs have been all over Instagram lately. And it's no wonder—the effortless mix of deep wood tones and marble, ceiling beams and brass is both elegant and liveable at once ...
IF YOU'VE BEEN noticing Japanese things (products, music, philosophies, décor) everywhere lately, you're not the only one—the country and its culture have been captivating sophisticated online circles for awhile now. I came across Osaka-based Truck Furniture a few years ago, but forgot about it until an image from their Instagram feed fell across my path that was so atmospheric, immediately needed to see more ...
IF YOU'RE wondering how we came across the work of Gregory Mellor, it is through the Bobbejaanskloof Private Nature Reserve in South Africa that we featured here last week. The Cape Town-based designer was behind that wonderfully decorated travel resort and you may see similarities to this home in the Karoo, a semi-desert natural region of South Africa ...
Bobbejaanskloof Private Nature Reserve in South Africa lies on a plateau at the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains, on a working Nguni cattle farm, 18km from Plettenberg Bay. From the stoep (veranda) of the main house, there's a wonderful view overlooking grassland, fynbos (small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation) and forests of yellowwoods, milkwoods, ironwoods, white pear, stinkwood and Scotia pines, out toward Formosa Peak and of course, the mountains.
IT IS THAT TIME of year again, the time for wreaths and fairy lights and holiday films and bits of gift wrap and ribbon and shortbread cookies everywhere. We saw an Instagram comment by someone yesterday stating that she might get drunk and put up the tree tonight (it was a Tuesday). Yes, regular hours and workdays fade away during this time of year, which is decidedly more free-flowing and therefore, festive ...
Thyme is a restored historic Southrop Manor Estate dating from Roman times in Gloucestershire, a county in South West England that comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean
YES, WE KNOW, it's only been officially autumn for a month, but with the nights drawing in so quickly now, the bright yellow leaves falling off the trees, the wet gloomy skies, and British Summer Time ending at the end of the month, we're already dreaming of sunnier times and warmer days. If the dark days of autumn and the dreary days of winter must be tolerated, then we'll do it with cosy evenings fireside, and also through plenty of daydreaming. These images, that came floating through our feed this week, of places around Mallorca are a perfect place to start ...
SUMMER RETURNED for two glorious days last week, so like all self-respecting Brits, we dropped everything to enjoy the late-summer sun while it was still here. We spent both days on long bicycle rides to places we'd never been before, including hiking to the most photographed tree in the county (it was even in a famous film once). We had drinks on pub terraces in the middle of nowhere and got sunburned and ate truffle oil garlic bread pizzas and basically had the most wonderful time ...
