WE’VE BEEN DOING quite a bit of décor research lately, looking for storage solutions (double wardrobes, bookcases, consoles⏤that sort of thing) and came across YouTuber Katja Nordkvist‘s serene home in Denmark.
WE HAVE been out of town for the past three days, and there's something about taking time away from work that's refreshing. When we returned home yesterday evening, I was ready to get to work, fresh from a break from routine. The time away also made me think about my home office set-up⏤things that are working and things that could be improved, and so I searched around for some inspiration.
WHEN DESIGNING your kitchen, you might not necessarily think about artwork first, but if you did, you would be surprised how well it works in this space. Many people opt for food-inspired themes such as fruit (lemons, apples) or Still Lifes, but Landscapes, Watercolours, and even Figurative drawings also work. We've rounded up a few of our favourite ways to display art in the kitchen, whether leaning on countertops or picture rails, hanging on subway tile and marble backsplashes, exposed brick and boiserie...
THIS WEEK’S Two Lovely Things features the romantic scalloped wicker accent. While we're known to love wicker for pretty much anything, in the form of scallops, it adds an extra-special charm. Here, the scalloped wicker accent comes in the form of a pretty window valence over white linen curtains in a cosy home office in the French countryside, and as a decorative element along the top edge of a wicker storage basket set beneath a console in a bright entryway ...
BITS AND PIECES of this quintessential English countryside cottage have been featured here before (without us realising that they were all from the same place) because Charlotte's Folly, as this Shropshire cottage is known, ticks all the boxes of the things we love lately: Stripes and Garden Rooms; Blue and Pinkish Brown; and of course, using Curtains Instead of Cupboards ...
PERHAPS IT IS the shortening days that fade even before 7:30 now, or the evening chill that flutters leaves and creeps in before suppertime. Whatever the reason, we find ourselves drawn to deeper, darker hues lately, and especially to a variation of pinkish brown (or brownish pink, if you like) that we seem to be seeing everywhere lately ...
If you are a longtime reader, you'll remember our series, Two Lovely Things, where we juxtapose seemingly unrelated things together. For this instalment, it's two different dining rooms, one with a marble table and crystal chandelier, and the other, with a dramatic dried floral display, candlelight and stripes⏤but both in cosy shades of dusky pink ...
WHEN I WAS little, I would tell anyone who would listen that the my favourite colours were pink and purple. My little sister (who was always by my side) would chime in that she liked blue and black. Being unabashedly girly, I never favoured those colours and wore a steady wardrobe of preppy pink for as long as I could. Fast forward to the future and black would be a firm wardrobe staple, but blue, well I never ever really took to it⏤that is perhaps until now?
A FEW MONTHS ago I turned a tall shelf on its side to use a console, leaving the now vertical shelf spaces below for storage. It looked good on top, but the spaces below looked cluttered, so I thought about getting a curtain made to hide everything. I was thinking about how, in European kitchens, the lower cupboards are often covered using curtains instead of cupboards, and always liked the idea for its versatility: just change up the fabric from a stripe to a floral for an entirely new look, or swap linen for silk to go from casual to formal ...
THIS INSTALMENT OF 10 IMAGES features the work of Julie Ann Marr, a Vancouver-based food afficionado who runs Kitchen Culinaire, offering cooking classes, wine tastings, culinary tours and private dinner parties. In 1997 Marr graduated from the professional culinary program at the Dubrulle Culinary Institute in Vancouver, after which she worked in restaurants around the city for a few years before coming to the realisation that she wasn't a good fit for the demanding life of a restaurant cook ...
IT'S STRAWBERRY SEASON and Wimbledon, which can only mean one thing: strawberries and cream. Have you been watching the tennis? Also, Summer Solstice was just a couple of weeks ago and we said a bittersweet good-bye to the longest day of the year. Here is a little of our lately: homemade gazpacho and June rose; pints on a sunny pub terrace and wildflower meadows; friendly llamas and gin and tonics and so much more...
BRIE AND PEARS at a picnic by the seaside at sunset; wicker lamps and wicker bags and sun umbrellas flapping in the breeze; Lisbon kitchens and wide-legged pants; summer sweaters with city shorts and trolleys full of lemons... These are the things of far-flung places but also of summertime, our very favourite time.