Festive Rooms

via here

I love these living rooms. They are festive without a Christmas decoration in sight. Perhaps it's something to do with the fireplace? Funny how, even though Christmas here will undoubtedly be hot, spent somewhere between the beach and the barbeque, a decorated fireplace still says Christmas to me.

via here

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A little luxury...

Sunday...and a little luxury is in order.

Time for a long soak in a warm bath.

With this kind of luxury, you may still be there come Monday morning.
x

pics via here

Loving the nook.

I'm not sure that we have embraced the breakfast nook as much as we could here in Australia. How wonderful to have a dedicated space for a leisurely breakfast.

Tuck it away with its own garden view...

...or give it pride-of-place in the kitchen.

This is gorgeous in its quaintness, recalling the intimacy of a caravan holiday.

A perfectly nook-sized space.

Gotta love the nook.

x

pics (from top to bottom) from here, here, here, here and here.

A Face Lift (no botox required)

via here

I can't believe it's taken me this long to find Hooked on Houses. It was one of those happy accidents - from one blog to the next and then...voila. If you haven't already been there (and you probably have - I'm possibly the last person to discover it), it's written by Julia, who clearly loves all things home.

Julia's most recent post talks about decorating her home for the change of season. She has some really simple suggestions and lovely pics of her latest Autumnal additions.

Julia...you have inspired me. I feel a project coming on (insert eye-rolls and groans from my family here). I'm wondering if it's possible to give my home a Springtime face lift, southern hemisphere style. And the challenge, with sustainability and my budget in mind, will be to give this little house a lift using what I already have, or what I can pick-up second hand. Now I haven't really got a plan, and there are certain constraints with the colour scheme (for example I don't think the obvious Springtime pink-and-green combination will work with my red and white striped wing-back chair), but I'm prepared to give it a go. Some inspiration above and below...

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The small home office for the small house...

Some interesting and very different small space home offices. They have all used the space efficiently, while still keeping their eye firmly fixed on what looks good. I love them all.

pics via here

To mix or not to mix?

I am a fence-sitter when it comes to dining chairs. Should they match, or should they be mixed? I love these two pictures above, of tables with mismatched chairs. I imagine each chair has its own story to tell, and if sourced from second hand stores and flea markets, they are easy on the planet.

pic 1,2,3 via here

These chairs are mixed, but are so closely related, either by design or materials, that they may as well match. When I say I'm a fence-sitter, it's because in my home 6 of my 8 chairs match, with the ones at either end of the table being different (but matching each other). None of them match the table. Confused? 

I'd love to be brave enough to go for the first look.

What do you think? Where do you stand (or sit) on chairs?

via Country Living

via here

A little lighthouse keeping

I have an unexplained attachment to lighthouses. I'm sure the realities of lighthouse living are far from my romantic notion of blustery days eating fish sandwiches (which I'm sure are not anywhere near as tasty as Enid Blyton made us believe). These pictures make it look oh-so-inviting. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a lighthouse?

pics 1,2,3,4 via here

pic 5 via here

A license to snoop

see above and below here

I have a love/hate relationship with realestate.com. I love that I can be as nosy as I like, snooping around other people's homes unnoticed, questioning their decorating decisions, marvelling at their renovations. I hate that I can lose hours doing this. I also hate that every so often I have a grass-is-always-greener moment and consider moving house. The fact is, I don't want to move house. I don't want to deal with real estate agents, banks and removal companies. But, there it is, realestate.com, just a click away.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to snoop around other people's homes, you had to either peer through windows looking decidedly dubious, or get out and about to open homes. This required, at the very least, constant monitoring of the newspaper for new listings in the real estate pages. Now I can see more in ten minutes online than I could ever see in a whole Saturday of open homes.

I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of doing this, but hey, I don't think I'm doing any harm. These home owners don't know how judgmental I'm being ("They want how much? For that"). They don't know that I'm questioning their decision to paint yet another feature wall. And oh... it is so much fun.

Enjoy a little slice of my obsession....

see it here

see it here

Cottage Style

The word 'cottage' conjures up images of afternoon teas and walks in the country - all very inviting. But is this where a modern girl could live? Absolutely.

pics via here

Inner City Living

via here

What's a nice girl like me doing skulking around inner city alleyways?

That's where I found myself this morning, taking some shots for my brother-in-law's band to use on their demo CD.

The alley had a lot of little balconies overlooking it, and I wondered if these came off gorgeous inner city warehouses. While it's lovely in the city on a quiet Sunday morning, I'm not sure if I'd want to live inner city all the time. I certainly could give warehouse living a go though.

warehouse pics via here

Three shots from this morning (above)