A Cottage Interior Perfect for Coast or Country

Peek inside a gorgeous cottage of blue and white with the addition of a few surprising colours.

An Ex Governer's Home Gets a Fresh New Look

This weeks tour features a US stately national treasure revived for a young family.

The Perfect Home Office/Study 'Nook'

I am finally back after a long Christmas/New Year break from the blog and I've have had a pretty lazy holiday, apart from Christmas day where I had 11 for lunch but it was all fun. I have however, been working on re-landscaping my tiny back garden and thinking about re-locating my old office into my new studio, in saying that I don't want it to become an entire office, I was thinking more a small built in area or a floating desk. Office nooks are becoming popular and with the smaller home builds architects and interior designers are becoming very clever at creating these perfectly formed and aesthetically pleasing spaces.

Kick Back and Relax In a Small, Fredericksburg Cottage

As far as I am concerned there is nothing more delightful than a country cottage, the perfect retreat from the worries of city life. Standing as if it has been there forever, you could be mistaken for thinking this cottage is located in the countryside of Australia or the South Island of of New Zealand, it would certainly look at home in either of those locations, just as it does in Fredericksburg USA, where it was built.

An Original Cape House Renovation - Cosy and Countrified

The kitchen in this authentic Cape home first captured my eye. The glimpse of the contemporary art work and the brass and glass pendant lights, combined with the traditional style faucet made me want to explore more.

Country Style Living - Creating a relaxed, country look.

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Country style interiors  have always been popular posts. A country look can be rustic or soft, classic or mixed with contemporary pieces. A rustic wooden table combined with contemporary, Louis ghost chairs is a modern country look. Anything goes these days, you don't have to stick to strict rules as long as you adhere to a few essential ingredients.

Sunlight Bathes The Walls of a Yellow, Rustic Farmhouse Near Crikvenica

The dappled sunlight, on the yellow walls of this old farmhouse, immediately caught my attention. Home to Anne-Katrin, Gordan and their 5 boys, the farmhouse is located in the Vinodol Valley, near Crikvenica on the Adriatic coast. As yet, I have not been fortunate to travel to Croatia, however, my sister-in-law has an apartment on the Adriatic side of Italy which I have visited, and I can easily visualise a similar beauty in the surrounding area of Crikvenica.

Interior Designer Jane Ellsworth's Classic, Country Style

Recently I came across the work of American Interior Designer, Jane Ellsworth's via a Pinterest image. I used the backlink to Jane's website to discover her beautiful classic, country style. Jane's philosophy starts with, quote, "the belief that interiors should be graceful, warm and intimate," unquote. This is a concept I try to embrace in my cottage. Jane has gained recognition for her classically inspired, traditional interiors and with 20 years of experience and a wonderful eye for detail, creating a warm and inviting interior for her clients is clearly evident as seen in some of Janes's projects below. 

Photography by Jane Beiles

Jane Ellsworth is situated in Greenwich CT, If you are interested in seeing more of Jane's work or contacting her with regards to a project, Jane can be contacted via her website, Jane Ellsworth Interiors.

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English Country House Style

Whenever I post an interior which evokes "country", it draws a lot of attention, so I am hoping this interior will do the same. The  location is in Cambridgeshire, England, a county full of  little streams, ancient bridges and beautiful old country homes. This gorgeous home is set in 1.5 acres of lovely gardens with an interior mix of  what I would describe, Country/French style, however, it does have its elements of surprise. The fireplaces  in the sitting and dining rooms are antique French stone and the owners are currently restoring a beautiful herringbone parquet floor to the downstairs of the house. 

One thing I noticed in particular about this interior is the lovely vignettes. Vignette styling can be a bit of an art, however, these owners have perfectly mastered it, if you want some tips on how to create a vignette, I have placed a link to my last post, beneath the images below. Mixed in with the English country style, the owners have cleverly incorporated some contemporary pieces such as the mirrored sphere lights in the living area, they are subtle statement pieces, add interest and are most surely are a talking piece for guests. I think what attracts me most to this beautiful interior is the wide use of interesting textures such as the distressed panels on the wall in the hall with the over sized  bleached wood bowl  below, both standing out against the beautifully polished parquet floors. It shows you how a few statement pieces can be combined to create a stunning look in what would have otherwise been simply been a plain corner.  It goes back to my favourite saying, "A 'house' is just four walls, a 'home' is what you make of it". Adding  special touches and textures such as Marble, French stone and velvet, have helped create a fabulous interior I am sure is a joy to live in. 

And of course a home isn't complete without a cute little dog...

All images are from jj Locations, this interior is available for photo/film shoots, please contact them direct.

If you want to know more about styling/vignettes, I have some tips and images to help you on your way, you can read more...here, Creating the Perfect Console Vignette.

We hope you had a lovely weekend, we are basking in Autumn sunshine in Auckland which makes up for the terrible rain last week. Yesterday Poppy and I went for a long walk along the  bays beaches with my friend Kathy and today I plan another walk when I press "publish" :).

I will be sharing this post with the following link parties:

I should Be Mopping The Floor

Rain On A Tin Roof

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Time Travel Thursday at the Brambleberry Cottage
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
 Stroll Thru Life

Traditional Interior - With Minimalistic Touches

I love any excuse to decorate and decorating for Christmas was great fun, better still, hearing one friend say that my living room looked like something out of House and Garden was the best compliment I could receive.  However, as I'm in the process of removing my Christmas trimmings, I realised how busy my living room had begun to look. I only have a small space so it's very difficult when you love beautiful things not to go overboard and thereby end up creating a cluttered look. Looking around this year, I definitely felt I may have overdone the decorations. How can one create a country feeling with less clutter you may wonder.

Yesterday I came across a pretty country style interior, an early Victorian semi detached home in London. These traditional homes normally have the downstairs rooms separate. Usually a front sitting room leading off the hall, then a dining room and a rear kitchen. However, this semi has been opened up by knocking out internal ground floor walls thereby creating a large open plan living area with french doors to a pretty garden.  I love that the owners have brought in traditional furnishing but kept a minimalistic feel. In  this case I do think "less is more," what do you think? 

Image Copyright belong to JJ Locations. This property is available for film/magazine/photo shoots ....see more images

Hope your Christmas and New Year have given you chance to wind down to a nice relaxed state.