White or Colour?

colour

or all white?

What's the palette of your choice?

A Greek cook+writer's summer home

This pistachio-and-pink coloured house, 

is the summer home of Greek TV cook presenter and writer Eleni Psychoulis.

Built by her late father in 1966, it was transformed by the spirited writer and cook, into a welcoming, quirky, happy place. 

Tellingly, she calls it a "successful psychoanalysis" that helped her make her peace with the past.

Don't you just love it when healing happens?

See more of  Ms. Psychoulis' one-of-a-kind house here.

Read her lovely blog (with mouthwatering recipes) here.

If you\d like to give a recipe a try, but don't read Greek, leave me a comment or e-mail me, and I'll translate it for you.

xoxo

Industrial chic in Athens

{ Look at that "table"! I love it!}

{Floor!}

{I love botanical prints}

:Athens:

 :Entre Deux Guerres:

:Collector:

:Web:

Established in 2001, by Alketas Pazis, D4I had been operating as a prop house for the filming industry, specializing in locating, rescuing and reclaiming mid-century modern and industrial antiques.
It has contributed to the sets of more than 900 commercials and film productions, in Greece.
Currently, located in a 400 m2 factory from the 50's, is operating under the new name 'Temporary-Showroom', and has expanded to the trading of the collection.
Being probably the most extensive collection in Greece, it focuses on a more exclusive European segment of the avant-garde modern movement.





All images: Casaviva Greece

Glow: Greek e-mag

On line magazines are a part of the deco-blog community. Since the folding of Domino, two years ago, a bunch of on-line magazines has sprung across the Atlantic.

There is

  Lonny 

the pioneer

and 

Rue

with its lovely website

and 

the very american

High Gloss

and 

cheerful

Adore 

from Down Under

and

last but not least

Matchbook.

I am glad to report that the Greek design and glossy worlds have their own equivalent of hip lifestyle.

It's called 

Glow

it is based in Thessaloniki, the northern Greek metropolis

and in its latest issue features one of my favorite magazine and more recently tv people,

gossip girl extraordinaire

Christina Politis

(her blog is eloquantly named Cosmopoliti )

and her lovely holiday home on the island of Myconos.

Take some time to leaf through Glow magazine and let me know what you think!

P.S. Leaf through to page 104 to see Greece's hotest male chef.
 (D) can't hold a sigh everytime she sees him. lol!

Greek summer homes

Outside

a brilliant sun warming your every bone

Inside

shady interiors

natural fibres

the breath of the soil

the pines

the olives

...

Time stops

i can feel the terrcotta tiles under my feet

the freshly washed

air dried

bedlinen

the freedom from need

the making do

colorful

or

plain white

glorious

Greek Summer

{All pictures Casa Voguw Hellas}

Greek columns, reinterpreted

Speaking of Greek style interiors.






The current issue of US Elle Decor (February/March) sports on its cover a set of Ionic style columns framing with great but not absolute symmetry a home office desk.
Flipping inside, we can see that the design comes from a Park Avenue penthouse apartment arranged maasterfully by classic American decorator Bunny Williams. The outcome is fresh and contemporary, yet welcoming and very elegant and distinctive.

I received for Christmas Bunny Williams' Scrapbook for Living which is fantastic and the kind of book one hopes to read from talented legends like Ms. Williams, and now sits side by side with my almost worn out copy of An Affair with a House that I absolutely loved.

It does seem though that Ms. Williams appreciates Greek style, which explains her trained eye for elegance and balance, as in her office, photographed for Lonny magazine, I can see a lovely bust of Perseus.

What I also found very interesting and instructive, is this part of Ms. Williams' description of the decorating process.

To forge a connection between the interior and the wraparound terrace, she installed blue glass on the ceiling to mimic the sky and added architectural detail with a framework of tailored zinc beams. “It took us 20 tries to get the size of the bolts in them right,” she says with a laugh.

And also:

 “I never would have looked at that table 20 years ago, but it’s essential to see pieces anew, to refresh your eye.”

Isn't it wonderful that a professional of Ms. Williams' caliber, is so open about her process, and her great attention to detail?




All in all a lovely feature and a copy to keep on my shelves.

The come back of dark wood

After years of Scandinavian whites reigning supreme as household staples, dark wood makes a come back.It feels warm and homey and it hides many sins.

This time it is rough, more rustic, with the different shades and scars of natural wood showing through the waterwash varnish.

A modern chalet in the Alps

An artist's Brazilian retreat using rough surfaces, modern decorative items and traditional elements such as the flokati rug and the hand finished mattress.

Dark waterwashed wood kitchen ad

Rough fabrics and rustic textures

In the same Brazilian home, a touch of modern colour and the rough texture of the walls are neighboring the wooden exposed beams of the ceiling.

Kids' rooms follow similar rules of rough surfaces, where nothing really matches, but everything looks pulled together and balanced.

All pictures Maison et Decoration, 2.2011

Chalet made by IKEA

Wooden homes have been gaining friends in Greece over the past 30 years. I remember very vividly a countryside home where we were guests when I was a child. It looked like out of a fairy tale to me.

In recent years, wooden home builders experience a renewal in styles and popularity, although I doubt they will ever outdo conventional buildings. I for one have many doubts about the materials they use to fireproof and guard the wood.

However, the appeal of a wooden home remains undiminished in my list of mountain retreats.

The house I am posting about today is situated on mount Parnassus, central Greece.
It was furnished from head to toes with IKEA products. What I like best is the use of traditional elements such as the rugs with modern furniture as in the kitchen. I like the result: light, airy and easy to live in and take care of.

I like the open, well organized entrance.

I absolutely love this rug and the cozy use of this otherwise dead space

A little too minimal for me, yet relaxing, and I am sure it gets more alive when  people move in!

The kitchen is a big success. The transparent chairs help the eye focus on the stunning red cupboards.

Hey, we have the same closet!

Love the kids' space: cheerful and grown up.

(All images: Vima Deco)