Saturday 30 January 2010

Bright, white and pink


 

 

Friday 29 January 2010

A pink bathroom

 
 
{source}

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Mid-Winter Flowers













 A splash of light and color on a grey morning.

{Via decor8 ` Posy`unknown}

Sunday 24 January 2010

One amazing tree house



 

 

 

Wilkinson Residence
Wilkinson Residence

Portland , Oregon
Designed: 1997
Completed: 2004


See more here via Green Diary.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

My dream home in Scotland

Undoubtably, my favorite home interior in 2009.

After climbing a rather sober green staircase, we step into the dizzyingly eclectic Music Room: ornate mirrors, carved ebony shutters and oval portraits on lilac walls. The chill-out room has a coffee table made from a giant drum set; the chandeliers resemble hovering brass crowns. In a red-carpeted living room filled with chestnut leather sofas and warmed by a roaring fire, we are greeted surreally by a white suit of armour. One wall bristles with antlers, not just of local red deer, but elk, gazelle and antelope from Africa. 'Jura is a place to travel to and a place for travellers - a destination,' says the aptly named Bambi. Somehow, her gravelly Gauloises voice and theatrical delivery make even the utterly obvious sound philosophical. Dressed in jeans, black flip-flops and a Picasso T-shirt over a striped Breton jersey, the Parisian 'of a certain age' peers at us over heavy-rimmed Shoreditch specs and declares Jura 'more glamorous than St Tropez'.



In the bedrooms, you can see what she means. The White Room - the biggest and best - has white walls, cream fretwork headboard and cascades of calico drapes framing harbour views. In the centre is a rolltop bath, supporting Bambi's claim that these are not bedrooms but 'big bathrooms with beds'. This one houses 'part of my private shell collection', says Bambi, 'my heart!' The Bird Room has ostrich-egg lamp stands on the dresser and white plaster birds on the walls, a jokey, postmodern take on suburban 'flying ducks'.
















Originally commissioned as home for the Whiskies Jura distillery the five-bedroom lodge is situated on the island of Jura in Scotland. Redecorated by the French/American Bambi Sloan it is available for rental ($2500/3 days)

Read more about the island and the lodge here.

{Sources: Point de Vue, The Guardian }

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis















Greek artist Jannis Kounellis (b.1936) is one of the founding figures of the "arte povera" movement which involves using found objects and spaces. Kounellis is one of the major conceptual artists of our times. His works can be found in international galleries worldwide.

I had seen his work over the years but I recently watched a portrait of him on Greek state TV. (That is what state channels should be for: art, culture, anything that makes citizens better people).

Kounellis lives in Rome but the film documented his visit to his native Mani, a place of sun and stone, quite similar to the Southern Italian region known as Magna Grecia, largely populated by Greeks since the antiquity. I have taken notes of some of his quotes.
*Memory makes people who have passed away more beautiful.
*The Parthenon is the idea of Measure that we cannot live without.The future has no meaning without  Measure.
*Traveling.Finding the Other Person. Being a teacher or a pupil. Looking for connectedness. That is what I have kept from Greece.
*The difference between Old and New is a political decision.There isn't a difference. The idea of the human measure is the same to our day.
 Read more about Kounellis from the Guggenheim website here and see his works at the Tate.

Monday 18 January 2010

Ten principles of good design

Good design is innovative.

Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design makes a product understandable.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is long-lasting.
Good design is thorough down to the last detail.
Good design is environmentally friendly.
Good design is as little design as possible.

(C) Dieter Rams, amended March 2003 and October 2009
 
As head of design at Braun, the German consumer electronics manufacturer, DIETER RAMS (1932-) emerged as one of the most influential industrial designers of the late 20th century by defining an elegant, legible, yet rigorous visual language for its products.



His designs greatly inspire today's iconic household names such as Apple's Mac and i-phone as can be seen in the images below.



 











Apple's  iPhone (2007) and Dieter Rams' Brawn calculator (1978)

There is currently a Dieter Rams exhibition at The Design Museum in London, Less and More - The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

Thursday 14 January 2010

Yoga with Cath Kidston

Do you know the feeling when you are in love with someone and you feel like their faces are popping up  in the faces of strangers? I had one such moment yesterday. I stayed at home to pull things together after our recent trip to Athens. I did deserve a break which I put to good use leafing through a couple of new books.


One is  Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag, what promises to be unputdownable fun, and the other Yoga for Real Life: The Kundalini Method by Maya Fiennes. I am currently reading Paulo Coelho's Warrior of the Light: A Manual, (seen at the back), a Christmas present to my husband that I am picking on. The surprise came from Ms. Fiennes' book.



I have practiced for a while with her DVD  Kundalini Yoga - to Detox and De-stress. The routine is rejuvenating, even exhilarating. I so look forward to putting aside a couple of mornings every week to do it. In fact I look forward to going back to my morning yoga practice every day. Do try it, it works wonders for my mood, and so I wanted to read some more on her view. Anyway, the Fiennes book is a great book with wonderful photography by David Loftus *husband to the divine India Hicks. And there, among its pages, look what I found:




 

Among the inspiring stanzas and the oms, here it was, an ironing board cover by no other than dearest Cath Kidston.Oh sweet seendipity of our every day loves!

Thursday 7 January 2010

Tea and Cath Kidston love

Did you know, oh did you? Why then didn't you tell? All right, I will. Did you know that one of the world's loveliest tea parlors is all dressed up in Cath Kidston? How lovely is that? And to think there are people who call Cath passe!









I am sure Cath Kidston lovers will recognise many of her prints used in a tea room setting. To view more visit the Crown and Crumpet website.

Great posts & pics

You know all the pics I have stored in my computer? You don't. They are everywhere at home, at work, on my laptop. So I thought, why not post what I loved the mostest every day? My computers will benefit. My blog will be filled with beautiful pictures. And maybe someone will get to know someone whom they didn't know before they saw them in my blog. That is surely a romantic thing.

btw i saw Becoming Jane twice with my eldest, so that may explain things a bit. Then perhaps i may pull together a scheme here and there and make sense of the pattern in my photo copying. I am telling you beforehand, as many come from the years before I learned about copyrughting your blog, are not easy to attribute, so if anyone gets offended, do let me know in a kind way and I shall mension thw source. It was fun, no doubt, but who wants to deal with people like this? Nope, Madam, won't take it!

to the nice pics and posts I gathered tonight. (Look carefully cause I'll be sleeping less than five hours tonight, in order to do this). First of all, dear Anna-Maria posted what must be one of her funniest wittiest posts. (Sending kisses across the pond). The post is called Musical Rooms.



I then found this blog via Posie, rightfully chosen by yours trully as the best heartwarming blog. It turns out it is of Alicia's sister. Lovely Americana.

 
Though these two pictures go hand to hand, I am going to squeeze together a few more for this first post of this kind from earlier this week.

Two of my favorite bloggers are from England. When travelling I google them on my mobile. You get the picture. A lovely funny story came from Posy with some wonderful winter pictures.





(Finally realised how picture sizing works with the new blogger system)

Up next a blog that is turning into visual delight. We have all fallen for Bavaria following our Austrian Christmas in 2007 and our road trip across the Alps on Easter holiday 2009. I love-love-love it! Go to Waking up in Bavaria and see for yourselves.


 

I don't know why, but the first photo I saved in 2010 came from Cote de Texas.I like to think that my choice has to do with the light, and the open window and the new year symbolism, as much as with keeping house and doind the fundamental chores. Yesterday, btw, I did subscribe to fly lady!...


Ending the Marathon post with some news: The 10th annual weblogs awards are on! Love them the bestest. Nominations close January 12, so please hurry and pop over.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

My new Cath Kidston bag







 
My 40th birthday present to myself!

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Anglomania-the flag pillow



 

 

 

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