Bachelor Style

Loving this friend's apartment - boy's paradise in the centre of CT. Finding himself after a separation and doing a fine job tapping into his inner naughty boy!

White with a touch of Zebra

Have fallen in love with this simple, classic but funky idea for a bathroom. And it's one that can easily translate for any room. Take one predominantly white room, add a pinch of wood & steel to texture and top off with a beautiful Zebra-print focal piece:

Find more inspiration for bathrooms here.

Love it!

Beautiful bedrooms

In the name of sleeping late on a Saturday morning, these indulgent bedrooms are sure to inspire and create envy...

I love this bright and beautiful summery bedrooms. Although colourful, they retain a grown-up elegance, a mark which is too often missed when it comes to using colour in the home correctly. Seeing bedrooms like these is a great reminder that not everything needs to be neutral!

Just adore this wall paper and the colourful accents in this room.

Reminds me of sunshine and eggy breakfasts!

The green walls lift this room from dreary to fresh.

I just love this gorgeous, feminine room! A girl's dream:)

But then again, how pretty is this white, metallic and pink bedroom?

So opulent and gorgeous! Could see myself lying in until very late in this bed...

Clever and very inexpensive idea for a gorgeous headboard. Great way to introduce some colour.

I do just love Saturday mornings! Off for a walk along the Sea Point promenade in a few minutes - happy weekend everybody!

Xxx
The Girl Belle

Packing Pains...

I've discovered a really good way to start an argument with one's partner. I've also discovered a way to create instant dislike between each other, to really get under each other's skin and an excellent way to throw any preconceived ideas you may have of a future together out the window:

Pack up a house together.

Aaaaaargh!!!!! Love him as I do, I had no idea that the differences in our packing styles could irritate and frustrate me so drastically! They say that you only get to know a person when you move in to a home together. No way, it's only when you move out of that home together that you are able to really see who you've been living with! :)

Anyhow, I shouldn't moan - I'm very lucky and he is a wonderful man whom I adore. And perhaps I am a bit grumpy today, ok...

So on a lighter, prettier, pleasanter note, here's a sneak preview of the upcoming decor project that I'll be starting when we move into The Cute Apartment...

I had a moment of inspiration the other evening - we have such beautiful African collectibles and the new place just lends itself to having a bright, British Colonial style. And it's something we can really achieve without having to start from scratch - we've got the colour scheme already - cream couches, lots of dark wood. We'll just need a few more accents to move it in that direction and we're in business:) Anyhow, I did an image search for 'colonial chic' and this is just some of what came up that I liked...

A few shots from the beautiful Londolozi, as seen here.


The way I see the decor unfolding in the new place can only be described as "Colonial Chic" - very Old-World British meets Plantation meets Safari meets Ralph Lauren with a few collected treasures thrown in for good measure. A great-grandfather's pith helmet, an african mask or 2, a traditional wooden kist from Zanzibar...

from the Decor to Adore Blog

The above and below pics from BellyButton's Jet Set. I do just adore the yacht in the background and the lampshades on old-fashioned tripods.

What I'm really going to need to get my hands on is an antique globe...

 No idea where to start looking, but think I might be spending the next few months trawling antique antique and thrift store for the perfect one.

 Found this pic on Favim.com - source is listed as unknown. Love the feel of the room, but the dead animals are just a bit too much for my liking.

Also from the Decor to Adore Blog, just love the excessive use of candles on this plantation-style verandah.  Just sprinkle a few drops of citronella oil on the candles and you can dine without any disturbance from mosquitoes! Nasty little buggers! :)


And how can we forget the new wardrobe that will need to accompany the decor? ;) Found this beautiful selection of Safari-inspired wear on the Italian Style Notes site.

I love how colour has been used in the above palette instead of the usual neutrals and khakis, yet the safari element is pulled through quite effectively in the leopard-print cushion.

I have decided my primary palette will be Light Sandy Brown for the soft furnishings, Mahogony for the wooden furniture, a variety of browns & khakhis peppered through and accents of blue to enhance the whole look.

I've decided that I'm going to sand and stain my beautiful white-washed coffee table a deep mahogony; I'll be making all the cushions for our existing cream couches myself - I'm currently debating leather and faux-fur pillows, but I might tone this down considerably (it might be my excitement talking), I'm going to need to get my hands on some vintage leather cases to properly accent the look and finally, I think that our new bed will either need to be a four-poster or a mosquito net will definitely be in order!

I'll keep you posted:)

Belle

Some old-world glamour...

A friend of mine recently introduced me to one of his friend's websites - De La Torre Design Studio. They met while skiing in France last year and his work is so beautiful, rich and opulent that I can't help but feature some of my favourites today.

I've fallen in love with this Chelsea townhouse in New York! There's Ralph Lauren brown velvet on the walls, the dressers are vintage Parzinger and I just adore the Verner Panton light. Have a look at some more of Tommi Parzinger's work here. Would love to get my paws on some of those storage pieces, trunks and dressers...

Just love this apartment. The curtains are trimmed with sari material - what a novel idea! Makes me think of the Oriental Plaza in Durban - it used to be such an extraordinary shopping experience! Haven't been there since high school, I wonder if it's still around?  Probably bigger and better than ever:)

The next property that he's had the honour of working on is this historic house on an old estate in Tuxedo, New York.

The feel of this room is so airy, bright and beautiful! What I like most about De La Torre's work is that each piece he has put together feels like it was collected at some stage of a journey. So often when people hire in designers and decorators the soft furnishings end up feeling so 'forced' - you can literally see that they were all bought together over the course of 1 or 2 shopping trips. De La Torre really manages to make every piece feel like it's wrapped in sentiment, nostalgia and history. Am really fond of the vintage trunk in the far corner and the legs of the coffee table.

The cellar in the home has a flagstone floor, a ceiling made from cork and the wooden ladder is an antique picked up in a Parisian market! You can further explore De La Torre's work on his site: De La Torre Design.

While I'm traipsing about in the realm of Old-World grandeur, here's a bit more inspiration...

 

How fabulous are these extra-length curtains? I tried to achieve a similar feel in my bedroom with thick, white drapery, but it just didn't exude the same glamour as this raw-silk-type fabric.

Again these extra-long curtains and the luxurious fabrics and furs in this room are just delicious!

I'm going through a honey-bear-faux-fur-throw phase - I have been every since the very first I laid eyes on them at Cavendish years ago. The time has come that I get one already!!!

Of course we all do love quirky and cute, with loads of personality in every frill and flounce, but there's just so much to be said about traditional glamour, old-money, rich & luxurious colour palettes, Parisian apartments with solid, chunky heirlooms and holiday homes in the Hamptons.... Oh man, a girl can dream! :)

Take a peak at {this is glamorous} for more pics along these lines and so much more inspiration!

*Sigh* There's just so much beauty out there...

Happy seeking!

Kylie Thursday!

Simply so that I don't bore you all by describing how incredibly excited I am about going to the Kylie Minogue concert this evening, here's a bit of inspiration I discovered on Decor8's newletter this morning...

Absolutely love this room divider. Fantastic idea for a studio-style space. And eco-friendly, of course...

Take a peak at the Decor8 Blog to see the full feature on the Dutch furniture and lifestyle store, HK Living. Here're some images so long...

Love the oversized lamp and the how the bold accents of colour with the neutral canvas.

Beautiful table! Would love to have something similar made from reclaimed pieces of wood.

While on the topic of reclaimed, refurbished wood, I feel that I need to share these pics...

It's pictures like these that really inspire me. As I've mentioned before, we're currently house-hunting for somewhere a bit smaller, older and quainter than where we currently stay. As much as I like the house we're in at the moment, it's just not 'me'. You know what I mean? It's very modern, very open, very cold and very big! Too big for 2 people, that's for sure!

But when I see wooden floors like the ones in the pictures above, my heart just pumps custard! :) We've ended up with so much furniture - from our existing pieces to projects I haven't finished (barely even begun some of them...) to pieces given to us by mom. In reference to yesterday's post, I'm planning not only on decluttering my wardrobe but really narrowing down and being more selective about my furniture and furnishings. And that's possible to do in a smaller space. I won't feel like there are so many blank areas to fill!

Anyhow, I'm off to see the fabulous Kylie in an hour or 2, so this is me signing out! And yes, tomorrow you will have to endure all the pictures and a totally Kylie-related post:)

Xxxxx