Apartment in Stockholm

Second post today, dears. We are going to tour a large, bright apartment in Vasastaden, a city district in central Stockholm, Sweden. Youthful, modern and cheerful.































All images from here.

Interior Designer Sara Scaglione

Morning sunshines. Today we are off to the rolling hills of Austin, Texas where designer Sara Scaglione created a relaxed and creamy chic design home.The owners wanted an elegant beach style, so she used Belgian linen slipcovers on classic sofas and chairs for a casual feeling, and then added elements like silk taffeta curtains.


In the living room, traditional upholstered pieces were updated with slipcovers in Belgian linen. A gilded French mirror, an antique chest, and a Lucite side table are a compatible mix of styles and periods. Walls are painted Pratt & Lambert's Silver Lining, a soft, milky white. Notice how the curtain rods are all just a few inches below the ceiling which add drama to the room.


One end of the sunroom was turned into an office. Vintage botanicals hang above an 18th-century writing desk; glass lamp by Julian Chichester. The comfortable wing chair and woven basket add so much warmth.

Scaglione designed the chairs with rounded backs to offset the angularity of the French-style farm table. The dining room is visible from the living room so for continuity, she slipcovered the chairs in Hamilton Adams Belgian linen in Off-White.


In the family room there is a whimsical window seat with a soft down cushion by one of the windows.

A dressmaker skirt gives a modern tweak to the slipcover on a living room chair.


The family room is flanked by the kitchen on one side and the sunroom on the other. The slipcovers here are whitewashed denim.


The sunroom was kept light and open. The wall of doors was framed with iron sconces instead of curtains. Hope the zebra skin is faux.


Updated versions of retro fixtures give this bathroom an old-fashioned charm.


Black all-weather wicker furniture on the patio.


Scaglione mixed twin beds and lamps from Pottery Barn and pink toile bedding with a vintage mirror and chandelier to create a room for 11 year old Olivia, the owner's daughter.


Walls in the master bedroom are painted Pratt & Lambert's Wolf, a warm gray with a hint of chocolate. White bedding, curtains, carpet, and slipcovers keep the room from feeling too cavelike. A 19th-century French armchair completes the look.

All images and information from here.

Farmhouse in Italy

Second post today takes us to a farmhouse in the Alps. After living and studying for 10 years in Milan and Zurich, Chiara came back to Italy to live next to her mother's house. Like most Italians, she wanted to be near her family so she built an annex to her mother's home. Chiara kept the stone floors and country style but created an open-plan space and mixed modern styles with the old. Dark red walls are traditional to Alpine cottages in this region.

More colour for you today, dears!

All images from here.

Colourful Home in Norway

Some of you tired of my all white posts? Well, today I bring you lots of colour! Just on the outskirts of Oslo, Anne has created an inspiring and personal home. As Anne describes it: "The house had the worst sides of the 50's and 70's:dirt brown linoleum in and a mixture of mustard yellow and military green on the walls."No gloomy rooms now: bright, cheerful colours are a theme that runs through the house.






Mismatched painted chairs and stools around the kitchen table.


From the living room you reach the terrace, which is decorated with flea market finds, including an old whitewashed hospital bed.

Not many photographs, I'm afraid. I may add a second post today. Thanks for stopping by, dears!

All images from here.

Seaside Cottage in New York

An early 1880s seaside cottage in New York whose former owner was Gloria Vanderbilt was renovated by interior designer Robin Bell. In her words: "It's sort of Swedish-meets-Bloomsbury style, which is English, but in a bohemian Arts & Crafts way. I downplayed the grandness of the house by decorating in a cottagey way. Everything is asymmetrical and deeply comfortable. I didn't want the furniture to look too fussy, so nothing matches except a pair of chairs."



A poolside arbor hung with wisteria makes an outdoor dining room. The table's marble top was a marble yard castoff, and Bell designed its iron base. Bell designed the iron chandelier and hanging lanterns; both are inspired by streetlights she saw in Harbour Island, Bahamas.


The pool house's ceiling and border were inspired by a Moroccan tile mosaic. Artisans painted it on beadboard for a tentlike effect.


A sunburst mirror frame in the pool house has "a funny tentacled look that's almost aquatic," says Bell, who adapted the simulated bone and ivory mirror from one she spied in a shop.


Voluptuous 50-year-old wisteria vines drape a Victorian wire gazebo under which stand Victorian wire peacock chairs and a wire table.


The dining table was copied from an American antique at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was faux-grained by artist Lindsey Tipler.


All the upholstered furniture in the living room was designed by Bell and arranged in one large but intimate seating group.


Artist Lindsey Tipler also painted the faux-mahogany finish on the clients' wheelback chairs and the table in the foyer between the dining room and study.


In the living room, Bell used a mix of antiques and modern furniture, curvy and tailored shapes. She created a fire surround mosaic of seashells. On the blue table from John Rosselli, lamps and black candle holders are from Robin Bell Design.


Bell created a plush reading nook with a Moroccan flair on a window seat under the stairs.


An 18th-century American harvest table with original paint and 19th-century American shawl-back chairs in the classic white kitchen. Above the island is a wrought-iron pot rack designed by Bell, hung with the clients' pot collection bought on trips to France and Italy.


A second-floor landing has classic striped rag runners by Woodard Weave. Family photos are divided into two wall groupings: black and white on one wall, color on another.


When the clients returned from Paris with an album of Honoré Daumier prints depicting the stages of a marriage, Bell took it apart and covered a wall of a guest bedroom with the framed prints.


The sofa, armchair, and ottoman in the study are covered in antique toile.


In the wife's art studio, Bell added paneling consistent with late-19th-century Shingle Style architecture.


An amber hurricane from William Yeoward and seashell bowls from Robin Bell.


A covered porch has a mix of antique wicker; fabric is "lemonade- and sangria-proof," says Bell.


Bell moved the master bathroom's original cast-iron tub to the window for unobstructed sky and ocean views.


In the master bedroom, a sandalwood four-poster bed from Sri Lanka is topped with a lattice cutwork tester cover, Monique VV in cream by Old World Weaver.

All images and information from House Beautiful.