C
onfession: I’ve never ever been to Milan. That’s almost a crime for a self-proclaimed design lover slash travel addict like yours truly, no? Well the good news is, if and when I do go, I know where I want to stay: the Room Mate Giulia Hotel by Patricia Urquiola that has been opened this spring.W
hile in Vietnam, a beautiful new store caught my eye on the world wide web. When I saw all that pink and a bigger version of this sofa there was not a doubt in my mind, this must be India Mahdavi‘s work. Right I was, because the Iranian born architect designed a new flagship store for the Italian luxury brand together with REDvalentino creative directors Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri. The result is a perfectly designed, dreamy space in pink white and yellow, with brass details. I love the colours, but I may even love the materials more, with plush velvet in round shapes contrasting with white terrazzo (which made me think of Chipperfield’s designs of the Valentino flagship stores).
It comes as no surprise that I absolutely love this space. After all, Mahdavi’s Sketch was one of the main sources of inspiration for my wardrobe makeover. Nope, I’m most definitely not tired of pink just yet.
L
ately I’ve been crushing hard on statement ceilings. The prettiest of them all are high and elaborately detailed and obviously beautiful, but much more attainable are the ones that are simply attained with a splash of paint! I often joke that if I had a tagline for the DIY-er in me it would be “paints all the things”. It’s just my favorite high impact quick fix: a fresh coat of paint can make anything from a room to a handbag feel like new again.It actually occurred to me that I’ve used this styling trick way back when I moved into my student room in a townhouse years ago and chose a delicious berry pink for my bedroom. So lovely! So how about adding a pop of colour to your ceiling? I’ve rounded up some of my favourite rooms with painted ceilings for inspiration.
A
lthough I’m still very happy with our marble bathroom with black hardware and I wouldn’t change anything about it, I’ve been crushing on a new kind of bathroom combo lately: Copper / rose gold hardware and black, even if it’s just a detail like a planter. Maybe preferably with a little bit of concrete involved. There’s just something about the combination of the materials and colours that just works really well and feels very masculine and feminine at the same time. What do you guys think, do you like it?
I
was pretty excited when Delbôve cosmetics opened their Antwerp store earlier this year, not only to discover their products but maybe most of all because I’d spotted the beautiful interior of their Brussels store a few times on Pinterest, and it did seem pretty flawless.
Both the impeccable branding and interior are the work of interior designer Christophe Remy, who is a freelance art director and interior designer, and has worked for various impressive clients like LVMH and NATAN. Apart from his current freelance work he spent 2 years in an interior design studio restoring and decorating period style properties, something I feel is really apparent in his work for Delbôve. It is obvious Remy has a great eye for detail and I absolutely love the whole atmosphere of the place. It just oozes timeless elegance yet feels so modern, totally my style. Sooo I thought I’d share it here with you. What do yo think, beautiful, right? Also, I’ve been using their Gel Perfection for the past few weeks, and it’s pretty great, can’t wait to test more of their products. But more on that later…
W
hen I first started to “learn” about design, my favorite chair was Mies Van Der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair. I liked the lines and the fact that Barcelona was my favorite city seemed to be quite fitting, so I’d imagine one day having a black leather Barcelona chair in my living room. Since then I’ve discovered that the chairs aren’t all that comfy, and although I still love the pavilion they were made for, I don’t like the chair all that much anymore.Since then, I’ve had a lot of chair crushes, ranging from affordable to “keep dreaming”. And one of my ultimate “must get my hands on it someday” crushes is definitely Platner’s arm chair. I only recently discovered Knoll released the chair in gold, which is the way Platner intended it when he designed it in 1966, but there was no technology to produce it yet. Well now there is, and behold: it is perfect. Not only the gold version looks good though, I’d take the chair in polished nickel any day. How about you? Do you have any expensive chair crushes?
D
ieter and I have been fans of all things velvet in interior for some time. I mean, it’s plush and luxe and adds some old world glamour without having to be kitsch. Pretty much all I love when it comes to interiors. The easiest and most awesome (but not the least expensive) way to add some velvet to your home? A sofa. We have a green velvet one seater in our place (and a Louis XVI style chair), but have been lusting after a giant sofa we spotted at Orior in NYC that was pure perfection. So here are some of my favorite interiors using velvet sofa’s shining bright in both light and moody interiors. Don’t you just want to snuggle up in them? I know I do. A rainbow of velvet, after the jump!
O
ver the easter weekend I got my hands dirty and started painting the house again. I realized recently that it’s been almost a year since we moved in, and although we’ve finished many of our projects, there are still big parts of our flat that remain unfinished. Our dressing, (another) hallway, the doors and frames in the office and bedroom, our bathroom (it doesn’t show on the pictures, but it is definitely not done yet) all still needed a layer of paint and some TLC. The smallest yet maybe the most annoying room? Right, the restroom. The place with a million extra corners where we have kept the tiles on the walls so we didn’t have to remove the toilet. Funny how you’d do things differently afterwards huh?
Hi I'm Patricia, this is my blog about deco, design and style. Follow me for adventures in home renovation and design inspiration.
Connect