A relaxed apartment with a touch of blue

I love blue. It's not a colour I've used in my own home but I grew up in a house with blue velvet chesterfield sofas exactly like this one (for a modern update check out the one in this apartment). I particularly love the combination of dark blue and beige or cognac, it looks so smart don't you think? It was the blue sofa (from Funky Furniture) and rattan rug which inspired me to show the San Francisco home of Kate Davison and her partner Jesse today. There's something extremely relaxed and yet very cool about their space over all. I could pad around here today, how about you?

Kate Davison, Craetive at Mashery

I have to say, I love the string lighting in the back garden. My sister recently bought this outdoor string lighting for her garden. probably the nicest I've seen. Although I do love some twinkly fairy lights  at Christmas too (remember my 'dream' party post?!).

You can find out where nearly everything in this is home is from here.

For more blue and beige / cognac / copper inspiration it's well worth taking a look through all of these lovely home tours.

 A big thank you to Kate for sending me the images for today's post, I do love to receive home tour pics in my inbox - please do send me yours too!

Have a lovely day!

PS I'm excited to see Great.ly are offering free-shipping from now until 2nd December. The right time to pick up a cushion or print?!

A dreamy little space to call home

One of my dreams is to have a a work studio in my (future) garden which doubles as a pretty guest house for friends and family. Do you share a similar dream?  Then I came across this shed conversion on Design Sponge and my idea was immediately brought to life! Over the space of two months designer, stylist and artist Paige Morse converted a shed in her back garden into a stunning Scandinavian inspired black and white retreat. Her goal was to create a space from which she can work, She was so thrilled with the outcome she now actually lives in the 'Casita' and rents out her house to afford the lifestyle she so desires: to work on her creatives full time. What an inspiration?!

Before:

Photos Cody Ulrich. Paige Morse. Via Design Sponge with thanks. 

Be still my beating heart!

This really is the casita of my dreams! The only thing I would add is a turf roof as seen on this and this home. How about you? Could you see yourself working / living here?

You can see the full before and after shots over at Design Sponge and read more about Paige's work here.

Other fantastic, unusual and alternative garden shed conversions here and here.

Have a lovely day!

The perfect Norwegian home for a summer's day

When the sun shines in Sweden I feel the need to spend the entire day outside (I guess this isn't the case when you live somewhere warm and sunny all year round?!). But there is an exception to this. The Norwegian home of blogger and photographer Elisabeth Heier is one of those spaces where you could easily flit between inside and outside on a beautiful day, depending on your mood. Not only is the home bright and airy but it also has several different places you can sit and relax with a book or magazine - window nook, dining table, outdoor terrace....and still enjoy the warmth of natural sunlight and the nature beyond. I could spend a summer's day here could you?

Elisabeth Heier with kind permission

Elisabeth is such a wonderful photographer and her blog is almost entirely made up of pictures she has taken of her own home. So impressive!

See previous posts from her home here, here and here.

I spy a few classic items I love: Knoll Diamond chair and Eames side chair DSR.

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday!

Summer greetings...

Dear blog readers,

Have you entered the summer "lull" yet, 

the lazy days,

 the stopping what you are doing long enough to spot the most wonderful of growing inspiration, 

of "Nothing Is Impossible" and two fingers in the air to anyone who says 

poppies cannot grow out of a dry stone wall if they feel like it...

Does you laundry smell wonderfully fresh from spending hours in the light summer breeze, weaving more than fresh air into the thread count of the sheets, storing life and new beginnings in the same...?

Is your home-made elderflower cordial drunk yet, 

drunk with sparkling water to the tune of the ice cubes clinking and clanking in the glass,

drunk till the last drop of golden summer flavours is devoured 

and the longing for next year's harvest has begun...?

Has your vine started producing grapes yet? 

And more importantly... 

- have you stopped to smell the roses?

I confess, I am not quite there yet. 

My work has not gone on holiday, so neither have I.

But occasionally, and eagerly encouraged by my youngest son,

I do stop to smell the roses.

Literally.

My son says:

"Mamma, you have got to come here and smell this one. It smells like lemon."

Although he says it in Swedish. 

"Den luktar citron, mamma!"

"Oh, and come here. This one smells like raspberries!"

So I stop.

And I smell.

And he is right. The yellow rose does smell a little bit like lemon, the red one like raspberries.

So I pick one, put it on the table.

The scent of lemon, summer and sweetness fills the room.

Wraps us all in the arms of summer, despite the boys still having a week left before school finishes and my having more work than I dare to think about...

Lemon. Roses. Raspberries.

Sometimes that is all it takes.

Helena

♥

Why I think I might start drumming...

Every now and then I hear other parents tell me - not seldom without a poorly hidden despondency in their voices - that they have just bought a drum kit for their child, because said child really, really wants to become a drummer...

I have often wondered how I would react if one of my boys presented this idea to me...

Glorious, GLORIOUS part of this home, housing the indoor swimming pool.

I am not sure I would jump up and down with joy... 

I think I would rather spend the rest of the day trying to convince them that the instruments 

they are already playing are SO much better for them, for so many reasons... 

Noise level being one of them... 

However...

... having today fallen completely and irrevocably in love with this 

stunning house and its equally stunning gardens...

 I am beginning to think that this drumming business is not such a bad idea after all...

If this is what Nick Mason, former drummer in Pink Floyd, is able to call home (one of his homes) today 

(and yes, this is his home, on the outskirts of our little town)...

... I think my view of my boys potentially choosing a drumming career might just have changed dramatically...

In fact, I think I might give it a go myself!!!

Summer greetings to you all!

Helena

'Glad Midsommar'

Studio Impressions / photographer Marcus Bell and team, Brisbane, Australia. Bali Wedding - Angie and Ben

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” 

― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Happy Midsummer! And a great weekend (for those of you in the Southern hemisphere!). See you Monday! x

PS - for midsummer floral hair garland inspiration see today's post by 79 ideas and this page on Pinterest. Beautiful alfresco table settings here and here.  And a Swedish garden you'd want to spend midsummer in. 

The out house retreat of a Nashville author

It's that time of year when everyone starts last minute summer holiday bookings (OK I speak for myself - can anyone recommend anywhere last minute to stay in the Dordogne?!). Of course there are always hotels, B&B's and holiday cottage rentals but I also love to go quirky too and often consider glamping, tree houses and unique stay alternatives. And that's how I came across this cool 1962 Shaster camper.  Sitting in the back garden of 'Carry My Bones' author J. Wes Yoder in East Nashville, Tennessee, the camper has been lovingly renovated inside and out and includes an outdoor shower, bath house and terrace. When it's not in use as a work studio the author rents it out through Airbnb. Nashville anyone?!

Photography: Laura Dart via Remodelista

What a cute place to stay and a fabulous idea for an out house!

It's not the first time I've come across an unusually cool outhouse. Do you remember this  alternative garden shed for example?! I'm a big fan of outdoor bathroom's too, for inspiration take a peek at this outdoor bathroom post.

Other holiday sites I love right now include Alistair Sawdays Canopy & Stars which offers a collection of wonderful and quirky places to stay and Kid & Coe which makes travelling with children a whole lot easier - (what's not to love about that?!)! And if you're considering SouthWest England - one of my most memorable holidays ever was at Polgreen Glamping in Cornwall.

Do you have great holiday accommodation tips?

Could you while away summer days in this Swedish garden?

I know it's only Thursday but I'm already gearing up for the weekend and looking forward to some down time in the garden with my family. We've got so much to do to our outdoor space so I've been pouring over inspiration lately (I'd probably do this even if we didn't have anything needed doing...!). Today I'm inspired by this outdoor space. It's a beautiful Swedish which fills me with ideas from the roses over the door, and the hollyhocks lining the wall of the house, the different social areas (cute kid alert) and 'secret garden'. I hope you get some ideas too.

Photography: Jonas Ingerstedt (with kind permission. Sköna Hem. 

Could you while away a summer's day in this garden?

In my (small) garden I've decided the key requirements are: a comfy area for lounging, a social yet relaxed covered (possibly using white linen) dining area, making it as green as possible, beautiful scents wafting from flowers in bloom, the sound of running water, and candle lights. Achievable in 5 metres square? Hmmmm, optimistic. But dream big as they say....

What are your outdoor space essentials?

More garden inspiration can be found on my Alfresco board, as well as previous posts of this beautiful Montreal oasis, eating alfresco and outdoor showers /bathrooms.

Have a lovely day!