11Feb

Mary McDonal Grand Design In Full Display At Corona de Mar

Mary McDonald design, chinoiserie purple and white office

Mary McDonald’s style is synonymous to glamour, grandeur, over the top, and architectural design. The 17,000-square-foot home she recently designed, distilled every one of those attributes mentioned above, from a very bold home library with custom wall paint to an impressive marble clad entryway. The home, located in Corona del Mar, California belongs to Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson couple behind the California-based cosmetics brand Too Faced.

If you ever watched the Bravo TV show Million Dollar Decorators, you may remember Mary McDonald’s exuberant design as she was one of the Interior Designers in the show. One of McDonald ’s consistent design elements is symmetry which she implements even in the least conventional forms, for instance in every one of Mary McDonald’s office desks; you’ll find a pair of table lamps, never one. Another design element that Mary often favors is the use of a three-color pallete, a yellow, grey and black bedroom, a pink, black and beige room and so forth.

Mary McDonald design, black and white entryway

A custom de Gournay wallpaper with a pastoral landscape.

09Oct

A Modern Victorian Home That Is Perfectly Bright

A Bright and Modern Victorian Home

modern victorian, modern design, living room

A beautiful and bright living room where blue and white is interpreted in a modern design.

You may have heard of the term Modern Victorian which is an Interior design style that aims to reinterpret Victorian style in a modern and au courant way. It may sound intimidating to buy a Victorian home because they have small, closed rooms with not much light coming in and as a result, they are not too inviting. However, challenging Victorian homes can be charming; they have a lot of character often embellished with exquisite woodwork and craftsmanship.

06Mar

Easy Elegance By Ashley Whittaker

This month’s Veranda magazine is brimming with beautiful and inspiring homes. I particularly love this five-story brownstone designed by Ashley Whittaker for a family with four children. Ashley is known for her flawless use of colorful prints which exude happiness elegantly. As pretty as this home is, nothing is too precious making it ideal for young children’s activities and cocktail parties.

Ashley Whittaker-Veranda-belle vivir

Can you tell that there are more than a dozen printed fabrics from large to small scale in this living room… all seamlessly balanced to strike the right note. The walls have a glossy Venetian-plaster technique that makes everything look even more lively. Eclecticism done right by Ashley Whittaker. A well updated traditional Interior design.

15May

Poppy Delevingne’s Luxurious Bathroom

Poppy Delevingne’s luxurious bathroom is like a gift that keeps on giving. It’s also a girl’s dream with marble covering counter tops, shower and floors and accents of polished brass fixtures. Delevingne’s bathroom is right up my alley. The walls are covered in a De Gournay green wallpaper, but don’t fret, the luxurious wallpaper seems to be protected from water and moisture, thanks to the glass enclosed marble-covered shower, as you can spot in this video she did for Jo Malone.

Poppy Delevingne taking a selfie in her fabulous bathroom from her Instagram acct.

The beautiful bathroom also shows some functional features, as a closet for storage and a glass and brass metal three tier side table next to the free-standing bathtub for easy access to toiletries.

poppy delevingne'd luxurious bathroom, via abelle vivir

Make it your own

Framed chinoiserie wall mural would add a great touch. Brass deck mount exposed faucet, brass sink faucet, a more modern version freestanding bathtub, three tier side table in brass and acrylic.

Second picture by Bjorn Looss, scanned by me from Porter Magazine