Month: November 2017

Amanda Brook 1 via belle vivir

Amanda Brooks is known as a writer, contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveler and AD and ex fashion director at Barneys New York.  What you may not know is that she is a great Lifestyle Architect too.  If such title exists, she’s earned it.  Amanda Brooks is a New Yorker who moved with her family to the English Countryside and had created an idyllic countryside life style.  All with absolute no previous experience.  It all started when Amanda decided to take a year break from the hustle and bustle of her busy career in the City and moved with her family to the farm where her husband grew up in Oxfordshire, England.  Yes, she traded attending front row fashion shows, dressing head to toe in designer clothes and attending the fancy after parties for the calm and charm of the English countryside, complete with horses, sheep, pigs and pretty gardens.  The one year became years and now is the family’s permanent residence, as she told AD where their Farm was featured.  Amanda also told AD that she is currently writing a book about the whole experience.   Her Instagram account is like a dream no one would like to wake up from, at least not me, full of beautiful and inspiring images from nature, gardens, dogs and her children.  You can also appreciate snippets of her home, Fair Green Farm, and how unpretentious and beautiful she decorates it.  Everything looks so livable and tangible… yet so tasteful.
I love to hear stories like this because it’s all but a reminder that the real pleasures in life are about substance and whatever fills your heart.  It’s about what makes you wake up in the morning with a full heart.  Of course all better when done in style, as Amanda shows us.

Amanda Brook farmhouse via belle vivir blog

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Our Gift Ideas for the Hostess and Gardener will make things easier for you this Holiday.  It’s party season and I’m sure you don’t want to receive a smirk face for bringing the all expected wine bottle.  I’ve compiled an exquisite and affordable selection of gifts for the host and gardener in your next soiree.  Whether your host is a gardener or a great entertainer I am certain one of these gifts will be of his or her liking and will not be re-gifted…

gift guide

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Christmas Decor is found more at home in a country rustic setting… There is something so warming and soothing when the patina of a rustic decor is combined with the natural elements found in Christmas decoration.  It’s a perfect match, isn’t it…?  In the first image for instance, the Christmas teardrop swag appears to have been born out of the patinated door.  Whether you live in the woods or you just happen to enjoy a rustic decor, here are these living rooms with country Christmas decorating ideas to inspire.

country christmas decorating ideas via belle vivir

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We all have that special picky family member or friend with a very curated taste who happens to have almost everything.  But who also never stops buying for her home, hence this gift guide for the decor aficionado who is always adding to a collection or rearranging her surroundings like every stylish person does.  Each and everyone of these gifts can be incorporated into different home decor styles.

gift guide for the decor aficionado via belle vivir

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