13Aug

Traditional Home: Tour A Home With A Perfect Balance of Modern and Traditional

Traditional home, Michelle Smith, traditional design

This home located in South Carolina housed the excellent balance between tradition and modern with an even better equilibrium of masculine and feminine style. On the more masculine side, are the plaster walls, reclaimed wood floors and antiques while on the female side, sophistication is presented in the forms of gleaming soft fabrics, touches of shimmering surfaces and whimsical Gracie wallpaper. Hard to not love this level of complexity found in a contemporary home which is very well suited for a young family of four. A Traditional Home which is equally cozy and elegant. It’s beautiful to see the rise and revival of traditional design. Classic style is one that never grows old, and it only gets better with time.

30Jul

Myrtle Topiaries: The Artistic Elegance of Topiaries

Myrtle topiaries, topiaries, Julie Paulino Design

Myrtle and boxwood topiaries inside our fireplace at our home. Julie Paulino Design

Last week I had a photoshoot at our house for a local publication. I wanted to photograph the area around our fireplace, but alas, it’s summer so turning on the fire was out of the question. After a couple of days brainstorming about how to make a black hole, a big one, in this case, look good enough for a photoshoot, a lightbulb went on, and a picture of myrtle potted topiaries and boxwood topiaries inside the fireplace came spinning into my head. The result was more than satisfying, transforming an empty rather cold space into a warm and charming one. Myrtle topiaries can add that understated elegance to any area adding that soothing character to a home or garden.

Initially, I thought of using a few flower arrangements, but they would have gotten lost or distracted the entire ensemble. I was lucky to find what I was looking for, two tall double topiaries and two small rounded boxwoods to create different heights. The two double balls are Myrtle topiaries that can live inside and hopefully last year round if we take good care of them. The smaller rounded boxwoods are evergreen that later on, we’ll transplant outside. The dense evergreen leaves are meant to withstand cold weather, and they are a favorite for shaping into different shapes of topiaries since ancient times. Below, a few options of potted topiaries to bring a bit of garden inside your home.

24Jul

A 200-Year-Old Farmhouse In Mallorca Gets A Major Makeover

Ammonite fossils on top of an antique table welcome visitors in the entry way.

Imagine coming to your summer home and being greeted by an aromatic scent emanating from a line of olive, almond and cork trees that indicate the path to the house. This forever-summer home is located in Manacor in the south-east of Mallorca. It’s been entirely renovated in a way that preserves the house’s original Mallorcan spirit by Architect and Interior Designer Ramon Garcia Jurado. The clients’ request was for a ‘home where you can hang out all day in a sarong and be barefoot most of the time’. The final result is that and more, Garcia Jurado was able to interpret his clients’ wish while making the home also comfortable and sophisticated enough. The white walls and bare resin floors serve as the perfect background for the rich colored antiques throughout the house.

17Jul

A Charming Fisherman House In The Ile De Re by Christian Liaigre

A Charming Fisherman cottage in the isle de , Christian Liegre

Simplicity doesn’t mean sterile, and a fisherman house doesn’t always imply unworldly either. Quite often good design is harder to interpret in simple, authentic ways than in grand, opulent ways. As this charming fisherman house shows, good Interior Design embraces the home instead of disguising it. Christian Liaigre took inspiration from the 18th-century architecture in Île de Ré, an Island of the West Coast of France, to decorate his family country home. The rusticity found in the unspoiled island is interpreted in the design details of the house from the understated facade with its simple main door to the original white painted panels throughout inside the home. The main red doors Liaigre saw in his trip to Nantucket inspired the touches of red dotting around the house. “This is a simple home for a fisherman, and that is reflected in the decoration” Christian Liaigre

10Jul

A Revamped Montecito Vacation Home By Mark D. Sikes

Interior Designer Mark D. Sikes assisted the homeowner of this charming Montecito vacation home in updating the decor by incorporating new finds and antiques. The result is a classic American style in Mark’s signature palette of blue and white. Pastel color and chintz fabrics mingle with natural textures like sisal rugs, an antique wicker chair, and dark wood antiques. The coral chandelier was repainted in white.

02Jul

Sales Of The Week

With the Fourth of July celebrations next week, there are a lot of stores offering lots of good sales. There is always a good reason or Holiday for sales to pop up everywhere. Of course, this is not a complaint but a praise. Here are my picks from this week’s deal.

Category: Interior Design

Traditional Home: Tour A Home With A Perfect Balance of Modern and Traditional

Myrtle Topiaries: The Artistic Elegance of Topiaries

A 200-Year-Old Farmhouse In Mallorca Gets A Major Makeover

A Charming Fisherman House In The Ile De Re by Christian Liaigre

A Revamped Montecito Vacation Home By Mark D. Sikes

Sales Of The Week

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