30Jun

Funtional Banquette

Banquet in kitchen design via belle vivir blog

Our functional and custom kitchen banquette is one of the spaces in our home that we enjoy the most. We surf the web, color with Lucas, eat, have our coffee in the morning, you name it. I think a custom kitchen banquette is one of he most functional features anyone can incorporate in their kitchen design. Not only does it offer a lot more space for seating than individual chairs but it also instantly warms up any space. All these images of kitchens with custom banquettes are absolutely beautiful but my favorite is the very first one because of all those slick antique-looking iron windows, the adorable French mattress (a post coming up on this by the way), and the accessibility to the banquette itself. Enjoy!

Image credit: House to Home, Traditional Home, Katie Stassi via Cote De Texas

02Jun

Can’t get enough of Ornate architectural details

From boiseries, ornate doors with ornate brass keyhole plates to gilded details and patterned floors, I find myself simply smitten. Wouldn’t you?

images via Sarah Klassen, This is Glamorous, Windsor Smith and Nuevo Estilo.

09May

The Apthorp, New York living at its finest

Every time I walk by this iconic building in New York City with its Renaissance Revival architecture and its cobblestone gated courtyard/driveway I feel like I’ve been transported to France or Italy. After many years of dispute (rents-stabilized-lawsuits-new building owners; if you want to know more about it go here) the building has been restored and its creative director Stephen Sills have created an exclusive model unit for me and you to just dream and look on. Enjoy

The impressive courtyard

Part of the Kitchen. Notice the liquid leather on the banquette.

Chevron floors

Chevron floor in home decor living room with tall bookshelves

Chevron floors have been a main part of European Interior Design for centuries. Chevron Parquet floor with its zigzag pattern brings elegance and interior architecture into any home decor. Now a days you can find chevron wood flooring in porcelain tiles for bathrooms or kitchens as well. With this type of parquet flooring you can also create an effect of stripes on your floor by using two different colors creating a very fresh and young atmosphere in bathrooms or foyer as in the the picture below. Chevron floors can look great in all kinds of home decor from classic interiors to modern.

Chevron floor in home decor black and white foyer

Chevron floors in home decor dining room

In a more clean dining room with chair rails on the walls, Hans J. Wegner chairs and an ornate fireplace the herringbone floor blends seamlessly.

A bright blue sideboard and simple lanterns is all this entryway needs when it has beautiful honed finish chevron floor.

Kitchen with chevron patter floor.

In this bathroom which graciously have a fireplace in it, the black chevron floor adds to the regal and classic look to it.

In this room the Interior Designer used probably reclaimed wood creating a more rustic home decor.

images from Cote Maison and my files.

23Feb

Easy-to-incorporate Architectural Enhancements

via via

Not all of us are lucky enough to live in houses with good architecture but there are many simple and non-permanent ways of incorporating it in our homes. Now I know that the image on top is full of exquisite details (only the herringbone floors would be enough to impress) but what caught my attention was the unusually low dado rail. I think that unique detail would make any room more interesting and would bring an unexpected touch to it as well.

Jacques Grange’s Paris Home

Interior Designer Jacques Grange’s Paris home is nothing short of perfection. And I”m not only saying this because Grange is my top favorite designer. The classic details of the 18th century architecture sings in perfect harmony with a mixed of Art Deco and contemporary furniture with 18th and 20th century pieces and Objects D’Art. “Harmony is a question of eye and personal feeling; there is no recipe” says Jacques Grange. And he sure knows how to accomplish that to perfection. His book, Jacques Grange: Interiors, published in 2009 was one of the first International Interior Designers book I got and it’s still today a major sourse of inspirations for me.

Jacques Grange’s Paris home overlooks the lush gardens of the Palais Royal and it used to be home to the novelist Colette. Colette’s stepdaughter offered the apartment to Jacques Grange in 1990. Grange, not having the money to buy the apartment back then, he instead rented and finally bought it in early 2000’s. The oack paneled library above is warm and inviting.

Tag: interior architecture