House Tour: a Welsh barn that toes the line between simple and sparse

I am a great lover of simple homes – what better way to get the most from much-loved home accessories than against an uncluttered backdrop – but how minimal can a home be and still feel homely? This new-build barn in West Wales is an interesting case to consider as the fabric of the building has been purposefully left as a shell by its architect owner. Could live comfortably here?

{Mojo Photography via Remodelista}

Do you think you’d feel at home in a living space like this or does it feel too bare for you? What would you add to make the barn more your style? Please use the comments to share your thoughts and ideas.

If you’d like to learn more about the construction and design of the barn there’s lots more detail in Remodelista’s post.

House Tour: the house that dreams (and $500) built

Light is my number one priority when deciding where I live. I love big windows – for looking out to watch the world go by and for the sunshine they allow in. Nick Olson and Lilah Horwitz felt the same, but took things one step further when building their getaway home in the wilds of West Virginia.

Their first date was a walk in the mountains and, while watching the sun set (awww), they mused about building a house entirely of windows so that nothing could come between them and the view. Less than a year later they left their jobs and set off on a roadtrip around Pennsylvania, collecting hundreds of old windows from junk sales they passed en-route. $500 dollars later they returned to the mountains and began building their dream getaway.

These pictures don’t give much clue as to the inside, but you can have a really good look around (and hear more about the couple’s story) in this Kinfolk-esque video made by Half Cut Tea. It’s well worth a watch to see the beautifully rustic wooden interior.

{Photographs & Video: Jordan Wayne Long / Matt Glass / Half Cut Tea}

If you could build a dream house anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Should there be rules on the colour you can paint your house?

A little while back, this Devon cottage caused a bit of a kerfuffle round these parts…

{Mark Passmore via The Times}

Its owners have been ordered to tone down the shade they’ve chosen to paint their listed cottage on the basis that it was – well – ‘too pink’ to comply with planning regulations. It got me thinking about whether people should have the same freedom when choosing the colours for the outside of their home as they do for the inside. After all, in some areas a punchy paint job is celebrated and encouraged.

Take Tobermory for example…

{Ken Gillies}

London’s Portobello Road…

{Gary Pepper Girl}

Whitehead in Co. Antrim…

{John Maguire}

La Boca in Buenos Aires…

{Marissa Strniste}

Seems to me, it’s all about gang mentality. If you can club together and get your neighbours to grab their brushes too, you can all be clashy and colourful together. But be the only one in the village and you’re likely to find yourself on the receiving end of disapproving glances and tutting in the local pub forevermore.

Personally, I was feeling all urban and liberal about the whole thing. Until, that is, I saw what they’d done with the pub in our local town which recently went from this…

To this…

{Decorator’s Notebook}

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???!

City pretty… what colour is yours?

I found these photographs of San Francisco on the beautiful Cachemire et Soie blog thanks to Victoria. The stunning pastel colour palettes created by the architecture reminded me a little bit of The Paris Colour Project and started me wondering what the colour palette of the cities I know would be… or whether there is even one at all?

{all Anne for Cachemire et Soie}

I’ve never been to San Francisco but if you have I’d be interested to know if the whole city is painted like this or if it’s just little a little pocket. When I think of the colours of London my mind’s eye sees something like those Photoshopped black and white photos with just a spot of red highlighted. Grey and red… that’s the palette of London for me. Nowhere near as pretty.

What would be the colour palette of the place you live?

House tour: butter factory turned toasty home

Originally built as a butter factory and most recently used as a candle maker’s workshop, owners Greg Hatton and Lucy Marx had to melt an inch-thick coating of candle wax from the walls of their future home with boiling water before their renovation could begin. And I thought stripping wallpaper was bad…

{all Tara Pearce for EST magazine}

Maybe the interior is a little too rough and ready for everyday living, but as a place to visit I think this home looks idyllic. I love the relaxed vintage vibe and the way the patina of the building has been retained in the peeling plaster and chipped tiles, not the mention the dream vegetable plot and homemade honey.

Not sure I’ll be copying the marrow centrepiece idea though!!!

Petal power at Hampton Court Palace

I’ve been mentally compiling a bit of a London bucket list and the glorious bank holiday weekend seemed the perfect chance to tick off one of the most beautiful places – Hampton Court Palace. I booked a ticket that included both the Palace and the gardens but as it was such a lovely day I spent most of my time outside. I’m determined to get to grips with my camera and post more original content this summer so here are a few of my snaps.

These photos are a bit misleading to be honest because with such nice light and stunning colours it would be hard to take a really terrible photos. Let’s just say there’s a reason I’m posting these and not the pictures I attempted to take of the equally stunning but badly lit interior!

The really interesting thing about Hampton Court is that it’s been added to by various rulers over hundreds of years, so everywhere you turn there’s a different period of spectacular architecture to admire. I particularly loved the towering Tudor chimney stacks, each with its own design to show off just how warm and cosy Henry VIII could afford to keep his visitors.

Even though it was a busy bank holiday I still managed to find a quiet spot to sit and read (ok, nap) in this pretty walled orchard.

{all Decorator’s Notebook}

If you’re in London and haven’t visited Hampton Court Palace yet I completely recommend you go the next time the sun is shining. The interior is absolutely incredible as well. I’m tempted to do a whole separate post just with photos of the ceilings!

New builds on the bloc

Those clever girls at My Friend’s House have a fantastic nose for quirky design, like these diminutive skyscrapers popping up on the streets of Berlin.

 

{Photographs Evol / Yatzer via My Friend’s House}

Street artist Evol uses detailed stencils to turn drab city structures like telephone junction boxes, bins and concrete blocks into miniature buildings. I’m not usually a fan of street art (and I strongly object to graffiti) but there’s something so unassuming and appropriate about these urban sculptures I really like them.

House tour: tumbledown hall brimming with history

Amazing Welsh country houses are like buses round these parts – wait and age and then two come along at once! This C16th hall is rather more tumbledown than the Snowdonian farmhouse I posted a few weeks ago, but is utterly spectacular in its own very special way.

The wood-panelled dining room has hardly been touched in nearly 500 years and you can almost feel the walls wearily breathing history. Just imagine the feasting and tragedies that have taken place in these rooms over the ages.

I’ve posted about my reservations about rough luxe before, but there’s nothing trendy about this peeling plaster – this is the real deal. Is it wrong to like that calamine pink??

Why is this bed so high?! I’m only 5’1″ and there’s no way I’d get up onto that for my forty winks – weren’t people shorter back in the olden days? I’ve spent a lot of time pondering Welsh blankets recently and I love the one in the first bedroom. In a home with very little pattern the traditional geometric design is especially eye catching.

{all Light Locations}

The hall is one of the latest additions to Light Locations‘ books, so you’re sure to see it featured on glossy pages or the silver screen soon.

Iceland’s tiny churches

Wherever I travel in the world I find myself strangely drawn to churches. The architecture is always so beautiful and there’s something I love about the musty smell of polished wood and the slow clacking sound of people desperately trying to walk quietly on stone flagstones.

I came across these adorable little Icelandic churches in  Home & Delicious magazine… they’re a world apart from the grand cathedrals of Europe. I was immediately charmed and as I couldn’t understand a word of the feature I thought I’d see if I could find out any more about them.

{above all Home & Delicious}

When Iceland adopted Christianity in 100 AD, local landowners built their own personal churches on their farms – presumably so they wouldn’t get frozen to death on the way to pray! As a result, the country is dotted with minuscule places of worship, often only big enough for 20 or so faithful farmhands to squeeze into.

{above Daniel Pivnik}

{above Michelle Leale}

{above Roantrum}

Some of the oldest are built from turf to protect them from freezing winds and volcanic eruptions. This one looks like a cosy little hobbit house to me.

{above Dajbjartur Kr. Brynjarsson}

Many of these little Icelandic churches are simply decorated inside with just a couple of wooden benches, a simple altar and sometimes only packed earth on the floor. However the 25 residents of Skógar village have chosen to go for something a bit more colourful inside their church!

{above Scott Long}

I’ve wanted to visit Iceland for a while and now I’ve seen these sweet little churches I want to go even more. Have any of you ever been lucky enough to go?

Vintage shopping in Bologna

Just before Christmas my Mum and I bagged some £17 flights and headed to the lovely historic city of Bologna in Northern Italy for a few days. By happy coincidence our visit coincided with the twice-monthly flea market in the gorgeous square outside the church of Santo Stefano. Mum taught me pretty much everything I know about buying vintage tat, so the pair of us hot-footed it there straight after breakfast!

That’s the church in the background. I’ll take you inside later but let’s see what we can find on the stalls first shall we?

I love vintage packaging and these old razor blade packets caught my eye. Better than my plasticy Venus I thought!

Mum was tempted by this half-completed sampler, but it was a bit pricey.

You can walk 38km of Bologna’s streets under porticoes or arcades like the ones you can see in the background. Many have beautiful frescos painted inside the arches.

There were plenty of boxes of old photos, pictures, postcards and posters to rummage through. I especially liked this illustration of a circus ringleader training his prancing horses.

Lots of colourful shot glasses looking great displayed on a mirrored tray.

Baby Jesus, shepherds, kings and whatnot.

I loved the twirly font on these vintage name-tapes, all tied up with bright elastic bands.

I really want to create a display wall of pictureless frames (something like this) and could’ve got them all on this stall. Damn the Easyjet baggage allowance!

The Basilica Di Santo Stefano is actually not one church but a collection of seven churches and other religious buildings dating from different periods.

In the middle of all the buildings there’s a lovely courtyard with lots more of those porticoes around the edge.

Pretty much everything was, well, pretty. Even the bricks in the walls.

{all Decorator’s Notebook}

Oh, and here are some colour coded buttons I forgot to put in with the other flea market photos. I know you guys will appreciate this sort of thing!