Colour in Dublin

So we are over the jet lag and enjoying some great weather in Dublin and this is where I go for my morning run ( or run - walk - look at the view - run - walk, would be a more truthful representation ). I have walked this pier many many times and it has been fully refurbished since my last visit. I have now finished my colour design diploma but the obsession with colour schemes remains. The bandstand has been painted in a gorgeous cream and blue colour scheme which I had to try to replicate and record. I'm sure all the other runners and walkers were wondering what I was doing - I am going to take my Resene colour matching app with me tomorrow to see what the iphone comes up with.

Images: Around Ireland, Farrow & Ball Castle Grey, Dulux Lunar Falls

I'm off

I really love my own bed and am going to miss it a lot - especially tomorrow night when I am somewhere in the sky between Sydney and Abu Dhabi. I will be posting from Ireland - I'm looking forward to the trip enormously. One of my current fave songs by Angus and Julia Stone is appropriately named 'Big Jet Plane' and I thought you might enjoy it too.

Image: Dwell Studio via the Stamford Wife

Florence's apartment in Paris

This months Inside Out features the Paris home of designer Florence Baudoux, beautifully photographed by Richard Powers. My favourite room is the bathroom - old beaded cabinetry combined with modern fittings. In my quest for this picture I came across a French article about the same apartment with more great photographs by Jean-Marc Palisse but no joy on a decent shot of the bathroom - hence the scan below. It is hard to see but the drawers have tiny spherical carvings that are repeated in the modern black and white painting on the wall and I think it was a clever move to paint the large old fashioned radiator in a dark shade also. The whole apartment is very inspiring - well worth buying a copy of Inside Out or flicking through the CoteMaison gallery.

Click to enlarge

Images: Jean-Marc Palisse, Richard Powers via CoteMaison and Inside Out

Northern exposure

Three more sleeps are we are off to the northern hemisphere. Ask any Sydneysider who has lived in Europe what they miss ( apart from friends and family ) and they usually say the choice of shops, especially high street chains like Zara. I believe Zara and GAP are soon to start opening here in Australia, not sure if that will include Zara Home. LK Bennett here I come !!

Image: Zara Home

Alhambra

Warwick Fabrics have a new range called Adachi and I think this floral - Alhambra is going to be a big hit. The range is on panels in the window at the moment but the Warwick website does not yet have photos of all colourways. I didn't look at the stripe while I was there but it looks like a very versatile option to me. Back to Alhambra - if you are into Anna Spiro's style or the look of Manuel Canovas or Schumacher botanicals Alhambra is a very worthy contender.

Images: Warwick Fabrics

Morning dew

Jamie Durie has launched a new set of interior rug designs - following on from his outdoor rug collection. I really like this one - Dew Web available from The Rug Collection, so subtle and gentle. While it is pretty annoying when you walk into a big spiders web that has formed overnight in your front garden, they do look stunning on a dewy sunny morning. There are a few really lively rugs in the collection that also caught my eye but I felt they would over shadow Dew Web and the cracking view on location so I will have to feature them at a later date.

Images: The Rug Collection