10 Beautiful Rooms

When is a feature wall not a feature wall? When it’s basically a giant alcove. Interior designers will tell you that the feature wall is over. That if you have chosen a colour or a wallpaper you should do the whole room in it – have the courage of your convictions and show it like its creator meant it to be seen.

While I’m not one for rules in principle, I do tend to agree that it has become rather a cliche to paint a chimney breast in a contrasting colour. And I have done it. I have also done a single wall of paper, partly because we couldn’t afford to buy any more, but on the whole, if you like a colour enough to use it then, well, use it.

Although this is a clever idea in an alcove as it will create depth at the end of the room. And it’s a wonderful colour – green smoke by Farrow & Ball.  I have a tester of it as we tried it for the bathroom but somehow just didn’t follow through. No I don’t know why either as every time I have seen pictures of it since I have loved it.

These cupboards are by Superfront I’ll wager. If you’re not familiar with them, they make doors to fit Ikea kitchens. We bought our leather handles from there although our cupboards are plain painted MDF. Note also how the rustic table brings character to this space and, together with the leather handles, bring in different textures which is a really important, and often overlooked, element of bringing a room together.

This is apparently the new Eurostar business premier lounge as featured on we-heart.com. It’s a lounge I’m unlikely to see in real life so I’m sharing it with you here. It’s at the Gare du Nord and was inspired by those classic Parisian apartments. It’s probably just as well I don’t tend to travel on Eurostar’s business tickets as, if I had access to this waiting room, I may never leave.

James Balston shared this image on instagram last week and invited his followers to see the rest of the project in his archives so I’m showing you here with the link so you can see the rest of the apartment. .I just love the soft blue walls with the vintage rugs. . Also there is this bathroom with its Dandelion tiles from Marrakech Design. If it was possible for a tile to have a moment then this pattern is having one. You see it everywhere and it always looks fabulous.

Next up are two images from the Manhattan loft apartment of Danish designer Soren Rose. I have one of his lights in my bedroom. You can just see it on my instagram today and I just love his whole home. It’s a sort of check list of lovely elements – black, white, wood, marble and plants. The exposed brick won’t work for all of us but the black window frames do and note how he has done them black in the kitchen area and left them white in the dining part – you don’t have to match everything.

Oh and there’s a crittal window. I’d just love one of those but it’s never going to happen so I (and perhaps you too) will have to content yourselves with just admiring those belonging to other people.

We’re going to finish where we started – with some heavenly greens. This is the Aesop store which was designed by Ilse Crawford. It’s definitely a great colour for a bathroom. Mine will stay grey for now as we’ve only just done it and it’s only just been photographed for a magazine – I’ll keep you posted when it’s out but this can go on the long, long, long list of colours for next time. I’m going to say five years….

This Devol kitchen has also used green although I think the Green Smoke might have been better. Mind you I wouldn’t complain if this was in my house. It’s a great room and I would happily cook you all a meal in here.

Last up what about this deep dark green? I love the mix of vintage furniture and oil paintings that have found their way into the room in a totally unexpected way. The owners even found room for a little sofa, something which I wish I had been able to do in my own kitchen but we chose more storage cupboards instead. And they’re all full so I guess we did the right thing.

What do you think about green? Have you got some? Do you fancy some? Olive green is quietly taking over my wardrobe so it’s only a matter of time before it hits my walls…..