Bonjour!

Comment avez-vous été?

As you can see, I still have Paris on my mind! Many thanks to all those incredible readers who sent in suggestions...I was happily ticking off your recommendations checklist as I went from city to city. I am now back from a brilliant vacation and have dived headlong into home renovations. No better antidote to a vacation's hangover than having a home full of super enthusiastic workers and a wall full of paint samples!  

Now excusez moi, while I go and round up the enthu patakas (literal translation: enthusiastic firecrackers) and stop them from painting over my light fixtures (true story!). Here are some goodies from Espacio Living for your kind perusal in the meantime...

Au revoir!

(Oh and, I am slowly getting to your emails. My work inbox has taken priority over my blog inbox; so if you wrote to me, you shall hear back...just a tad bit late though) 

Post cards from Kenya

A chance encounter with Marie and Paul Pelle's Siani Plantation Estate in a travel magazine led me to these gorgeous properties in Lamu, Kenya. Lamu, an archipelago, has a  distinctive Swahili culture, the result of an intermingling over the centuries of many different influences – African, Arabian, Indian, Persian and European to name but a few – brought to Lamu by merchants, travellers, colonisers and conquerors. These influences show themselves to this day in Lamu’s religious and social traditions, architecture, furniture, cookery and many other aspects of daily life. 

Apart from these distinctive influence,  for me, these beautifully restored homes are yet another testimony to the magic created by simple, hand restored interiors...  

Niches or Aala's...a mughal/persian legacy

Window to the world..

Love the bedsteads and the floor..

Do read more on traditional Swahili architecture and the restoration process

Of kittens and roofs..

[All images Lamu Island Properties. Creative mosaic by moi]

We are going to Ibiza!

Thank you for flying Venga Airways
We are now approaching Can Marti
As you can see the sky is blue
And the beach is waiting for you!

                                            [via ze Vengaboys]

Can Marti

A 400 year old farmhouse

Converted into an eco estate

Who says we can't dream of a vacation on a Monday? :D

[All images Can Marti]

Richa's home

When Richa Kapoor shared her home's pictures with me, I felt as if Mr. Blog has jumped off the blogger platform to live in a real home in California! Richa's home is like my blog's design dream come true. I absolutely love the eclectic combination of materials, forms, textures and colors from different parts of the world in her home. This home exudes a distinctive personality, and such warmth that I am in a good mind to join the crafty Mr. Blog for a personal visit to Richa's home :)

And this what Richa has to say about her design style and home:

I am an educator by profession but an artist in my fantasy life! My decor style (if i can claim any) is unrestrained ethnic! I say so 'cause I can rarely pass up an opportunity to acquire naive and folk art pieces - a roughly-hewn wooden bowl from West Africa or a fantastic-looking Oaxacan dragon find pride of place in my home. Though I  make these objets d' art work hard and rarely have pieces that are purely decorative. Lately I have become fond of postmodern pieces like kitschy, over-the-top platters and Andy Warhol pop art posters. Mostly, in putting together the home I share with my husband and our two daughters, I can say that I have tried to have fun!

Richa, thank you for sharing your gorgeous home with us!

Do you like..

...Marie Claire Maison?

Tell me, do you?

Of course, you do!

So do I.

Well then

Now that we have the matter of liking sorted out

Would you like to see all that inspiration from Marie Claire on one site?

Tell me, would you?

Of course, you would!

So would I.

Go ahead

CLICK HERE

And dream - browse away

[Link found via Volpe Images. Image above via Marie Claire Maison]