Seeing Red

Well hello everyone! 

It's been another hectic couple of weeks here, house hunting, job hunting, and generally trying to get settled in after moving back to the UK after spending 9 years in Australia.  I am pleased to say I have now found a new job (hooray) and a new home (double hooray), I think....  it will seem strange owning a home again, and having to put in a full working week. However, after having a 17 year career in I.T, I am proud and happy to be looking forward to finally working in an industry that I have always been passionate about.... Design!  

You can follow my trials and tribulations on this blog over the next few months and see how I get on with trying to balance working and family life.  

Red is not a colour I use much when decorating. However, I have noticed it is used a lot more on this side of the globe than in Australia. Possibly due to the difference in the light, although I am hoping someone with a heap of knowledge on colour is going to respond to this post and tell me the actual reason.  I chose the following images as I have begun to appreciate red a lot more since being in the UK.  I've really noticed what an amazing 'pop' of colour it can add when used sparingly in decorating and it really draws the eye to a focal point in design and in photography.  I hope you enjoy these images as much as I do...

(unless stated, images are my own)

 more intelligent life

Home Chunk.com 

HouseToHome

Pinterest

HousetoHome

HousetoHome

Cath Kidston

Pinterest

OKA

Red is warm, red is passionate, red is attention seeking, red is also welcoming. 

A Beach Life

Following on from my recent posts on Town and Country life, I thought I would share some more lovely location photo's with you today.  As many of you know, we've relocated back to the UK from Australia.  Recently we spent a lovely sunny Spring day at the very beautiful Brownsea Island. It's an amazingly unspoilt island just inside Poole Harbour.  

We caught a boat on the calm blue water, in what felt like summer temperatures. Bright Blue sky was all around us, and a lovely warm sun and serene sea.  It was just what I needed for design inspiration, and all the colours and textures I experienced there are presented beautifully by the new summer collection from the amazing Interiors store OKA, so I thought this combination would make a great post. 

Escape with me on a summer day around this beautiful island and we can design our little Island Summer home as we take in some inspiration along the way...

The island is filled with an abundance of wildlife and lots of diverse scenery. I particularly loved the beautiful iridescent shades of sea foam green on this pea hen...

If I were to design a bedroom based on her splendid colours, and those similar shades on the island she inhabits, it would look like this gorgeous bedroom from the OKA summer collection...

I love it's soothing mix of soft greens, sea foam, eau-de-nil and cream linen, and bare stripped wood floors.  This light filled room looks so calm, and the soft green colours on the headboard featuring their new summer fabric 'Oceane', is reminiscent of the calm green waters and soft sands that surround the island.  I love this fabric - featuring a gorgeous pretty patterned paisley-esque linen.... 

it goes well with this wide stripe linen cushion in eau-de-nil.  Just stunning for an ocean, island or country home...

This Astrid chest is a lovely feature in the bedroom and great for storage as well as beautiful to look at. I love it's distressed green hue, I saw similar colours in the moss that's abundant on the island...

There is no traffic on the island, so it's very peaceful and relaxing.  There are lots of lovely houses, barn's and National Trust buildings, including what is now the Brownsea Island Hotel. All the properties are looked after by the National Trust and owned by the John Lewis Parternship, so everything is very well kept.  It's a photographer's paradise and a wonderful place to visit.  

It got me thinking about what it would like to live on an Island and the sort of home one would design for such a setting.  It's a British island, so it's not at all tropical, and the scenery is quite unlike that on any of the tropical I visited whilst living in Queensland in Australia.  If anything, I would say it's like the lovely English countryside on an island surrounded by beautiful beaches! ... just perfect! 

This lovely summer house room from OKA is my idea of heaven. I think it would look great on Brownsea.   The stone wall and fireplace exude the soft sunny tones I saw in the pebbles on the beaches...

The Trifoglio tables (Italian for Trefoil, the architectural motif that inspired this piece) remind me of a lot of the wood I saw on the island, and the oak chest of drawers and table have similar hues...
These stunning bird prints on the wall illustrate perfectly some of the gorgeous colours I saw on my visit there. It would be lovely to sit and relax by this real fire on a cool Winter evening...

And in the twin guest room, Inspired by the blue sky of Brownsea on a sunny day, our guests would love this gorgeous scheme with it's stunning blue linen headboards ...

complete with these lovely floral 'Oleander' cushions, and linen fabric blinds, that remind me of the summer flowers on the island. 

Let's hope this is the start of a lovely long summer for everyone.  

Town Life

Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great week. It's been another crazy one for me - this house hunting thing is consuming a lot of my time, and  I'm also job hunting, which really leaves little time for much else.  Still, I have taken some time out today to write this post I promised you,  - on Town living.  I am still torn between town life and country life, and my budget won't stretch to a pied-a-terre and a weekend country pile, so I shall deliberate on.  Perhaps you can help me decide?  

As I said in my recent country life post - I do love my amenities, and I adore British architecture, I'm talking about stunning stately homes, Georgian Town houses, Period Apartments with high ceilings, heaps of character and large light filled rooms.  I do also love my cosy beamy cottages complete with the warmth of a lovely log burner and a big rustic country kitchen with it's AGA heating up the heart of the home. So, you see, I am still facing a dilemma. Maybe my next job will make the choice of town or country easier for me. For now, I will share some of my favourite 'Townie' images with you.

I love the grandeur of this apartment building, it's formal looking ornate balcony and plants, and the crisp white exterior. 

My town abode would require some pretty grand door handles, such as these above...

Large windows are a must in the city, especially if they are sash/double hung, you can open them as little or as much as you wish, to feel the breeze flowing in through the lovely curtains pooling softly on the wooden floor. Or just simply to watch the hustle and bustle of the city...

With such incredibly high ceilings in my town abode, I would HAVE to have a ceiling rose and a beautiful chandelier like this one. 

I would lean towards a traditional town home, rather than something contemporary as I do love my period features.

the high ceilings huge windows and period features of this bathroom have long been a favourite of mine, but I also love the greenery just outside the window...maybe it's a town garden?  

I could sit and watch the world go buy from my high balcony...
Of course, I would have to have a town wardrobe including several pairs of these. Shops galore, that's another great thing about town or city living...

but even in town, I would still need to escape to the outdoors...perhaps to a lovely pool like this one...

And I could whip up a meal in a lovely kitchen like this one, mind you, with all those restaurants on my doorstep, I would probably eat out! (that doesn't stop me from wanting this stunning kitchen in my town home though)...

Or maybe I am more suited towards a beach lifestyle?  I shall have to have a long think now.  I think you can live anywhere so long as you are happy. I love the vibrancy and buzz of the city, and the lights at night time, but I also love the peace, quiet and fresh air of the countryside and the beach too.  Maybe I need to find a lovely Country Town so I can have both ;-)

What's your preference, Town or Country life? what do you love most about where you live right now? 

1. OkaDirect.com, 2. Slettvoll, 3. Inspired Design, 4.Slettvoll, 5. Inspired Design, 6. House Beautiful, 7. Pinterest, 8.9 Inspired Design, 10. Light locations.com  11. Spitalfields kitchen from Plain English

Happy Easter

I know I said my next post would be about Town living, but as it is now Easter, and such a lovely time of year, I thought I would do a little Easter post first.  It's unseasonably chilly here at the moment, and those of you who follow this blog will know that I don't have a home of my own at the moment - but if I did, then I would be planning a lovely Easter Soiree! 

I love the spring snowdrops that are appearing everywhere at the moment, and their fresh colour's inspire me for an Easter full of crisp green and white.  Weather (and abode) permitting, I would be throwing a lovely garden party - afternoon tea probably, with lashings of champagne and home made lemonade... 

with a crisp white, soft ivory and fresh green palette...

 The table would be decorated with a crisp white linen table cloth, and some of the palest and most fragrant, white, ivory and pale yellow roses, with some pretty daisies...

Inside the house, I would decorate in a fresh and natural Easter style...

With plenty of fresh greenery from the garden, eggs from our chickens, and cook up some tasty Lemon Easter cake, with cream cheese frosting, -  in this beautiful bespoke country kitchen from Devol kitchens...

but alas, I don't have a home here yet :-(  so for now, I am going to have to console myself with some more Easter choccies!  

have a lovely Easter time everyone  x. 

Images : 1. Pottery barn.  2,3,4 House to home.  5. Pinterest.  6.  Devol kitchens.

Town House, Country House

Well it's been a busy month here at HausStylish. As you know, we've relocated from sub tropical Queensland, Australia, back to England's green and pleasant land.  Things are far from pleasant at the moment, as there is a certain amount of stress to be had when moving one's life from one side of the planet to another! 

However, I am easing the stress by viewing lots of rather lovely homes with a view to finally putting some roots down on British soil once again.  As usual, I am full of indecisiveness, and simply cannot decide between Town or Country.  I love the idea of rural life, but I cannot do without my cino's amenities. So, I am writing this post in the  hope that you can offer me some insight into both lifestyles, and possibly even help me with my dilemma.  

This post, I am focusing on Country. Next post will be Town.  So join me on my country walk and have a look at what I have in mind for my new life in the country. 

I thought, perhaps, one of these little cottages would do nicely....the little white one with the pretty duck egg blue windows is for sale.

I could hang some lovely artwork from Loaf on my walls and sit in a comfy arm chair sipping tea....

Later, I would have some eggs from the chickens free ranging in my cottage garden ...

Maybe I could store them in this lovely heart shaped bowl from The White Company...(the eggs, not the chickens)

and cook up a dinner made from local organic produce, in my lovely new Neptune kitchen...

and drink another cup of tea from one of my lovely stoneware mugs from The White Company...

after all that hard work, I could go for a potter about in my lovely cottage garden...

then perhaps, if I was feeling really energetic I could go for a nice country walk...

then I would just put my feet up by the fire....

it has a lot of appeal, I wonder what the drawbacks could be ?