So as I told you on Monday, I was able to tour some homes with AO as the sponsor of LivingEtc House Tours last week. It was amazing getting to peek inside some pretty amazing homes and I’m eager to share another one with you today. Not all of the homes of course ‘ticked my boxes’ but I had two distinct favourites.

Want to see the first house? Click here.

While my last post shared my favourite of all the homes I saw that day, this one came in a close second. I adored the use of bright colours and vintage items spread throughout. It was colourful and comfortable with a fun eclectic mix and I found it really inspiring.

IMG_2044

Let me just say taking pictures of these homes proves challenging simply because there are so many people around and we were told as bloggers, we could take pictures as long as we didn’t get in the way! This meant, having to shoot angles that weren’t necessarily optimum and waiting until there was a bit of a break in passers by to get a shot. So, my pictures aren’t as great as I would have liked them to be (when I’m taking pictures of my own home, I have all the time in the world to set up my shots and aside from the cats, there’s no one getting in the way!).

IMG_2042

Regardless, hopefully you can see how cool this house really was. The main room was open plan with the kitchen, dining area and sitting areas all opened to one another. The all white backdrop just provided an amazing excuse to have fun with prints and colours of every shade – from soft pastels to neons. Nothing really ‘matched’ but that was the beauty of it – it all worked so nicely together.

IMG_2046

But it was the Master Bedroom that I particularly fell in love with. The long shelf running along the chair rail acted as part headboard, part gallery and metal lights (I think they are these ones from Habitat) strung casually over an open canopy bed. Lovely. The layered textiles including a Moroccan wedding blanket made me a little swoony too.

IMG_2058

There was just so much fabulous original art in the space and you can tell it was collected over time. I also wanted to stick that pink peacock chair under my arm and take it home with me. (You’ll be happy to know I resisted.)

IMG_2061

And check out that ceiling! Gah! Loved it!

IMG_2056

The second bedroom was also dazzling with every shade of blue colliding in a symphony of colour. The vintage brass light fixture of course caught my eye.

IMG_2053

IMG_2054

I also found the outside space really inspiring. The patio had a little path that lead between the hedges to reveal a wonderful second patio hidden from view. It was such a warm sunny day that I could have easily kicked off my shoes and just hung out here for a few hours, cold cocktail in hand thankyouverymuch.

IMG_2048

The other two houses we saw were nice, they just weren’t to my taste (one looked as if everything had been purchased from an expensive catalogue and set in place yesterday – it simply didn’t have any real personality and the other was a mid-century home, starkly furnished with lots of concrete walls but not in a way that I like my mid-century!) so I won’t be sharing those – I like to preserve this blogΒ to sharing those things that are truly ‘swoon worthy’ in my eyes! Like this amazing hallway ;)

IMG_2041

I showed Wayne my picture of that outside space above and his first words were, ‘We could build something like that….” as he walked to the window to look at the patio, wheels turning… Oh I have him so well trained, don’t I? Ha! And I know with the first house, it’s really made want to consider purchases I’ve made more closely – will I really love this for years or just for right now?

I think that’s the beauty of exploring homes in real life – you leave taking something with you (no I didn’t steal the peacock chair, I swear!). Both of these homes made me think about my own in new ways and really drove home the point of decorating to suit your own style, your own tastes and your own personality. I loved them both for different reasons.

So of the two houses, which is your favourite? Anything you love about this home? I’d love to hear from you!

 

Subcribe Button v2


Pin It on Pinterest