On trend: High Gloss

Celerie Kemble

"Gloss!High gloss! Shine! Polish! Lacquer!" This is one of the top ten design trends of 2013 listed by House Beautiful, as predicted by ten different interior designers. This quote is from the very talented Jeffrey Bilhuber, who has presented us with his fair share of glamorous, lacquered rooms.

Having never seen a high gloss wall in person, I am fascinated by the concept. It really is very glamorous in photographs, but I do wonder what the effect is in real life. Somehow, I think it would probably be more suited to apartment living than say a cute country cottage or house in the suburbs, but what do I know? I do know that I especially love the Nate Berkus/Anne Coyle collaboration below, with its dark walls and light furniture and accessories. Despite the navy walls, the room feels cosy and fresh.

Mario Buatta

Source Unknown

Jeffrey Bilhuber

Nate Berkus and Anne Coyle
via Home Decor

Thomas Britt

Via Eye For Design

Source: House Beautiful

Miles Redd

Printastic!

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 I recently stumbled across a brand that I was not yet familiar with, but whose bright prints really caught my eye. Clover Canyon is an LA based label that was founded in 2011. Favoured by celebrities and fashion bloggers alike, the looks are reminiscent of summer and travel, inspired by various cultures across the globe and the company uses state of the art printing techniques and materials like neoprene. How much more modern can you get?

A look from the Resort 2014 inspired by Cuba

I love this neoprene skirt and print, especially pared with the striped shirt.
By AtlanticPacific

This Time Tomorrow

Christina Ricci

Take a seat

Sometimes you love something and are incapable of explaining why. It's usually something that you never really liked to begin with, until you did. And like slowly turned into a mild fixation. And that fixation needed to be shared - on a blog. So goes the story of my love affair with the lounge and dining chairs that American architect and interior designer Warren Platner (1919 - 2006) designed for Knoll.

Platner designed his famous nickel-coated steel wire furniture in 1966 and the line reached iconic status, featuring in countless interior design magazines as well as current interiors. Although they are quite pricy, I can imagine a single chair in a classic interior really adding to the dynamic of the room. It gives the space a certain edge, without forgoing comfort. So what do you think? So ugly it makes your eyes bleed or so beautiful it brings tears to those very eyes?

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Via M2 Architecturra

Betsey Johnson's dining room via Apartment Therapy

Elle Decor

Home envy: Marlien Rentmeester

Marlien Rentmeester in front of her house

Marlien Rentmeester is a New York transplant living in LA, a former West Coast editor of Lucky Magazine and currently the writer of the fabulous fashion blog Le Catch. This lady not only has style in spades, she also lives in the most gorgeous house EVER which was featured in Lonny Magazine. The interior was designed by her friend Hillary Thomas, and the result is lust-worthy. The house is the perfect combination of comfort and chic, gorgeous colours and fabrics balanced by calming white walls in most rooms. This is a house you want to live in, can live in without fear of wrecking the place.
It has the added bonus of being located in sunny Southern California, which in itself is enough to turn a Northern European like myself green with envy.

This etagère is awesome. I've decided to hack an Ikea Vittsjö shelving unit by painting it gold to achieve the same effect.

This children's playroom is AH-ma-zing! Those blinds are so much fun, and I'm crazy about the pale blue grass cloth walls. Bet my kids would wreck this place within five minutes though!

Pretty hue

Elie Saab

Pink has been popping up on our radar lately. I don't know if that's because it's in stores a lot more, or if it's like thinking you're pregnant and all of a sudden seeing strollers EVERYWHERE! In any case, I am starting to develop a thing for pink. Pink accents already feature in my living room: case in point, my hot pink tie backs from Marrakech (okay, so I did a lot of shopping there). Maybe it's me rebelling against all that male testosterone - sharing a house with three men, all messy, two of them all of 5 years old can be mildly distressing for a girly girl like me - and I feel I need to assert myself that way.

Anyway, I am starting to find myself leaning toward the incredibly subtle - and used in the right way - very beautiful shade of blush. Call it a more flattering version of nude, I am actually starting to considers switching up the colour of my walls from sand to a pretty, barely discernible pink. If anything, I'll look better sitting in a pink room, no?

And if the weather ever gets any better, and a bit of tan is in the cards, I will certainly be hitting up the stores for some pretty pink duds. That, however, is a big if!

Jennifer Lopez

Source: Sweetandsaucyshop.com

Suzanne Kasler

Zany Gugelman

Good old fashion romance

Love the mix of prints and pinks, so perfect!
Source: Lonny 

Source: Pinkalicious

Photo by Tommy Ton

Style Crush: Tory Burch

She's the be-all and end-all in Waspish-chic, the doyenne of preppy with a twist. When I grow up, I want to be Tory Burch! She may have been born into a life of luxury, but this designer (who, by her own admission, never designed anything until she set up her eponymous company) dared to dream big and make it happen. Forbes now estimates her net worth at over 1 billion dollars! I am officially impressed!
I remember when she first launched her company and thinking, quite unfairly and rather ungraciously I might add, that this was just a flash in the pan. A bored socialite looking to add a little something to her resume, after quitting her job to have babies. Reminds me of someone: oh yes, me!! (bar the socialite part!). But she made me eat my words and I am a huge fan of both her line, her personal style and her insanely chic interiors (more of which in another post). I particularly love her bold use of accessories and her playful mix of prints, which is completely up my alley although perhaps a bit much for the school run? Maybe I should just stop caring about what others think! Go big or go home!

Tory Burch in India - love the Ikat print!

That blouse!!!

Perfect for the school run or casual meeting

Cut a Rug

Source: themoroccanroom.com

My Beni Ourain rug finally arrived this week from Marrakech. I was so excited, I did an actual happy dance in front of the delivery man! I admit I was a little nervous, although the vendor said it would take six weeks to arrive, and he was right on the money! I have coveted this plush rug from the moment I first saw it featured on a design blog. Admittedly, they're popping up everywhere now, but that has done nothing to diminish my obsession. And let's face it: here in Holland, we're at least three to five years behind the biggest trends in the US and the UK, so I don't feel too bad.

My rug is going to be the first item in my new office (a spare room on the top floor of our house that hasn't been designated a bed- or playroom for our boys). I can't wait to tackle this new project and will gladly give you a show and tell as soon I've started. In the meantime, here's a little inspiration.

Source: Nate Berkus

Source: Palmer Weiss

Source: Jenna Lyons

Source: Jonathan Adler

Our room at the amazing Kasbah Bab Ourika, Morocco