Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Changing Rooms presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Don't you just love the lush roll of his name? Here are a some of his rooms.

I love Laurence. I really do.

Private home in North Cornwall














Home in Blackheath





Home in Greenwich


From Homefront

More images at Laurence's site right here.

Celebrity Home: Woody Allen

Woody Allen, his wife,Soon-Yi Previn, and their two young daughters have downsized, moving from a huge house in Carnegie Hill to a smaller one in one of Manhattan’s loveliest side streets. Set in New York’s Upper East Side, Allen had always admired this street, the same block where he shot some scenes for Annie Hall more than 30 years ago. His new place is at least a century old and grandly proportioned, but it may not feel that way, as the family cheerfully gave up about half their former square footage. Allen now works in a frugal corner of the master bedroom. Between the windows is an old turntable on which he plays his beloved LPs.

Let's step into his American and English country style house. And do pause for a while and let me know if this is what you expected.


The entrance hall, as throughout, is filled with pieces Allen has owned for decades.


An antique sign is set off by a vintage-style wallcovering in the living room.


Works by Robert Rauschenberg, left, and Ed Ruscha hang in the living room, along with naive paintings of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.


Designer Stephen Shandley recalls: “We’d stand at the entrance to a room; he’d plant his feet, and the room was arranged from that point of view. It was very cinematic. I’m always running around looking at every angle.”


“It’s a real writer’s library,” notes Shadley. “It’s a mixture of paperbacks and hardbacks, and they’re all worn at the edges; you know, of course, he’s read every one.” On the mohair-covered sofa and the pair of circa 1930s French club chairs is an eclectic assortment of needlepoint pillows. Above the mantel is a circa 1840 American painted pine tavern sign attributed to Rufus Porter.


The second-floor landing is richly decorated with a marble mantelpiece and a pair of plush red velvet armchairs. “The house is not abnormally wide, but it feels so spacious,” says Shadley. “There are no halls; it’s just room to room to room.”


An arrangement of framed samplers—“most of them 19th century,” comments the designer—hang on a wall in the master bedroom. Napoleon III architect’s cabinet.


“That’s where he works,” Shadley says of a desk in a corner of the bedroom. “He still types with his first typewriter. He types his screenplays—that or longhand; he’d never consider using a computer.”
Allen types his screenplays and fiction on the 1951 Olympia portable that he’s had since he went to Midwood High School. Stephen Shadley, the Allens’ designer, points to the hooked rug—a piece of vintage Americana—on the wall that Allen stares at day in and out. “It’s a metaphor for Woody’s mind,” he says. The subject is a beehive.

I have linked this post on MissMustardSeed's blog. Check out the MckLinky list of blogs featuring furniture.

Images and information from Architectural Digest.
Interior Design by Stephen Shadley
Photography by Scott Frances

House in Jamaica

Aruba, Jamaica oooh I wanna take ya, to Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama! Remember the Beach Boys summer song Kokomo? Well, if you do, sing it in your head (or out loud why not!), while looking at this 250-year-old home on Jamaica’s north shore.


The authenticity of the materials on this house’s exterior―from centuries-old limestone to classic cedar shingles―give it true island charm. Rainwater runs off the roof and funnels into catchments, supplying the house’s water.


In the kitchen, pickled wood covers the walls and ceiling. I like the window’s old brass curtain rod.


The master bedroom with tricky angles. The owner is going to bump his head if he leans back!


Love the diluted terra cotta-coloured paint on the dining room walls.





The porch chairs were painted to match the Agapanthus in the garden.

Photographer Sophie Munro.
Stylist Elizabeth Raines Beeler.

More images right here.

Photographer Francois Halard

One of the photographs in yesterday's post (the very last one in fact) belongs to French photographer Francois Halard who is now based in New York. I selected some of his very fine work for you to enjoy.





















More images right here.

Decorating With Hats

Do you have a couple of hats hidden in a closet or lying around? Give your rooms a personal and warm touch by displaying your hats. Come and have a look at these ideas!






























Images from Architectural Digest, Francois Halard, Tom Scheerer and Better Homes and Gardens.

Apartment in Sweden

We've been looking at so many houses that I think it's time for an apartment today. This one is in Nordhemsgatan hill, Linnéstaden in Sweden. It's from a real estate firm and I guess it has been staged to sell. Even so, I find it youthful and attractive. Let me know what you think!


I like the barrel for a night table.


























This would be the entrance to the apartment and not the main entrance of the building. They could have swept the pavement before taking this pic. There's a nail and tidbits on the pavement hehe. I don't quite like the bathroom so I'm not including it in this post but if you'd like to see it go straight ahead to the real estate site Alvhem right here.

Small House in the South of Spain

Good Monday to all of you! Had a nice weekend? Hope so! Now come and have a look at a very simple and bright home. Hope you like it!





















All images from here.