I was really into having a grey interior with pops of colour (cushions on sofa, china etc) but noticed that that had become a bit too on trend over the spring/summer, so not sure what now. Focused my attention on the garden instead .

cosmictanya wrote:

The top one you quoted there is Charleston in Sussex - open to the public. I think it's my favourite country interior.

Yes it's fab, although a pity, as I'm going to Brighton later this month and if I had a bit more time I'd have given it a visit.

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I also love the red one you quoted - I've flirted with red in my own flat. It's actually my least favourite colour, but I think it's the way people use it rather than red itself that's to blame. I do think you need a large light space for it. I had a sideboard painted red, which my uncle said was chinoiserie overload with my oriental silk tapestry behind it (it's a largely peasant scene of rural Chinese life, centuries past), and the dishes and lamp bases I was using in that part of the room. 

Yes, this is true. Not good for a long northern European winter at all, in a small space. I had an accent wall (ugh) in my bedroom a number of years ago that was red, why I don't know. Needless to say it's Scandi-white now.

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I bought that tapestry at auction in 1996 and it's followed me everywhere since. No matter where I've gone under what circumstances, that comes with. It's been down a fire escape when I was moonlight flitting with a couple of Libyan enforcers at the door, airline staff have argued with airport security as to whether the hold can be kept open for it, a fight with a long ago ex bf resulted in the silk nearly being torn by shattering glass - you name it. It's even survived a halls of residence - not for me Athena posters of Che or Bob Marley or Hendrix. I prefer to smoke purple haze, not deface my walls with bad art suggesting an affinity. I had Julian Casablancas and Diana's Vanity Fair shoot on my hall of residence wall.

Lmao! Love that.

Y'now I've never been one to put things on the walls. I don't know why, as I've become more 'settled' *cough* [s]older[/s] I've started to pay more attention to that sort of thing.

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Hello to you too. What you up to? X

It seems like not a lot, but when I look back and start listing it out... it's been an interesting few years to say the least. Hope the years have been keeping you well X.

I'm glad you got rid of the accent wall. Grey is ok but I know what you mean. I was going to have my hallway done in thick black and white stripes, going over the ceiling and down the other side. I thought again after seeing it appear in a few too many magazines. The lightbulb out there stopped working last year, and the gloom does me fine for now. Until I commit to a revamp I won't replace the bulb. 

Yes not bad. Up and down. Mrs Caballeros left me in the wake of 2016 and I've yet to find anyone that good at ironing or polishing glass and taps. They aren't skills of mine anyway. Still not entirely sure why she rushed off to Spain because she's from El Salvador - hardly likely to have been caught short by status changes. The first September was very hard with back to school laundry issues. I went through three irons until it became clear that it was my technique and not the technology. 

New man - really very nice. I'm not sure what to say about him save that everyone seems to like him a lot. He is very likeable. No drama. Very normal. Bit of a learning curve. His eyes are probably his best physical attribute - kindness is in every expression. Perhaps some innocence too, but occasionally a dancing knowingness instead of that. Very tall - much of the height in his legs, which I like.

What a great kitchen. I don't cook but I could imagine myself putting things on plates, arranging bowls of display fruits, and being f**ked all over the place by anyone starring in my temple of male beauty thread.

I'm not usually a lover of bathrooms with windows, but there are always exceptions. This kind of reminds me of a place I stayed in near Sintra which had a mummified nun under the dining table. My sons teacher called me at work because he'd mentioned there had been a dead lady in the dining room on our weekend away. I had to explain that she was a sacred design feature in a very Catholic residence. The tiling was superb but this is better...

I think I'd have these flowers rather than those white orchids...

Actually that kitchen might need the units raised, and an electric hob. I've never successfully been able to start a flame on a gas cooker. Apart from that, I love it.

I've always loved this bath at Eltham Palace...

I was flipping through the FT's lifestyle pr0n How To Spend It supplement last night, and I thought, this isn't the same without CT's curatorial commentary.

What a lovely thing to say! Editing 'How To Spend It' happens to be one of my later in life career goals. I think I'd be rather good at it, as a project to sink my sixties into.

Tatler would bore me and I'd wreck it out of spite. Vanity Fair I enjoy too much to want to know the inner workings of. Straight white women have had enough of a run with the various Vogue publications - I think positive discrimination should see no more placed at the helm for the foreseeable future. I've enjoyed British Vogue so much more since Shulman left. I don't think there are any other publications I'd the patience or sustained interest to edit.

Maybe House & Garden, although that hasn't been the same since the tight captaincy of Susan Crewe - one of my favourite editors. Although I think I'd find it too much of a challenge to sign off on interiors I didn't personally like. And I might offend some hopefuls by asking what on earth possessed them to think they had enough taste or flair to feature in my publication.

Inspiring new floral arrangements for the new decade. This will look great in my hallway...



I'll look for wig stands on EBay...

Id like to look like this at 103, relaxing at home in a kaftan, in a large drawing room...



But I wouldn't have that awful painting.

What an absolutely brilliant bed for a kid...

A wave of nostalgia has washed over me...



And another...



And yet another...