The home of...... Frankie and Sol Bergstein (Grace and Frankie)

Frankie and Sol Bergstein in their California Hills home (Grace and Frankie season1)

Today is valentines day and as sadly I am working a night shift, I thought I would share with you all a little something special....... The home of the Bergstein's aka Frankie and Sol, from the Netflix Show Grace and Frankie.

Dont get me wrong the beach house is nice and all but Frankies house is where its at!! I have been meaning to do a post of Frankie and Sol's beautiful home since the first series came out 5 years ago (May 2015 to be exact), so here it is courtesy of some slightly dodgy screenshots from my ipad, haha! There are a fair few of the living room as that stunning mustard couch, mud cloth cusions and sculptures are just so special.

Grace and Frankie

The interiors for the prgramme were designed by Beuchamp Fontaine (can i have this job please!), who beleived that "Sol and Frankie Bergsteins home would have been inspired by their travels and love of art rather than any desire to keep up with the latest trends..... I imagine they brought most of their furniture when Sol first started making money and would have never replaced it"

The real home belonged to a ceramist and a sculpturist and many of the items were from their personal collection. Other items were from Omega Cinema Props.

If you like this post please check out ..... Nathan and Bonnies house from Big Little Lies
Coming soon..... Jean and Otis's house from Sex Education :)

Happy Valentines guys x

Frankie and Sol in 'the Den'

Sol and a bouble penis gourd :)

Robert and Grace in the Bergstein's Dinning Room

Grace and that beautiful Kilim cushion, one of the only items that migrates to the beach house

Shot gun the corner seat!

Bud and Coyote outside the Bergsteins house

The home of.... Abigael Whittaker, Creative Director of Tree of Life

I am so happy to share with you the home of Abigael Whittaker. She is a lovey soul I met on Instagram and I have been admiring her home and work from a distance for a long while so I was very pleased when she agreed to do a little interview. As well as running a super stylish home, Abi is the creative director for Australian brand Tree of Life, has recently become a mother and is also a very talented artist...... super woman!!!

Hi Abi thank you for taking th time out to talk to us today, can you start by telling us a little bit about where you are currently living?

I live in Brisbane, a smallish city, But dream of the seas! We are so excited to be moving to a treehouse by the sea in the next few months!! 

2) What attracted you to your current home ? 
Being up high we get to look out to the tree tops and enjoy their breeze, and try to forget the hustle and bustle around us.

3) What is your favorite room in the house? 
Our big living room which is full of natural light and positively heaving with all my treasures! 


4) What is your most treasured item? 
Hmmmm. So hard! My mum is a jewellery maker so I have loads of precious creations and heirlooms from her. My most treasured treasures probably change a bit as per my mood but currently I guess it would have to be my mums vintage floor length garnet red velvet coat... with gold trims! She bought it in Morocco in the 70s and it is truly as divine as it sounds.

5). What does 'home ' mean to you? 
Home had always been where my treasures live. They form so many of my memories from travel, loved ones and times of my life. I remember I heard someone once say "Home is where you lay your head" and I think that's such a nice sentiment too. It's just that my home tends to be the amazing textiles upon which I lay my head! 

 6) your job takes you in many adventures what items do you take to help you feel at home wherever you go? 
Fabulous jewellery and a big comfy scarf that can double as a blanket or bedspread! Whatever i'm wearing and wherever I'm  going jewellery and accessories always make me feel myself.

7) Where do you source your home furnishings 
Tree of Life of course! But also on my travels I tend to hoard textiles of all kinds to layer on beds, couches and floors... any surface I can find! 

8) what has inspired your style? My mum for sure, who has such an incredible style of her own as an artist and designer herself and someone who has lived and traveled through the 60s and 70s!! Amazing! And also my job and the immense opportunities I have been given to travel. I'm so inspired by the textures of other lands, the colours, the prints, the fabrics!!! 

9)Where would your dream home be? By the sea! I would just love love love to be able to walk to the beach from my wooden home that is filled with plants and colour and all the pattern and prints! 

10) What was the last item you brought? Probably nappies! But the last exciting item I brought was a gorgeous clay pink Serape from Tree of Life. Perfect for winter breastfeeding, as a blanket and as a throw. 

11) if you could teleport : time travel where would you go to grab some home furnishings? Morocco! And then a quick stop off to Mexico. Oh my goodness and I would LOVE to go to Afghanistan and load up their incredible jewellery. I imagine Afghanistan in the seventies and my heart bursts! 

12) You style for tree of life, how did you get into styling? 
My adventure with Tree of Life has been quite organic so that I've just easily swapped from styling to visual merchandising to buying. They all inform each other so that has worked out nicely. I studied Fashion Design at university which helped too.  I think when the style of a company or project is so close to your personal style it makes sense for you to be able to really invest yourself in to it. 
Tree of Life and I are a bit like an intricate tapestry these days! 

13) any tips for budding home stylists?
 Gather what you love! If you feel like you've got some gaps you need to fill gather inspiration from people and places you love and seek out those really key pieces. 

All images found via Abi's instagram @abrac_dabra

The home of..... Inge King and Grahame King

King House and Studios (1952-64)

So for the first time in 9 years I took a little unplanned break from blogging and it was really nice to disconnect for a while and focus my energies, or lack of energies, elsewhere. A couple of months ago I found out that my recent issues with extreme tiredness, nausea and a range of other physiological symptoms, including fertility issues, were the result of the return of a Pituitary tumour that I thought I had seen the back of in 2013. It is not cancer, and it is treatable but it is was still a bit of a kick in the teeth as I had really wanted another baby..... but alas some things are just not meant to be !

My break from blogging, although much needed was also a bit of a silly move as I find it strangely therapeutic .... so I am back. I have found some beautiful homes, and also beautiful products that I would like to share with you all, and as I have been for some time thinking about the concept of 'home' as both an external and internal space, have contacted some wonderful conscious women to interview for a new series of personal interviews..... so watch this space :)

So for my return I have chosen this beautiful home and sanctury of husband and wife Sculpturist Inge King and Artist Grahame King designed by Architect Robin Boyd. I was brought up in and therefore have always been a fan of 'period' properties but since moving into my 1960's home have really started to appreciate the large windows and more open plan vibe to properties of the middle of last century.

What I really love about this home is that it has huge windows that look onto greenery, such a luxury for a city dweller such as myself. The couples collections of pottery, textiles and artwork are all beautiful rich warm earthy tones that fit in perfectly with the building

Below I have included an extract of the original text by Nigel Bertram, I would strongly urge you to head over to Architecture au to read the full article and also to see the full collection of photos by Dianna Snape

"Robin Boyd’s King House and Studios in Warrandyte, designed for sculptor Inge King and artist Grahame King, was completed in three stages in 1952, 1955 and 1964. The plan for the first stage of this house is an almost-square rectangle, four bays by three, about 120 square metres. The plan is a little confusing at first glance; it does not have a particularly recognizable figure or clear hierarchy of zones. It seems a bit loose and even empty, like an industrial building. There is one main room, with a small bathroom, porch and “bedroom” (which isn’t used as such). The kitchen, raised platform and bathroom each take up one structural bay in an offset, abstract arrangement, which gently partitions the singular space into implied zones. The plan is structurally determined, blunt and logical. It does not easily imply domesticity – making us question, in fact, what a “house” is.

As Inge King explains, after the plans were first submitted to council the “bedroom” was added because the authorities would not permit a dwelling of only one room. The raised bay to the north of the main space is labelled as “painting platform” but was apparently most useful as a dance floor for the Kings’ infamous parties. The underfloor space, which increases in height under this platform, is labelled “food store” but has been used as a workspace and studio – a space entered each morning and left sometime in the afternoon, a true home office. Here the ceiling joists in the main area are barely 1.8 metres above the floor. The exposed structure serves as racks for tools and welding clamps, or places to hang work in progress. Adjoining underfloor space up the slope has been fitted out with watertight cupboards and flyscreened cross-ventilation panels. Large plate glass windows to the north, salvaged from shopfronts, unite the lower workspace with its corresponding raised platform living space above. This underfloor workspace, which extends to a level gravel terrace outside, appears to function as the heart of the house – the engine room."

The Home of Painter... Christian de Laubadere

I love finding the source for one of my favourite photos and then discovering more of the same home. The top photo has surfaced many a time on Moon to Moon but only now have I discovered a full set of photos of Artist Christian de Laubadere's Shanghai home photographed by Ricardo Labougle for World of Interiors. This beautiful home is wonderfully eclectic and I just love the layers of rugs and textiles in de Laubadere's home...

Below is a small excerpt from a 2013 interview with the French artist and his girlfriend from the Global Times

"I like the kitchen very much, which I think is the symbol of a family," de Laubadère said. "The only thing I always kept from my hometown in France here in Shanghai is a cookbook about French cuisine."

Several years ago, in order to create a huge painting for a hotel in Lhasa, de Laubadère had to move out of his small residence and studio on Huashan Road. He rented a deserted factory warehouse hidden on the ground floor of a commercial building in Changning district and converted it into a house, painting the exposed brick wall white and filling the 220-square-meter space with odds and ends he has collected over the years.

"This is our third residence in Shanghai, and the largest one," de Laubadère's girlfriend told the Global Times. "He was so excited after finding this space since it finally gave him an opportunity to display all of his Chinese porcelain, antiques and handicrafts which he bought from the antique and flea markets on Fangbang Road and Henan Road in Shanghai, and also other places he's traveled to, like Tibet, Taiwan and India."

Entering through a thick cloth curtain door, the space is divided into a living area at the front and the painting studio in the back. The living area consists of a reception space, a kitchen and a bedroom above built by iron and wood beams. Through an iron staircase, the bedroom connects itself with the space below to form a loft.

A converted Gas station in Berlin

My heart skipped a beat when I found these photos of a converted 1950's Gas station were found over at Freunde von freunden. The home in Schöneberg, Berlin was brought and converted by gallery owner Juerg Judin after 13 years of admiring it from afar....

How long have you had the gas station?

I bought it in 2005, but the first time I saw it was in 1992. It had already been on the market for seven years, unused. A ‘For Sale’ sign with a phone number hung in the window. I photographed the place almost every time I was in Berlin, documenting its slow decay. Here was this somewhat sad useless construction in a perfect central location – it fascinated me and somehow called to me: do something with me!

You had been taking photos of the building for quite a while. Why did you wait so long to buy it?

At the time, I was commuting between London and Zurich. In 1992, I spent a wonderful summer in Berlin for a film production and fell in love with the city. After that, I started coming here regularly and going past the station. One day, after 13 years, the for-sale sign was suddenly gone. I thought, Oh God, someone bought my gas station.

Then what?

Then it turned out that the sign had simply fallen down; the gas station was still to be had. At that point, I knew, Okay, that was probably a wake-up call.

To read more about Jour.'s home and see more photos visit Freunde von Freunden

The Home of... 3 Brooklyn Artists

"Though it somehow never feels cluttered, this space is filled with a miscellany of oddments accumulated over the course of the lives of its occupants—and each one has a story to tell: an Ikat textile adorns Wass’s bed, under the watchful eye of a flying pig (both acquired on trips to Bali); a handwoven belt bought in a Bolivian market hangs next to a ceramic necklace made by Wass’s grandmother; a one-armed lamp named “Hernani” stands guard over Ginsberg’s art; a yard sale of objects populates Wass’s bedside table—“vintage bracelets, a glass pendant that my mother made for me, striated rocks given to me by Bedouin friends while traveling in Jordan, a little tool for weaving yarn into a square cord, coins from various countries, shells from various beaches, a vintage umbrella sent from a friend in Australia…”—providing daily inspiration."

 This is the home of three Brooklyn Artists jewellery designer Laura Wass, Pepi Ginsberg (lead singer of the band Companion), and Lucy Childress (a photographer… and nurse). 

Images by Brian Ferry , original article from  BK magazine