Refectory to Cosy Dining Chic

Our new dining area. Long gone is the table with 10 extensions in dark wood that made the room look like a refectory. Its so much cosier now, we can have 8 sitting down tightly or else we just sit casually around the room which is also fun. My mother gave me her thirty year old white bamboo chairs which are as cool now as they were in Biarritz where they came from. I painted them petrol blue in a water-based shiny paint. The table is a 3-legged B&B modern design from Ricard´s bachelor days. The chinoiserie screen has two tones of Cole & Son wallpaper (I put wheels at the base so it can be moved around) and the peice de resistance - my sister Sofia Leitão´s fabulous oil paintings. The Eames red chair was a wedding present and I love the contrast it makes, when we aren´t giving glamourous gourmet dinner parties I take over the table and mess it up with my work things.
Carpets are a no no, as our dogs Carmen and Zeus are dead against them, and they make strategic wees in impossible to clean places, so it was the dogs or carpets...no brainer and lesson expensivley learned.

Before...

Organized Caos

Given an inch of space I start breeding papers, photos, fabrics, anything basically, so having a dining table with 10 extension boards that could seat 24 people comfortable was probably not the best idea to keep the house tidy and presentable. With a great sized office outside you´d think this would not be an issue but I´ve learnt from two wonderful offices that I hate being away from the action, much better to grab the macbook and create little nests of work all over the house.

Messy office, of course, better described as a dumping ground. A fun way to hide the electric cables is to dress the office with whimsical patterns and bright colours. An easy way to creat a table curtain is just to hammer some nails onto happy fabrics, the center parting means you can access the printer/cables/boxes inside.

Coral Armchair

The Guest bedroom armchair was a reject from a hotel that was selling all its furniture for a revamp.  I absolutely love this coral fabric by Manuel Canovas "Atoll" (yes I know it does look as if either I´m being sponsored..I wish, or totally obsessed which I am). It brings a smile every time I walk past it and really brightens the room. Pillow is a bright apple green. This fabric is strangely neutral as it seems to work in most places. Fabric is also kid friendly as the background is tan.  With the left over fabric I made a couple of pillows that brighten up the Florence Knowll blue sofa.

Guest Bedroom Fragipani fever

Our guest bedroom was a bit of a bland room, it has French windows facing the garden and looking onto a huge salmon Frangipani tree, so that seemed a good place to start for inspiration. One of the problems of the room was its was long and very white, so to cut this aspect I covered the back wall in Manuel Canovas Bengale wallpaper.

Furniture was originally a brown set bought at auction for 250euro, and we painted the cupboard and bed white and the bedside tables gray. The bedcover is made with a Ralph Lauren fabric and the benches are covered in Designers Guild trellis with pom poms. Nice touches for a guest bedroom: Lights should be good/strong enough for reading, fresh flowers by the bed, bottle of water with a glass, a choice of books, spare unused hotel slippers if you have any, space in the cupboard (you´d be surprised), a writing table with paper, pen and lamp.

The writing table is a spare wicker table painted blue, and I placed a bit of embroidered silk fabric under the glass to give it a bit of wow and also to make it more feminine, the lamp is gold brass.

Portuguese ciment tiled floors

My ciment tiled floor...it looks a hundred years old but actually I layed them down nine years ago (when I say I, it never means me,

it means "I" got someone to do this for me...). Done in the Algarve in the traditional Portuguese manual way with a beautiful choice of colours, they´re not cheap but give your house instant patina. From 60-120euro per square meter you can choose from bright colours and lots of geometric patterns, borders and designs.

Get comfy in bed

Made this divine double bed heaboard with cotton/linen fabric by G P J Baker Peony and Blossom (with velcro at the back and screwed onto the bed - not onto the wall was normally recommended, as like this I can wash the fabric as its for a holiday rental home) bought 225cm fabric on Ebay and it comes in many different colours, great weight and feel of the fabric. Heaboard also great place to tuck back the mosquito net during the day.

Signing In

This blog is an outlet to my modest creative juices, instead of keeping it all in my head (and risking going slightly loopy) I´ll keep you posted on the delights and downers of tropical island living. More design and lifestyle focused, with tips on how to make a little go a looong way.