I'm Smitten!

Last night was one of those insomnia nights when the only thing to do is just get up and read.

So, I devoured the latest House Beautiful magazine, loving every article.

But, when I turned to this page, my heart skipped a beat!

I am smitten with this house and Podge Bune, the designer.
There is so much inspiration here, I don't know where to begin.

To begin, she "shops her house."  That blue velvet fabric on her living room sofa was recycled from a client's curtains, and the club chair fabric is from her old dining room curtains.  She has certainly given me the courage to do the same thing in my house.  I cannot wait to recycle my curtains now!


She isn't afraid of DIY projects either.  She painted the dining room chairs in a decorative finish class and added the stones to the living room fireplace, right over the brick.
Oh, and she obviously loves books, evidenced by how she made room for them by raising the ceiling to accommodate her collection.
Raised in England, she doesn't know any other way to decorate.  This house is an accumulation of things collected over a lifetime.  It is charming, cluttered, eclectic and romantic, and I love it!

I love how she took a 1970's ranch home and gave it charm by paneling the walls and ceilings with tongue and groove paneling and painting it all white. 

Then, she painted the outside pink, and trimmed it in green!  Why not?
It's something I would like to do someday.  Create a charming cottage from a generic box.  In fact, it's my Design Bucket List #2, here, when I wrote about "Romancing the Rancher."

"Well, let's just have a riot" is what she said about her rose garden of many colors, but I think that quote may also apply to her home in the Hamptons.  "I take my cue from the garden, where you can have lots of colors and nothing really matches."
It's English Country Style in a fresh, new way.

I'm smitten!

(Photos 1 and 5, House Beautiful, photos 3 and 4, my scans via House Beautiful, photo 2 via Pinterest)