Happy Holidays, Merry (Belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

These are some digital postcards made by me with pictures I took at home to wish my friends and contacts a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012. So, I am taking the chance to wish you all, too, a Happy "rest" of the Holidays and a Happy New Year 2012! Hope this upcoming 2012 is even better than 2011 for you and wish also all your dreams come true. I hope you like the pictures!

See you in 2012!

I did it again

Yeah, I did... Once again I abandoned my blog for some time. I am so sorry, but I am usually busy with a million things.

So, how is your Christmas Holiday going? Mine is good, just as it is usually. You know, spend time with Family, friends, having fun together... And, of course, one of the parts that is actually more fun... Holiday Decorating! =D

The other day, as I was walking on the Street, I saw these stunning windows of a Flower Shop in my city, mostly made with products from the brand Sia Home Fashion. When I pass by, I usually stand there for a while to admire the decorations. By Christmas Time, the window decorations are even more beautiful, so I took the chance to take some pictures with my cell that I thought I would share with you. I hope you like them! =)

I love all that crystal!

Doesn't it look just magical?

I NEED this crystal candelabra... Unfortunately, it costs 480€ (hand-carved crystal...) and I cannot afford it currently... =(

Celebrating at home

Hi again!

I am posting something I should have published some time ago... These pictures were taken at home in July, when we celebrated my grandma's Birthday. Those Summer days are long gone by now, but the tablescape pictures I took that day turned out pretty well.

The things I like the best are the bright colors in the pictures and the calm feeling produced by those soft colors and the natural light in the room.

I really like, too, the nice cupcakes pattern in the napkins that my mom and I chose for the occasion. We were looking for something informal, and that is why we chose those napkins and we decided to combine the colors of the glasses: three of them in clear and three in purple.

Please, just forget about the UGLY dining chairs in there... We are currently working on that, choosing a new dining table and new chairs for the dining area. Hopefully we will have them for Christmas!

I know this is a quite irrelevant topic, but I had planned to post about it and share the pictures. Anyway, what do you think about it? Do you like it or not?

Thanks for visiting!

The Top 10 Spanish Decorators

I was revising one of my issues of Spanish Architectural Digest Magazine and I found an article with this title bookmarked. So, I thought it was a good chance to make you know some Spanish Interior Designers. Of course, I do not completely agree with all of them, especially because some have been left and they did not choose any male decorator. Anyway, I think they did a good selection that I will try to extend. I will make a single post for all of them, though, so you can actually get to know their work and do not get bored before finishing reading it.

So, it is time now for Rosa Bernal, number 1 in the Top 10 on Architectural Digest.

Rosa Bernal has been over thirty years creating classic and relaxed interiors for homes, hotels and Embassies. With her son she created The Rosa Bernal Collection, where she unleashes her passion for Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries revisiting furniture, fabrics and wallpapers. She owns one of the most important interior design studios in Europe and she is a reference of refinement and good taste. The pictures you are going to see show her living room, in her home in a Community near Madrid, where every single corner reflects elegance.

This corner in her living room has an 18th Century Italian Secretaire which holds a bronze bust. It has also a Queen Anne armchair with its original leather upholstery.

This picture shows other corner in her living room with several old paintings hanging over an 18th Century English console, with a collection of papier maché boxes. Under the console, two chinese tibors and on both sides, Italian candleholders and Chippendale chairs.

Rosa loves fabrics of every kind and composition. These are antique hand embroidered cushions.

Pictures from Nuevo Estilo

An old English seat upholstered with velvet separates the sitting area. The black English chair and the sofa are Regency. The red armchairs are French, from 18th Century, and the fireplace has a wood mouth.

Personally, I think her living room is amazing and beautiful; maybe, too classical for me. I mean, everything looks so antique and traditional, I think I would need not so many patterns and prints, more solids and more simplicity. Something I love is that the room feels so cozy and lived, everything is valuable but nothing is ostentatious.

What do you think about her? I would really like to know your opinions!

Thanks for visiting!

New storage bed and mattress

Well, actually this is not so "new", because I got them some months ago. Anyway, this post was waiting to be published (and written) since then, so, I am posting about it now. It is not something very important, but it is indeed a change or improvement at home.

So, this is my "new" bed. The mattress is so confortable and thick, as it is firm and adaptable. In addition, it has got a nice design with some skyscrapers and buildings on it.

But, the most important point in the new bed is the storage: it features a swing cover that hides a big, easy accessible storage area perfect to hold boxes, other season's clothing, bedding and bed linen... Everything that is not beautiful for the eye.

Very useful and helpful, of course!

In case you like the idea, there is a very similar foundation at IKEA.

I am currently finishing the door painting at home, and it is a nice work especially when you get to see the results; it is, however, a quite repetitive work that takes a long time to complete, so I am pretty busy these days. I will try to keep posting just like I am doing, though. Hopefully, with more interesting posts, hehe.

Thanks for visiting!





Can a loft not look like a loft?

It seems so! At least, that is what I can get after seeing this house in Elle Decor's October issue.

Personally, when I think of 'loft', the first things that come to my mind are cool colors (Black, white, grey); industrial look; big, minimalist spaces; brick, concrete or stone walls; big windows with no curtains; in sight tubes or pipes, etc. But, that was before seeing this one, located in New York City.

This apartment was designed by decorator Nina Seirafi and architect Timothy Archambault for Walter Schupfer and Gina Goldman, owners to a New York Photo Agency. The couple needed a bigger house when their family grew up, and they found this flat in downtown Manhattan when it still was a loft with white walls and dark floors. The space was big enough for their requirements, as it is 6,000 square feet; so, they just planned to give it a warmer and more family look.

And this is what they finally got. A cozy home that uses classic townhouse elements such as molding panelled walls and wood floors, mixed with modern loft elements, like the colors in walls and floors to make it suitable for a couple with four children.

Photos by Pieter Estersohn for Elle Decor

What do you think about the change? Do you like it? Do you find it inspiring?

Thanks for visiting!