The Enduring Appeal of Navy Blue

I'm a navy girl. Always have been. I think it comes from spending so long in France. They love navy there. Especially in Paris. If pink is the navy blue of India, as Diana Vreeland once famously said, then navy blue is quite possibly the black of Paris.

Navy is sophisticated and elegant. It's classic. Timeless. Tasteful. Even when i's used in a high-glam way, it's still beautiful and understated. Indeed, it couldn't look cheap, even if it tried. (Something that can't be said for black.) If Brynne Edelstein wore navy, she'd look like a Hollywood movie star from the 1940s. Not like... well, the wife of someone with too much money.

Some people dislike navy because it's too safe. It reminds them of school blazers, and police uniforms. I don't have this aversion. My St Margaret's school blazer was yellow. Well, more of a dirty shade of brown-gold, like leftover vindaloo. Perhaps that's why I can't wear brown. I have terrible issues with it. But navy...  Ah,  navy. I could live in that shade.

Which is why I've painted our main bedroom and dressing room (above) in a colour the shade of Chinese porcelain. Our new house is high on a hill and the top floor looks over the lights of Melbourne. This blue seemed to suit the space. It was the exact same colour of the city sky at twilight.

Navy blue. If only I could persuade more people in this beautiful city to convert to it.

PS Thank you for all of your lovely comments re my mother. I was so very touched, and promise to reply tonight, after I collect my nieces and feed them and entertain them, and generally do the dutiful aunt thing!

Too, too lovely: London designer Faye Toogood. {Vogue Living Jan/Feb 2011}

Blue note: Jill Sander dress, top and skirt. {Harpers Bazaar, May 2011}

Dot to dot: Kate Spade 'Lisa' polka dot wedding shoes. {From current collection}

Flights of (feathered) fancy: Kate Spade 'Elliana' evening clutch. {From current collection}

Making a statement: British Elle Decoration, which loves doing its section pages in navy blue.

Tasteful in Tasmania: Leo Schofield's dining room in his historic Georgian house in Tasmania. The walls are painted Bible Black, a dark shade of navy that's the colour of old bibles. {Via Vogue Living, Jan/Feb, 2011}

Blue for two: The work of Akin Creative (Kelvin Ho and Jeremy Hull) in Sydney. Akin has just collaborated with Sibella Court on Justin Hemmes' latest project, Ms Gm in Potts Point. {Via Belle}

Cute kitchenalia: A page from Elle Decoration, which dedicated an entire section to royal and navy blue in its March 2012 issue.

Kit Kemp's New Project (A Book, Not A Hotel)

I was thrilled to read in London's Financial Times yesterday that hotelier Kit Kemp is working on a new project. It's not another hotel this time, but a book. Apparently Ms Kit is collating all her spaces – and her style and design knowledge – into a smartly bound tome, which will no doubt be as beautiful as her hotel suites.

Kit and her husband Tim are the minds (and design hands) behind some of London's most beautiful boutique hotels, including Charlotte Street, Covent Garden (image at very top), Number Sixteen in South Kensington (my favourite), the Haymarket, and Crosby Street in New York directly above). Kit's aesthetic is one part English traditional and one part bold exuberance, the latter no doubt influenced by the English love of eccentricity and mismatching elements. Her style is always different (no hotel looks the same), but her signature elements are colour, pattern and ravishing femininity. With a touch of whimsy on top.

There are also elements of surprise, and this, too, could be seen to be part of the Firmdale signature. For example, the Haymarket Hotel has rooms dressed in sugar pink and lime green. While the Covent Garden Hotel features full-size mannequins in every room – a nod to the tailoring heritage of the neighbourhood. {Image above via Elle Decor; rest via Firmdale Hotels}

Firmdale hotels are some of the most loved in the design industry (interior designers often stay there; the rowdier media crowd prefer Nick Jones' Soho House hideaways), so it will be interesting to see if her book is a compendium of all that is loved about these whimsical and wonderful spaces.

Hardie Grant, an Australian-based publishing company with a branch in London, commissioned the project; kudos to the them. The book, A Living Space, is out in October 2012. Here's Kit working madly on the layout in time for the October publication. {Via Hardie Grant's tumblr/FB} I certainly know what that panic is like! I'm actually surprised there hasn't been more media or blog exposure on this book. I know it was only commissioned last year, so perhaps it's they're trying to expedite it in time for this year's Christmas sales? I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of media reviews soon.

Here's the spiel. And here's one of my favourite Firmdale facades. Look at that antique green. Just beautiful.

A LIVING SPACE. BY KIT KEMP

Inspiring interiors that have a personal, handcrafted feel. This lavishly photographed interiors book shows how to leave behind design "rules" to create truly beautiful, original interiors. For more than twenty years, Kit Kemp has been at the forefront of the international design community, with her signature style that mixes contemporary elements with antiques and junk-shop finds, luxurious fabrics with printed wallpapers, and hand-finished detailing with collections of simple objects that create impact. She avoids taking design too seriously, playing with scale, color and pattern to create very personal, handcrafted spaces. Alongside the stunning images of room sets and detailed close-ups will be the inspiration behind Kit’s work and her tips for creating your own version of her style at home. Interiors are meant for living in, and the key is to create a space that is comfortable and beautiful and reflects who you really are.

How Not To Decorate (A Lesson)

I was originally going to call this post 'How To Decorate In A Day'. (Or a week.) But then I realised, with some consternation – and a small sigh of resignation – that I am a rubbish decorator. Truly. I am simply a journalist and an author. I wouldn't know how to position a cushion if you paid me to do a PhD in it.

Furthermore, with all of the turmoil of the past month (refer to post before previous one), including travelling overseas, moving house, band-aiding our family back together, and generally juggling writing, work projects and life, I haven't really had much time to think about colourways and creative spaces. In fact, I was so weary after 'decorating' our library (and I use that word loosely), that I thought about calling it a day on the interior design.

As such, our bedroom is still full of cardboard tea chests and liable to stay that way until we decide to move again. I did contemplate painting it navy, which would 'intimatise' the space (design code for making it sexier), but it's not a priority. So the aesthetic will remain 'tea-chest chic' for the moment. At least we'll have somewhere to sit. Even if we're not getting any.

So this is my warning to you all, dear readers. This is how NOT to decorate. And if you're a professional interior designer or architect, please look away now. Because the following images are liable to offend all of you with any taste. Or decency. Or indeed desire to declutter your lives. I can only apologise.

HOW NOT TO DECORATE: 

FIVE EASY STEPS

STEP ONE: Choose a colour palette and choose it quickly. I plucked out this Parisian green shade, called 'Blade', at Porter's Paints five minutes before closing time last Friday night. It looked pretty. Like Paris' Palais Royal gardens in spring. Or Ladurée's signature green boxes. It even seemed to be the same as the cover of my first bestseller La Vie Parisienne. Surely a good sign? "It'll do," I said nervously to the Porter's Paints girl. "Are you sure?" she said, questioning my judgement (and perhaps my sanity). I looked at the hundreds of other colours and felt slightly faint at the prospect of picking one. "I think so," I replied, and shrugged. That's when I knew I wasn't really a decorator. A decorator would never be this blasé.

That weekend, I slapped two coats on our new library. "What do you think?" I asked RR. "It's very green," he said in his typically understated way. (And yes, I know a great many of you abhor green. That's okay. It's not for everyone, I know.)

Here's where I painted around a big spider. This is called Arachnid Decorating.

STEP TWO: Find fabrics to match. Now 'real' decorators (professionals) don't believe in being too 'matchy-matchy'. Apparently, it's amateurish. Well, in Magazine Land we were taught that if you wanted a stylish cover you never used more than two colours, three at most. I'm going to stick with matchy-matchy, I'm afraid. Real designers, please look away, because I don't know how to decorate any other way. (And yes, I know French ticking is passé. But I love these monogrammed cushions. Perhaps nobody will notice?)

STEP THREE: Find the cheapest furniture this side of a Hard Rubbish Collection. After a month in the US and a new mortgage, we couldn't afford Moooi or Fornasetti (my favourite brands), or any other dazzling piece. So I went looking for a bargain. Fortunately, it's the end of the financial year, so places like Town & Country are having 50%-off sales. I nabbed a beautiful black library for half price. (Tax time. I tell you, it's the best time to decorate!) It was still expensive, but I wanted something to 'anchor' the room, and this handsome piece was begging to be taken home. No, not the Brazilian delivery guy. The library.

STEP FOUR: Pull out the sewing machine. My mother kindly loaned me her new sewing machine a few years ago. I haven't returned it. It's been the most useful thing in our lives since the blender. Last week, desperate to finish decorating, I whipped up some covers for a few ottomans. Slip covers. I tell you. They're the best thing ever. This was made with a remnant of Ralph Lauren pinstripe. (NB Professional decorators, please don't look too closely. There's no piping. And the ends aren't tied off.)

STEP FIVE: If in doubt, fill the room with books. The problem, is, we always forget to hide the trashy reads. We file the Fifty Shades of Grey next to the Graham Greene.

STEP SIX: Create a welcoming bar in the corner, so you can offer guests a drink upon arrival. I pinched this idea from Bunny Williams' guest house. I was in awe of her guest bar: an enormous antique table FILLED with top-shelf spirits that was conveniently placed within a few feet of the front door. "I'd like to emulate that!" I thought. But there were a few problems. I didn't have an antique sideboard. OR the budget for Chateau Lafitte. So we just have water. Or water.

STEP SEVEN: Always have a vase of flowers to scent the room. Dead tulips, such as these (above), are not recommended.

STEP EIGHT: Throw a throw or three around. They offer 'visual warmth'. Unfortunately, they're usually just for show. If guests are cold in our house, they're told to go and put a sweater on.

STEP NINE: Stack the sofa with cushions, so guests can't sit down. This discourages them from lingering too long.

STEP TEN: Clutter away. Clutter like your life depends on it. This is our entrance library before we moved in. (The furniture is the former owner's. I'm not a black leather kinda gal.) 

And this is our entrance library after...

No wonder my mother was horrified.

{Terrible photography. Had to use an old point-and-click as my SLR is dying. I think it's horrified by the interior design too.)

And lastly, a gratuitous shot of our just-washed puppies. Just because...

And one more of my study. Yes, more clutter here, I'm afraid. I need Faux Fuchsia to come and work her magic. But at least it's not green.

A Parisian Carriage House: An Extraordinary Before & After

Our life seems to have exploded at the moment, so while we wait for the dust to settle I thought I'd post a quick but cute story about a gorgeous Parisian carriage house that I spotted while browsing The New York Times' archives last month. Some of you may have already seen this, so my apologies if you have, but for those who haven't, it's worth a glance. If, like me, you've always wanted to have your own little Parisian pied-a-terre, a carriage house such as this could be the solution. More details of the project can be found here. {Photo credit: Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times.}

Designer: New York interior designer Kein Cross. Building: A two-storey, 18th-century courtyard house in Paris, a few steps from the Notre Dame. Dimensions: 19 feet wide by 6 feet deep.Design Challenges: The living room, minus the area taken up by a stairway, was less than 4 feet deep. The kitchen was so tiny there was no room to open the oven. Furthermore, the exterior featured a bricked-up window, and a facade that would have scared off most designers. Positive points: There was a courtyard. And the rent was half market rate. Budget:  $25,000.

Parisian carriage house exterior: Before

Parisian carriage house exterior: After

Design Solutions

Parisian carriage house kitchen: Before

Parisian carriage house kitchen: After

As the kitchen was too small for an oven, a two-burner cooktop was installed, along with a professional, Parisian-style coffeemaker, which was almost as big as a stove. 

Parisian carriage house living room: Before

Parisian carriage house living room: After

The living area was so small there wasn’t room for a couch or even a pair of chairs. So Mr. Cross created what he calls a pasha’s bed: the end of a modular sofa that cost about $1,000.

Parisian carriage house bedroom: Before

Parisian carriage house bedroom: After

The bedroom was another challenge. Hoping to evoke the romance of sleeping on a train, Mr. Cross bought a bunk bed with a futon that opened to a double bed on the bottom. But the futon was so uncomfortable he threw it out and bought a full-size mattress that doesn’t fold up. Even so, it is a cozy space, with the bottom of the upper berth covered in striped wallpaper and a cushion against the back wall.

Parisian carriage house bathroom: Before

Parisian carriage house bathroom: After

In the bathroom, he replaced the sink and mirror, regrouted the white tiles, installed $69 glass shower doors, added two rows of black tiles and striped the bathtub with black enamel paint.

The end result? A dream house in Paris.