Navy: Understudy or Star?

For too long now, navy has been the wait-in-the-wings colour; the humble understudy to fashion's perennial favourite: black. Occasionally, once every few years or so, it gets a brief moment in the spotlight, when black feels it needs a break from all the sartorial attention. But then it's relegated back to the wings again when black decides to make a comeback. Black is the New Black, and all that.

I don't understand this. Navy is as elegant and as sophisticated as black, if not more so. It's as slimming as black, and far less austere looking. It's not as harsh on complexions as black. It reflects better in front of television and photographers' cameras than black. (Karl Lagerfeld and Armani both know this: the two designers now prefer navy over black when facing the media.) And lastly, it speaks of honesty, authenticity, dignity and integrity more than black, which is why many of those in the White House wear it. Including President Obama.

I've always adored navy. So I'm thrilled to hear that – after a brief flash in the fashion world last year – it's now being heralded as the beautiful "new" look for interiors. Here, in tribute to this lovely colour, are some gorgeous, naval-gazing inspirations...

A retreat to remember: the navy-and-white interior of JK Place hotel, Capri. {Image via JK Place}

A study in sophistication: a navy library by Nate Berkus. {Image via Elle Decor}

A moment of sheer glamour: navy gown by J Mendel, Fall RTW 2007 {Image credit uncertain: please advise if you know}

Tailored perfection: navy linen and furniture from Ralph Lauren's Grand Hotel collection. {Images via Ralph Lauren}

Flirtatious and fabulous: navy frill 'Trista' trenchcoat by Kate Spade. {Image via Kate Spade}

Cheeky but still demure enough for business: Navy 'Bailey' dress by Kate Spade {Image via Kate Spade}

Librarian chic – with a sexy twist: navy-and-white dress by Lily Pulitzer. {Image via Lily Pulitzer}

Inspiring living: Sitting room/living room by Mary McDonald. {Image via Mary McDonald and Domino}

More Ralph Lauren elegance.

Navy with a slice of lemon: Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. {But can't find the credit so please advise if you know!}

Extraordinary Homes of 2011

I should have perhaps said 2010 and 2011, as these were all homes I've come across in the last 2 years. These were all extraordinary places for many reasons, but I've chosen them because – unlike some professionally decorated places that can see slightly "staged" – they all felt very much like cosy, comfortable, put-your-feet-up-and-read-the-Sunday-papers type homes. I like houses that aren't too pretentious: houses that allow for the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life – kids, dogs, stressed-out partners, people traipsing in and out with gardening wellies, in-laws dropping by. And these were very much wonderfully practical, family-friendly places.

Furthermore, they all showed that you don't need a big budget to create an inviting home. Sure, some of the houses may have been expensive, but the interiors weren't jammed with pieces from Sotheby's or the Attic Sale at Chatsworth. They weren't from the Hearst Castle School of Decorating. They were full of elegance, sophistication, imagination, a little whimsy and a whole lot of creativity. Just the kind of homes I love.

THE GATSBY MANSION, LONG ISLAND

(Designer: Jeffrey Bilhuber)

Interior designer Jeffrery Bilhuber's house at Oyster Bay is a grand affair, it has to be said. It's a mansion that would rival Jay Gatsby's. Inside, however, it's far from being a Rothschild-esque mish-mash. Bilhuber (who is Anna Wintour's designer) has used startling colour to create a glamorous but gorgeously cosy home out of this old boarding school. Plum, tangerine, pale turquoise,  lime, pink, granny-smith-apple green... Who would have thought these colours would all go so beautifully together? Yellow umbrellas for the guests? Inspiring. A kitchen and laundry in black and tiffany blue? Unexpectedly elegant. And look at the kitchen garden! Just stunning. The house is as lovely as its owner.

THE BOAT HOUSE, NANTUCKET ISLAND

(Designer: Gary McBournie)

This was a tiny home; a boat house that was converted to an waterside escape for a client and his family. Interior designer Gary McBournie (another lovely man) took his cues from the harbour setting and designed a space that was unusual but quietly inviting. The kitchen floor was painted in marine blue and then splattered with tiny dots of other colours, so it didn't show the sandy footsteps and salt flecks, and its roof was left in its beautifully aged state. The chaise lounges were made to resemble ship's bunks. And the living room was decked out with marine-inspired items, from flags to vintage ships. Just sublime.

THE FARMHOUSE, SHELTER ISLAND

(Designers: Steven Schappacher and Rhea White)

Now these two are a designing duo to watch. Steve Schappacher and his wife Rhea White took a run-down old farmhouse on Shelter Island (now being dubbed "the new Hamptons") and with nothing more than some clever designing and some great flea-shop finds turned it into a chic island hideaway. Look at what a simple coat of black and white paint can do. Rhea found the old French garden chairs in a secondhand barn on the island, the sofas are simple, white slipcovered ones, the poolhouse bedroom was given a lift with some imaginative fabric styling, and the rest of the house is a gallery of whimsical finds. The pool was perhaps the most expensive addition. The house is now worth over a $1M. What a clever couple.

THE BARN-STYLE BEACH HOUSE, LONG ISLAND

(Designer: Rick Livingston)

A truly extraordinary place, this barn-style beach house sits right on the sand at Long Island's charming village of Quogue  and is the weekend escape of New York designer Rick Livingston and his partner. They rented it for 10 summers before deciding to finally buy it. But instead of knocking it down, they simply updated the simple timber dwelling with some imaginative decorating. Vintage ladders, white shutters for wardrobe doors, a fabulous rope chandelier from Mexico, inspiring artwork, cosy seating, a restrained colour scheme, and of course the all-important deck for luncheons overlooking the sea. Down to earth decorating, indeed.

THE FAMILY HOME, MARTHA'S VINEYARD

(Designer: Paula Perlini)

From the outside, this house seems enormous – intimidating even. On the inside, however, interior designer Paula Perlini has worked magic to create cosy, intimate, human-scaled rooms out of enormously-proportioned spaces. And surprisingly, much of it has been achieved with oversized pieces, which seem to draw the rooms in while providing eye-catching focal points. The folk art mermaid on the stairs, the vintage Orangina poster, the antique bird houses and the Bloody Mary-red library (which elegantly showcases the owner's photographs of Africa) are just a few of the dazzling ways Perlini has carved an intriguing home out of a beachfront mansion. I always love red in a beach house, and this shows why it looks so fabulous.{Image at the very top is also from this residence}

[Images from my book Coast: Lifestyle Architecture]

Photographing Interiors and Architecture

Let me tell you a funny story about being an architecture photographer.

Two years ago, I had to fly to an island in North America to shoot two beach houses for a book. One of these beach houses was owned by a famous couple. For privacy reasons, let's just call them The Famous Couple. Having already been on the road for two weeks, I was longing for more exercise than just running between airport terminals. So I hired a little old bike, tucked my camera and lenses in the little wicker basket, and set off to shoot the Famous Couple's house. When I arrived (I refrained from ringing the dinky little bell, as that really wouldn't have been professional), the duo greeted me in a state of shock.
"Where's your people?" they said, searching the driveway behind me. "I'm sorry," I said, perplexed. "Your people?" they repeated.
Now for a brief moment there, I have to confess that I wondered if I had fallen into some strange American movie, and they either thought I was an alien, or Martha Stewart dressed as an Australian. But Martha wouldn't have ridden a bike for five miles. She would have demanded her assistant do it, and then hopped on at the end for effect.

It was then they explained that they expected me to drive up in a truck, with 10 assistants, 2 stylists, and a handful of other people to help shift furniture. They explained that past photo shoots had involved up to a dozen people and one or two trucks full of new furniture. These "people" would shift the Famous Couple's furniture out of their beach house and bring in the preferred furniture, styling it up with assorted art work and antique pieces that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Famous Couple. Often the shoots took two days. At the end of it all, the "people" would get back in their trucks and drive back to New York. The photographer would file his extravagant expenses form with the editor, the editor would justify the $50,000 shoot with her publisher by saying it was a "significant interior", and the Famous Couple left behind would try to put their furniture, and their lives, back together.

And you lovely readers wonder why shelter magazines are going out of business???!!

Now people. We need to have a little chat. This is not the way to do things. If you want to be a good architecture or design photographer, you need to learn how to do things with a team of one.

This is how I work.

1. Always be courteous. Thank the owners/interviewees for their time, and for graciously allowing you into their home. Tell them their home looks beautiful. If they're difficult, be pleasant. You're only there for a few hours. You don't have to marry them.

2. Prepare a shot list. A shot list is a list of ideas or possible angles/scenes to help you when you're on location. Most photographers (or their assistants) will prepare one. I'll often do a collage of images and ideas and keep it in my files or scan it into my laptop. So, for example, if you're shooting a colonial-style house, look up colonial-style images on the Internet to find inspiring ideas. What says "colonial"? Verandahs, grand staircases, wicker chairs, mahogany furniture, four-poster beds, gracious spaces... What says "New York apartment"? Views of Gotham City-esque architecture from the windows. Bird's eye views down onto yellow taxis. Street signs. Street scenes. Delis. Someone sitting on the front doorstep with their big hairy dog. You may not use the shot list, but I can't tell you the number of times I've relied on these for inspiration. When you get to a location, you don't have time to think, let alone conceive ideas.

3. Ask the owners to email you a floorplan if they have one, and if you really want to be prepared, find out where the light falls from morning to twilight. Study a Google map if you have to in order to see where the light will be over the house at various times of the day. (Don't forget the Northern and Southern Hemispheres differ: I've been caught out forgetting the north-south difference several times.)

4. Consider shooting generic shots as well as the required hero and filler images. For example, if you're shooting a colonial-style place, shoot palm trees, Adirondecks chairs on the sand, yachts, piers, etc, to flesh out the spread. These generic images will "place" the house within its environment, and add a lovely narrative to the story.

5. Capture the owner's personality. If they have lots of unusual collections, shoot them. If they love books, shoot those. If they have groupings of odd objects, shoot those too. Show their shoes in the hall; their artwork; their dressing tables; their hall tables; their work desks. These will all reveal more than a dull shot of an old sofa.

6. Learn to use natural light. It really is the best.


7. If you're shooting several homes in one neighbourhood/city/country do them all at once. Corral the owners into one set week. Keep to a schedule: a morning at one place; an afternoon at another. This will also make you work efficiently. Don't worry about the light and whether it will be right when you're there. You will find something to shoot. Remember: the best photos are the unexpected ones.


8. Download all your images to your laptop at the end of the day and then back up. TWICE. (I take two small portable hard drives. Other photographers use online image libraries to file their work.)

9. Don't listen to rules. Some garden photographers believe you should only shoot gardens in the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset. Pffff! Many flowers look beautiful in full sunlight. Moody gardens look gorgeous in mist. Cottage gardens look glorious in late-afternoon light. Shoot with your heart, not your Photographic Guide.

10. Find ways of shooting scenes in a different way. If you're shooting a house with unusual lines or in an unusual setting, shoot up to capture those lines. If you're shooting a house with lots of colour, take lots and lots of photos of the colours to create a dazzling spread.

11. Try to work out what the main colour palette of the house is and shoot around that. It will make your images more cohesive.

12. Ask the owners what THEY think their best angles are. (Their interior / exterior angles, not their own poses.) They'll love being involved. And they'll often recommend shots you may not have thought of. It won't make you look foolish. I normally say "If there are any shots or angles that you particularly love, let me know, won't you? You know your home better than anyone, after all".

Lastly, learn to work really fast! Really, really fast. None of this two-day-amble-with-two-thousand-assistants stuff. I've had days that have gone like this:

6AM Pick up hire car from Boston and drive to Maine.
9AM Shoot house in Maine.
11AM: Shoot another house in Maine.
NOON: Drive back to Boston and drop hire car off. Fly to Washington DC. Change planes for Richmond Virginia. Change planes one last time for Savannah Georgia. Arrive at midnight after passing through eight states in one day.
NEXT DAY: Get up at 5AM to start shooting all over again.

Boy, did I wish I had an assistant or three on these days!

{Images from my Coast: Lifestyle Architecture and Design in Black and White books – featuring Islamorada, Nantucket, Harbour Island and Tybee Island.}

Decorating on a Dime, Part 2

If you watched the fantastic Renovators show last year you may remember that they banged on (if you'll forgive the building pun) about the 20-Per-Cent Renovating Budget Rule. For example: If you buy a property for $1M, then you shouldn't be spending any more than $200,000 renovating it.

With all due respect to the judges, I can't imagine how any renovator could make a profit margin using this rule. We bought our house for $400,000 a little over a year ago. (An incredibly cheap price for Melbourne property.) If we'd spent $80,000 on renovations, we wouldn't be looking at much profit at sale time!

I suggest you try to stick to a 2-Per-Cent Renovating Budget. It's a painful prospect, I know, but it's the ONLY way to renovate. In the past 12 months, we've spent no more than $10,000 on renovations, and that includes: paint, tradesmen, new carpet, a new deck, a new ducted heating system, new curtains/drapes for 10 rooms, new exterior window awnings, updated fittings and even all landscaping. (Excludes furniture and mortgage repayments.) We've updated a five-bedroom, two-story, 16-room house on half an acre of gardens on a meagre 2-per-cent budget, rather than a 20-per-cent one.

It takes a LOT of DIY, but you can do it too. I promise!

BEFORE: THE ORIGINAL BACK DOOR

The deck was so rotten it was a wonder we didn't all fall through on Inspection Day. The furniture belonged to the former owners. Lovely. I think this paint colour is called "Baby Vomit Pink". I may be wrong. But it looks suspiciously like it.

As you can see, our real estate agent Michael is high-tailing it outta there!

AFTER: THE NEW BACK DOOR 

With a slap of French grey and cream paint, some greenery (hydrangeas, wisteria and jasmine), a vintage wicker chaise and some leftover charcoal fabric whipped up into drapes (which need to be ironed, sorry!), this is now a cute entertaining courtyard.

BEFORE: THE ORIGINAL FORMAL ENTRANCE HALL (DOWNSTAIRS)

There were 9 rooms of this pine panelling. I kid you not. NINE! I hadn't seen this much pine since I lived on the edge of a Scandinavian forest.

AFTER: THE NEW FORMAL ENTRANCE HALL (DOWNSTAIRS)

Some Kate Spade-inspired colour, some hand-made ottomans covered in black-and-white Ralph Lauren houndstooth, two vintage Belgium posters featuring leaves (from one of my favourite Melbourne stores Izzi & Popo) and a cheap Ikea striped mat...

So easy!

BEFORE: THE ORIGINAL BACK ENTRANCE HALL

The layout is confusing, I know, but this is the entrance from the deck and the carport, and we use it all the time as it's easier.

Look at that – more pine! I think I have a pine headache coming on...

AFTER: THE NEW BACK ENTRANCE HALL

More Kelly-green colour (inspired by our garden), a colonial style table and chair, another cheap Ikea mat, and a few metres of black-and-white lino at $44/m thrown down on some masonite base.  (If we'd followed the 20-Per-Cent rule, we could have afforded black-and-white checkerboard tiles. But lino it was... )
Note: Some people think checkerboard lino should be laid on the diagonal. But you don't have to. In this case, it would have clashed with the diagonals on the walls.)

BEFORE: THE GARDEN LIBRARY (DOWNSTAIRS)

Oh my, look at that. More pine. 

The old owners had teenage boys and they used this room as a gym/car-repair workshop. 

It STUNK of car grease, sweat and teenage boys.

AFTER: THE GARDEN LIBRARY (DOWNSTAIRS)

After four coats of paint and a LOT of air freshener, this is now the garden library and my office.

(Sorry about the blurry pix; had puppies jumping around my feet. This was not a very professional shoot!)

BEFORE: THE OLD TOP BEDROOM

The furniture belongs to the former owners. (I think they'd already moved a lot of stuff out when we bought it, and these were camping lilos.) Those at those vertical blinds. Mm-mmm.

AFTER: THE OLD TOP BEDROOM

– New paint (Barrister White – a softer white than Antique White USA, and less cold on the eye).

– A newly painted set of drawers (semi-gloss black, which is a better finish than full gloss).

– Some vintage bits (a black folding screen made from old shutters bought from an old French chateau).

– And some favourite photographs, including some from one of my most-loved fashion photographers, Bruno Benini.

{Will post photos of the front of the house, the living areas, the kitchen/dining and the garden later this month. Promise I won't post any more photos of pine! Or, indeed, of these spaces.}