I'm loving Sylvie Rochon's cheerful Montreal apartment, furnished with great vintage finds — particularly mid century modern pieces (something Sylvie has a real eye for, as the owner of Spoutnik, a vintage furniture shop there). With its crisp white background and fantastic use of colour accessories, her space has a fresh and contemporary feel — it all feels very modern, even when you know almost everything in it is vintage. Lovely. 









(photography by angus mcritchie)
Overlooking the polo fields of Sotogrande, this Cadiz home was originally built in the 1980s as a guest house for polo players from around the world, thanks to Sotogrande being the only place in Europe with an annual polo season. Now privately owned, it's a weekend and vacation home for a professional traveler, who loves to entertain in a pretty light-filled space decorated with furniture, decorative objects and textiles collected from all over the globe. 







More here on Nuevo Estilo.
Fifteen years ago Gunilla and Sven Montan came across an almost ruined farm in western Ljungby, in Skåne, Sweden. Despite the need for serious renovation — the outside was mostly covered in sheet metal, the windows needed replacing and the only thing that worked was one small toilet — they fell for its potential and decided to take it on anyway, as there was also beautiful old floors, hand-planed boards in the walls and ceiling and a 1920s Aga, too. And there was the beautiful cobblestone courtyard, as well.







With four buildings on the property — the main house and three barns — they first focused on making the house liveable for themselves and their four children. Gunilla and Sven used traditional materials and methods to replace and restore the old ones, and made some discoveries along the way, too — in the course of their work they discovered that the house was actually much older than they first thought, with sections dating from the 1700s. During the first twelve years the family lived in Malmö and used the farm as a vacation home, but three years ago Gunilla and Sven decided to move there permanently. With the three barns now converted into summer homes for their children and grandchildren, they enjoy visits from family, who also appreciate the farm's bounty of raspberries, strawberries and other berries as well as the apples, pears and plums in the orchards. Their pets also enjoy it — the red currants are a favorite among the hens and the rooster. Happily busy with the farm, visiting family (and lots of travel to see them in turn, as their children are scattered throughout the world), Gunilla and Sven are truly reaping the rewards of their years of hard work. 

More here on Lantliv.
(photography by magdalena björnsdotter)
Located in the province of Limburg, north-east of Belgium, this Flemish farmhouse of brick and wood nestles happily in its surrounding fields. Gently restored, its traditional architecture has been retained as much as possible — the original brick walls add texture to the inside spaces, while furniture in soft neutrals keep the mood quiet and serene. The atmosphere of contentment extends outside, too, with donkeys and sheep grazing peacefully as chickens roam freely around them. 






More here from Elle Decoration.
(photography by romain ricard)
Love this pretty apartment decorated by Swedish interiors firmMoodhouse — cool Nordic tones act as a neutral background to collections of vintage objects, rich fabrics and great art. More here on the lovely blog Hitta hem.








(photography by kristofer johnsson)
AT Casa had a great post featuring a slide show of modern loft spaces from all over the world recently — I've picked a few that I especially liked. Enjoy. 









More photos here, too.
Today I'm admiring a great modern twist on the vanitas still life genre by artist James Hopkins, who takes this rather morbid theme and gives it a playful interpretation, with his creation of skulls formed by the clever arrangement of various everyday objects on bookshelves.







(via ignant)
Interior designer, blogger, stylist and owner of the online store Moltaz Design, Henrick Eriksson has applied his design philosophy to his lovely summer home, a cottage dating from 1780. When he purchased it, its charming rough log walls and old oak floors were — unbelievably — hidden behind plastic wallpaper and cork tiles respectively. Henrick also tackled low ceilings, lack of insulation and removed the gypsum plaster from the walls, taking them back to their original condition. Renovating the house bit by bit made it manageable within his busy work schedule — and the resulting style of the cottage is described by Henrick as 'New England with industrial touches'. As he works with colour all day, Henrick deliberately chose a restful and neutral palette for his own space, concentrating on textures, form and materials to keep it lively and interesting.








Lovely. More here on Bonytt.
(photography by per erik jæger)