Aikwood Tower

Whilst I was off growing a baby, I was also working on a very exciting refurb project in the Scottish Borders. Aikwood is a 16th century tower about 40 miles south of Edinburgh, deep in the beautiful Ettrick Valley. With many an outdoor pursuit on its doorstep, my client felt the 5 bedroom tower was in the perfect location to be transformed into an luxurious exclusive-use holiday let and wedding venue. His parents had lovingly restored the tower from a ruin into their home in the late 80's and were now ready to to pass it on to the next generation.
We had three months to turn it around so it was intense and stressful but pretty exciting and everyone was more than happy with the result. I'm pretty proud of it, even if I do say so myself...

We sourced local tweed from Andrew Elliot and Hinnigan (who also made the gorgeous cushions and throws) and scoured antique markets from London to Glasgow, and everywhere in between, to source key feature pieces, furniture and lamps that sit comfortably next to the brand new bespoke items. After many doubts, lots of persiverence, a little convincing, plenty of elbow grease, not to mention the searching, sourcing and shopping, it all came together in the end. What do you think?
P.S. It looks even better in the flesh...so go ahead and book a long weekend of luxury...
Photography by Douglas Robertson

Paper Gifts

For our first wedding anniversary we got each other paper gifts.
As we were visiting Paris, my grand plan was to take my husband to the comic book artist, Moebius' shop where he could choose a limited edition print and hopefully have it signed. However, after an expensive taxi ride to the opposite side of the French capital, in a month when Parisiennes generally vacate the city...the shop was closed.
Fortunately, on our last day we took the Metro out to La Defense, home to La Grande Arche and many more futuristic, architectural phenomenons on the outskirts of the city where we happened upon an awesome art store called, Arteum. Needless to say we were there for quite some time exploring the shelves.
I eventually found my 36 year old husband in the 'Petits Artiste' section where he proclaimed, with much excitement, that he had found what he wanted, from me, for our anniversary....a large model cardboard robot by Calafant...
My husband got me 'Sundays Are For Lovers'; a lovely book curated by Maria Alexandra Vettese, by independant American publishers, Lines & Shapes, in which artists express what they like to get up to on a Sunday...I love it.
How do you spend your Sunday?

Book images courtesy of Lines & Shapes via Daily Candy
Robot available from here

We're back!

So we're back from Paris and are now off to a 2-day wedding in the Scottish borders so apologies for the lack of blog posts this week. I do have a couple of goodies lined up from the trip...if my photos are up to grade...
We had a lovely time; saw some sites, walked a fair bit, shopped a little and ate a lot!
We tried not to spend too much but Paris is expensive and the Euro is strong (against the pound) so I thought it best to leave this dress in the good hands of Givenchy, for now...it wouldn't have fit into our Ryanair, 10kg limit, hand luggage anyway...

oh...and ...if you've got a minute, you could vote for me here if you like...Thanks x

À Bientôt

We're off to speak pigeon french with Scottish et Australian accents to angry Parisiens, drink café au lait and hopefully not buy anything that won't fit in our hand luggage (Ryanair)...

Many thanks for the suggestions on my previous Paris blog post and on twitter...much appreciated. Thanks to you and some famille, we have a (very) loose itinerary and even looser dinner reservations, other than that we're just going to soak it all up and in the immortal words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, 'fly by the seat of our pants'.
No doubt I'll take beaucoup de photos, tweet a lot and then post a little something upon our return...

...but for now, au revoir mes amis x

photography by Irene Suchoki

Sun, Sea, Sangria

The Balearic Islands in the Mediteranean, have an unfortunate reputation for being saturated with British sun-seekers, keen on drinking as much beer as possible, eating full English breakfasts, sowing there seed, and generally disgracing the nation for 3 months over the summer. There is a reason, however, why this pocket of the world became so popular in the first place; the breathtaking mountainous scenery and the stunning turquoise sea (not to mention the food, people and, pretty much, guaranteed sunshine).

I haven't given up on these jewels of the Med and certainly wouldn't turn down a week or so at one of the very cool exclusive spa resorts like Son Gener, Mallorca.

For more information: Son Gener

Like for Like?

I know I keep going on about holidays but I'd love to live in a European city, not as a tourist, just live there.
Well, It seems when you no longer have the freedom to go off and 'live' somewhere exotic for a year or so there is a 'grown up with business, partners, responsibilties' option. You can go on holiday and 'swap homes' for a couple of weeks.
The concept was made more popular by the film The Holiday a couple of years back, in which Kate Winslet swapped her stereotypical 'middle of nowhere' chintz English cottage:

for Cameron Diaz's stereotypical LA over-designed super gaff:

Great idea huh? Apart from the fact i'd have to move most of my junk out and get industrial cleaners in, it's supposed to save you the cost of accomodation and you get to live as a local.
I, however, can't help but feel my swapee would be extremely disappointed, to arrive in damp Edinburgh, with keys to a one and a half bedroom flat above a Mexican restaurant, while I lorded it up in their '18th Century Mansion just 15 minutes from Paris.'
Check this place out!







Available to swap at Luxe Home Swap

The Holiday set images found on Discover: Interior Design