AS MENTIONED earlier, we’ve been searching for a coffee table that we both love. It hasn’t been an easy search, as I was looking for something with Carrara or Viola marble, but P was looking for a wood one. In the end, we discovered that there aren’t that many choices available after all, but in our searches, did come across all of this beautiful décor inspiration showcasing the warm minimalism style we talked about earlier in the week, juxtaposed with a little ornate austerity.
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ornate austerity
If you’re a longtime reader, you’ll know about our love for ornate austerity — spaces that are minimalist but not altogether cold and modern, but warm and with traditional flourishes such as chevron wood flooring, wood panelling, marble and crown moulding. This stunning house in Boston by Steven Harris Architects fits the description perfectly…
THE THING that caught my eye the most about Danish photographer, Heidi Lerkenfeldt‘s, portfolio were the striking interior shots of light-filled...
AS YOU KNOW, will forever and always be a maximalist, in décor and otherwise, [but especially the former], but can...
isn’t this room astonishing? designed by catherine kwong for the san francisco decorator showcase, and inspired by mick & bianca jagger in the ’70’s, it is the very definition of ornate austerity
ONE LOOK THROUGH our Décor Archives and you will notice immediately that there are very few contemporary interiors and a thorough fondness for maximalism. We've always favoured traditional or new traditional styles to anything modern, being drawn instead, to ornamentation―gilded mirrors and chandeliers, toile and boiserie and crown canopies. The closest we've ever ventured to the modern or minimal is ornate austerity.
THIS 19th CENTURY SWEDISH apartment in Strandvägen, Stockholm is an ornate austerity dream. Both spare and luxurious at once, close to the water and downtown, this eight room, 322 square meter space has three balconies, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a dressing room.
It was once said that, too much of a good thing is wonderful, and as you know, tastes run on the maximalist side of things here when it comes to décor, save for the few bouts of ornate austerity here and there...
YOU MAY REMEMBER the term ornate austerity used here quite a few times before, sometimes referring to the work of Gilles et Boissier or Andrée Putman, but most often referring to Joseph Dirand, and so was thrilled to come across a recent article in The New York Times featuring the architect’s elegantly spare Seventh Arrondissement apartment.
. . . as you know, have been, recently, very much into the notion of ornate austerity, that is, a maximalist’s interpretation of minimalism, and interior designer rose uniacke’s sprawling london home with its rather sparse furnishings, is the embodiment of just that — keeping things simple and in a neutral colour palette, to better showcase the grandeur of the spectacular vaulted ceilings and crown mouldings, crystal chandeliers and sweeping staircases and fireplaces . . .
. . . ornate austerity at the office, perfect for cluttered minds and busy days; and all-out maximalism in the drawing room, where gilded mirrors and carved mantle clocks are de rigueur . . .
WE ARE IN the midst of a heatwave and it's intense. Even I, who is always cold, am overheating a little and during last night's cardio, it felt like I was in a sweat lodge. Of course, I've never actually been in a sweat lodge, but it felt like what I imagine being in what would feel like.
THERE IS A LINE from a Bruce Springsteen song that goes: “I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face“⏤and while I don’t want to change my face, I do like to change my clothes (often), and my hair (sometimes⏤in fact, just last week). A friend once asked me if I changed my décor tastes to match where I happen to be living at the time (she was visiting us in Spain), and I realise that yes, yes I guess I do.
“Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive.” ―Ernest Hemingway