Is this your veranda?!

Can you imagine this being your veranda? The driftwood grey of the ceiling, and the sunlight streaming in makes it an easy journey in my imagination.

 In my head, it's over-looking the most divine Modern Country garden, tumbling roses, and smartly clipped topiary.

I'm having a moment for taupe-y grey gingham. mall touches here and there give me a big Cheshire cat kind of smile. 

House Tour: Georgian Home..With Pops Of Colour!

If you've been looking for a house tour with pops of colour then THIS one is for you! Welcome to the Georgian home of BBC's Gabrielle Blackman; a cool neutral and grey palette provides the backdrop to accent colours of deep turquoise and splashes of yellow.

For similar kitchen colours, try units in Farrow and Ball Manor House Gray and walls in Strong White 

The living room is a case in point...look at those colours!

I love the deep tones of the cabinet. Try Farrow and Ball Off-Black for a similar smoky softness.

Is this as messy as their storage gets, I wonder?!

And now upstairs to the bedrooms...

And here, in their daughter Cece's bedroom, is where all colour breaks loose!

And outside...just look at that beautiful wisteria!

The calming tones of the grey bring those brighter hues alive.

And, now, a question for the weekend:

{How do you use colour in your home?}

Images via Living Inside

"Love Where You Live: At Home In The Country" by Hammertown Barn's Joan Osofsky: Book Review

A book review with a difference! Love Where You Live: At Home In The Country is the first American book that I've reviewed on here. 

It's written by Abby Adams and Joan Osofsky, who owns the perfectly Modern Country home and garden shops, Hammertown Barn, in New York and Massachusetts. The stunning photos are by John Gruen.

Love Where You Live is all about making your own home a place that truly reflects you. Joan says, "I've learned that the best homes - the ones that are beautiful comfortable and that weather the years - are those that truly reflect their owners' passions" 

This is a chic, updated version of American Country style. Gone are the garishly bold colours and chintzy fabrics. Throughout the eighteen homes that are featured muted palettes dominate...

...along with soft industrial touches, such as bare brick walls...

...and stripped-back interiors.

But that's where the coolness ends. These homes, despite their deliciously modish style, imbue warm, relaxed, country living.

And the exteriors are as breath-takingly inspiring as the interiors....

Love Where You Live is America at its Modern Country best! 

{Click on the links for Amazonian temptation!!}

A Stunning Scandinavian/ New England House Tour

One of the lovely comments left on my Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath Case Study said this:

"Have just found your lovely blog! I have painted the whole of our open plan downstairs in Elephant's Breath and it is indeed very changeable! Fortunately I love every shade throughout the space and time of day. I always use F & B on client projects too. A lovely colour to live with!

Sophia

(Sophia Home)"

How could I resist a comment like that? And I'm so glad I didn't try....oh me, oh my, what a house! A delicious blend of Scandinavian and New England styles. All with pleasing echoes of Modern Country Style.

Sophia and her family had a number of problems getting planning permission for the new-build home of their dreams on the plot of their dreams but have ended up with the most spectacular home. Where there's a will, there's a way! 

The final product is an oak-framed barn-style house, with an enormous ground floor wing. They were thankfully able to include this as it ran over the footprint of a previous equestrian block, attached to the original dwelling on the land.

The location is stunning and the house makes the very most of the incredible rural views with windows wherever you look.

The whole of the ground floor is painted in Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath (click through for a full case study) - a gorgeous neutral paint with firmly warm undertones.

Off the main hall is this beautiful living room...

...which looks stunning day or night thanks to the warmth of the Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath paint. Underfloor heating keeps the limestone flooring that runs through the ground floor wonderfully warm...

And, just when you thought things couldn't get any better, in the other direction is the main wing of the house...

First, we come to this exquisite dining room...

...which leads on to one of the most breath-taking kitchens I've seen, also painted in Elephant's Breath...

It reminds me of an English version of the kitchen in Something's Gotta Give...

...that has a gorgeous snug tucked in at the end...

The upstairs is much smaller, with a master bedroom, containing the en suite...

...the main bathroom and the other bedrooms...

Back downstairs again and into the garden: this house really seems to have no bad bits at all!

The garden is a glorious blend of Modern Country planting: formal structure that'll carry the garden through winter, combined with soft planting. 

Modern Country garden with purple and white alliums

Plenty of alliums in white and purple (try White Giant and Purple Sensation), followed by roses and perennials....a combination that's hard to beat for year-round good looks!

Modern Country garden in summer

See the topiary and low parterre hedges, as well as the pergola and willow fencing? These will come into their own in the bleak, colder months when the flowers have long since died down.

Modern Country garden in Spring

Exquisite, no?

All images via Sophia Wadsworth