Gorgeous Mediterranean Island Home

A warm, relaxed mood permeates every inch of this gorgeous family home on the island of Menorca, off the coast of Spain. After having a seaside holiday home on the island, for thirty years, the family decided to build a home further inland. They wanted great views and plenty of room for their extended family, to use the home all year round. I would never want to leave, if this was my house! It is absolutely beautiful. I love the warm walls, high ceilings with exposed wooden beams, and stunning Mediterranean garden.

{all images via El Mueble}

Daydreaming of Istanbul

Since seeing this exquisite jewel of a home, a couple of days ago, I have been daydreaming about it, letting my mind wander through every embroidery and pattern-bedecked room, having a little mental holiday in Istanbul. 

Built for an exiled Hungarian pasha in the 1850s, as a hunting lodge, Macar Feyzullah Pasha, in Istanbul, Turkey, this is now the home of revered antiques dealer and decorator Serdar Gülgün (shown above, with his niece and nephew). His unerring eye for beauty has allowed him to restore and reinvent the home to become this magical oasis. Filled with his own antiques collection, arrayed with jewel-hued silks, velvets, and other luxurious textiles, patterned walls, and just the right touch of quirkiness, like not-too-perfect hand-painted details, the rooms of the pasha are utterly captivating. 

To me, this place seems like something out of a Wes Anderson film, a delicious fairy tale, where the most intriguing sorts of people must surely be having fabulous conversations, as they sip rich coffees and nibble on delicately spiced pastries, while elegant harp music wafts from unseen sources. Is this place real, or a fantasy? It is truly magnificent. 

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall, at one of the famed dinner parties hosted here! How about you?

{All images via Town & Country; click on images to see larger versions}

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While I'm not usually a rustic kinda gal, whenever I see a home with a high ceiling and exposed beams, something in me yearns to be there. Include a fireplace, give me a nice warm cup of cocoa, and I'd stay forever.

I'm really liking the look of a stained wooden ceiling with beams painted white--the reverse of the often-seen white ceiling with stained wood beams. Being a fan of bright airy spaces, I also like the whole ceiling and beams all painted white, like in the gorgeous bedroom with sea views.

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Home-hunting update... A weekend visit to a display home village has once again turned the tide in favour of building, not buying, our new home. Glen and I fell in love with a house design which has huge windows looking onto the garden, a beautiful master bedroom suite, and a perfect floorplan. We want it. Badly. It is The One. Even the kids (Glen's daughters) liked the house (of course, the main reason the eldest girl liked it so much was the size of the TV in the lounge, but that's all right.). Now we are daydreaming of living there, and what a sweet vision it is. It's time to save up, do some research, and pray that land prices will fall dramatically--and the sooner the better!