House Beautiful March 2013 - Part 2

Here is the second part of the House Beautiful magazine review.

House Beautiful do a monthly section featuring one
special bathroom.

This month was very much inspired by Morocco. 

It is rather lovely, isn't it?  

Sparkling new, no limescale anywhere, buffed marble and mosaic.

Now just hear me out.
This bathroom is in Cape Cod.

Cape Cod of the airy, clean, rustic Puritan-esque aesthetic.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  

I imagine Harry Potter buying his flying carpets here.

 Not Morocco.

I don't understand towels inside the shower.  

But I digress.  

The workmanship is beautiful - 

I need the number to the tiler.

But I find it an overly literal interpretation of Morocco. 

You could not get more opposing styles between the two.

I am sure that the owner fell in love with Morocco.  

It is hard not to - it is such a hypnotic place and it is not unusual to want to remodel your house like a riad after a trip there.

Courtyard of a Riad, a traditional home - This one is from Riad el Fenn

Maybe I have an unease with this because

this bathroom looks very similar to a bathroom design I once saw in a major chain hotel in Marrakech.

Sometimes things can look like a pastiche of the original. 

I also realize my little knowledge is dangerous. 

In Morocco, bathhouses rarely use this motif in the bathroom - 

this sort of mosaic is usually for fountains and central courtyards.  

They use tadelakt in the bathrooms.

Example of a bathroom in Riad El Fenn in Marrakech

 Tadelakt is a honed and polished plaster.
It is as hard as stone but so smooth to the touch like marble.
The beauty is you can make it any color you like as with paint.

I love the lack of lines and clean surface.

There is also a culture of hammam which is steam bathing and 
heat emanating from the stone.
So the bathrooms also have to endure a lot of moisture.
It is much better suited to the bathroom than
tiles needing all that re-grouting constantly.

  

Funny enough, beach homes are prone to a lot of humidity so all the grout would erode quicker than normal.

But I also think that respecting your surroundings and the architecture of the house is important.

I would love to have riad decor but it doesn't flow in a World War 2 bombed reconditioned Victorian mews house.

(Not my house.) 

Maybe I am letting my ethos of respecting the house and its surroundings waver my stance on the room.

But it is lovely - I would love a crisp bathroom like this.

Another fun feature is when decorators send in real life pictures 
of a vignette in their home.

I was going to do a post on bedside tables and voila - HB did a whole two pages on real nightstands that designers sent in.
So I thought I might as well join in.

My bedside table is the only place in the house I fuss over. 

The rest of my house is a revolving musical chair of piles.

I like the Lucite one on the bottom right because it would force me to edit but I think my favourite is the top right one.

I could fit in all my accoutrements on there.

I am realizing I could do with a console table but that would only enable my book piling habit.

I like to change up my bedside table quite often.
But here is my bedside table at the moment.


I would love a lamp from Porta Romana. 
 But I have a soft spot for this one because my neighbours who moved to Ireland gave me this and I like a back story.

As I sleep near it, I like things I like near me.
I'm not religious but I have a cross a close friend gave me from the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona.
It's made from Sedona rock with all its vortexes.

I am like an old Victorian lady in that I love little 
porcelain bits everywhere.
I keep an amethyst crystal to keep my mind clear.
Don't think it's working but it's pretty.
That is my favourite vase I never put flowers in because 
it's like a circular prism.

On the plus side, I have to urge you to read 
this fun comparative photo essay about studios 
in Manhattan in the NY Times.

Two identical studios of 270 sq ft. decorated beautifully with 
two distinct point of views.

So clever that it makes you want to live in one.

It's in the NY Times - click here for the link.

Have a great weekend all!