Tuesday 25 September 2012

I've Got A New Look!

I'm hoping you can't have failed to notice that things are looking a little different around here...

Yes, the fantasy decorator has finally had its own little makeover, courtesy of the lovely Liz at Violet Posy.

I think it looks a little more grown-up and stylish, and I hope you agree! I still have a bit of tidying up to do on some of the pages, so expect a few tweaks here and there, but hopefully nothing major. You'll see the design following through to my Twitter, Facebook page, Tumblr and Google Plus pages too, so hopefully I should now look similar across the web.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

Thursday 20 September 2012

Cypriot Style = Greek Style?

In my ongoing pursuit to find Cypriot style, I've come to the somewhat embarrassing conclusion that what I suspected all along may be true; namely that for my purposes at least, I'm going to be assuming that Cypriot style equals Greek style. And hell, Greek style equals Meditarranean style, which equals Seaside Style. So there.

Which is how I came to buy these books:



Again, however, things aren't that simple when you dig a bit deeper. What do you think of when you think Greek style? Even October's LivingEtc magazine is going down the classical route for bathrooms. A few statues, a Greek flag, job done - right?

It's all Greek to me

The problem, however, is that this look is very tricky to pull off without it looking like a cheap pastiche. Plus it often seems to involve a lot of gold, which we've previously established is not a favourite of mine. No, the Greek style I'm thinking of is inspire by the blue and white of the islands:

Santorini
source


Yes, it's probably just as much of a cliché as the urns, but it's a far simpler, fresher and modern feel - hopefully even I can't screw it up....

Monday 10 September 2012

Cypriot Style?

One of the things about owning an apartment in a popular holiday destination is that there are of course already a lot of similar apartments out there to plunder for inspiration and ideas.

The thing that struck me, however, was that a lot of similar apartments, while tastefully furnished, seemed a little soulless. Of course, an apartment that is merely being rented out for other people has to be relatively neutral, but I don't see why that means it can't have a bit of personality! One thing I noticed was that a lot of the apartments I saw could have been anywhere - there was nothing to tell you whether it was Paphos, Paris or Peterborough...

So one thing I decided fairly early on is that it should at least be obvious where people were holidaying. Cue a google search for "Cypriot style"...only it turns out that mainly brings up recipes involving yogurt... 

Anyway, one thing that Cyprus is known to do pretty well is luxury hotels with spa. Perhaps I should use that as my inspiration? I therefore trawled the photo galleries...

Almyra hotel, Cyprus

Anassa hotel, Cyprus

Coral Beach hotel

Very classy, and very aspirational, I'm sure you'll agree...however there is still something "international" about all of these schemes, and for me personally I'm missing the "this is Cyprus" factor.

It was back to the drawing board...

Thursday 6 September 2012

No longer just fantasy decorating...

While things in our own house move along at the usual snail-like pace (focusing on external maintenance at the moment, tedious, but got to be done), I do have another little project that is looming into view.

I will gloss over the detail of how we aquired it (as, to be honest, it's a painful story and it wasn't necessarily through choice!), but we are in fact owners of a holiday apartment in a small place called Tala, near Paphos in Cyprus. For various reasons, it has stood empty since being completed around 18 months ago, but finally we are in a position to start to think about getting it kitted out and hopefully getting some use out of it.

At the moment it is just an empty shell:

Kitchen cabinets

Open Plan Kitchen/Diner/Living Room

Living through to bedrooms

en-suite bathroom


...although kitchen cabinets and two bathrooms are "set".

We are off to visit the place in a few weeks, although there probably won't be time to do much, we will at least try and work out what will need doing in future (shopping!!).

In the next few posts I will share a few ideas and inspirations for the general feel I would like to create, as well as ideas for each of the different rooms. As eventually we might possibly consider renting out the apartment, I'd love to hear what other people think, so am always up for ideas and creative feedback!




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