Decorating with the Whole Family in Mind By: Amy Azzarito

When Kate Paillat, founder of Maurice and King, and husband Guillaume were looking for a London neighborhood to settle into with their two small boys – Etienne (4) and Jacques (2) – they knew they wanted to be in Notting Hill. They had always loved the neighborhood and wanted to be near parks for their boys and Notting Hill is literally sandwiched between two of the best – Hyde Park and Holland Park. They’ve only been in this rental for six months and even though there are plenty of design elements that they can’t change like the carpet and wallpaper, they still wanted to create a clean, modern space that was child friendly. Luckily, the couple has a love for mid-century design and minimal interiors. Kate tries to live by the William Morris maxim, “Have nothing in your home that you don’t know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Which sometimes means that she has to wait a while for the right piece at the right price to come along. But once she finds a piece she loves (like the dining room table), it’s there to stay. -Amy

Image above: “The boys’ room is probably my favorite room in the house,” says Kate. “It’s full of light and color, with plenty of room for them to play. This Australian aboriginal painting, by Lady Dixon Nemara, is my absolute favourite artwork, and one of several aboriginal pieces we collected during our time in Sydney. I love it here in the boys’ room, with all its colours, shapes and vibrancy. Guaranteed to lift the mood on a grey London day!”

Image above: “My husband and I love mid-century design and this Danish teak tall boy was one of our very first furniture purchases. I love that the wood grain on the front matches perfectly on each drawer – it’s the finer details!”

This post is brought to you by Manhattan Furniture Outlet – a resource for inspiring designs for every room in your home. See their selections here! Thanks for visiting the sponsors who support Design*Sponge and our mission to bring you original content each day.

See more of this London home after the jump!

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via Design*Sponge http://ift.tt/XpwFSl From Amy Azzarito

Finding Success in a Tropical Paradise By: Amy Azzarito

After finishing college, but before settling down to a 9-to-5 life, Kelsi Vande Velden hit the road with her best friend on an epic road trip. For three months, they traveled the country going to music festivals, national parks and stopping at every dive bar and curious antique store along the way. Towards the end of their trip, they stopped at a hole-in-the-wall antique store in Northern California where Kelsi found an antique compass sundial pocket watch. She couldn’t walk out of the store without it. When she returned home, she added leather straps, a buckle off an old purse and wore it as a watch. She got compliments everywhere she went and she even tried to recreate the watch, but every other antique compass sundial that she tried drilling into broke. She decided that the watch would be a one-off for her and continued in her interior design career.

Fast-forward three years, and Kelsi meets her now-boyfriend Garrett outside a concert. They start a long-distance relationship – he lived in Chicago and Kelsi lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After nine months, they realized that the 3.5-hour drive wasn’t going to work longterm. They decided to move to Maui – a place neither of them had ever been. They quit their jobs, sold everything they owned and moved with two backpacks to Maui. First, they lived in a hostel until they found a little shack. It was pretty much a glorified camping spot with an outdoor shower, an outhouse, a hot plate and two backpacks of stuff. They couple stayed in the shack for two and a half years and Kelsi decided to give her compass sundial watch idea another try. She worked on creating Pandeia for a year and a half from her jungle studio (with no cell reception and poor internet service) before launching the company. Now the watch is sold all over the world and is her full-time job, and the couple moved above their little shack on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The rental apartment has two covered patios where the couple spends most of their time. Their nightly routine involves lounging in their hammocks, drinks in hand, watching the sun set over the ocean. Kelsi says that it never really seems to get old. -Amy

Image above: “This is the lower outdoor patio that divides our secluded backyard from the French doors leading into our bedroom,” Kelsi says. “I love this area because it’s like a living room outside. It’s a great place for people to gather when we have parties. From this area, you are sheltered from the rain, but can still see the stars.”

Image above: “This is a shot of the area I spend the most time in, the upper patio. This is where I tend to work. The table is an antique. It is nothing short of amazing with its leather top and nailhead trim around the edges. I added two slipcovered chairs (so they are easy to clean) and two antiqued brass task lamps for late night sessions. The shell chandelier offers a seaside Maui vibe that keeps me inspired while I am hard at work making Pandeia sundial watches.”

See more of this Maui home after the jump!

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via Design*Sponge http://ift.tt/1tWwNqy From Amy Azzarito

Changing the shape of the Lack coffee table By: haphallahut

I made these tables from IKEA stuff. Each table is made out of two LACK-tables and the LINNMON table top.

More photos here and here.

via IKEA Hackers http://ift.tt/XoA5VB From haphallahut

The September Issue By: Grace Bonney

Every year fashion-lovers wait in anticipation of Vogue‘s epic September Issue. It’s the magazine’s huge issue full of trends and ideas for the full year going forward that’s become so legendary they even made a movie about it. We’ve had so much fun being inspired by fashion this month that we thought we’d cap off our fashion week fun with our own version of a September issue. From color trends to materials and even production missions, we’re roundup up the things we think will be on trend this year and popular with makers and customers alike. xo, grace

*The cover of our September issue is the latest home renovation project from Percy and Tara of Jersey Ice Cream Co.! The photograph was taken by Beth Kirby of Local Milk and we’ll be sharing the full home tour on DS soon, stay tuned!

Click through for the full list of trends after the jump!

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via Design*Sponge http://ift.tt/1y6Ldap From Grace Bonney