hello…
We are not interior designers. This website is not about us predicting trends or telling you how to design your home or which accessories are this season’s “must-haves”. It is about us sharing a very personal journey – one which has made us really think more about design and how it affects the way we now live our lives.
Our current journey started in 2017, when we sold our home in West Didsbury, Manchester. We’d lived in the mid-terraced, three bedroomed house since 2000, but had recently renovated it, creating a very unusual, completely open plan space. This gave us a craving for more space. To be somewhere which didn’t have houses to each side of us and to the back and to the front. To be able to see the sunset, not other roof tops. We took a complete leap of faith and sold the Manchester house, buying a stone house, high up in the hills in northern Istria, Croatia and set off on a very new journey.
We really hit the ground running and from day one, had to get our heads around not only sourcing tradespeople and materials but also considering what we wanted our new home to be like. Underpinning our thought processes, was the constant idea that we wanted to create something which was unique and bespoke – and as far from the traditional interior of an Istrian house as possible. We wanted to get to know our new environment and feel the house and understand the space. We wanted space, light and clean lines. We wanted our style, but we knew it would evolve. It would take time. It would become Slow Design…
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Renovation
Interiors
Lifestyle
Travel
Latest Blogs…
Renovation
honeysuckle success story
Over the past four or five years, we've had mixed success with our three honeysuckle plants. They have been moved around the garden quite a lot, due to some extensive renovation works, and last year, we dug them up out of big wooden planters, where they were supported...
a little bit of art deco design
Our Istrian stone house has not an iota of art deco about it. With a very traditional Mediterranean stone house structure, a Scandi inspired interior and a contemporary exterior, there's nothing at all that hints at this popular design style of the 1920s and 1930s....
repurposing a chimney pot
One of the stranger things we packed into the back of the removal lorry when we came out to Istria, was the large clay, chimney pot which had been removed from the roof of our West Didsbury house, when we were renovating it, because it was redundant. I'm not sure why...
house reno : stairs : update 3
It's been a while since I first posted about the stairs which lead down from our living room, into what we now call The Snug. I'm glad to say that the very dangerous wooden stairs which we inherited have now been completely renovated and made a lot safer in the...
Interiors
rattan
Our thoughts are beginning to really turn to what could be a whole new life for us. Although we are not over the line yet, we are as close as we have been to selling our home in Istria and relocating to Andalucia. It's close, but at the same time, until the ink has...
minimalist colour palette
We've been working on the process of stripping back the colours in our home, for the last year. Our initial colour choices were quite bold - deep navy, copper, shades of grey. These worked well for us, and created a real warmth in our stone house. However, what you...
winter mornings…
Our bedroom is by far the largest room in the house, and could definitely accommodate an en-suite. We've thought about this addition so many times, but it's always seemed a bit of a luxury, when so many other more pressing projects have demanded attention. We also...
quick bathroom makeover
We've spent so long focusing on other areas of the house, and in particular this summer, the garden, that we've neglected a couple of rooms. One being the upstairs bathroom. We rarely use it these days, preferring the walk in shower in the downstairs renovated...
Lifestyle
roasted butter beans
If you are a fan of deliciously creamy butter beans, you might like to try this, if like us, this method of cooking them, has so far passed you by. Roasting. Yes, that's right, roasting then in the oven. And I guarantee, you'll be as in love with this way of doing...
things just got real…
I've been keeping a diary/blog of our journey in our stone house in Istria, since before we moved in, in 2017. We're now so very close, to moving. Yes, after seven years of renovating and creating a beautiful home from the shell of a building, we're hopefully onto our...
eataly : trieste
I've always been a little bit sniffy about a place called Eataly, located on the harbour front in Trieste. I thought it might be a gimmicky - and why would you choose to shop and eat in a huge converted warehouse, when you were actually right in the centre of Trieste,...
limoncello spritz
Limoncello spritz is a refreshing and vibrant cocktail, combining the zesty flavors of limoncello liqueur with the effervescence of prosecco. It's a popular Italian aperitivo, perfect for sipping on a warm summer day - and with no mixology skills required, it's quick...
Travel
pont du diable : river hérault : france
Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is a village, Hérault department in the Occitania region in Southern France, renowned for its well-preserved medieval architecture and the Abbey of Gellone, a site of historical and religious importance. The village is nestled in the Gorges de...
design hotel verbenicum : vrbnik : krk island
Vrbnik is a picturesque town located on the eastern coast of the island of Krk, which is part of Croatia's northern Adriatic region, known for its medieval architecture, stunning views, and rich cultural heritage. It dates back to medieval times, with its first...
the ruins of dvigrad : istria
If we take the motorway south, to Pula, through the Istrian peninsula, about halfway down, we cross a high road bridge. From this vantage point, nestled amidst the lush countryside, it is possible to catch glimpses of the hauntingly beautiful ruins of Dvigrad -...
lido di jesolo : venetian riviera : italy
Jesolo is always on our radar, as it's not too far from where we live in northern Istria. A couple of hours and a bit away, there's an expansive beach - 15 kms - to be explored, making it one of the largest beach resorts in Italy, just behind Rimini. Beaches near us,...
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