Marco Bertolini Photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images: Here

Sometimes when I go on the hunt for interior décor I search out designers and other times I head in the other direction-- I look for the photographer who shot the interior. Interior designers can have significant talent and that talent may amount to nothing if the stylist and photographer do not find an interesting, artistic or visually appealing way of presenting the designer's work. So much is owed to the photographer's good eye. Case in point: Marco Bertolini.

Hallway Goals

               Nuevo Estilo

 

 It's the weekend. I say it like I've had a long week of work with rough evenings. But I haven't. I am on vacation in Lithuania and I've been lollygagging, picnicking, horse-riding, dining out and soaking on a sometimes sunny patio. What am saying is I am happy and grateful. This weekend I will go paddle boating in a little town called Telsiai which has a beautiful lake (so many lakes here...if Lithuania had mountains it would give Switzerland a run for its money..) bicycle trails and a splendid forest/woods across from the lake. People come to Europe and they always want to see the West (Italy, Spain, France) and maybe the South (Greece, Malta) but the East (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) are absolutely lovely.  And people never want what they grew up with. I tell my husband I want to live in Telsiai and he watches me like I am crazy.

 

And, what does this hallway have to do with travel? Nothing. Only that I like it a lot. It is a nice take on a connective space in the home. I see some Penguin classics and I love the creams and the light gray.

 

Happy weekend.

10 Things to Gift in Wedding Season

Cute, funny, inspiring wedding gifts.  Are we still getting people blenders as wedding gifts? I have to go to the wedding of a friend in August and I am just wondering if we've evolved beyond the pot handlers, mixing bowls and linen napkins as wedding gifts. I mean, these days couples are living together before they get married (as we Jamaicans say "nuh buy puss inna bag..." and all that talk) and they have accumulated most, if not all of the household items they need. So I can't see anyone needing me to buy them kitchenware in this day and age. So what can I give as a wedding gift? I think something cheeky, memorable and lasting. Something that the couple can enjoy together. Something they would fight over in the divorce, is what I am saying. 

 

Here's what I'd get as a wedding gift these days:

 

1. A painting or other original artwork may expand the couples cultural knowledge--especially if the painting is from a foreign artist like Taiwanese artist Chih-Hung Kuo

 

2. A gift of laughter: definitely give a boxed set of a really great, old sitcom like Are You Being Served or Frasier or All in the Family or the Facts of Life

 

3. A hand-made Indian or Berber rug. I'd fight over this in the divorce for sure.

 

4. A set of engraved silver cheese servers is traditional and would encourage the couple to buy more cheese, if nothing else.

 

5. Specialty entertainment (every marriage needs a little couples therapy and I like this version..)

 

6. A Shakespeare Collection is a good reminder to the couple to start a personal library.

 

7. A chess set. Games night at home is not over-rated or nerdy. It's always good to have a stack of games at the bottom of your bookshelf so you can entertain on a winter Wednesday.

 

8. A gift card to Ikea (why the hell not..?). It may seem lowbrow but your friends will be totally grateful for such a practical gift.

 

9. A picnic set with basket and all

 

10. Monogrammed umbrellas (can't tell you how many times people have come to my house, borrowed my umbrella and forgot the address; can't tell you how many times I've done the same to others...)

 

Bedroom Decor

Most times we focus on the bed situation in the bedroom. But it is nice to see what other décor options there are for creating a personalised living space. A round mirror instead of a rectangular one, really large plants, a daybed, a secretary, side chairs, some photographs and artwork, etc. It doesn't always have to be a bed and two night stands. I like these takes on the bedroom.  Hope they inspire you.

Pictures: House Beautiful, Domino, Domaine, Ralph Lauren, Architectural Digest, and Pinterest

Trakai and the Hill of Crosses

 

I am blogging from Lithuania this morning.  I love this country. So slow-moving and clean-- am talking about the fresh air mostly.

 

This is a picture of a pilgrimage site in Lithuania. I feel like Lithuanians are big on paying respect to the dead. They leave crosses and flowers and candles at the graves. Sacred-looking stuff, you know.  I remember all the dead through prayer, but I never visit graves. It's a thing. I just cannot. It must relate to the time a woman we called "John's Paulette" (no relation or close friend of my grandmother) who was at my grandmother's funeral and who was so overcome by grief that she fell into my grandmother's grave. It was hilarious for many onlookers because Paulette is a right b!tch.  But of course, it was traumatising for my family and I. My mother died when I was sixteen and I have never once visited her grave. Who's clutching their pearls at me?  I remember her and my grandmother and my uncle and my grandfather through prayer.  (Gah!!! So many loved ones gone!) But when my husband goes home to Lithuania he visits his parents' graves and those of other dead family members. Meanwhile, I look on in respect, make the sign of the cross, say a prayer of eternal life (am a cafeteria Catholic), take pictures (to my husband's horror) and hope no dead people follow me home.

 

 

I took these pictures, above, on one winter visit to Lithuania. This is the Hill of Crosses near Siauliai. In the winter, it looks like a scene  from the Game of Thrones.

 

 

Castle at Trakai, Near Vilnius

 

We travel about Lithuania for three weeks. I am not here for the food. It's all meat and potatoes and my backside will grow, if I eat too much of it.  I am most looking forward to Trakai Island Castle. And to horse-riding in the forest on most days.  I'll keep you posted on all the shenanigans of a Jamaican traveling in Eastern Europe.

And, what do you do for the dead people in your life, visit any graves lately?

Metropolitan Home Magazine

So the shelter magazine Metropolitan Home is back. It died at the time the major recession hit, and blogs became a major deal, and large advertising revenue streams dried up for many publications. I liked Metropolitan Home. I was a regular reader and I must say, I have missed this magazine. Now, the thing is, I think I may have missed ragging on it more than anything else. I loved-hated the magazine. I loved the edgy avant-garde nature of the old magazine but I also hated austere-chic; and so I hated when the magazine did spaces that were too modern with nothing to soften it up. Actually, the styling of some of the spaces was problematic because they made the homes look like only the furniture lived there. I also hated when there wasn't anything relatable in the magazine. Like, I do want to see the homes of the rich and famous and I do want to see pricey furniture but there has to be something aspirational or even relatable about the spreads and they were just too out of touch and out of reach.

 

So now that it's in print again I will be buying it to see whether they have come back with a difference.

 

 

Anyhow, the new magazine looks like it will have a softer edge to the sleek, modern flare. These are some images from their Instagram.

Images: My Old Desktop;  Metropolitan Home Instagram.