Over the last few months, I have started an obsession over Morocco. Don’t ask me why; I’ve never been there. Perhaps my body just aches for warmth as I dodge the gale force winds here in SF (although yesterday we had a miraculously warm day). It actually started a few years ago when I bought an antique Moroccan hand-cranked coffee grinder, to be displayed in our kitchen. It looks something like this:
Then, I bought this fabulous light for our dining room:
When I first started our interior design project, my overall theme was “urban villa.” I wanted to evoke Italian and Mediterranean themes, yet keeping it contemporary without all the clutter that is often the failure of so-called “villas.” I wanted the interior of the house to be an oasis from the blustering fog outside.
Along with this evolution, my culinary interests have also taken a decidedly Mediterranean expanse east and west.
While I still love regional Italian food, my tendencies are now more “middle eastern” and north African. (More on that in a future post.)
Ryad al Avila
So while I’m still on the “urban villa” theme, it’s a little more “urban riad.” And while the idea of an interior courtyard — or any kind of “outdoor living room,” for that matter — will just be a fantasy as long as I live in SF, I am still inspired by these images.
Boudoir
So now my attention turns to the master bedroom. We already have our furniture. Although if I were to do it over, I might retire the two end tables. One is a round, black table and the other is a mini-dresser for GS to store his back issues of Italian soccer magazines. I’d want something lighter since the rest of the furniture is bulky. Too much Restoration Hardware, anyone?
So most of what I can fix is with textiles and decorative elements. I may revisit our friends at Stitch to do some custom window treatments and make me a duvet and pillow shams.
Here are my inspirations:
