On interior design porn

Recently I sat down and worked out just how much I spend on interior design magazines. The answer? Actually not that much. In general, I'd much rather read a design blog. They have a personal touch that you don't get with a magazine used to providing editorial coverage for large companies and you often pick up on unusual ideas that can prove to be fashion leaders. In addition to this they often focus on real homes rather than design space which, whilst pretty, are surely impossible places when it comes to sustaining normal (read: messy) human life. The only exception to the rule for me is the large number of Portuguese interior design magazines I pick up by the armload when I'm home for a break in Lisbon. When you live in a different country, sometimes that's the only way to keep up to date with changing trends. One of the things I've learned from reading design blogs is to pick and choose what you post and that they're an excellent way of finding unusual ideas you can use in your own home. So, given that I'm currently redecorating the boyfriend's flat for him (spare a thought for the poor patient chap), I thought I'd share a couple of photos from a Maxima shoot of a Lisbon flat. I'm particularly drawn to the different hanging lights over various parts of the kitchen (although I'm unsure about the Brabantia bin look-a-likes) and I absolutely love the way that the back of the kitchen shelves has been painted to pick up the colours in the vintage fixtures such as the old-fashioned blender. The owner of this Lisbon apartment has also made excellent use of a sloping ceiling to install some bookshelves. But my favourite part simply has to be the woodburning stove in the master bedroom. With winter drawing near I can think of nothing cosier than snuggling up in bed in front of the fire to read the papers on a Sunday morning. I'm off to scour ebay for a stove that I can rescue for just this purpose.