Easy Living (January 2009, p178) have a great article featuring Isabella Smith's home. Isabella is the Danish creator of Maison Belle, a line of eco-friendly cleaning products that are designed to be as aesthetically pleasing as they are functional and she's got the idea spot on. Just look at all the beautiful things that you can put in your home then look at the amazingly ugly bottles of cleaning fluids that we use to clean it. Toxic yellow, dull green, obnoxious orange. Ugh! I wonder if there's a brain connection that sees us associating foul packaging with the industrial strength of the cleaner? After all, we might think, how can something so pretty by useful too?
But I digress. Isabella is noted as a 'lifestyle guru' with her own TV show, glossy magazine, mail order company, Maison Belle line... in short, the Danes answer to Martha Stewart. The pictures show her home to have a neutral backdrop with stripped wooden floors and the occasional splash of wallpaper and lots of colour from the woven blanket to the crammed bookcase and Chinoiserie prints. However, it's what she says about her home that interests me. "When I'm at home, I want my eyes to always fall on something nice,' she is quoted as saying along with, '...for me, it's really important to be surrounded by beautiful things.' And her motto reflects this: 'everything should be beautiful - not expensive, exclusive or clever, just really, really lovely to look at, whether it's a junk shop table or a teacup.' I couldn't agree more.
I'm Camilla, a journalist, blogger, interiors addict, knitter, new-crocheter, cake eater, chocoholic and mum of three. Sometimes all at once.
Comments