{colour inspiration: gold & lilac}

. . . high-heeled shoes and cupcake wrappers, mirrored dressers and vintage sconces -- always and irresistibly drawn to all things gold, and especially when intermingled with shades of lilac . . .

{images: stylist eva lindh; kendall wilkinson & also via felicity; flickr via coco & kelley}

{in the bedroom: only sweet dreams}

. . . positively mesmerized by the beauty of this grand & impossibly romantic room, a part of a beautiful apartment available for rent{!} in provence, on the ground floor of an hôtel particulier, {an urban "private house" of a grand sort, or a very grand town house}, dating from the renaissance that was once home to members of the family of the king of france . . . already astonishing with a pier fireplace and solid oak herringbone floors, but it’s the bedroom, complete with an extravagantly handpainted and vaulted ceiling, a glimmering and glamorous chandelier, and most of all, a gilded coronet bed drape {or crown canopy} in shades of the softest lilac that inspires a place where there can only be sweet dreams . . .

{p.s.}
* another stunning coronet: crisp linens & scalloped edges
* further reading: a brief history of bed canopies

{image: la madone via pinterest}

{inspiration: summer solstice}

. . . deep into summer and it's as many wonderfully languorous hours en plein air as possible, an afternoon spent dreaming away or lost in the pages of a beautiful book and breathing the scent of a million blossoms, or idyllically swinging from the boughs of a perfect tree, or best of all, lilting conversations over an early evening dinner under the cover of the most charming canopy in a shade lost somewhere between lilac and lavender . . .

{images: photography by tim evan-cook for elle decoration uk july 2002 via moodboard}