... and I love you she said ~

and "I love you" she said...

  since I heard or read this phrase somewhere,

 whenever I focus on our favourite wooden ampersand,

 brought in our home at the very beginning, to symbolise the effort 

 two people place in order to merge two lives together, 

 two past lives, two hearts, two minds,

 &

  in our case also 

two different cultures and countries,

 I can only but whisper to myself...

 and I love you she said...

 there is no need to turn this post into a personal confession of feelings,

 still I find it quite all right to state here that:

  

 love in all its expressions is the driving force 

 I have always wished to lead my life

 then, I can only say that in {this little Penthouse},

 love in all its possible ways has flourished

and survived so many hard times

I learned {and of course am still every day learning} 

 to love in a healthy way being in an intimate

relationship,

 to love a person himself / herself,

 rather than the vague idea of love,

 let that person be a life partner or a friend.

 I learned to love who I am,

 despite all shortcomings & disadvantages in character,

 and be able to feel totally grateful for all that life graciously offers to me

 I learned to love what I have 

 and cherish my experiences, even when they brought much frustration 

 and tears in my eyes.

 I found out that I indeed love with all my heart what I do,

 which instantly transforms a person to a rich one,

regardless of any bank account statement

 or belongings

 I found out that so long as I love who I am and accept also who I have been to reach here,

 there is no need for labels to feel a sense of identity.

 so in this spirit of love and lots of light,

I'm so happy to share that the next person who'll be living in the little Penthouse,

has officially been found.

she' s a wonderful person and already so in love with her soon future home!

 and I couldn't be any much happier for the fact that I feel connected to her,

 which means that there's no need to say a permanent goodbye to this place.

maybe a new friendship will arise,

who knows...

what's amazing is that as we'll be moving out from here,

and I'll be settling our new home,

I'll also still be decorating this place, as the new inhabitant agreed to

work with me on putting her home together here,

while some parts of the interior

are already purchased by her.

 this is making the movement process so much easier for both parties

honestly, things couldn't have worked out any better...

.....................................

 there is currently a total ease with the whole changing process

 and rather than being sad that soon living here will be over,

I cherish each moment like the most precious present...

enjoying every sun ray, 

every different shadow that is formed...

this joy has begun settling since {the previous weekend},

when Ilaria was here for the magazine photo shoot...

I enjoyed so much styling around in order for her to photograph

{ok at some point we were both photographing!}

and it was such a joy to watch her create magic with her hands,

 when she was not working for the magazine photographing but for herself,

sitting in my favorite corners around the house...

speaking of magic created by hands,

{Ilaria} crochets and makes such wonderful things

like garlands

 not only monochrome and white like this one here,

 but endless combinations of wonderful colors

more of which you can see {here}

what I love about Ilaria and actually every person who love what they do,

and do what they love, is the story behind it all...

when she realized that crochet was something that has acquired a new dimension in modern life,

she decided to bring into practice all she had been taught by her favorite aunt,

when she stayed with her for a while back in time, 

in the beautiful Italian country side.

in pictures like the one above, I can see clearly the purity of her happiness,

merged with healthy pride she takes in what she does...

it's happiness of past, present and future blending together...

and then seeing that people who come in our place

feel so happy to be here,

almost immediately at home, relaxed and in peace

is the biggest compliment for my work...

creating interiors that promote a happy and healthy way of living,

human focused interiors, 

using good interior architecture, design and decoration processes 

merely as a means for achieving a happy & fulfilled life.

after all, the pages of magazines we all fall in love with,

at least most of them, carry a story behind

&

often are the places where happy & successful people live their lives

it is the life that we imagine inside that we fall in love with,

rather than purely just the interiors themselves

.....

"Decorate" is the book that brought Ilaria & I together,

as we both attended "meet the blogger" event in Amsterdam,

having as its major sponsor {Holly Becker}, who also signed her books there,

along with giving a very inspiring speech.

more of the event through my eyes {here} & {there}

now, am sharing a couple of more pictures taken during our days of the photo shoot and after

until recently...

capturing corners and different hues of light, 

depending on the time of the day and the weather conditions...

take a look and then come with me at the end for a mostly delightful revelation...

can you start seeing something in the background?

still not?

may be now?

if you have spotted something modern with a traditional twist

resting on our sofa,

then you have come across the most beautiful handmade blanket I have ever been given so far,

made by the magical hands of Ilaria

&

 specially thought out from her so that it fits our home

and my personal approach to style

 a totally simple & minimal {white blanket from Ikea},

with 6 circles of different sizes,

all crocheted by hand with 100% pure wool in ivory white

 sewn upon the blanket.

I'm thrilled to have the honor of the blanket being named after me

when it hits {the shelves of Ilaria's shop} after it is reopened.

please meet Miss Ivy Blanket,

ready to make cozy hours on the couch

 just a little bit more cozier and certainly

much more beautiful & personalized

You 'll be seeing more of it throughout this autumn and winter

in my shots

and then you can see all circles

and how beautifully and wisely they are randomly spread

let me sum up here where you can find Ilaria, in case you don't already know:

~ her blog ~

~ her shop ~

~ her flickr ~

~ her twitter ~

yeah... I think this has been actually two posts in one, 

as I both wished to share the news about the Penthouse

and Ilaria's creations...

other than that, today we are meeting with the person who will possibly be chosen as the worker to help us with our renovation and I just can't wait to meet him!

 am sincerely hoping to be able to come and post here very soon, as inspiration is flowing like

a mountain stream these days

and would both like to share and make posts on this journal as a reference

till then, a shot of me in my recent favorite cardigan,

which is making styling an easy matter 

&

 dressed comfortably a chic occasion

take care ~

have delightful days dear all!