Kitchen decor ideas: Seaside Chic

Natural textures with pale wood Shaker-styled units bring a fresh breeze into this seaside holiday home. The eclectic 'shabby chic' look continues to be a popular choice in casual, formal or contemporary settings.

Accessories.
Muted pastels, slightly wilted roses, chipped paint and pure whites blend modern practicality with wistful, old-fashioned aesthetic appeal. Tall glazed wall units, generously wide pot drawers and wooden counter tops are a feature of the u-shaped kitchen, where the work triangle is displayed to its best advantage. The plain white scheme complements the white-washed wooden beams and chunky wooden counter tops that add warmth to the kitchen. The plate racks on the walls add chararcter, and open shelves display colourful crockery and glass jars. The glass-fronted units give the room a lighter look compared to the solid doors on the units housing cookware and china. Stools pulled up to the counter top for casual dining have faded floral cushions for comfort.

Inspiration: Kitchen and Dining by Marcia Margolius

Dappled sunshine and citrus shades

This is a modern house in the country, and you can really feel the sunshine streaming into this space with its bright citrus shades and leafy patterns. The predominant colour is lime green, accompanied by an interesting mix of turquoise, pale blues, fresh greens and touches of pink. The hard lines of the architecture have been softened by the leaf print at the window - a reference to the trees outside, and the translucent checks in lime and turquoise filter the light and accentuate its sunny, dappled quality. But the geometry of the square-paned windows is too strong to be ignored - it has been picked up in the contemporary prints on the armchair, cushions and ottoman.

The satisfying geometry of neat lines of crops pleasures of picking and gathering for the table.

Shot from an upstairs window, the strong architectural design of the kitchen garden can be seen to full effect. There are four entrances, each with an arch entwined with clematis and wisteria, and intersecting paths divide the space into four principal squares. Within each square there are four further divisions, so the different vegetables and flowers arranged in neat blocks and rows are like pieces of a living patch quilt. Pink and mauve flowers are concentrated on the side nearest the house, where pots of pink pelargoniums line the steps up from the terrace. On the far side, nasturtiums in every shade from deep red through orange, deep ochre and lemon romp among the vegetables with picturesque abandon. Wonderful large cactus-flowered dahlias are grown in the garden, in stunning shades of deep crimson, scarlet, orange and pink.

In the heart of the garden

A walk around this leafy Summer garden presents you with a choice of many different places to sit, from the furniture on the terrace near the house to the picturesque old bench and chairs in the shade of the cherry trees. Dip under the leafy arch and you're in the kitchen garden, where another table and stools have been placed in the sun. Nothing is fixed here - a table might be carried into the orchard for a summer lunch, or a bench to catch the last rays of the sun one evening. Great fun can be had moving furniture about the garden and creating different scenarios - it's like picnicking with furniture.

Bedroom idea: Light, feminine fabrics.

Light, feminine fabrics on the bed and at the window bring a dreamy quality to this otherwise quite cool contemporary bedroom, and form a bridge between the old beams and mullions and the modern furniture. Just a single piece of crushed fine linen muslin softens the clean metal frame of the four-poster, making it romantic but still resolutely modern. The curtain is a banner of the same muslin that will float anywhere along the rail.

Interior inspiration: A space to dream

The restful feeling in this room is a result of its combination of natural colours and textures: the stone and old beams of the architecture, the warm wooden floor, the cool metal frames of the furniture, the crisp linen on the beds. Just one colour - a pale pink so soft it is almost a neutral - has been added to inject a degree of freshness and warmth. But this is not frilly, feminine pink. The clean lines of the contemporary daybed are dressed and upholstered with a minimum of fuss - lots of plain linen, simple square cushions and a few panels of subtly patterned or embroidered fabric. This is a perfect space for sleeping, reading and relaxing.

Much of the room's interest lies in the suprise of finding modern furniture alongside such old architecture. The pieces have a clean-lined elegance and an unexpected lightness - the daybed on its metal frame seems almost to float above the floor. against the backdrop of the mullioned windows, the modern oval table and white leather chairs set up an interesting contrast in period and style.

It is easier to create a soulful mood in high-ceilinged rooms; here, to draw the eye upwards, the curtain pole has been fitted as close to the ceiling as possible and hung with banners of fabric that stretch right down to the floor. This increases the feeling of height in the room and makes the windows appear larger. White muslin with a fine pink stripe filters the sun and floods the room with soft hazy light - the panel of fabric can be pulled into different positions along the rail as required. the slim uprights of the modern four-poster emphasise the strong vertical element, as does the tall slice of mirror propped against the wall. The minimalist arrangements of white alliums, pink nerines and single orchid and gladioli blooms are the perfect complement to the still and tranquil mood. Beautiful and graceful without being fussy, the bright pink of the blooms highlights the subtler use of pink elsewhere.

The details in a neutral room make all the difference, and they can easily be changed to create a new mood. here, the only accessories are tonal - in deeper or richer shades of pink or subtle stripes and patterns.

Room idea. A peaceful mood

Soft pale green is an ideal colour for a bedroom - cool and calming but by no means cold. Here, the walls are a slightly chalky green, and there are accents of ocean, lime and eau de nil. This room has quite a dark wooden floor, but placing the bed on its own natural-coloured rug helps to lighten up the room, as do the translucent curtains in broad stripes of subtly different patterns. Pure crisp white linen is so welcoming on a bed, and rather formal flower pattern om the throw - blue hydrangeas with handpainted leaves - is a reminder that, for all its fresh modern furnishings, this is an old country house.