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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities

Category / Desirable Digs

The Lost Art of Decorating with Shells

In Margate, on the south-east coast of England, there is an underground grotto lined with majestic mosaics made entirely of seashells – and no-one knows how it got there. The site was discovered in 1835 by a father and son who were attempting to dig a duck pond. The story goes that the young boy…

Inside the Secret Parisian Warehouse where the French Presidents Go Furniture Shopping

Picture an IKEA warehouse – but make it chic – and add an inventory of priceless furniture, textiles and objects that date as far back as the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, who indisputably raised the bar on what we’ll call French ‘power decorating’ for centuries to come. A sprawling Art Deco reinforced…

A Dozen Celebrity Digs That Remind us to Go Big or Go Home

As long as folks have had money, they’ve had the ability to realise interior designs that most of us can only dream about – to breathe new life into ancient Italian villas, or hole up in a French seaside fortress; to live out their days in a storybook windmill, or commission a veritable spaceship. Our…

Mansion of the Month: Miami’s Villa Viscaya

It rose from the mangrove swamps of Miami; an Italian Renaissance paradise surrounded by dense tropical forest in Coconut Grove, the city’s oldest continuously inhabited neighbourhood. They called it the “Hearst Castle of the East”, even though Villa Vizcaya came first. James Deering was heir to a harvesting fortune, a lover of the arts, an antiques…

Rosa Bonheur’s Chateau is a Time Capsule Waiting to be Discovered

Rosa Bonheur was one of the most popular artists of the 19th Century. Not only was her work being sold and seen around the world, songs were composed about her and dolls were made in her image. Today, some of Paris’ most thriving bars and nightclubs are named after her. But her artistic merit has…

10 Quirky Parisian Dream Pads For Sale, Just Because

I got into another one of my periodical black holes of pretend house-hunting on the internet. So in the hopes that one of you might win the lottery and invite me over for un café, here are few of my favourites… 1. A Country House in Paris Located in what I like to call “the…

A Forgotten Kitsch Supper Club is Reborn in New York

A few months ago, a man woke up to a disorientating view outside the window of his apartment in industrial Bushwick, New York. He suddenly found himself face-to-face with a tender childhood memory and the exact glowing neon sign of the storied “Turk’s Inn” supper club from Hayward, Wisconsin, 1,250 miles away. That the recently…

There are Hundreds of Islands for Sale around the World Right now, so let’s go Window Shopping

There’s always that one friend who says they’re going to quit the world and live on their own island someday – and you can pass this on to them in a moment – but first, take a moment to do a little daydreaming of your own. You wouldn’t believe how many islands are up for…

The Art of French Kitsch and its Eccentric Parisian Queen

As a decorator, the late Madeleine Castaing embodied over-the-top luxury and la vie bohème. As a patron, no – diva – of the arts, Castaing’s eye for excellence helped sponsor some of the greatest artists of all time, from Soutine to Modigliani. During the height of World War II, she opened an extravagant boutique behind…

Who wants to take over 13 Greenhouses? Café, Historic Nursery & Cottage included

I can picture myself now: waking up with the birds, throwing on a pair of wellies and zipping up my fleece as I walk out to a little hamlet of 13 Victorian greenhouses. The lines of the glass catch the morning sunlight just so, as dawn breaks through the trees. Clutching a watering can, I…

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