Inspired home: Dark and Inviting

 I'm drawn today to these images from interior designer, Abigail Ahern  book, A Girl's Guide to Decorating. There is a rustic, regal feel, with a cooling urban atmosphere in her home. (Her sister Gemma's home is a dark beauty too). The dark and neutral tones and textures feel so homey to me right now.

In her recent blog post, she talks about figuring out your decorating style. She says,

"I follow my heart and my subconscious and although hard to define its a funked up, idiosyncratic tour de force (can I say that about my style)? For some of us it can be over whelming its visual overload out there what with cool interiors stores, magazines, galleries, blogs, fab bars and so on. Pull back and try to analyse what appeals what pushes your buttons or makes you heart beat a little bit faster – tear out images from magazines, flag blog images you respond too and before long you will have a folio that begins to build a story of how you want your space to look. Its worth noting anything that shouts Ta Da when going through images as this is what turns a space from ordinary to extraordinary. It could be a super sized lamp on a tiny desk, a beautiful patterned rug skimming a floor oh and remember it takes time. A simple fact you can’t define your style if you haven’t invested time in knowing what’s out there its as simple as that."

 Apartment therapy describes her book as, "Abigail Ahern's rooms are dark and seductive as photographed for her book, A Girl's Guide to Decorating. These rooms wrap you up like a cozy blanket when you're reading on the sofa late at night."