Currently Coveting: Fisherman Aesthetic

Striped couches, fisherman aesthetic and pale blue kitchens.

"Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style." – Billy Baldwin

I thought I would try something different this week, and share what I’m currently drawn to in the design world, instead of sharing a list of 50 things every other week (maybe it gets a bit old?) I love practical collections for home and my kitchen, so thought I’d list my favorites and what I’m seeing trend wise as an end of week treat!

(It’s long (bcos photos) so it will be truncated in your email – be sure to head over to Substack to read the entirety!)

Just everything about this house. The blue deck. The light on the stones. The red shutters and yellow curtains! It’s on Cape Ann in Massachussets, by Reath Design. Photo by Laura Joliet

Two years ago I had a young baby and decided to go back to school. This was triggered by an old friend of my husbands who had asked him over drinks and olives at a New York hotel bar whether he knew any interior designers. “Sophie,” Isaac nonchalantly offered. This friend then invited me to his 2000sq ft loft by the Flatiron building and asked for my advice. We chatted by his industrial cantilevered windows and I had visions of what this incredible (but empty) space could become, before quickly realizing I had zero professional training in this area, other than renovating our two Airbnb investment homes (one in the mountain town of Pine Mountain Club, CA, and the other in the Catskills of upstate New York.) I decided I needed to become floor-plan-literate and develop the ability to take my friends houses or Greenwich apartments from sad bachelor or cluttered mayhem to functional, beautiful places they felt fully themselves in.

The course is offered by the New York School of Art & Design¹ and is a lot longer and more intensive than I thought, especially since the enrollment fee is so affordable. It’s been a process getting through it in the late hours of the evening or while multitasking over dinner. I’m loving learning how to draw up floor plans the old-school way with pencils, drafting paper and a T-square.

The funny thing is, when I was seventeen I went to my orientation at the University of Western Australia and walked directly to the Architecture department. The foyer was cavernous and impressive. I was alone and started browsing course requirements, realizing that it was all very math and physics heavy (of course.) Because of stereotypes and insecurities I’d developed, I told myself that I wasn’t good at math and that I didn’t belong there. So instead, I walked to the English Literature department, where I knew I could get A’s and didn’t have to stretch myself much.

I often think about this moment, and how different my life might have been if I’d studied architecture. In many ways, studying interior design is a way of reclaiming that lost part of me; the inner seventeen year old who told herself she wasn’t good enough and didn’t have the resilience to be bad at something or simply uncomfortable. Do we do the things we want and risk looking bad by learning and making mistakes, or do we only do the things we know we’re good at, but which don’t always ask us to grow or be challenged?

I’m still learning how to be a good interior designer, and ironically my house at home is the last place I direct my design energies² but one thing I love is gathering inspiration like a bower bird.

Maybe you’ll find some inspiration here too?

Here’s what I’ve been obsessing over lately:

1. Striped Couches

The two rooms above have the same formula going on: low profile sofa, stripes, one warm pillow (pink or red) and the double cone lamp (search “wall sconce double cone” good options here for metal and here for rattan). I’m also obsessed with those pale blue window frames and the oil painting which ties it all together like a full stop.

The Lucy covered leg banquette, with the contrast blue piping and Fermoie Poulton stripe in L-319. Stripes are decidedly British which I love. Can you have enough? I’m not sure you can. This is Lucy William’s latest addition to her London apartment, more on her house below.

This one leans more gingham on the cushions but it’s still stripe to me. Everything about this room says relax, you’re safe here, you don’t have to worry. That’s how I want my house to be! Nothing too precious, but with a warmth you can feel.