Every time I look around this downtown Washington, DC, condo, my bo-dar (that’s BOHO radar) bleeps fast and furious. Yes, we’re in the nation’s capital, but swaths of coral paint keep me thinking tropical isles, sandy beaches, sun and fun.
Laura Metzler photo
Given that the owners are from Puerto Rico and missed their homeland in this urban new-build, that’s no surprise. That’s why they engaged interior/event designer Kerra Michele, of Kerra Michele Interiors, who chased those blues away with the right color in all the right places.
And given that I live in come-fall-come-gray-'til-spring Indiana, it's not a bad idea for perking up my own home environment (if I can sell Chris on it). I simply love how this color pulls all those open spaces together and draws you through them.
Let’s take a closer look…
Laura Metzler photo
Laura Metzler photo
Laura Metzler photo
Laura Metzler photo
Laura Metzler photo
Laura Metzler photo
If you want more…
Interior and even designer Kerra Michele of Kerra Michele Interiors
Shop (and follow!) both my Etsy and ebay stores for vintage finds, a few of my boho DIYs, and next-to-new surplus home decor. New merchandise gets added daily, so check both places often.
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I don’t know if the painter Claudio Bravo ever met singer-songwriter-musician Graham Nash, who wrote the late 1960s hit, “Marrakesh Express.” But it's Nash's song that chugs through my brain, like the train from Casablanca to Marrakech he sings of, every time I look at these photos of Bravo’s recently reimagined Marrakech riad.
More likely (though a far cry from fact), it was the reverse. The song, written in 1966 and released in 1969, could be what inspired Bravo to ditch the concrete jungle of New York City in 1972 for the splendors of the Mediterranean sun on Africa’s northern coast.
Bravo eventually owned three homes in Morocco, and this four-bedroom, single-story one in Marrakech became his winter abode. When the painter died in 2011, he bequeathed it and much of its contents to a friend. It's new caretaker called on Sardar Design Studio of New York to refresh the place as a getaway for her family while maintaining its stature as a museum home. The results are beyond stunning, as you will see.
Bravo was a hyperrealist painter, so I think he would’ve appreciated Nash leaving the first-class section of the train to mingle with the common folk and their animals, as the song describes. In fact, this 18th-century home is reached via twisting streets and alleyways, tucked amid merchant shops and artisan stalls. So it seems only fitting (to me anyway) for Nash’s lyrics to narrate our tour. If you’re a boho child of the late 1960s, like me, you surely remember the tune and can, at the very least, hum along.
All on board that train!
Simon Upton photo
A 19th-century-style bronze knocker and a plethora of nailheads greet you at the front door. Inside, a Syrian bridal chest and mirror inlaid with mother-of-pearl catch the sun from the courtyard around which the home is built.
Looking at the world through the sunset in your eyes
Simon Upton photo
A Berber blanket hangs above the living room sofa, a brazier (foreground left) doubles as a side table, and a banquet dish and stand serve as coffee table.
Trying to make the train through clear Moroccan skies
Simon Upton photo
At the other end of the living room, a Kurdish kilim covers a table. The daybed and star-shaped side table are Syrian, while the rugs are Moroccan.
Ducks and pigs and chickens call Animal carpet wall to wall
American ladies five foot tall in blue
Simon Upton photo
The dining room light fixture is an antique mosque lamp, an Uzbek suzani serves as tablecloth, and the chairs are camel-bone veneer.
Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind
Simon Upton photo
The richly inlaid furniture in this cozy corner of Bravo’s former studio is also Syrian. The Andalusian-style plaster frieze is custom-made. Most of Bravo’s art went to family members when he died, but the lithographs displayed here came with the house.
Had to get away to see what we could find
Simon Upton photo
A Spanish colonial desk, 19th-century Moroccan globes and box, a collection of antique Mamluk mosque lamps, Émile Gallé vases, and more Syrian pieces decorate the study.
Hope the days that lie ahead
Simon Upton photo
In Bravo’s former bedroom, the headboard is draped with a wool blanket and the bed with a Berber wedding blanket. The chest is antique Moroccan, and the Tuareg carpet is made of woven leather and palm fronds.
Bring us back to where they've led
Simon Upton photo
The Green Bedroom is my favorite room in the house. The bedspread is Gujarati mirrorwork embroidery, the chest is 19th-century Moroccan, and the desk and chair are bone inlay.
Listen not to what's been said to you
Simon Upton photo
In another bedroom, embroidered pillows from Fez and Rabat gather on an antique Spanish bed. The chair is Indian, while the table and chest of drawers are Syrian.
Would you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express?
Would you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express?
All on board that train!
Simon Upton photo
And yes, the house comes with its own hammam—in Valencian marble, no less.
I've been saving all my money just to take you there
Simon Upton photo
I could do for a soak here, especially after that dusty train ride.
I smell the garden in your hair
Simon Upton photo
Or here. I’m not particular, but I am wondering about the view from these tubs.
Take the train from Casablanca going south
Simon Upton photo
I hear it’s spectacular, so let’s take a closer look.
Blowing smoke rings from
the corners of my my, my my, my mouth
Simon Upton photo
Mandarin-orange trees underplanted with white roses grace the courtyard. Part of the “refresh” involved deepening the courtyard pool, which features a 19th-century Indian fountain, to allow for swimming. Street sounds drift over the courtyard walls, as do the Islamic calls to prayer.
Colored cottons hang in air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped djellebas we can wear at home
Simon Upton photo
This patio furniture is Indian marble, while the lantern is Moroccan. What else?
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express? Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express? They're taking me to Marrakesh. All on board that train! All on board that train!
If you want more, which, of course, you KNOW you do…
Self-portrait of Claudio Bravo painting in his djellaba
Check out decorative art from the homes and studio of Claudio Bravo from a past auction HERE and HERE.
Click on the play button in the video below to watch and listen as a mature Crosby, Stills & Nash perform “Marrakesh Express.” Then, as it plays, go back and look through this home again. You can even sing along!
If touring this home gives you a hankering for Morocco, you're in luck! Bravo's main home—a palace in Tangiers—is for sale. Follow the link to the realtor's listing. His third home at Taroudant is a museum you can tour when you visit and, in the meantime, virtually. You'll find additional photographs of it on Trip Advisor.
Check out the (affiliate) links at the bottom of this page to learn more about the group Crosby, Stills & Nash; the painter, Claudio Bravo; and how to get the Moroccan look in your boho home.
Shop (and follow!) both my Etsy and ebay stores for vintage finds, a few of my boho DIYs, and next-to-new surplus home decor. New merchandise gets added daily, so check both places often.
Sign up to have BoHo Home posts sent to your inbox using the subscription link in the sidebar (top right). Or follow with Bloglovin, a social-media platform that allows you to set up an account and access all the blogs you want to read in one place.
This 1,475-square-foot apartment on Moscow’s Lomonosov Avenue may not come complete with James Bond (Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, or even Daniel Craig). But like the classic spy thriller series and its stars, it’s bold, glamorous, and indefatigably charming.
It’s the home of interior designer Marina Zhukova, who put her own personal stamp on the luxe digs in a new build so her young family could be closer to their textile and wallpaper showroom in the nearby Frunzenskaya Embankment.
Have a look around & see if you don’t agree: It’s both Bond-tastic AND Spectre-acular!
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
The Village
If you want more…
Continue your tour of this apartment at The Village. And don’t leave the site without opposite-mouse-clicking on “translate” to read the article by Masha Shatalina.
Shop (and follow!) both my Etsy and ebay stores for vintage finds, a few of my boho DIYs, and next-to-new surplus home decor. New merchandise gets added daily, so check both places often.
Sign up to have BoHo Home posts sent to your inbox using the subscription link in the sidebar (top right). Or follow with Bloglovin, a social-media platform that allows you to set up an account and access all the blogs you want to read in one place.
Textile designer John Robshaw’s Connecticut country house will stop you in your tracks with its mesmerizing mix of color and pattern.
Although the 2,000-square-foot space set on eight acres is an early-19th-century cottage, Robshaw made a point to decorate in counterpoint. “I enjoy that kind of collage in which things don’t quite make sense,” he says.
Robshaw began his career as a painter and traveled to India in the 1990s to create indigo washed textiles and block prints to be used as canvases. But he soon discovered his passion was for the fabric itself and has since created beddings, fabric, and accessories he sells on his own website. Along the way he helped stimulate the current appetite for richly colored and patterned interiors that use Asian and tribal geometrics in new ways. Current collaborations are with artisans from Zimbabwe to Laos.
“Left to my own devices, I am definitely extreme,” Robshaw admits. That’s why he engaged interior designer Sara Bengur to help bring him down to earth. “She reminds me that you have to have some negative space. You can’t just endlessly layer.”
Cases in point
Richard Powers photo / Elle Decor
A closer look at the home’s side entry reveals those plain white walls pave the way for the show-stopping, custom-made coral settee with a whimsical Byzantine back.
Cushions are covered in a daring rose and violet linen stripe (from Robshaw’s collection) that makes the pet parrot hanging in a nearby cage seem like a native species. “He fits in here,” Robshaw chuckles. “You close your eyes, and you think you’re in a tropical forest.”
Richard Powers photo
The living room sofa and its fabric are from Robshaw’s collection for Duralee. The armchair, banquettes, and bone inlay side table were all designed by him as well. The coffee table is from India, and the dhurrie rug is a custom design.
And how about that lavender fireplace? I'm swooning over that one.
Richard Powers photo
The striped dhurries in the adjacent dining room are by Robshaw, and the armchair in the background and its fabric is also from his collection for Duralee. The vintage light is from India.
I love the bookcases AND their color.
Richard Powers photo
The kitchen is an eclectic mix tied together with Benjamin Moore’s Rose Quartz on the walls and Starry Night on the cabinets. Robshaw is as much a mixmaster with paint as he is with pattern.
Richard Powers photo
The Rose Quartz walls make a striking backdrop for Dutch plates from Sri Lanka and turbans custom-made in India. The chair is also Indian.
Richard Powers photo
More of Robshaw’s textile designs outfit the master bedroom bed, windows and floor. The crimson chest is a Tibetan antique trunk.
Richard Powers photo
Although the ceilings are low, which is typical of homes built during this period, Robshaw hasn’t let that stop him from making tall statements with furniture, such as the guest room headboard, which, in shape, echoes the settee in the side entry. The fabric covering it, as well as the bedding and drapery fabric, are from Robshaw’s collection.
Richard Powers photo
The stunning sink cabinet in the upstairs bath came from Syria, and the shower curtain and rug are from Robshaw’s collection.
If you want more…
Richard Powers photo
I most likely can't wangle you an invite to kick back with Robshaw on his Litchfield County, CT, patio. But you can...
Continue your tour of his home in the July/August issue of Elle Décor magazine, or read Nancy Hass’ interview with Robshaw on the ED website.
Check out interior designer Sara Bengur’s portfolio on her website.
Shop (and follow!) my Etsy store, BoHo Home By Susan, for vintage finds and a few of my boho DIYs. I have vintage and home décor items for sale on ebay too! New merchandise gets added daily, so check both places often.
Sign up to have BoHo Home posts sent to your inbox using the subscription link in the sidebar (top right). Or follow with Bloglovin, a social-media platform that allows you to set up an account and access all the blogs you want to read in one place.
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