House Beautiful Magazine

My friend Marissa is quite the interior designer and hands off her old magazines to me when she’s finished with them. I don’t normally buy House Beautiful but am discovering its quite a good magazine! Something cozy caught my eye in the March 2008 issue. The article is called “Bold works with Bright” and happens to be shot by one of my favorite L.A. photographers Victoria Pearson. The house being photographed is located in Ojai just north of Los Angeles and was an old farmhouse. The owner/interior designer is Kathryn M. Ireland and I just love her casual totally kicked back approach to decorating. Some excerpts:

On the size of her house:

“The charm of this is that all of the sleeping quarters are small and intimate, and the living areas are majestic without being grand. I could never use 10,000 square feet. It’s much more fun to be COZY. The truth is, if you live in a house with a foyer, you’re in big trouble. That’s the epitome of ANTI-COZY – having a huge house with rooms tht are never used. I think the huge, formal house thing, that kind of excess, is all over. If your house is too grand to walk around in your nightie, whats the point?”

Wow, how refreshing is that? What are all those people in their super huge mansions thinking?

On pillows: “one thing about pillows – never overstuff. You want them to bounce back. I want all my pillows to look like a dog has just laid on them. And then my trick for arranging them -throw them and let them land where they may.

For someone who lives in Southern California who looks like they could afford anything, thats pretty cool talk!

Lucky Ojai doggy!