There’s nothing worse than walking into someone’s home and realizing that they just went on a 24-hour furniture binge at Frontgate. How do I navigate this thing? Is it a spaceship or a settee? So very sad. Your home should be a reflection of you. The desirable parts, that is. Try to keep your hoarding tendencies upstairs, because only really nosy people will find your closet and raid your medicine cabinet. I happen to collect things. Like throw pillows. And Frida Kahlo portraits, grosgrain ribbon, dried seed pods, crucifixes and exotic spices that I will never use in a recipe.

One thing I love more than anything is filling le Château with vignettes of my collected things. The key is that I curate, and don’t slap me for using that word. Everyone’s home is filled with fantastic things. If you edit and artfully combine your things you can create masterpieces.

Here is a perfectly eclectic little corner that I threw together while Gilles and Manon were building the Eiffel Tower out of toothpicks. There are many reasons why it works. Industrial swing arm lamp alongside refined crystal? Perfect. Weathered mantle topped with delicate silver? More perfect. You could do the same thing by combining something traditional with 70s kitsch. Or something antique with something unapologetically modern. If you placed this in front of a portrait of a dead king or queen, Jonathan Adler would be over in five minutes, so slap on some makeup and put on a dress!

It also uses a limited color palette, and less is more, as I said before. If you have a chintz teacup collection, display two alongside your grandfather’s antique typewriter. No one wants to be bombarded by twenty-five of anything. And there’s something essential about having a bit of Mother Nature sprinkled in. Clipped evergreen boughs or a little bowl of floating mums will add the perfect, finishing touch.

Until next time, loves.  xxx, M.