California Style

A typical Kathryn Ireland California-style bedroom.

Meryl Streep's house in the movie "It's Complicated".

British but California-based fabric and interior designer Kathryn Ireland said recently that if you put Southern California and England into a blender, it would spit out Sydney. This could be why as a born and bred Sydneysider, I am drawn to to her colourful designs. I am also a convert to the Spanish Revival architecture often found in that area north of L.A. where she lives and works.

Recently I saw the movie "It's Complicated" starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin on DVD again. What I really loved watching it for the second time was being able to take in all the interiors of Meryl's typical Santa Barbara ranch home.

Yes, I am a huge fan of the lightweight timber houses such as the Queenslander and my weatherboard dairy farmhouse in the country, but there is something attractive about the heaviness of the solid brick rendered walls and curves and arches of the Spanish Revival houses, too.

Kathryn Ireland's new book about her house in the South of France is due out on April 1st - can't wait to see it!