Today I bring you Faringdon House in Oxfordshire, a late-Georgian manor once owned by the eccentric Lord Berners. A modernist composer, Dadaist painter and writer, Lord Berners entertained an incredible crowd at Faringdon including Cecil Beaton, Dali, Fonteyn, H G Wells, Stravinsky, and Gertrude Stein.

I was drawn into the double drawing-room (below) with its contrasting dark and pale schemes. The contrast is unexpected and reflects the nature of the house where walls hung with Corots, Constables, and Matisses contrast with tongue-in-cheek phrases adorned the walls, such as one at the top of the stairs that reads "No dogs admitted."

As of 2001, the home was still in the hands of a relative of Berners, who at the time was renting the home for £8,000 per month. Read more about her here.

Images from English Elegance by Judy Brittain

As I embark here I hope to bring a unique and inspiring point of view on design, culture, and life. It's hard to say exactly where I will go on these pages but living in a world so full of amazing and beautiful spaces, atmospheres, and experiences, I hope to bring a small fraction here and start a dialogue.

So today I begin with a very famous room that looks as good today as when it was designed in the late 1950s: the Yellow Room at Avery Row in London. A collaboration between John Fowler and Nancy Lancaster, it showcased both of their talents perfectly. In reading Colefax and Fowler: the Best in English Decoration, I realized how much Nancy Lancaster advanced John Fowler's aesthetic and this room is a perfect example. While Fowler was responsible for the paint treatments including the swagged husks above the cornice and the incredible curtains, the basic concept including the composition and color scheme was that of Nancy Lancaster.

Beyond the confident and marvelously executed paint, curtains, and floor plan, the room had a wonderful balance between formality and comfort - a trademark of the firm's work. What I love is the warmth and depth of the space, which blended many shades of yellow to create a nuanced effect that keeps one's eye moving and interested. I've studied this room time and time again but I always notice something I hadn't before, making this room one of my favorites.

Enjoy.

Image from Colefax and Fowler: the Best in English Decoration by Chester Jones