Achieving her simple, timeless, inspiring style is not just a matter of painting a room in white and adding a few white accessories.
Bearing in mind also that not everyone is married to an artist like her late husband and Architect Yves Bayard was, it also a bit more challenging to achieve the Morabito look if you do not live in a contemporary home with concrete floors, superb volumes, high ceilings and natural light.
However challenging it is, this is not impossible if you have at least wooden floorboards (and maybe if we really really want to stretch it....laminate flooring..argh..just writing 'laminate flooring' makes me cringe).
Ok let's run with it because I'm aware that a lot of property developers didn't refurbish their investments with Morabito's style in mind.
So of course the first thing to do is to paint all the walls in white which will not only create a blank canvas but will bring a beautiful, natural light to the room (very good if you suffer from SAD like me).
However, favour a white paint which will give some kind of texture or luminosity to the room. The Pure Brilliant White By Dulux is super easy to use and inexpensive (you can easily do a room for £12) but although it's called 'pure brilliant, it has a matt finish which I found quite flat and I mean by that, it's lacking of light. Depending on the light during the day, the white seems to be pulled towards shade of greys rather than being enhanced by natural light so inexpensive but not
On the contrary, the Pure Brilliant White mat by Crown has a great silky finish on which daylight bounces but Gosh, I almost hang myself out of frustration....It was painful to apply so my favourite choice is the Acrylic Satin Emulsion Paint from the Little Green company.
First, it's environment-friendly which I think is something we should all care about rather than always going for the cheap option (this apply to fashion too) and it has a fantastic finish. A bit more expensive than the other 2 but I think spending £25 to re-do a room is still very reasonable.
Then you can either paint the floorboard in white or sand them.
I'm trying both at home at the moment, mainly because Steve has sanded a room to my request and I can not decently tell him now that I'm going to paint the floorboards without him losing it. So I'm currently bleaching this room to clean the wood and the other one, which has already white painted floorboards will get a new coat of paint (I will let you know which one looks best when I'm done with them).
If you have laminate floors or carpets, well...c'est la vie..No I'm kidding but I guess you will do what I did for years, just wait to be able to find the right house with original floorboards.
Once your canvas is ready, just go easy on the decoration part.
Bedding (sorry I should have mentioned that I was in the bedroom)....go for simple beds rather than one which is going to set the entire mood in the room. I'm in love with the brushed-steel bedframe from Parma Lilac (if you are aware of similar designs without headboards - let me know please) and go for organic, cotton bed linens (pure linen if you can afford to splash).
Muji and the White Company have a great selection of nice duvet covers in organic cotton and beautiful hues of white, soft grey and sand.
Then accessorize...gently...take your time...Add one thing at the time and just wait. Wait for you to feel the room, to really get that less is more.
Personally I think an old, vintage (even rusty and broken) French garden chair looks like a piece of art against a wall white. A bit what Morabito achieves here with this old stool below. When we moved in our house last December, there was a broken garden chair slowly dying on the roof terrace which now looks amazing in the room.
Rather than safely hanging a beautiful print centered above the bed (boring, boring, boring), style the room by hanging it on one side of the bed using your old garden chair as a side table or simply hang ceramic decorations, crosses or something unusual like this reproduction of an XVIII Century stoup and display drawing and B&W family photos in picture frames left on the floor to add to the creative, artistic flair of the room.
Personally I think an old, vintage (even rusty and broken) French garden chair looks like a piece of art against a wall white. A bit what Morabito achieves here with this old stool below. When we moved in our house last December, there was a broken garden chair slowly dying on the roof terrace which now looks amazing in the room.
Rather than safely hanging a beautiful print centered above the bed (boring, boring, boring), style the room by hanging it on one side of the bed using your old garden chair as a side table or simply hang ceramic decorations, crosses or something unusual like this reproduction of an XVIII Century stoup and display drawing and B&W family photos in picture frames left on the floor to add to the creative, artistic flair of the room.
Lighting: There is two ways to achieve the Morabito style (well...three).
Either you go for a beautiful French vintage chandelier (see above) and I will try to drag Steve there (antiques, tea & cakes sounds quite good to me) or for a simple bone china pendant light like Kathleen Hills knows how to make.
You can also try to make a pendant light yourself by buying some twisted flex from a DIY shop and create a loop. I also like the look of this beautiful light by Birgit Ostergaard. I have it at home and it really looks beautiful.
Then for the final touches, simply add things you really love and mix contemporary, feminine accessories like these pretty tea-lights with flea-market founds - i.e. an old French metal box or an almond green tea box from Laduree, a gift from my friend Mel which I now use to store spare buttons (don't ask, it's one of these 'mother to daughter' things/habits I inherited).
Hang a beautiful, linen bag on your cupboard to store socks and tights and display a few, stylish bottles to store your body lotion, perfume, etc...
I really enjoy doing this post so I hope you will love it. Have a lovely weekend
You can also try to make a pendant light yourself by buying some twisted flex from a DIY shop and create a loop. I also like the look of this beautiful light by Birgit Ostergaard. I have it at home and it really looks beautiful.
Then for the final touches, simply add things you really love and mix contemporary, feminine accessories like these pretty tea-lights with flea-market founds - i.e. an old French metal box or an almond green tea box from Laduree, a gift from my friend Mel which I now use to store spare buttons (don't ask, it's one of these 'mother to daughter' things/habits I inherited).
Hang a beautiful, linen bag on your cupboard to store socks and tights and display a few, stylish bottles to store your body lotion, perfume, etc...
I really enjoy doing this post so I hope you will love it. Have a lovely weekend
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