Last week I gave you an external glimpse of our home, and this week a sneaky peek into our stairwell.  I love the huge steel corner window – reminiscent of the Art Deco period and how the afternoon light floods in.

I had never lived in a double story home before, and growing up I was always intrigued by houses with stairs.  I love the idea of ‘climbing’ up to go to bed, like a little birds nest.  I feel safe upstairs and love that the space is somewhat a private part of our home.  Inevitably I always have little piles on the bottom or top step.  Items that need to be ‘put away’ on their respective floors.

When my nieces and nephews visit us, they are so excited that we have stairs and LOVE playing on them.  However, Poppy’s safety gates have somewhat curbed their freedom of sliding down on their bottoms.

Nick also has wonderful memories of visiting his Grandfather at the house we now live in, when he was a boy.  He and his brothers spent many hours sliding down the stairs on sleeping bags, only to receive warnings about how they would wear out the carpet.  The carpet is still going strong … some 30 years later!

The stairs have also been a great training ground for Poppy as she learns to manoeuvre each step, both up and down.  Sometimes she finds the ‘Scary Stair Monster’ (aka Dad) to hurry her along. Roaaaarrrrr!

Today, I am giving you a sneaky peek into our Den.  I love having a Den – it reminds me of the Brady Bunch, when Mr. Brady would retire to his Den to give Greg some fatherly advice – it sounded so mysterious, and hip!

Our Den was originally an old garage, and Nick’s Grandfather converted it into its current form.  The Art Deco features are still evident with the black light sconces and steel window frames, which we love!

We painted the room several years ago and chose a warmer colour than the rest of the house (which is painted Dulux Antique White USA and Berkshire White).  After many sample pots, we finally decided upon Linseed Quarter Strength, which is often termed ‘Paris Grey‘ – and sounds rather exotic. Last year we also had new honeycomb blinds and a desk installed and as a result, it is a very cosy room.

The Den also houses some of our favourite furniture including the camel leather deck chair that I found in an antique shop (St Georges Antiques) in Battery Point and is originally from Sri Lanka.  We have a family blackwood book shelf; a leather and perspex lamp; the original sofa made by Nick’s Grandfather (which we had covered in a cotton/linen several years ago) and many of our favourite photos, art, books and knick-knacks.

Nick doesn’t quite retire with his cognac, but it is a very pleasant space, especially when the afternoon sun streams in.