Feeling as if you're on Holiday



Serena Crawford is living my dream life.  I have never met Serena Crawford, in fact, I had never heard of Serena Crawford until last week.  Now I am in obsessed with her awe inspiring life and style.
Coincidentally, when I was writing my last post on African influence in design, I happened to simultaneously be listening to James Swan's podcast on Million Dollar Decorator.  If you haven't heard  James interview designers and those in the design field, take a listen.  It's a treat.  That day I had the great pleasure of hearing James interview Serena.  Serena Crawford has the great luxury of building, designing, and decorating homes for herself!  She and her husband then sell them and move on.  Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, her journey has taken her from South Africa to Sydney, with her eye on London.  The homes are warm, inviting, dramatic in their placement, and truly reflect Serena. .


















Serena says she always wants to feel like she is on holiday. Wouldn't that be nice!  It is fun to see much of the same slip covered furniture, Ango-Indian and Flemish pieces, blue and white pottery, etc. go from home to home, each time in a fresh unique way.  Serena reiterated what I had said in the story below. Due to a lack of resources, she and her team were forced to become very resourceful, much custom made in the building process.  She introduced  the loggia, decorated just like an interior room, as an outdoor extension of the home in Australia, when she built a home in Sydney.
















Serena talks of her love for bathing outdoors.  In each home she was able to build in a private bathing oasis.  She loves it so much that she laughingly said sometimes she has to lay in the tub with an umbrella shielding her from the sun because she has gotten burnt before while bathing.  That's the beauty of building from scratch.  You can completely customize everything to your exact standards.  Lucky for Serena she has beautiful style that many appreciate, because I don't think she is in these homes very long before someone comes along and wants to buy one.
















What a privilege it must be to build and design for yourself, sell it and move on to do it again. Granted, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love the idea of reinvention.  Taking along those pieces that hold the most joy and help keep you rooted means something.



















Follow Serena's adventures on Instagram and check out her portfolio for more.  She is one lucky girl living a well designed life.

photos:Serena Crawford






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