Happy Friday & Welcome Weekend! Looks like it will be a beautiful weekend... so why don't you grab your favourite person, a bag, a rug, a little something to snack on, maybe some wine or a thermos of tea and set off for a sojourn to a sunny spot, by the water or in the park... 
I had a super wonderful day traipsing around the design precincts of Sydney, through Waterloo, Redfern & Surry Hills, for what was one of the opening days for the Sydney Design 09 Festival - for Saturday in Design.
The Country Trader
Missoni soft furnishings
Eames - Prince Charles chair
Poolside Grove In this lush and relaxing setting, landscape architect Andrea Cochran placed the pool terrace between a charming olive grove and a lush, grassy Sonoma Valley meadow. Beautiful and serene, the raised lap pool reflects the white clouds of the sky.Photographer: Emily Rylander
Shimmering Stretch Set in idyllic and magnificent Marin County, California, this 75-foot-long lap pool, designed by landscape architect Bernard Trainor is stunning against the native grassland. A concrete and stone walkway leads down to the gleaming expanse, accented with coyote bush, needle grass, and rosemary, to enhance the land’s natural beauty. Photographer: Jason Liske
Bring on the Bubbly Landscape designer Anthony Exter designed this spectacular pool space in Pasadena, California, with a light installation and waterfall to mimic a bubbling bottle of champagne. That motif, plus the accompanying allee with enough space to seat 100 plus people, makes this contemporary backyard a posh party space. Photographer: Steve Gunther
Art Escape A cube-shaped grotto rises majestically out of a gleaming pool in Napa Valley. The ceiling of the grotto is equipped with programmable LED light strips to further the artlike effect. Designed by Tom Leader Studio, this pool features “wet edges,” making it look like a surreal, edgeless expanse. Photographer: Florian Holzherr
Bay Beauty Pristinely set up on a seven-acre site on Lynnhaven Bay, a part of a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, this lovely landscape designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz appears as if the patio is a floating island. A fresh water pond surrounds the raised paths to the lap pool and adjacent family pool. The effect is that of a true getaway. Architect: William McDonough + Partners
The well-manicured homes and sparkling beaches of the Hamptons make it the summer community of choice for many New York City dwellers. It's also where Victoria Hagan met her husband, Michael Berman. Soon after their wedding, they began looking for a house, preferably an old one, to buy. "Then we came across this piece of land with beautiful farm views," says Victoria. They decided to build a new house in the style of the traditional saltboxes that Victoria has always loved, but "to make the interiors a little more open and light," she says. The house reflects Victoria's talent for mixing an intriguing range of furnishings, from antique finds to clean-lined pieces of her own design, and conjuring the oft-desired but hard-to-achieve effect of relaxed elegance and sophistication that is still family welcoming. "Soon after we moved in, I found out I was having twins," she recalls (sons Harry and Alex are now 10), "so this house is very special to us because I've watched my boys grow up here."
Landscape designer Lisa Bynon created a dentil-edged bluestone walk from the back door.
"We sited the house very carefully to capture the light. We see the most beautiful sunsets from the family room and the back terrace."
"We designed the family room to look like an addition to the 'old' house, with a peaked ceiling framed in antique beams," says Victoria. "It's our favorite part of the house." Unadorned windows welcome in light and views of the surrounding fields. Sea-grass matting, a linen-slipcovered sofa, and a coffee table of Victoria's own design have stood the test of toddlers and time.
Vases and a faux-shagreen lamp are from Victoria Hagan's "Perfect Pieces" launch collection for Target; her line changes seasonally.
Hints of pale pink and lilac bring "the colors of twilight" into the master bedroom. Victoria's fabric designs -- "Four Seasons" on the pillows and "Halex" on the slipper chairs -- bring a touch of femininity to the dark woods of a carved tester bed and side tables. A flat-weave wool carpet and painted floors keep the effect soft and light.
The dining room is lit by candlelight from a silver fixture that probably once hung in a church and an antique carriage lantern. "This isn't a large room, so it feels intimate, but we can still squeeze in 12 for dinner," says Victoria. "I like upholstered chairs for dining," she notes, and these old bobbin-turned chairs covered in wool felt set up an intriguing contrast with the cross-braced Porter dining table of her own design
Thought I would share with you - this view is from one of my favourite places in Sydney's Pittwater... I adore the soft dusky pale pink haze settling over the background, and boats dotted in the foreground there on the water waiting like loyal old friends. I feel like a wistful voyeur looking into a quiet calm cove of blissful naivety...
I came across some stunning images by photographer Felix Rachor that made me feel a juxtaposed sense of inspired yet fleeting calmness of colourful passion - that had been ignited on a - Monday! 
For the bedroom of Beth Buccini, a cofounder of fashion boutique Kirna Zabête, interior designer Carl D’Aquino combined two 19th-century gilt-wood headboards and upholstered them in a thickly patterned floral fabric. Behind the bed is a hanging made of a leafy textile by Clarence House.
The Palm Beach, Florida, dining room of Simon Doonan (creative director of Barneys New York) and Jonathan Adler (potter extraordinaire) flaunts an iconic floral wallpaper made by Bob Collins & Sons, accentuated by white-lacquer furniture. Photographer: William Waldron
When commissioned to decorate the bedroom of a client’s daughter, designer Katie Ridder combined two floral creations—a dense printed cotton by Muriel Brandolini and an airy pink fabric by Lori Weitzner for Sahco Hesslein. Photographer: William Waldron
Style icon Lee Radziwill wrapped her cozy New York City library in an Indian-themed fabric by Le Manach printed with brilliant pink lilies and exotic foliage. The English églomisé table lamp has a floral motif too. Photographer: Eric Boman
Endless Palatial features to this magnificent property include;
