The Best of ELLE DECORATION: the home of decorator Veronica Blomgren in Bali
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14 Dec 2022
The carefree atmosphere of Bali has no power over Veronica Bloomgren. The famous decorator and hostess of the boutique hotel not only designed her new house in record time, but also wrote an essay about it for ELLE DECORATION, which was published in May 2011
The doors of the bedrooms overlook the pool. Around the pool — white pebbles from the island of Java. The old teak table is used for outdoor breakfast.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOEMGREN
The hostess of the house, decorator Veronica Bloomgren by the pool.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV
I definitely have gypsy blood in me. I'm not even trying to count how many times I've moved in recent years. The idea that I need to settle down somewhere does not even occur to me. Thank God, this is no longer about throwing between the Philippines, India and Laos. My moves have become more local — from one village near my Oazia Hotel to another. As a result of these movements, we had to admit the sad fact: there are as many beautiful or at least not ugly houses in Bali as in Russia — not enough!
The house I live in now was chosen on the principle of "from the opposite". It turned out to be the least terrible of all the ones viewed in a few weeks. Three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen with a roof terrace, a swimming pool, a tiny garden with a pond and fish. What more could you want? Since my housing is always temporary, serious alterations and repairs have been excluded (there is enough of this good in my life already!). It took three weeks to repaint the dark brown wood in white, to pour pebbles around the pool, to arrange pots with plants in the corners, to hang white curtains on the windows, and huge photos on the walls.
Living room. Lampshades of floor lamps are made of sarongs — traditional Balinese clothing resembling a skirt. The interior is dominated by shades of natural wood. Correctly placed accents of blue create the illusion of coolness even on the hottest days.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOMGREN
I've always dreamed of a life without an office and all the problems and expenses associated with it. Dreams come true! My office is now located on the balcony of my bedroom: a huge table, where I actually create, a view of the sunset, a light breeze from the sea and the singing of birds. The village where my house stands is a remote and sparsely populated place. But the silence here is so deep and the air is so fresh that my windows are always open. I fall asleep to the sound of waves, and sometimes to the sound of rain on the table in the "office", the sounds of Balinese night ceremonies and the chirping of cicadas. I wake up with birdsong and the rustle of elastic leaves of tropical jasmine.
Guest bedroom. The translucent canopy over the bed not only adds a romantic note to the interior, but also protects from insects.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOMGREN
"The best remedy for insomnia is the sound of rain, the sounds of Balinese night ceremonies and the chirping of cicadas"
Veronica's bedroom is located on the second floor. At the head of the bed is a photograph of the sun's glare on the surface of the water. The curtains are made of white linen, bamboo mats on the floor.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOMGREN
It turned out a long time ago that the pool is not a place for me to swim. I've bathed in it five times in a year, and then by force. After all, man is an amazing being: he never appreciates what he has. The pool in my house is a big carpet in the middle of the open—air living room. And there are no sunbeds — there are only sofas, armchairs and a breakfast table near it.
The boundaries between the interior and the surrounding space in the house are very conditional. A low table made of teak wood, cushions made of local batik on the sofas.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOEMGREN
I recently gave a lecture on color perception. Students and I set up an experiment: I called an emotion — sadness, fear, joy, and they had to associate it with some shade in a second. Negative emotions inevitably turned out to be in the fashionable gray-brown-black-blue-burgundy-olive color scheme, and positive ones — in the pink-orange-green-glowing, so rarely found in interiors. Then we wrote lists of those emotions and feelings that we would like to fill our house with, and the colors that are associated with them, and laid out these colors on floors, walls, curtains and furniture. That's what I always do when I'm working on interiors.
A fragment of Veronica's bedroom. An unusual screen is made of old doors. There is a teak console by the wall. It features sculptures by local craftsmen and a seashell from the island of Flores.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOMGREN
Russian—translated photo portrait of Veronika's beloved dog, Sayan, adorns the dining room wall.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOMGREN
In my living room, I wanted to feel calm (hence the white color of the walls, light stone on the floor, white curtains and sofas), the joy of communicating with loved ones (natural shades of wood and bamboo), freedom of thought and spirit (pale blue silk in the curtains, dark blue cotton sofa cushions and a drop fuchsias). That's how I live. Bye… Until the next move.
Roof terrace of the house. This area with low sofas and a canopy can be used as a living room, but in fact, hosts and guests are not often here. "Perhaps because of the ongoing construction at the neighbors," Veronika says.
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ALEXEY KONOVALOV, VERONIKA BLOEMGREN
