Megan Morton hearts Greek!

At the Milan Furniture Fair this year, I was overwhelmed by the incredible things I had seen; by the end of it, I felt I needed to wash out my eyeballs!

But one of the things that has stayed with me is the very authentic wallpaper offerings I spotted from design collective 39.22. In a market full of excessively polished, metallicised and over-worked wallpaper, the completely authentic retro-ness of 39.22 stood out.

Taking inspiration from the streets of Athens, artists have had their work transformed onto vinyl papers, which add a distinctive surface texture. The design collective are based in Greece (see the group's promo video here) but stock the world over.



Following this delicious paper find, it was like I was a magnet for all great and Greek things!! Post-Milan, a shooting trip to Melbourne had me at Hellenic Republic with its beautiful bright blue coffee machine and impressive modern taverna fit-out by Mills Gorman Architects.



It's hard to describe how decadent it feels to have a bowl of loukoumades – eight oversized doughnuts floating in Attiki honey and doused in nuts for breakfast but needless to say, it's a bit like stumbling across the fabulous wallpaper in a sea of Milan-slickness – kinda a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Not to mention the best $12.50 ever spent on a breakfast item (although it's not officially a breakfast item, but can be requested).



It would be irresponsible then not to make mention of another inherent piece of Greek goodness and that is the colour blue. Living with blue is incredible – its restorative benefits are well known but what I love the most about working with it is the way it sits so proudly with woods, a dark palette or its natural match, white; it's a real all-rounder. (My best blue paint has to be Bauwerk's 43/80).



And speaking of blues, now is also hyacinth time – especially pretty in soft blue. Single stems placed in simple glass beakers can be really devastating. There is a magical room we are working on at the moment at HOME that is one part Greek inspired, two parts a love letter to blues. Keep watching! It's truly beautiful.

Now all we need is an excuse to use the ridiculously charming 33.22 paper …

Megan, contributing stylist, www.meganmorton.com