For me, each onefinestay listing is a little like an episode of through the keyhole. By assembling the jigsaw pieces of a home; the style, the layout, the colour schemes, furnishings and gadgets, you can begin to glimpse a little of the life of a person that lives in "a house like this".

Working in the onefinestay operational team, I'm in the privileged position of visiting our homes and meeting their charismatic owners - Lloyd Grossman eat your heart out! So let me take you on a journey through the keyhole and share with you some of the connections between home style and host lifestyle.

 

Lonsdale Road is a home styled by an individual with her own unique design flair. Light and bright, but almost bursting at the seams with a collection of items discovered over the years, paying testament to the many roads she has explored. It has taxidermy, a table constructed from wooden pallets, and even a sign ‘borrowed’ years ago when leaving school for the final time...  The result is eclectic, extroverted and yet creative, much like the host.

 

Add into the mix a plethora of feather boas, hats, and even fancy dress and we have a lady who isn’t afraid of social situations.

The final clues are lamps in the lounge and bedroom, strange contraptions which are out of their natural habitat. (Clue: a photographer's studio)

 

So who would live in a house like this? You can click through to the listing to reveal the occupation of this creative soul. And if you like what you see here, perhaps book a stay and get your very own glimpse of life...through the keyhole! Here's til next time!

 

 

The sun has been shining, the birds have been singing, oh and we all lost an hour of sleep on Sunday. Spring is most definitely here...

Spring is almost certainly my favourite season in London - ok so the weather is a little tempestuous (and you can start the day in a summer dress and end the day wishing you had a thick wooly coat), but nothing can beat the true blue of London spring skies and the scent of the year's first mowed grass in the parks.

I took the opportunity to wander London's streets at the weekend and snapped a few shots of St Paul's looking stunning in the sunshine.

For anyone feeling inspired by these pictures, we have a fantastic 2 bedroom home in Carter Lane, just a short stroll from Sir Christopher Wren's iconic masterpiece and perfect for your central London city break! It even has a stunning secluded back garden where you can relax in the gentle spring sunshine!

 

 

Of course the other great thing about spring is that it's a time of new beginnings and growth. The reason I'm using this cliche, is that two things I saw on my London stroll really summed this feeling up:

Firstly...the stunning newly sprouted flower beds that line the city streets - these beautiful yellow and purple blooms absolutely brought a smile to my face:

 

Secondly, rising above the London skyline I snapped this picture of the amazing feat of engineering that is The Shard of Glass. When completed in 2012 this amazing building will be 1017ft tall - in fact it will be the tallest building in the EU and 45th tallest in the world. You can learn more about it here

And this is what the finished product is expected to look like.

Our home at Butler's Wharf  is in a prime location to watch this building grow, with a fantastic balcony for viewing the ever changing city skyline as well as Tower Bridge, so why not book a stay now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday last week I took a wander outside the office mid-morning to replenish the onefinestay milk supply (for the third time in two days...our milk consumption has rocketed in recent days as the team rapidly expands, and we started providing free cereals for the morning munchies). Turning the corner off Bowling Green Lane I was greeted by lines and lines of film trailers and double decker buses. I quickly discovered that this temporary trailer park was in fact nothing less than a major motion picture film set on the move!

Highly excited by the prospect of seeing a celeb in the flesh I skipped back to the office to let everyone know that Meryl Streep was outside shooting scenes for “The Iron Lady”, the new biopic about Maggie Thatcher. I even snuck a peak into her wardrobe trailer, which was decked out wall to wall with the somewhat dowdy skirt suits which Maggie was so famous for. Poor Meryl.

I have to admit that looking at promotional shots for the movie, Meryl does in fact bear an uncanny resemblance to the great Iron Lady herself, and am interested to see the film later in the year.

Spot the difference...

It actually got me thinking about the amount of filming that takes place across London. Barely a day passes that I don’t walk past a camera filming something or someone (although rarely on this scale). After all, every street in London has its own story to tell and I often forget how lucky I am to live in a city so full of incredible architecture and history.

It was on this note that a fellow onefinestayer pointed out that one of onefinestay’s apartment buildings actually features prominently in Woody Allen’s 2005 movie Matchpoint. Parliament View, a striking modern curved glass building overlooking Westminster, is where Chris and Chloe find their first home in the movie. Check out the film promotional trailer for some great shots of this building and across London: 

So for anyone fancying a little taste of the movie-star life for themselves, why not check out our very own onefinestay home at Parliament View:

http://www.onefinestay.com/home/parliament-view/

 

 

Perched atop Highgate Hill, Cromwell Avenue is surely the most elegant of eyries.

Our hostess, an opera-loving architect who’s spent her career manifesting the ambitions of others, a few years ago, here at her home in Cromwell Avenue she decided to realise her own ambitions.She indulged her passion for preserving the best of Victorian architecture – she quite literally wrote the book on it – and Cromwell Avenue is her masterpiece.

This house is design perfected: it is, also, very much a home, and a home I’d want to live in. 

The master bedroom. 

A children's room which might have come straight from Peter Pan, remember to pack the fairy dust...

http://onefinestay.com/cromwellavenue

It was important to Mr Forster. His novel of the same name opens with characters grumbling about the view from their hotel room. “A room with a view’, they were promised, only their rooms overlook a courtyard. 

Fortunately, today we have unhotels. Here, there’s no getting away from the views. Here are some of the better ones…

Parliament View: Spy on our politicians both night... 

and day

Cuba Street: A view across the Thames and into the city. 

Or you could capture the view by living on the Thames itself.

Lighterman's Walk: A houseboat on the Thames. 

But if it's football that floats your boat, try watching over Arsenal's Emirates Stadium from the high points of a converted church, or a rooftop terrace near the Caledonian Road. 

A view from all angles across London at Arundel Square

So there you have it, our favourite views out of the window of the unhotel. And interesting views are clearly very important to guests... 

Wartime posters and an allied relationship at Pirbright Road.

Front room, Pirbright Road

While marriage is always a special relationship, this one may be particularly special--as the Anglo-American flags in the sitting room attest.

That's not the only Allied presence here. The lady of the house works in the Government’s Central Office of Information. Her delightful collection of propaganda pieces offer a telling glimpse into how British life has changed over the decades.

Careless Talk Costs Lives, Waste Not Want Not, Better Pot Luck with Churchill Today than Humble Pie under Hitler Tomorrow, the wartime posters admonish. 

Don't waste food at Pirbright Road

Or you'll be eating humble pie

And be careful what you say during your stay at Pirbright Road

Careless talk costs lives. 

Plain sailing. 

We like to show off about this one. Perhaps the most distinctive onfinestay property. 

Living on a boat is quite the thing these days. Even Keira Knightley is on board, having recently bought a boat in Chelsea.

Well if she's doing it...

And in case you didn’t know, houseboats have moved with the times. This one has underfloor heating, a power shower, and more than enough space to swing a ship’s cat – not to mention two bathrooms, a roof terrace, fore and aft decks.

Top deck, living room and kitchen. 

Main bedroom. For everyone wants to sleep in a four poster bed. 

A kid’s bedroom with two bunks, and one further double room, means this is also a perfect fit for a family.

Teddy bear and cuddly toys included. 

For tired tigers, the boat has a plethora of children’s classics—including many first editions. Where better to while away your time at high tide with the Thames lapping against the bows than curled up with Robinson Crusoe or Gulliver’s Travels for company?

Collectable children's classics.

Did we mention it was a boat? On the river. In Putney.

There’s never been a better time to set sail. Click here for more details and images.