Airbnb

I have been raving to friends about Airbnb for ages.  Renting someone’s home when travelling is genius.  Many of the accommodations on offer through the Airbnb website are roomier and nicer than hotel rooms, and you can rent places within a wide price range, so can stay in places that suit your budget.  I’ve had great experiences using this site for accommodation in New York and Paris, and plan to use this again in future travels around the world.

I have also been inspired by the site from a home making perspective.  These jetsetters who have their homes on offer for rent are a stylish bunch.  Here are some of my current favourites:

Port Douglas – A dreamy beach location, with a fantastically hippy interior.  I love the indoor-outdoor flow, the light and bright colours and weathered lived-in edges that give it a relaxed vibe.

Paris – the complete antithesis of the Port Douglas place, this apartment is refined and elegant and very European.

Florence – I love this city.  For all its history and culture, there is something completely and charmingly vulgar and tacky about all that brocade and gilding.  Aside from the grotesque cherubs in the foyer, the one thing that I like about this place is the bedroom that oddly enough makes me think of Doris Day.

Palm Springs - Completely and utterly out of affordability, but who could resist renting Frank Sinatra’s former home?  Revel in the Mad Men glory of the interiors and read the hilarious descriptions – “you can still see the chip in the floor where Frank threw a bottle at his wife and missed.”