Marrakech: and a tale of a dinner party at Peacock Pavilions guest house

After all the slicing and dicing and kneading by the Peacock Painters...it was time for dinner.

The table was ready.

(Peacock dishes with golden rim from Anthropologie, flatware from Portugal, chauffeur tea glasses from the Marrakech souks, hand printed sari from Bangladesh used as a tablecloth,  golden earrings from Mali-turned napkin rings.)

The Moroccan lanterns (designed by me!) were lit.

Chef Ellis and Mixologist Alex came into our diningroom for the big reveal, Moroccan tagine dishes in hand.

Oh the guests looked happy.

So tasty!

We dug in! (White roses from the Peacock Pavilion garden)

Fabulous Melanie from Royal Design Studios (in her necklace from the Marrakech souks) and I (in my silk caftan blouse from Afghanistan) were particularly pleased...........

....because Chef Ellis showed off his tattoo for dessert:-)

 
 *****

PS So sweet.  See here.

PPS Coming to Marrakech from the US?  Kind courriers needed. Pls let me know!

Peacock Pavilions: and a tale of decorating a Moroccan bathroom

I dream in color.

 
 

 
 
My Moroccan decorating details:  I made the vanity using a Moroccan yellow cement tile I spotted locally with a modern floral pattern.  I found a little porcelain sink with a flower shape in a shop in the Marrakech industrial zone and a faucet that looked like a flower stem in the Marrakech souks.  I then put together a small Norman Copenhagen flower pendant lamp.  The cement floor tile is from Popham Design.  I picked up the pattern from the tile, enlarged it with a stencil, traced it on sticky contact paper, and had it sandblasted on the glass shower door.  Besides the yellow upper walls, the rest of the walls are done in a burnished ivory Venetian plaster that makes the whole room,  glow and bounces the light around.  

Sunny, no?

Peacock Pavilions and a tale of styling (or drowning in) a bar cart

Oh, it's been a sad few days at Peacock Pavilions.  It started on Thursday when our beloved peahen Coco was killed by a rogue dog from the village.  She protected her five eggs -- due to hatch peachicks in just days -- until the bitter end.  Then, shaken by Coco's death, our peacock Karim and peahen Gigi, flew the coop literally and figuratively.  They haven't been seen since.

Peacock Pavilions is now just Pavilions:-( 

Meanwhile in a hastily drummed up incubator in our basement lie Coco's eggs, motherless.  Dead or alive, we're not sure. 

We're all a bit morose.  Let's just say this is where I've been loitering.... 

Vintage repousse pail from Fez.  Collection of French turn of the century illustrations on Morocco.

PS More and more on Twitter these days.  Check in with me here.

Peacock Pavilions: a tale of a Marrakech guest house

It started out with a dream.  That's all.

And then it became a hope, a wish.  And then....then it became a quest.

There were tears, there was hand wringing, there were moments of desperation.  Because in the face of obstacles it's all too tempting to look behind you longingly at the path whence you once came.  

But there was perseverance, too.  

And what was once this.   Became this.

 
Peacock Pavilions.  A guest house in Marrakech.  Handmade with love. 

Now taking reservations:-)