It was hot in Marrakech.  Oh, very hot.  So she escaped to that town on the Moroccan coast, Essaouira, her favorite Summertime (and anytime) haunt. 

Now she was no longer a Spring chicken (sadly, so sadly).  And so she had stayed in quite a few guest houses and hotels in her time.  Some luxurious with down pillows and beautiful bath products and some......well, not much better than sleeping on the floor of the bus station (oh dear). 

But had she ever stayed anywhere - anywhere at all -  like Dar Beida?  No never.  It was organic and Moroccan and African and modern and high/lo all at the same time.  This was the sort of place that you could imagine yourself staying in, well, forever.  This little house on four floors was so lovely, that she promptly began thinking up all her best arguments to get the British owners to sell it to her.  (My, weren't they tired of Morocco yet?  What did they mean, No?)

It was all in the details, you see.  Now she couldn't possibly share them all in one batch.  But here's a few to start..........

A charming place to hang the house keys........Each key with a treasure from nature attached.

Two chairs in the entry where you could sit and gaze at.......

This darling little rustic steer display....The blogging girl was quite fond of cows, and this suited her to a tee.

There was an interior courtyard in the center of Dar Beida and African art placed here and there. (The girl had her very own body masks like the one in this image that she had collected in Tanzania, South Africa, and Kenya.)

Oh yes, please do perch on this little  stool and read from the enormous trove of interior design magazines...........Heaven!

This vintage African chair was covered entirely with tiny beads.  How very amazing. 

The chair was in this charming little bedroom.  The bed was covered with a fine wool vintage haik, worn by Moroccan women once upon a time.  (The girl had several of these horded for her shop.)

Oh the view from the roof terrace......She could smell the sea.  (And the girl had these very same mod chairs for the roof of Peacock Pavilions.  Could it be that Dar Beida had everything she liked?)

The girl sat and talked on the phone while checking her Blackberry.  She told everyone she might be staying in Essaouira for a good, long time...........Could she be a stowaway at Dar Beida?

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Dar Beida, Essaouira, rented only in its entirety (which is a good thing because you'll want it all for yourself...)

emma@castlesinthesand.com

mobile:  +212/67965386

Oh yes, of course, she loved Marrakech.  After all, this blog wasn't called My Essaouira was it?  But there really was something about this coastal town that made her want to sell everything and become a gypsy.  And Essaouira's multitude charms seemed to be thrown into high relief when staying at the beauteous Dar Beida.

Now she had given you a glimpse of Dar Beida's loveliness before.  But that was by no means all........There was more, you see.  Much more. 

Now that's really quite a fantastical chair -- very Ethnic Nautical, don't you think? (ahem, what do you mean that's not a genre?).  oooh, and with that curtain!

And somehow the chair paired with this preppy striped blanket (Habitat) and leather and raffia Tuareg carpet was just right.  And look at that beamed roof!

Dar Beida was a house for readers or perusers or simply flippers of pages.  The bookshelves were well stocked and the design magazines were abundant (including all those delicious, expensive mags from the UK) ..........Why ever leave? 

One of the bedrooms had a mezzanine all its own.  How very fun.  Did she mention that the owners had designed the fab felt rugs themselves? Sigh, these over-industrious creative types.....

A darling little salon with white leather poufs, African art, and one of the house's grotto like fireplaces........

Eeek, she could barely stand the fabulousness of this room, which was really an inner courtyard.   The swing (!),  the amazing signage, the fanciful candelabra, and that mod coffee table.  Really, living in a place like this could take ten years off of you, don't you think?

oh, all the quirky little details...........like these vintage toys displayed over a generous CD collection.

Real Saarinen, real Jacobsen, real Panton..........thrown together in the very most casual manner.  And don't even get her started on the oversized Tunisian birdcage found in the souk somehow (?!) .

And to the other side.........the cuisine, where one could cook, or in the blogging girl's case, pretend to cook..........

The blogging girl loved this.....oh, don't get all fidgety -- no animals were harmed for this montage:  they were all found in the Sahara desert.

Well.......she was off to sit on the terrace, under the ahem, Ethnic Nautical gazebo (that the owners had built themselves in a fit of over-achievement:))

Dar Beida, Essaouira, rented in its entirety

emma@castlesinthesand.com

mobile:  +212/67965386

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PS  Check out this (at the very bottom of the post) to see a vintage Moroccan wedding blanket displayed in situ in Allegra's home of  Beading Stars.