Interior styling
Seventies glam interior style or as Jonathan Adler calls it – Modern American Glamour – is something I know a little bit about. I grew up in Elstree, Hertfordshire which has one of the UK’s largest film studios. The leafier lanes of Elstree village were also home to celebrities such as Simon Cowell, Pete King (business partner of Ronnie Scott’s jazz club), Joan Collins and other visiting stars who were filming at the studios. Continue reading “Clinique at home with Jonathan Adler”
If you are one of the dedicated Instagram followers of Gear Antiques (IG @gearantiques), you won’t need me to tell you that the King is alive and er … barking on Lillie Road in Fulham. Elvis has not only been entertaining clients with his gregarious stage presence but he is also proving to be Gear Antiques’ secret weapon, when it comes to marketing. His patch – more regal in style than rock and roll – is an antiques shop run by his owner Marc on Lillie Road in South West London. If miniature schnauzer Elvis isn’t posted in an Instagram photo by Marc – either sitting on a Jacobean chair on the pavement outside the shop or mannequin style in the window – there follows an outcry from IG followers asking ‘where’s Elvis?!’ So you see, he does live on … just in Schnauzer form …
I keep my eye out for new textile and wallpaper designers and one whose work stood out recently was that of Anna Jeffreys which was showcased by Tissus D’Helene at a press show at The Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. Journalists usually keep their own thoughts to themselves at these events, but there was a little gasp of surprise and delight at Anna’s swatches. Anna’s seriously pretty designs stood out for their fresh colourways which mix traditional motifs with more contemporary flourishes. What makes them difficult to place is that the colour palette particularly doesn’t seem like it comes from a British design stable and that’s what makes them so interesting.
Continue reading “Swatch watch: Anna Jeffreys – new wallpaper and fabric collection”
It is extremely fortuitous (jammy even) that when Helen Cormack owner of wallpaper and fabric company Tissus D’Helene asked me to style a Japanese window (at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour) that she had chosen a collection of wallpapers in an orange and grey colour palette. Part One of my Marmalade and Slate interiors recipe was well underway as a blog post so it neatly dove-tailed with this trend – just love it when that happens! Continue reading “Marmalade and Slate Part 2 of 2: Japanese style window display for Tissus D’Helene 2017”
*Orange, often associated with 70s style interiors, is taking on an altogether sophisticated warmth this Autumn in a perfectly balanced partnership with cool slate greys. From linens to wallpapers to lighting and paint there are some really refreshing new interior designs. It is a colour combination which will ensure that your room is as cosy as you wish it to be in winter and has all the necessary vibrancy and light for summer living too.
Continue reading “Marmalade and slate: a decorating recipe for all seasons. Part 1 of 2.”
I am really thrilled to have been nominated for a second year in the Newcomer Blog category of the Amara Interior Blog Awards 2017! Hoorah! To make it to the short list I need as many votes as possible – so even if your pet has their own social media account – I would be ever so grateful, there could be a bone in it – for the pet that is!
Continue reading “Time to Vote! Amara Interior Blog Awards 2017”
Dark interiors aren’t just for hybernating in winter months – honest! The inky tentacles of dark interiors are reaching far and wide into the world of interiors this summer. Like the *LBD in fashion, accessorising with black in an interior decorating scheme – often acts as an anchor and adds more than just a little understated chic. No longer associated with ’80s black ash furniture – from achingly stylish terraces of Juan les Pins to patios in Pinner – dark decorating is creating a summer scene.
*Little Black Dress
If you want to experience a cross between a magical midsummer night’s dream whilst entering the secret walled garden of a genteel country house (one whose Victorian glass house has charmingly ‘seen better days’) – then Richmond’s Petersham Nurseries is the place for you!
Continue reading “Midsummer interior styling ideas at Petersham Nurseries”
My celebration of Indigo blues culminates with this summer’s Preppy take on Indigo. It is almost as if the fashion and interiors industries sat down and considered the colours of the The Leander Club in Henley for their summer collections! The Leander Club is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, has produced many of GB’s great rowing Olympians and its members sport a rather jaunty rowing blazer and cap in – you guessed it – pale pink (traditionally known as ‘cerise’) and Indigo. With the Royal Regatta imminent (Weds 28th June to Sunday 1st July) what better time to see how everyone from high street fashion to interior decorators, textile designers, restaurants and bars are embracing Preppy style.
If only it were as simple to change your interior decoration as it is your clothes. If it were, exploring the depths of Indigo blues would be high on my decorating agenda this summer. The trend for Indigo blues has been simmering away for a few years in the UK. For holiday homes in the Hamptons, Scandinavia and in parts of the Greek Islands, it never really disappears. Blues are sometimes accused of being cold, but there is nothing icy or ‘blue’ about Indigo. It is velvety warm at its deepest hue and can be as smart, boho or as classically pretty as you wish it to be.
Continue reading “Interior decorating with Indigo blues: Part one of two”
