Room Recipes For Style and Colour

Chances are, that if you read this blog or follow me on my Facebook page, you are probably already interested in interior decorating and home styling. However, whether you like to make your home a special place or you lack confidence to try new things, this book is for you.  

I know you probably think Im biased, but luckily for me, my home being one of the featured properties in Room Recipes For Style and Colour, I can feel proud that it is in such esteemed company. I read and look at a lot of interiors books and some seem like just a compilation of photos you could already find on Pinterest. This book is different, its not just the photos its the really clever and insightful descriptions by Annie Sloan of how to achieve a look or what the elements of that look are. 

What makes anything really special? Well I always think its the attention to detail. Its the hand embroidery, the multi-layered paint effect, the clever up cycling, you get my drift. Here in this book the attention to detail and the intelligently written descriptions are its key factors. 

Annie Sloan has dedicated her life to analysing style and colour, so its more than your usual interiors book, it breaks down the visuals and puts a smart interpretation on what for most of us is just intuitive. 

In these photos you see that I have used vases for my floral touches (left and right) but mostly I plonk flowers in coffee pots, tea  pots, cups, anything that is proportionally ok or the right colour. 

in my bathroom here I wanted to kick against the Seaside theme, the curtain pole is literally a branch of a tree. This came about because I decided to makeover the bathroom the day before it was photographed and didn't have time to buy a curtain pole!

This must have book is now on sale through all Annie Sloan paint stockists, a great present.  Why not get this with a couple of tester pots and a brush for the budding interior decorator in your life. It will become an invaluable reference book for many years Im sure.

For me, well my house already looks different again, as it says in the book, my home is a moving target, but if you want to see how its evolving then get a copy of Homes & Antiques magazine January issue and you will see how Ive changed things and what Im doing for Christmas styling. 

The book is published by CICO, my favourite publishers as Ive now contributed to a few of their books including "Fairisle and Nordic Knits" where I worked with Nicki Trench as a knitter of a few of the projects in that. 

Hey you guys at CICO, Ive got a great idea of a book of my own, and it might have something to do with body art! 

Watch out for me in Homes & Antiques, Im off to Sweden and Lapland to get some fab photos for Van Asch which will be posted here on my return to bring you snow for Christmas. 

As soon as I grab myself a copy of H&A I will be posting all about that with a listing of credits to my favourite shops and suppliers. 

Happy Christmas shopping, keep it local, keep it small shops and support artisan makers.  See you all soon. 

turtle shell

I have been in love ever since I layed my eyes on the Turtle shell decoration of Kelly Wearstler (she is a genius) I blogged about them here before.  She used resin turtle shells at the Tides restaurant.

I love animals so much, I couldn´t harm a fly, I would only accept having one of these if they were resin or an antique one....

I have seen them while diving in tropical waters, such magnificent animals. I would´t be happy that this becomes the next decor must have item and that people start capturing them for people to have them hanging on the walls. So if you are interested get a resin one that looks authentic or an antique one that is over 100 years.

image

I like them hanged on the wall or on a pretty stand.

new office needs new supplies

Hello everyone, I have butterflies in my stomach as I am going to move to a new office.
A new office that is a lot bigger and gives me a new start & a breath of fresh air.
Looking for new office desks I have a few to share with you.
I absolute love brass. But as brass desks come with a expensive price tag, I am thinking about doing a nice DIY and spray paint the legs in a metallic gold to achieve the brass look.

This beautiful Ikea hack is done by blogger Just Bella

She used an old ikea table of 49 euros and a few pieces of wood and metallic gold paint.

This gorgeous Addison desk is of West Elm, a little out of my price range but very lovely.

Another favorite, white lacquered and brass legs

crossed legs desk from Overstock

Style and Colour using Chalk Paint

Heres the latest project of mine to be launched in the Painters In Residence series, currently running on Annie Sloans blog. This victorian door and frame were found in a local thrift shop and it just spoke to me. I find that anything with carving on it can really lend itself well to coloured paints and to my mind it shows off the detail more than when its just dark brown wood. 

I love highly decorated furniture so I cut slimline stencils which gave me the opportunity to get more than one colour on every inch.

I did the same with this chair and love the way the colours show off the carving. 

For this project I mixed lots of colours and kept my left overs in jam jars.  I continued to use these adding other colours as I went along and ended up with a great palette of similar hues.

In this second photo I had extended the stenciling to the wall which gives the illusion of widening the feature. 

I love the purple colour I achieved mixing Napoleonic blue with Emperors Silk (chalk paint ™). The bright green is called Antibes and one of my favorite Annie Sloan colours, it got mixed into Napoleonic Blue and Florence for some of the other colours.

For more photos of my colour combinations keep a look out on Annie Sloans blog and also her new book called "Room Recipes for Style and Colour", I mostly feature in the Bohemian section where Annie describes in great detail how to achieve the looks and what ties them together.  When my copy arrives I will be blogging more about that too. 

If you can get yourself along on November 21st to Making The Best in Leighton Buzzard then please pop by and say hello as I will be part of the event there.  One of the raffle prizes is a free photo session with me so it could be worth it !

follow me on instagram too: http://instagram.com/janiceissitt_life_style