Styling The Seasons Autumn tables

So I thought I would just show a few images from earlier this year of how I decorated tables and some new ones done for our monthly Styling The Seasons, I hope these inspire you to think outside of the box when it comes to choosing containers. 

I often use Moroccan tea glasses, and hope to boost my collection when I visit that country again next year. Lucky for me though, my local lifestyle store "Holy Cow Home" has stocked some beauties. The ones above have a lovely silver sleeve around the glass, making it easier to hold when full of hot mint tea. Having a few of these in your cupboard will always prove to be handy as either tea glasses, mini vases, or you can even put a candle in them.

To be honest, most regular kitchen utensils end up being used as something else, a boyfriend once had a rummage in my cupboards (as they do) to find some cooking pots, as he pulled one out at a time I pronounced "no thats the one I melt candle wax in", "no thats the one I use for acid baths in jewellery making"  ... and so on, you get the idea.  So, not surprising, my collection of enamel coffee pots are used mostly for flowers, spoons are used to stir and mix paint and baking trays to dry pot pourri in the oven. 

My personal style with flora is very unstructured and wild. I like to mix them up with foraged hedgerow, and even the weeds get used.As I drive around the countryside where I live, my eyes are always out on stalks looking for something interesting to snip and take home.

We all know that presentation of food is an important factor, and the table setting should be too, perhaps using one central centre piece or little individual place settings. Even a buffet wall can be made to look seasonal by hanging up some ivy or creeper.

Colours around food are as important to making the food apetising as the edibles themselves. As a colour lover Im besotted with the psychology of what it does to our brains. Wall colours in rooms can make you calm or hungry, vibrant or rested. It's the same with food presentation, nothing is less appealing that grey food, so what are the colours that make us hungry and get our mouths watering?

Green is associated with health and abundance. Yellow makes you happy and orange stimulates the brain, gets you excited and is also considered healthy and comforting, like Pumpkins, carrots and squash.

Top of the list for stimulating colour is Red, the most commonly used colour in restaurants as it pushes your hunger levels to max.

So here's a thought, why not use food as the container? Hollowed out pumpkin would give you a hit of orange, place it on a circle of autumn fall leaves maybe, the perfect centre piece for a Halloween buffet filled with flowers. I placed a glass inside to hold water and depending on how long you use it as a vase for, you may still be able to use the pumpkin in soup or pie.

So here's my looks for the start of the Autumn, still in transition as there are a few summer flowers around like the hydrangea and rose. The leaves are now turning so we shall have to be more inventive as we head towards winter. 

If you can't get out and about to find flowers or rummage the hedgerow here's a couple of great places where you can organize delivery from;

IN THE USA; https://www.bloomnation.com/

IN THE UK ; https://www.bloomandwild.com/

IN EUROPE ; https://www.euroflorist.com/

Apartment hacks and light ideas.

I thought I would write a post about ideas for small apartments, the use of light and space being more key in these spaces, so here's some ideas which you may find handy. 

Some time ago a client had an unused attic which was full of his old musical equipment, having decided that perhaps he would use this space again as a flat rather than a work storage area, myself and a friend set about clearing the space and making it habitable again. This was a difficult one though, firstly the flat was in the roof and it was seriously tiny, but nothing is impossible so we set about to use some interior designer tips of how to maximize the light, create the illusion of space, and get all the essentials into a kitchen the size of a postage stamp.

The flat had a decrepit kitchen from the 1970's and very oversized curtains on the windows, which restricted the light. We had to decide where in this two room attic a bed would go as there had never been one there before. We decided the lovliest space by far was under the VELUX window in a very low ceilinged part of the room.
So we moved the oversized curtains out and decided to show off the cute end window to its best advantage.

If someone was going to sleep here however, then the VELUX roof window needed a blackout blind so that they could have the option of whether to look at the stars, or complete darkness. This was also a good idea because in this flat it became extremely hot in the summer and the blackout would keep the room cool while it was closed.

We replaced the oversized curtain on the end wall with a simple piece of antique french lace panel, letting in the light but also suggesting some privacy. Underneath the lovely lace is a roller blind for night time.

We had never fitted a blind to a VELUX window before so here's what you need to know.  Firstly you have to find the serial number of the window, it should be written on it somewhere, hopefully it will be an authentic VELUX made window as this ensures you get a perfect fitting blind.   

Once you have this number go to https://www.roofblinds.co.uk/ where you will see a large selection for differing needs.  We chose a plain blackout blind, when you click on 'buy' you will then have the option in a drop down box where you put your serial number "select window type" and then a second box where you put the size.

This ensures that your blind will fit perfectly.  When it arrives it comes with instructions for you to fit it yourself. I would recommend doing it with someone, its a two man job in my opinion, but I'm not the expert in DIY, it is just handier to have two pairs of hands. 

To create the illusion of space we changed the all magnolia room to have two feature walls, one surrounding the end window in the bedroom nook, making that area look longer to the eye, and one on the long wall which runs the length of the flat. 

The colour is Cooking Apple Green by Farrow and Ball, a fresh but calm colour.

Another great way to bounce the light around a room is with mirrors, use them to reflect light around, not just as a way to look at your own reflection.  Doing the double mirror in a bathroom gives you a way to see the back of your head as well as bouncing the light back and forth.

Next comes the kitchen, this was a great IKEA hack, where we adapted an IKEA kitchen by painting the wooden cupboard doors with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and cutting closely the cupboard spaces. We wanted white cupboard doors but not melamine, so we bought a wooden door that was on sale and painted it Old White.  We chose a white fronted cooker and the option to put drawers under it rather than a facia.

For planning your own kitchen I really believe in IKEA, they have the largest range of solutions for fitting the essential appliances in a small space. Trying to fit in a cooker, washing machine, sink and hob all along one wall just over six foot long is about as challenging as it gets.  We hired a very clever carpenter and plumber who adapted a standard kitchen so we could maximise every square inch. We re-jigged some of the internal cupboard sides so that we could squeeze in a pull out rack shelf on the end. Luckily IKEA also made a two ring hob, although Im not sure if this is still available. This is a kitchen for one and as a normal four ring hob would have taken up all the work surface we decided a smaller one gave a better balance. Let's be honest, I rarely use all four hobs at once when cooking for myself so we thought two rings were sufficient.

extra storage made by fitting drawers under cooker and cupboards

If you are converting an attic then roof windows like VELUX are an essential, just be sure that you always use authentic VELUX blinds for efficiency. We could have fitted a few different types, the Energy blinds probably would have been a better option as they are designed to control the climate inside and also be a blackout to unwanted light at night. If the space is for a child then you might want something cheerful from the Disney range. We kept it simple and white because the apartment's owner had a lot of mis-matched furniture.

In the lounge area we found a folding table and painted the top in Old White so this would act as a reflector, dark wood just absorbed the light from the window and made the room dingy. A wooden slatted blind worked here to keep the room cool during the day as it was sealed an had no opening. The double glazing was also foggy so the venetian slats distracts from that while still letting the light inside.

Small can be perfectly formed, it just takes a few clever ideas. Look for ways to increase how the daylight enters the room, use subtle colours to create the illusion of space and keep it simple and uncluttered. Don't crowd windows with curtains and try to add some strategically placed mirrors, these tips should get you on the right track for your attic conversion. Itzala roof blinds have great discounts on their range right now so its a good time to revamp your loft conversion and maybe re-assess its use. With the increase in home B&B through AIR maybe you can earn some money from your attic.

Picture Frame Collage

Everyone loves a bit of collage don't they, it takes me back to school days, art being my favourite lesson. My idol Sir Peter Blake has been a great advocate of this type of art and his work shows the extreme of brilliance in this arena.   But unless you commit yourself to a canvas or dedicated art box, its not always been that easy to present your work other than in a scrap book or using glue.

So here's a way that you can have your memories on display all the time.

The online company Rose & Grey have the perfect solution for creating this art on a small scale with these adorable frames. The frames come with brass or zinc edges and are hinged like a book with a little sliding wire closing lock. As there is glass on both sides, unlike conventional frames which have a backboard, these take on a whole new dimension. 

The simplicity of these frames is perfect for giving the widest range of looks, you can really let your imagination run wild with what you put in them, whether its prints, photos or a mixture of both with some momentos. I really love old postcards and photos of my family from the turn of the century. Above I also made this temporary shelf by hanging a piece of leftover flooring plank with string fixed to a central hook above, making a triangle shape.

This gives a frame to the frames and will take the weight of light objects so that you can make the display more three dimensional, I also felt that the triangle shape mirrored that of the hanging ribbon.  When displaying art in frames its always best to either group several together, or make a feature to tie it together.

These frames look lovely hanging from a hook some distance from the wall, you could even hang them in a window as they are double sided.

Place your collection on the back glass while the frame is open, you may want to fix some things in place with a tiny bit of blu-tack, but if the pieces have a small amount of thickness to them they will stay in place without any glue.

I fancied the idea of hanging them from branches and then thought Id see what they looked like with a stencil branch.

I painted this wall and stencil some time ago and have now added these frames with collections of memorabilia inside (fabric and pressed leaves and some stamps). I have a friend who has a collection of lace alone in a group of these frames and it looks lovely, particularly if you have a subtle colour on the wall behind coming through. Perhaps you have a small scrap of fabric from a wedding dress or quilt, something with sentimental attachment.

You can change the items in your frames around as often as you like without damaging the photos.  They are hung with a small piece of Sari fabric made into ribbon, each frame has a totally different fabric so they all have individuality. I untied my fabric ribbon and re-tied it in a different way to make it a big shorter, but this is something else you can change around in your own way.

Please find these frames and the other zinc edged ones over at Rose & Grey. I hope I have offered you some ideas about how to use them, Im just one of the bloggers reviewing these so look out on social media for the other bloggers ideas, can't wait to see them myself!

p.s check out : 

1960's to 1970's looks and vibes

Wake up, its the swinging sixties and the groovy seventies and ORANGE has arrived!

There's so much that could be said about these two decades but I'm here to talk about colour and interior ideas so I shall try not to get side tracked and wander off down memory lane.

In 1964 Habitat was born and this was to shape the style of our interiors and create trends and desires for objects that were new and cool. Conran bought us the Duvet, paper lantern lampshades, the wok and the chicken brick. Here in the UK we now had our own trend leaders; Mary Quant gave us legs with her hot pants and mini skirts, modeled by Twiggy, Vidal Sassoon supplied the wedge bob hair style and everyone wanted to drive around in a new Mini car. The Brits were fashion leaders with The Beatles flying the flag for Brit style.

The patterns in wallpapers and fabrics were verging on the psychedelic, large rounded motifs in shades of orange, yellow, mustard and brown. During the 60's the department store Heals were commissioning some iconic designers like Peter Hall and Barbara Brown to produce fabrics with big stylised shapes in rich deep teals and emeralds. But it was orange that really hit big and if you want to replicate this era then its an absolute must to include. 

Habitat, not surprising considering its history, still do the best hues of orange, mustard and green in paint to replicate the sixties to seventies time. And they also still sell beautiful lampshades made of paper and have even reintroduced the chicken brick.

Another great place for getting items that fit the look is IKEA. During the sixties and seventies we began to see Scandinavian influences appear more and more, these shapes can still be found at our favourite Swedish superstore who have built their name on affordable design, primarily using wood which is a large resource in Sweden.   

There were some other colours apart from orange and brown, a sage green, olive is the best description and it was frequently used in excess, almost in saturation in some homes. If you find yourself some vintage Hornsea ware (kitchen jars and cups) then these colours give you the right idea.

A few years ago a friend and I made-over a bachelor pad in north London. The flat was in a building that was a design icon, the architect being Peter Tabori and built in the early seventies. So taking that as an influence we wanted to bring a bit of cosy and warmth to the owners rooms, adding fur rugs, pampas grass and voile curtains in cream and brown, while keeping to the building's era.

As we move into the seventies things tone down a bit, the colours become more muted and a reaction to all the plastic was a fashion for more natural materials like wicker and rattan. Brown and corduroy on clothes and furniture and a back to the earth approach came along with lots of house plants. Hessian even featured as a wall covering, and it was murder to remove!

I've made a pinterest board that features both authentic photos and current products that will help you pull this fab look together (double click for the link direct to the product). Homebase stock Habitat paint and their products are all available on line, some of their furniture is influenced by 70's designs like the Tisno chair. 

Other touches that will help you create an authentic look would be to add macrame either in wall hangings or plant holders. House plants took a real upturn in the seventies, possibly because now the exotic was traveling across borders. Ferns hanging from macrame holders, large Swiss Cheese plants were all essentials in the homes of that era.

As I mentioned before, the seventies also had some revival styles happening, Art Nouveau became popular, with Mucha's ladies appearing on mirrors.  

I shall be back to normal next week with the Styling The Seasons and Urban Jungle Bloggers photos, have a lovely week and keep your fingers crossed for me in the Amara Interior Blog Awards. 

Peace.

Style and colour of the 1940's and 1950's

Second in my series of decades and colours is the 1940's to 1950's. The reason Ive grouped two decades together in this series is that it's never clear cut from one decade to another where one style stops and another starts, so I'm going for a general overall impression of the colours that were popular during those eras and how to replicate that feel with modern paints and products.

Sadly the 1940s being a time of World War gives a hiatus to style and colour as utility and functionality took precedent over design and art for arts sake. Having said that, the events during that decade did shape the progress of inventions and practicalities in dress and homes.

The reaction to the end of that time of repression and rationing was the explosion of frivolity in the fifties. Clothing became more flamboyant and consumerism started in ernest.

The age of the slow Ocean Liner was surpassed by the age of Air travel, and the scientific and engineering progress which came about during the war was to influence designs in home accessories and fabric and print design.

Colours that stand out to me are pastels with pops of red. A primrose yellow, a special shade of blue and mint green that remind me of ice cream colours. Black and White checkered floors, and the 'atomic' shapes which came about after the Festival Of Britain.

Let's have a look at some films that will put us in the mood. The film industry was dominated by Alfred Hitchcock classics, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Strangers On A Train. James Dean, Audrey Hepburn were making their debuts and the film industry moved into colour in full glory.  America dominated the style, and in the UK we craved the American fashions.

Above in my own kitchen I decided to go retro with appliances because it was the best way to add colours. We all know that SMEG sell these glorious Fridge/Freezers in classic retro colours with handles reminiscent of old Fifties car door handles and that smooth sleek rounded corners of old American fridges. The fabric I've used to hide the washing machine is original fifties barkcloth. The background being pale grey with pops of red, blue yellow and green which were fashionable then. The little scenes are of European influence, like Italy and the Mediterranean, places that were now accessible.  

The room that is the easiest to style in these decades for me is the kitchen.  There's a fabulous array of items available from high street and online stores for appliances that scream American fifties. Have a look at online store Wayfair.co.uk for the clocks Ive featured and the 'petrol pump cd rack'. It's quite easy to buy kitchenalia from that period too, as the enamelware lasts forever!

Young couples like my parents wanted everything modern, Britain was rebuilding at a rapid rate and they had big aspirations. In kitchens the labour saving devices were king and surfaces were Formica in an array of new colours and patterns. The new transistor radio brought rock n roll and the teenager was born, having their own fashions for the first time, rebelling against their parents buttoned-up lives. 

During the 1940's there was still an abundance of floral motifs on walls, floors, curtains but as time moves on into the 1950's this changes into these more 'atomic' shapes and the abstract takes over.

I took this photo at Bletchley Park, this green was one of the few colours available during the war

There's a pinterst board featuring more of the forties and fifties over at this link https://www.pinterest.com/JaniceIssitt/1940s-to-1950s-home-styling/

Hope you find this useful if you are going for a vintage look, see you soon in the sixties and seventies. 

Get the Art Deco look

Over the next few weeks I'm going to feature some ideas about how to style in different decades using colour to bring the look together.

Im starting with the 1920s/1930s, and focusing on Art Deco, I will move onto the 40s/50s, 60s and 70s  in the coming weeks. My mission is to find things that you can buy from high street or online stores if you don't have the time and cash to find the original vintage item. While Im all for buying second hand, antique and original, it's not always possible to find those things and whether you have the original or a modern copy, you will still need to hone the style with your colour choices. Certain decades speak in specific colours and it's my aim here to condense these looks for you.

So, starting with Art Deco, we are looking at Black with either gold, pink or green as seen below. Its always Black and something, lots of black ..

This first moodboard is featuring pink and black combinations, here we have a selection of original Deco fabrics and bathroom mixed with items from the House Of Fraser Biba range and the Linea Lustre set of Martini glasses. Farrow and Ball Calamine is in the right hue for this period pink, its slightly salmon and dusky.

This pink seems to work particularly well in bathrooms, although I don't suppose you are lucky enough to still have an original Art Deco bathroom in your home. Adding the pink black and gold with touches of green can help you get that feel of decadence while you sip martinis in the bath. Biba have a good selection of towels for your Deco bathroom as well as perfume and toiletry bottles.

The second board features the green and black combination which I feel sums up the Art Deco look completely.

This board features a classic Deco ceiling Lamp from House Of Fraser called Tiffany New York Ceiling Pendant.  They also have black glasses (Linea Black Ghost glassware), and the gold mirror (Biba). This black and green combination works well in a dining room. The clock is from Wayfair (I shall be featuring this online store with my retro fifties look) their website is here.

glassware from
http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Wine+Glasses/80373,default,sc.html 

The Art Deco period ran from the mid 1920's, the term is attributed to Le Corbusier, he of the iconic chaise in black leather and chrome, and he used it describe an exhibition of 'art and industrial' in 1925.

To get you in the mood, think about what was happening around this time, it was the great age of shipping. Ocean Liners were the big thing and if you look at Deco buildings you will see that they resemble ships, with port hole windows and railings in tiers.

The latest Great Gatsby film by Baz Luhrmann will certainly get you in the right spirit of that age, Liberated ladies free from the shackles of corsets, smoking, cocktails, stylish fast cars and hedonism for those wealthy enough to be the beautiful people. 

Farrow and Ball make two colours which closely resemble the hue of pink and green synonymous with that age. Calamine Pink and Arsenic Green, they also have several shades of Black. 

Last year as part of my Painters In Residence season for Chalk Paint maker Annie Sloan I did my take on Art Deco when I made over this original piece of furniture. Can you believe I bought this cupboard and chair for 11 pounds! The Chalk Paint colour Graphite is ideal for your black wall or furniture and Annie Sloan also sells Brass Leaf for adding those Gold highlights. On this cupboard the green was Florence with dark wax. I used a crackle glaze on the doors to age the colour Florence and try to tone it to the right hue for the period. 

I added a twist to the chair with this Van Asch fabric

There was a great revival for the Art Deco period in the seventies, I can't quite find where exactly this stemmed from. There was 'Bonnie and Clyde' the film in 68 featuring the acheingly beautiful Faye Dunnaway and the not too shabby Warren Beaty. In 1976 we had a brilliant child version of the gangster and moll story in "Bugsy Malone" with a fabulous performance by the 13 year old Jodie Foster. 1974 also brought us the first film of The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow

But for me the most important thing was the move of Biba to the Big Biba store in an old department store building on Kensington High Street in 1974. This was the most amazing shop of all time, it would take me all year to explain how every detail was perfect from the ground floor right up to the roof garden with flamingos. I visited the store by bunking off school with a friend and using our dinner money saved up for the train fare. A major influence on me was not only the awareness of style and styling but the images produced to advertise the shop by my hero Sarah Moon, still an influential photographer. It may have been 1975 ish but I can close my eyes and feel how it was to be in that shop, I would give anything to be transported back to that time but with more money in my purse.

More recently the originator of Biba, Barbara Hulanicki has put her Biba brand-name to a range of products for House of Fraser. Lots of items from clothes to homeware. You could literally decorate yourself and your house with all the items from her range, so if Hollywood glamour is for you then head down to House Of Fraser.  

Art Deco is a great style to refer to if you are decorating for a man who doesn't like floral but does like antiques and vintage. The shapes are more masculine and the colour range is pretty sexy and bachelor style, much like Gatsby himself. 

This style mixes well with industrial as it brings gloss to this rough beaten style. Thinking about textures and keeping them in balance, all shiny and hard or all wooly and furry, neither is particularly appealing, but mix them up in equal portions and you are onto something. 

For the House Of Fraser glassware please click here for the link. They sell everything from the Biba range too, from clothes to towels. Perfect for party styling with a theme, maybe have a Gatsby style Christmas party, how very chic that would be.

For all things Farrow & Ball click here where you can find stockists or order online.

For the complete Biba range click here and for Annie Sloan Chalk Paints click here 

All the above can also be found on my Pinterest board and the links on there will also take you to the source.