Welcome,

A few weeks ago I visited a local second hand pop up store – these happen about once a month and I must say that visiting this and such other haunts has become a favourite pastime of mine.  I had been admiring a rather stunning bright green glass bottle over several months and on this occasion I decided to throw caution to the wind and buy it – it wasn’t expensive after all

I had just the place in mind for it to sit – on my built in shelves in the lounge – for here I like to display various pieces that we have gathered throughout the years including this lovely specimen –

which we picked up many years ago and I knew they would make good companions.

I also have a small tea light holder of the same colour which I have added on the middle shelf so bringing continuity and balance to the overall display

and here is the overall look

I’m so pleased that I bought this lovely curvaceous bottle as I think it really pulls the look together and as you can see we have crystals and precious stones on each of the shelves echoing the repetition theme of the green glass.

Also displayed we have some white ceramic and clear glass objects together with our silver goblets which I bought for our 25th wedding anniversary, and of course some obligatory candles!

Welcome

It has been a while I must admit but I am excited to be writing to tell you all about a surprise interior project that took place at our abode prior to Christmas that I am just delighted about.

During last year I noticed I was reading a lot of articles about the smallest room in the house being the perfect place to be more adventurous with decor and to really punch some personality into the space.  I find myself more and more moving away from the sparse minimalist Scandinavian look that has been popular for so long and embracing this more opulent feel together with darker jewel colours .  Last summer I saw a picture of a bathroom that just inspired me.  It had a black and white floor just as our downstairs toilet but the walls were covered in a wonderful palm leaf wallpaper in greens and blues on a black background.  I suddenly had a lightbulb moment and thought that we could recreate this look within our downstairs cloakroom.

For as long as I can remember, well since we had our extension some 20 years ago, this room has been painted white with a chequered black and white tiled floor – and it has been great – this was just the look I wanted.  It has been redecorated in the same style over the years, particularly when in high winds the chimney came crashing down through the roof light!  It also houses a large black radiator, fancy black light and arched mirror with candle attachments – I had also added a pink towel and candles for contrast together with some posters brought back from a french holiday of some beautiful pink hydrangeas in full bloom.  However, change was abrewing……….hints started to be dropped – what did hubby think of this new idea – did he like the wallpaper? – ‘no’ was the answer – but could he be persuaded?!! I left the idea hanging in the air for several months, before picking it up again come the autumn – of course we both knew that there was a bit of a stumbling block – something that was going to take a lot more effort than a roll of wallpaper and lick of paint and that was to tackle the pipes that lay around the bottom of the wall – now of course this had always been an issue since we had the room built – but you know how it is – some jobs you just don’t get round to tackling and before you know it you become blind to them – well this was one of them.

Black Friday was on the horizon and I was toying with ordering some wallpaper at a good price – just to see of course…. and suddenly hubby sprung into action – so quickly that I had no time to take any ‘before’ photos! Well just this one as work was in progress…..

He built up a wooden frame to hide the pipes – then the decision came as to whether to paint or tile – I was going to settle for paint as I thought it too much to ask him to tile – but luckily he decided to really go for it and take the pattern from the tiled floor up and over the new boxing and I am so glad he did – it looks great and well worth all the effort he put in x

Next it was time to choose a paint colour – I was toying with a green to go with the leaf pattern but couldn’t find one that I liked and so decided to go with a rich blue colour and am just so happy with the result.

Initially I was wondering whether to wallpaper the whole room but just couldn’t justify the cost of doing this  with christmas on the horizon and so have just settled for wallpaper on the back wall.  The room now feels nicely cosy, although admittedly darker, but to me this is not an issue for the downstairs toilet.

And so the finished result …….

To finish the room off I have chosen a zingy orange towel and orange candles and have treated myself to a great little statue of a parrot on a perch  who sits guard in the corner!

In time I am hoping to add one or two jungle style framed prints but am more than happy with the outcome and the room just feels so much more cosy now.  Hubby has been a star finishing this off for me so that it was ready for our christmas guests.  Happy days! x

Our bedroom has now also been fully redecorated and I hope to be sharing this with you shortly on the blog.

Until next time………

Welcome,

There are several interior accessories and furniture items I am hankering after this year – one of which is a mid century bookcase – I have been hunting for one on-line and at local vintage fayres and antique centres for several months and thought I had eventually found ‘the one’ a couple of weeks ago, only to discover it was half an inch too wide for my space 😦   However this weekend I have had more luck with another item I have had my eye on – a bar cart or drinks trolley.  Yes it was on my wish list for this year but unfortunately not a high priority – as I am hoping, fingers crossed, that our bedroom redecoration will start within the next few months – so I couldn’t believe my luck last night, when walking to my daughter’s house for dinner I spotted one sitting on a front lawn in her road and at a price of around two large coffees!  It was getting dark by this time and upon knocking at the door the lady took it in for me to take a closer look.  Luckily it was a gold colour, and although a little larger than I was originally looking for, a gift like this could not be turned down!  It was kindly dropped round for me this morning and took around an hour for me to really clean it up but I am really chuffed with it.

I have noticed from reading various blogs and from looking enviously through Pinterest that bar carts are very de rigour at the moment and thrown into this that I guess my one stems from around the 1970s – with vintage also being very on trend both in fashion and interiors my find could not be more perfect.

Now you must understand that I am not a big drinker and some of those bottles I have had for years, but they do look the part!  From recently reading articles on ‘how to style your bar cart’ I followed the advice which includes using a tray to pull the look together, to have some pretty bottles and glasses, a cocktail shaker, something quirky to add personality, some art to give height and something living – although I have had to compromise on some of these a little I have taken bits and pieces I had lying around the house and am pretty pleased with the result, although hopefully I will be able to add/change items over time.

Welcome, You may have seen that there has been much written over the past few weeks about popular colour predictions for the year, so I thought I would take the opportunity to put my spin on it.

I guess Pantone is the most revered colour system throughout the world.  This American based company has a colour matching system which produces a standardised colour reproduction system.  Pantone colours are described by their allocated number and since the year 2000 the Pantone Colour Institute declares a ‘colour of the year’ – many ‘colour trending’ representatives meet to forecast what colours will be popular in the coming year.  The colour chosen for 2017 is Greenery, a fresh yellowy-green shade – which after the uncertain times of 2016 represents growth, harmony, freshness…..

I have always shied away from using green in my interiors – once upon a time I painted a north facing room green, and it just felt too cold – and this has put me off using it – until now that is!  Not that I would necessarily paint my walls green, but small steps at a time.  Last year I started adding more houseplants to my home

again this is all about bringing harmony and balance to our homes and neutralising our spaces against all of our electrical devices that we surround our lives with and will continue to be a huge trend in 2017.   I will be looking to add some more plants during the year but one look I am hankering after at the moment is a green velvet sofa – I am seeing these pop up everywhere – in magazines, pinterest, other interior blogs –

Not that in reality I can afford to change the sofas in my living room, but I do like this look –  I love the first picture – the bright green really pops against the dark grey wall, but I have also seen pictures of a lighter green velvet sofa against a soft pink back drop that looked stunning – I can only dream……….

Dulux have chosen the colour Denim Drift as their colour of the year following their review of international architecture, fashion and design which revealed that blue is the colour of the moment.

Dulux have also developed a colour palette of complementary of tones and hues as a fresh approach to combining colours.  I do like this colour – quite contemporary and a good midway colour between light and the dark colours that are so popular at the moment.  I notice upon flicking through my monthly magazines that there is also a lot of denim on the fashion pages too – of course denim never goes out of fashion – but new ways of wearing denim from jumpsuits to blouses, skirts and new shapes for our beloved jeans.  It seems we won’t be able to escape it in 2017.

Just this week the wonderful Farrow and Ball paint company announced their stand out colours for this year.  They believe that people will continue to embrace colour.  They have picked 4 key colours for this year – including dark vivid hues Radicchio and Studio Green

and the subtler tones of Hay and All White.  They believe these colours are suited to both contemporary and more traditional homes and have an enduring appeal.

It is interesting to see that green is coming through again, although this time in a much darker hue than Pantone’s Greenery, but dark wall colours do seem very on trend at the moment.  I love this dark green kitchen:

I also love a dark red such as radicchio in a dining room setting – it provides an intimate cosy atmosphere  which in turn must be good for feeding the soul- and the palette!

Until next time………

All images that are not my own from Google Images

Welcome, apologies that several weeks – and more time than I would have hoped – have yet again past since my last post……they have passed by in a haze of learning a new job, getting to know our new puppy, Christmas and… decorating!  Yes, I have finished painting my ‘snug’ room and am pretty pleased with the result!

Before I go any further, here are some before pictures:

In the past I have been an advocate for painting my rooms in light colours – in fact at one time I wanted to paint the whole house white!  But more recently I have been embracing the dark side – maybe it is the time of year but there seems to be a whole movement on the pros of decorating our rooms dark, comforting colours.

The main advocate for this school of thought is Abigail Ahern – she is a stylist and designer who runs her own shop, website and blog.  During the summer when I was in London I went to visit her shop in Islington and although not huge it was stuffed with sumptuous rugs, cushions, furnishings that had plenty of colour and texture and I was smitten.  She also has her own paint range and as well as advising on painting rooms in these bold, dark colours, she recommends that you paint the ceiling the same colour to really immerse yourself and make the room one whole.  I was tempted to try this but was a little worried that the room would look out of place as all the other ceilings in my house are white and I knew from the start that hubby would find this idea one step too far, but can see her wisdom behind her thinking – her shop is painted dark grey with the colour being taken onto the ceiling and I think it looked fab!  A link to here website is here Abigail Ahern.  She also sells a range into Debenhams if you so happen to like quirky velvet covered animal lamps and cushions.

I had been tempted to cover one wall in wallpaper as a nod to a feature wall, but after many hours of looking could just not find one that I liked in my price point.  Another blog that I follow, Swoonworthy where the writer Kimberley has decorated her dining room this year has a feature wall of mesmerising wallpaper,but when I researched this and found it was nearly £100 per roll it was just out of my budget.  I figured that as there is a brick wall in the room (that is painted) I didn’t want too many styles and features as it is quite a small room.

As for colour – I have gone with Farrow and Ball paints – my little bit of luxury – all made in Dorset and a lovely texture.  After going through several tester pots I settled for Plummet – a lovely dark grey – this room has undergone several transformations since living in the house – from children’s play room, to teenage hangout den to office – and most lately it had been painted white – when I first painted the above mentioned brick wall I was a little nervous – but I knew painting it white was fairly safe – but now painting it dark grey I was unsure, but am so pleased I bit the bullet.  The room is definitely feeling much cosier.  I also had a grey wooden desk in the room but it was the wrong shade of grey – too insipid, and so I decided to paint it in a dark aubergine gloss which looks amazing alongside the dark grey.

So now the hard work was done, it was time to add the fanciful pieces.  For the most part I have repurposed the pieces that I already had – just a change of position here and there – it has made all the difference.  I have purchased a couple of side tables from Next that fit the room perfectly and have also gone to Next for some curtains and curtain pole.  My idea was for the curtains to ‘pool’ onto the floor but they are a bit long even for that and so will have them taken up a touch in the new year.

I am using a copper colour as my accent and hope to gather a few bits over the coming weeks.

The old rug has gone back down for the moment, I quite fancy a cow hide in the room but again am mindful that it might just look too much in the space so I shall wait and see.  The item I am stuck on at the moment is a bookcase.  As our house was built at the beginning of the 1960s I thought that I should aim to obtain a piece from the era to add a bit of nostalgia to the room – recently I went to a large antique centre but there was little to choose from and after ploughing through e-bay and the internet for hours I still have not found a piece to suit.  I don’t really know what I am looking for but it is one of things that I will know it when I see it.  I am now of the mind that I may have to buy something new that is styled in the modernist way.  So watch this space…….

Just prior to Christmas I also decorated the small room that leads into my new snug, this leads out from the kitchen and it has always just been a walkthrough, or somewhere that the dogs hang out!  Again this was painted white and I have gone for ‘Brassica’ – another Farrow and Ball colour which I think looks perfect when looking through into my snug room – I will just give you a sneak peak of the colour as it looks on the wall, as I have yet to style this room – again I am looking for some nice mid-century (if possible) furniture – a display cabinet is what I have in mind – I may also add curtains and a large picture – so I don’t want to reveal the whole room just at the moment – I think it could take me a couple of months to save up and source the pieces – so hope to bring this to you in the Spring.  Notice how the colour looks different in the photos below dependant on the light and shade:)

To finish up for today, I would just like to say that although my blog tailed off towards the end of last year, I am hoping to be more prolific in the weeks to come and to get back on track once again.  So, until next time…………