From tomorrow I shall be reporting at the Ideal Home Show for the whole weekend. I’m really looking forward to seeing what new ideas are on offer and interviewing some famous faces in the world of interiors.
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The Crown interior design
I have recently been re-designing the Crown pub in Ley Hill, Chesham. To begin with for marketing purposes I wanted us to do a photo shoot for the website using lighting and props. The overall interior design of the pub is in motion and it’s getting exciting, this includes branding as well as a launch and a schedule of events. I really enjoy working on projects like this as I get to use interior design alongside the branding, this ensures a clear vision of what The Crown will provide to the community.
What’s in my bedroom?
Last week Olivia Howitt paid me and my bedroom a visit. What’s in your bedroom “is a collector of places, people, their bedrooms and objects”.
She began by asking me general questions about when I had moved here and what I did for a living. We then went on to talk about my bedroom and what it meant to me. I found myself opening up quite alot about my life and the memories attached to certain objects that maybe I hadn’t previously realised had such meaning. I don’t like to think that objects can hold you down but I must admit that moving house is never a small feat for me.
It also confirmed that I do use my bedroom as my “canvas” if you like, and I tend to experiment with small clusters of objects and then take a step back and look at it as a whole. I think a person’s bedroom says a great deal about their personality, what they hold close to their hearts and how they like to relax. As our bedrooms are very private places we should be able to express ourselves whether that means scattering our favourite pictures all over the walls or having copious amounts of blankets to make a den. I must confess that my room is not always this tidy and… I bought those flowers myself. Ahem!
Little touches
The little touches in the home make it worth living in. Some things I would like to try: quotes from books framed on the wall, hanging images from pegs in your study and polaroid style snaps of all friends in one big frame.
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Inspiration
I’ve been looking for some inspiration recently for home interiors so thought I’d share some of my favourites with you.
Indoor lanterns strung along the ceiling
clusters of photographs on the walls
exposed book shelves from floor to ceiling
chalkboard walls and simple shelving
old filing cabinets
grand mirrors and symetrical pieces
high ceilings and open beams
sliding doors
smooth work spaces
personalised work stations and a token pet
tree stumps as tables and stools, long sofas
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Peace out
Plants are the affordable purchases that not only really make a space but also help with your indoor air quality. I always buy peace lilys as they are the easiest to look after, don’t require much watering and let you know when they do by dramatically flopping their leaves on the floor.
According to clean air gardening the top plants for air quality are:
1. Philodendron scandens `oxycardium’, heartleaf philodendron
2. Philodendron domesticum, elephant ear philodendron
3. Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana’, cornstalk dracaena
4. Hedera helix, English ivy
5. Chlorophytum comosum, spider plant
6. Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig’, Janet Craig dracaena
7. Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii’, Warneck dracaena
8. Ficus benjamina, weeping fig
9. Epipiremnum aureum, golden pothos
10. Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa’, peace lily
11. Philodendron selloum, selloum philodendron
12. Aglaonema modestum, Chinese evergreen
13. Chamaedorea sefritzii, bamboo or reed palm
14. Sansevieria trifasciata, snake plant
15. Dracaena marginata , red-edged dracaena
I’m gonna give it a go and see what these plants look like and where they might fit best in my home.
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Airy spaces
I see interior design as a compositional work of art; having the eye to recognise how things can fuse and clash together in the most beautiful way. These “sneak peeks” taken from Design Sponge are my favourites and push the boundaries of “safe” interior design showing real character in each person, a product of memories, souveniers and collections that soothe the soul and make you feel at home.
Manipulation of natural light
Open spaces with low hanging lights and exposed beams
Long open spaces with bare brick feature walls
Genius way of creating book cases out of old boxes
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Rocking
The designers at Supernatural Studios have developed this original design from a simple rocking chair concept. I adore the sleek profile of this chair and not only is it functional but also naturally flowing in an organic way. It brings the granny’s signature chair up to date making the rocking chair…rock. (pardon the pun)
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Laurence Llewelyn – Bowen
I recently compiled the questions for an interview with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on Pippa Jameson’s blog, take a look, I found his answers inspirational.
What has influenced your flamboyant design throughout the years?
Well, flamboyance! I love the term flamboyance, it’s a word that actually weirdly means something very specific in an architectural context; it means a flaming arch, derived directly from French gothic architecture. It’s such a great word, it’s got a wonderful rhythm to it. My inspiration is feel-good design, it’s feel-good design with a good healthy dose of bump and grind to it. I like things to be grown-up, sexy, fun and exuberant. I don’t like things to be understated. I hate roundhead designs, it’s cavalier designs that make me get up in the morning.
How have you created a range that is individual to Matalan?
Every collection has a very strong identity to it. The first collection was called Black Chateaux, then we had Hollywood Rose, we’ve now got Opera and I’m working on Tsar at the moment, and I think that’s pretty critical to the fact that they work so well. It’s that I approach them as haute couture products. They are about expressing a very particular fantasy, if you like. Everything in each collection is there as part of an interior lifestyle jigsaw that’s happening in the back of my mind, that conjures up a particular association. So at the moment with the Opera collection everything is about femininity, it’s about theatricality, it’s about making big emotional statements, all to the background of extraordinarily big bad beautiful music.
Who is your favourite designer?
Nicky Haslam.
What are your tips for 2010 interior design?
Assemble your room like you assemble your outfit, so take bits from all over your experience. Buy stuff at airports, get stuff on holiday, go to car boot sales, go to the sales. Buy expensive things and put them next to very accessible affordable things from my range at Matalan. But have an overwhelming idea of identity behind it. Who do you want to be through your interior? Do you want to be an opera diva, do you want to be a Tzarina, do you want to be a Hollywood movie star? Express a personality through interior decoration.
How do you feel you have made your mark/ influence on your range for Matalan.
Everything I’ve got in the ranges has my design DNA in it and this is one of the reasons that I love working so closely with the team at Matalan – I’m encouraged to leave my mark, there’s no hint of what I do being ‘em-beiged’ by the buying or design teams, it’s intensified almost.
What is your favourite room in the home to design and why?
I love bedrooms because I think that they are a inner sanctum.
How do you gather daily inspiration?
I think that the secret of design is to be constantly aware of what surrounds you and remember it. I’m very lucky; my greatest resource is having an extremely good memory. I can remember architectural details, I can remember colours, elements that then sit around in the bouillabaisse that happens between my ears and occasionally randomly things float to the surface in the most odd and unusual combinations, that then become the basis of a new creative idea.
How do you collate new ideas?
The secret is not to control it or deliberately collate it. It’s not to see something and say right I’m going to do that, or right I’m going to be inspired by that, or indeed right I’m going to copy that. Actually the best thing you can possibly do is to be constantly inputting down loading information and just leaving it to ferment in your torpid imagination until it becomes pure grains of booze.
What has been your favourite design project?
It’s always the one I’m working on.
What was your inspiration behind the collection?
I take my inspiration for each collection from different areas of my cultural life. It’s also a lot to do with the way people are feeling about themselves. We’re about to move into a phrase for spring/summer where people are wanting to be a lot more exuberant with the way that they decorate their homes and also the way they entertain. It’s not about spending money, and this is the big joy with Matalan, that it’s not about the money – it’s the design. By the time we get to autumn/winter I’m creating this personality, this identity based around the doomed, decayed, decadent but extraordinarily beautiful world of the last Tzars in Russia. Imperial Russia with its sparkling jewel colours and heavy ornate patterns I think is perfect for autumn/winter 2010.
How are they such good value?
The economies of scale and the very intelligent clever buying principles means that these things can be created at very little cost. We use a lot of modern technology, we use a lot of modern materials to give a grand historical style, the kind of availability and accessibility that people want at out price point.
What would you say is your all time favourite design piece?
The Great bed of Ware in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
What is the most expensive item you’ve bought?
That’ll be a 17th Century manor house.
Have you ever made any major design faux pas
Yes but I’m not owning up to any of them!
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