Hotels to inspire

When in NY (and this is the last post I will do about the city as am sure I am boring the pants off everybody) I discovered an area I had not previously known before. The bowery previously ungentrified gritty and grimy all the things I love has now gone all upmarket helped by the opening of the Bowery Hotel. Think high end boho – tatty gorgeous tapestry rugs, zinc bars, high backed chairs, andcarved panels think shabby English country pad It all felt very homely and snug, whenever I am in a city I love snooping out the newest and latest hotel to get ideas and inspiration. Not so sure Graham was on the same thought path but some super doper cocktail after a day pavement pounding was just what the doctor ordered for the pair of us.

Enough yabbering from me am late already – check out this place indisputably chic – you want to linger for several rounds, people watch, read the NY Times and do anything to stay as long as you possibly can. Does anyone need anymore convincing about how dark spaces are really the only way to go?!!

New York tales

Apologises for lack of posting last week – experienced the worst jet lag I have ever experienced waking up in NY at 2am no matter what time I went to bed.Spent the early hours each morning jogging around the meatpacking, watching rubbish TV or working – the only consultation being our room looked over the Hudson and the skyline of the city as dawn broke each morning was mesmerising. Whilst Stateside I happened across Bloomingdales who were running a big window challenge – 3 designers each made over a window utilising Bloomingdales furniture. I fell in love with the one below it had that comfy squishy contented feeling – gentleman’s club meets library meets anthropology Designed by Maxell Gillingham Ryan (he of apartment therapy fame).  If I was going to complain I would say it’s a smidge granny esq. would have preferred a little more personal funk – but than that’s pretty unfair of me seeing all the stuff had to come from Bloomingdales.

Happy Monday -  we are on the last stage of revamping our website with lots of new and exciting things happening in our NEW section – will give you guys a sneak peak as soon as we are ready to launch.

Creating magic

Alice in Wonderland is a big inspiration for me both at home and in the store.  I love creating a magical world whereby a cacophony of furnishings and accessories (think different shapes, colours and textures) are set against dark walls. Magic happens when you start playing with scale – big oversized objects in small rooms, tiny teeny furnishings in large rooms look incredibly theatrical and way more impressive than they really are. Scale in my humble opinion is so under rated too many people are scared of it and yet I beg you to try – you will I promise become a convert.

Below are a few images of pieces that we sell in the store taken by the photographer Paul Massey at my fabulous friends pad (Jo and Graham Atkins Hughes)– giant size teacups on tables, oversized chandeliers and floor lamps is what its all about. Fun, fun fun.

I’m heading out the door now to Heathrow and my sister and her boyfriend are looking after Maud. I shall worry the whole plane journey about how she will cope without both her parents although she does have the best baby sitters in the world! The fridge is stocked with good Russian vodka and pressico, Miss bundle of trouble Maud is a tad spoilt – sleeping half the night on my pillow so I have no room and the rest of it on her back in a horizontal position with everything in the air. Haven’t gone to much into her sleeping habits, or the fact that she likes a story before bed to Gem & Russ was rather hoping after a few glasses of booze it might not seem such a big deal! Yikes!

Rustic v Glamour

Having just returned from Paris and a visit to one of the most beautiful stores on earth ‘Merci’ I have rather gotten into the country esq vibe. The French do this very well and its a look that feels relaxed and lived in and is super easy to achieve. Now back in London with its hard edged vibe and tomorrow off to NY with its even harder edge vibe I am now coveting glamour. Its a perpetual conundrum – rustic v glamour and which look to go for. So I am doing a little bit of both – in Paris brought vases for the new collection in the softest of hues – perfect for spring and summer along with some beautiful roughly hewn stools  crafted from old oak.  I am offsetting this with some rock chic cushions in vibrant pink with some chain detailing and some fabulous metal stools which Gem and I will be fighting over to take home. A journalist recently asked me to describe my style and I started off with quirky, eclectic and glam but also country esp with a touch of baroque thrown in – sounded like a right old nut case!

Below are two images taken by James Merrell one of my favourite photographers:

So its this – sweet, relaxed, lived in and beautiful.

OR its this

Quirky, crazy, glamourous and I love it.

Up cycling

I am rather into up cycling as you have probably all gathered and was thinking of creating an award for the most super doper up cycled home. A strong contender would be the rather fab pad of two very talented boys Jimmie Karlsson and Rick Schultz. Jimmie is one half of the cutting edge furniture duo Jimmy Martin.  Their London home is very inspiring. I am particularly taken with the graffiti they have done thorough out. Chairs, doors, canvases have all been graffiti to give the space a very urban vibe. Its totally unique, thrifty, antiquey glamorous a hotch potch of styles abound but it absolutely works.

So I am pulling out the tear sheets and stuffing them into my inspirational file – just trying to figure where I can do something similar with the graffiti. I will not mention this idea to hubby just yet as the red skirting boards are still causing a few problems irritating enough!

Was thinking maybe over supper in the Spotted Pig on the weekend in the west village after a few glasses of wine Graham might be a little more amenable. Love the spotted pig it’s on the quietest street in Manhattan a teeny tiny gastro pub serving fab food and full to the brim with people. Anyway that’s the plan,  as you can gather madly, truly, deeply obsessed with all things interior the poor people that share this life with me probably need an award not the upcyclers!

Cool, no?

A dash of the unexpected

Apologises for not posting yesterday I had every intention but then the day got away with me – I had forgotten how much things build up being away for merely three days .Paris was fabulous, Merci was beyond fabulous and Maud spent the time hanging out with her father drinking beer , eating pizza and watching bad movies apparently! She didn’t miss me one bit!Before I forget  and I forgot all last week to tell you the very good news that my book has been reprinted and is now back in stock and Urban Outfitters have just ordered a load – thank you Urban Outfitters I am delighted and flattered !

So here’s today’s plan (ok maybe not today as we are all working but something for the weekend. I will be in NY so I can’t join in but will do so next weekend I promise). I think we should all ditch convention and add a dash of the unexpected into our homes.  The reason being to add depth and excitement to our spaces, to make them irresistible ,adorable and gorgeous.  Now it could be subtle you might want to add say an unexpected touch to your  desk maybe a cute bird  – see below. I happen to have a plastic crow sitting on my mantle piece and I adore him and everyone but everyone smiles when they see him.  Or you might want to go a little further and paint your skirting red (also see below). Yikes I here you cry but Spring is on its way – its time to start a fresh put all the past behind you and embrace the future. This was the pitch I made to my husband last night -  I suggested we paint the hall black and the skirting red,  I was meet with a rolling of the eye and a stony silence! Hey ho we have 8 hours on a plane together at the end of the week so I am compiling my case for red skirting as I type- and nothing drives Graham more mad than me talking to him over movies in the plane, particularly if its about the house and painting!!

Parrots, birds and animals in general add a touch of whimsy and spirit to a space like nothing else I know

It sounds whacky but it’s looking irresistibly adorable to me – funked up glam skirting boards – heaven.

Parisian Interiors

One day to go and then off to Paris for a what I hope will be a big successful buying trip. Gem and I are hugely excited not only are we going to one of the most beautiful cities in the world we get to plot and plan our buying for the whole year.

We are an unsociable pair though no partying and hobnobbing for us – at the end of the fair each day we trundle back into the city exhausted but often times delighted at our finds. We frequent the sweetest most gorgeous little bar – snuck way behind the Notre Dame over a little cobbled bridge it’s a dingy little unpretentious place  with not a tourist insight and I adore it. I feel like I am in some 19^th century novel! We compare notes, drink carafes of wine, eliminate stuff put it back on the list again, debut, argue, laugh,  jump with joy and eat tons of frits and steak  – yummy.

So I leave you with some Parisian interiors all a tad traditional but I love how the French don’t do uptight. Yes the rooms are formal and grand but not repeat not uptight in all way. There is always a bit of personal funk going on which lightens the mood and makes everything fabulous. Someone once said, for the life of me I cannot think who,  ‘that good taste is pointless without fun’ chin chin to that.

Loving the pink pants might try that look myself!

Spring Fever

Apologises for the lateness of this post a mini crisis in our house today. Am flying to NY with Graham at the end of next week and he suddenly realised his passport has expired so much juggling of schedules means I am now working from home with Maude and Graham as we speak should be sitting in the passport office (please)!

Spring is in the air and even though the skies are leaden (I happen to be one of the few people that love leaden saucepan lid skies because the light is so very soft) there is a feeling of fresh beginnings. Which gets me of course onto our homes. Soon slubby woollen throws and cushions can be packed away and lighter, brighter accessories can be brought in to change ones space. I love changing my space for spring and I don’t mean replacing big-ticket items. Flowers make a huge difference to any room, brightening, tantalising and adding pops of colour. Watch this space as Gem and I are planning on doing something uber exciting with flowers for the store. I cannot say more just yet otherwise she will kill me but so excited am I about this new venture that I lay awake at night thinking about it. Its not just flowers though, ornaments, textiles in silky summery hues, candles in summery notes all make one dream of those long summer nights sat outside with a glass of pressico. Cannot wait

I have posted below two images of Shannon Fricke’s pad in Aus to get us in the mood for Spring (at least for this side of the world) peacock blue sofas, dusty turquoise wallpaper look utterly gorgeous and I’m jealous.

Perfect Palettes

Ah my favourite subject paint  and colour palettes. One journalist once wrote of me after visiting my pad and most probably freaking out that I buy paint like other people buy clothes! Possibly but its important and I’m not just talking about paint for one room I’m talking about figuring out your whole colour palette even if you are not ready to redecorate each and every room just yet. Here’s why.Transitioning (designer speak and a word I love) from room to room should be an experience to savour. Colours should harmoniously sit alongside each other, complementing each other but at the same time stand alone and find their own voice – rather like a good marriage hey!  Below are some images to get you in the mood – all photographs taken by Damien Russell whose work I adore:

The softest, palest most drop dead gorgeous grey could be accented with some shots of heavenly burnt orange  – see below

Oh and one more tear sheet image,  I promise I will stop after this as I feel I becoming obsessed.Look how beautiful the colours are – burnt orange, inky blue, shots of black and smidges of white – fabulous for any space.

More stuff on walls

I am sticking with to walls today since they are one of the largest areas us designers have to work with and they can radically transform a room.  Old photos, tear sheets, images from catalogues really cosy up a room and look fabulous as we discussed on Friday right -remember class? Anyway Mathew Williamson has done the very same thing to his bathroom in London (see below) and if you want to be bang on trend what about sheets of newspaper stuck to your walls coupled with a big canvas of bus roll font. Print on print, very cool, very cheap to do and super bold!

Spring is the air (or at least it was yesterday I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin for the very first time this year which was wonderful. So that’s me done  – off to the gym, Bluebird for a re-stock and then a trade fair. Maud is off to school  (have packed her lunch) although I think she has just hit the terrible two’s (is that possible for a puppy)?  This weekend she has eaten my boots, jumped in the bath whilst I was in it and shocked both of us so badly I thought we were both going to keel over with a heart attack!   She was covered in bubbles so I had to tear out of the bath chase her over the house, (whilst naked I might add) trying to catch her. The glamorous life I lead!

If Mathew Williamson is doing it it must be fabulous!

Font on font – am liking very much