Maximal style love it or hate it

I happen to love it – but then again sometimes I am bothered by the OTT ness of it all.  Edgy, kooky and colourful is fabulous but then it’s knowing when to stop and edit that is the key.  I think the thing to go for is always mix, never have anything that is purely one look (too boring) or from one source (beyond dull). This way you will create a sense of adventure and drama.

When I walk into a space I want to be intrigued, my eyes to be dazzled and I want to feel emotion.  It’s easy to do just start thinking like a maximalist – layer, play daringly with colour and scale in and no time you will have a fabulous concoction. Oh and don’t be put off if friends and family don’t get it. I was ribbed beyond comprehension over Christmas by certain members of my extended family who found my madcap mix of stuff beyond conception. Would I rather live in a beige sea of graciousness – not on your Nelly!

One of Ms Wearstler’s interiors – I love everything apart from the ceiling which to me is just a little too crazy.

Say good bye to die hard minimalism

Actually I have said good bye to it for a few good years now– we parted as friends but as they say when its over its truly over!  We want (I want) cosy, eclectic, luxurious and boho and peppering walls with art does just this. Sir Paul Smith, adore adore adore him has done it to perfection not purely with fashion but also interiors and art. The image below shows his fabulous collection of art – and as you will see the space suddenly has depth, intrigue and interest. So can I encourage everyone to start collecting. Homes are given instant pizzazz  and your walls will start expressing your own unique personality. It  doesn’t have to cost the earth,  graduate shows, etsy, ebay, flea markets are all good starting points.

I found an old rusty sign at a flea market and Russ (my sisters super doper talented boyfriend) wrote for me in hot Barbie esq. pink lettering a phrase which makes me laugh every time I come into the house “ the wife is always right”. It’s a large installation and whenever anyone comes to the house to photograph it they think I have paid the earth! I love it, its quirky, humorous and tongue in cheek.  Not so sure Graham does but then I am always right and rather than saying it endlessly I can just point now to our beautiful artwork!

Although  as much as I hate to admit this yesterday I dragged my sister across the other side of town (over an hour in the tube) to visit the trade show Top Drawer only to find I had gotten the day wrong by a week – its on next week instead oops. Plus a few months ago we drove for three hours one way to visit a flea market and unfortunately I got the month and the day wrong – the air I should tell you was a little blue. Hey ho one cannot be brilliant all the time!

Sir Paul Smith doing what he does best – mixing styles with a big dose of humour.

When I have retired, thinking around 90 I want this to be me – perched on a chesterfield with a great big artwork above me and Maud snuggled on my lap.

Books etc

I spent the weekend painting and styling my new bookcase – which I must say I adore. I know its a little weird to style a bookcase as it were but the books had to sit the right way, the magazines piled exactly the right height – wont bore you with all the details. It looks like everything has just been shoved in (I wanted this boho look – but god so much uming and haaring went on in our household this weekend.It stretches the whole wall of the ground floor and houses back issues of design magazines, design and art book post cards that I have collected over the years, sweet cards people have sent that sort of thing. Below is an image  of Ms Ilse Crawford’s bookcase which is just beautiful. Books and those little collectibles add personality to a space like nothing else.

Happy Monday – its 7.29 am and am late for coffee and yay hey no snow. Maud is snuggled under the duvet and won’t wake up to kiss me good bye (she has a school day today and I worry about her gone all day). Ok thats me done – think I have said way enough you will all be thinking I need to see a shrink (few people have been suggesting that for years)!

Alternative wallpaper

Bus roll signs used as wallpaper is a fab way of embellishing walls. Its quirky and whimiscal, decorative and beautiful. My sister used it in her bedroom (image below) and Martin Thompson has used it in his NY pad. You can get them on ebay or through various stores or pick them up at flea markets. The great thing is unlike wallpaper you don’t want that much of it – a couple of rolls with some interesting text looks sassy and fantastic. So I leave you with these two images – whilst I scrabble around finding who knows what to wear. Am late for a meeting need to wear heels but looking outside I should be in ski boots and thermals. Hey ho need a personal stylist to dress me each day – will save the floor being covered in clothes and the air turning blue.

Happy weekend everyone x

I love this apartment if I ever ever relocate to NY then this is how I want to live!

Gem’s pad – the bus roll wallpaper looks fab and totally embellishes the walls

Panels

I’ve got a thing about panelling – it shouts gentleman’s club, cigar club and all round unique snug place to hang out and have a quiet few. Of course my club would need a fire crackling in the grate at all times – but enough about me. Its super easy to transpose the look and feel of such a hang out to your very own home but the decision is whether to go rustic yet chic a la Shoreditch house (image below) or glam, sophisticated and grown up. I dither between the two. If you fancy the rustic look then reclamation wood yards are the way to go – Ashwell being the one I visit probably more often than Top Shop (sad old thing that I am). There is something incredibly exciting about unearthing some old piece or pieces of wood that you can then make panel your walls with.

Love the rustic walls with the super glam chairs and rug.

Black is the new white

Or so I say! As I type this its snowing heavily in London white. white thick snow – could somewhere up there possibly change the colour of the stuff? Down pipe perhaps would be beautiful!  In recent years deepest darkest rooms have fallen out of favour – a sea of beige ness has taken over the world and yes it can look gracious but gracious isn’t sexy and I WANT sexy. So my mission this year is to convince as many people as possible to cross  over  to the dark side. You don’t have to embrace it full on as I have done – a wall here or a ceiling there painted inky black looks beyond gorgeous particularly when partnered with quirky finds. Furniture and art breaths the same rhythm with a dark palette they display an effortness sophisication(gosh I am sounding like a writing a book all over again). On the book front I do apologise to anyone who has tried to buy my book it seems it has utterly sold out and is in the process of being re-printed – its back in stores and Amazon end of March  and the hughest thank  you to everyone who has brought it.

So back to eye popping black – fabulous, transformative, classic oh and you look slimmer in dark rooms than light – do I need to say more! Two images from the amazing photographer Andrea Ferrari of an apartment in Bruges to tantalise and inspire.

You don’t need much to make this room look super glam -dark walls, some fab textures and wham bam thank you mam you have a super cool pad!

Quirky, beautiful and timeless – I rest my case!

An inspired idea

The builders are in so dust and craziness  everywhere  – all for the greater good I keep telling myself.  I am relocating my office to the ground floor – realising that it was a little crazy working on the top floor of a four-story house in a diddy little room I had the inspired idea of  creating a snug library/study downstairs on the ground floor which then opens out into our winter living area. Plus I get a great view of the garden which or so my pitch went to my husband will help me be way more creative and work longer into the night!

This is how the room looked before (as seen in this months Livingetc – thank you by the way Livingetc). The chandelier has now been re-housed into the void area, the red console and light to the basement and the black table usurped by a super cool ornate ancient one I found in a flea market and sprayed teal. So all systems go – builders have tea as we speak and being the impatient person I am have given them 12 hours to finish the task in hand. Then it’s a super quick paint job or it will be if I have anything to do with it – a smidge of tweaking and humping hundreds of mags and books down numerous stairs. But by Thursday (when its supposed to get super cold) fires, jazz, candles and a double dose of something or other to celebrate should be the name of the game.

At least that s my plan!

Happy 2010 – break the rules and make new ones

Happy New Year everyone – I love that it’s a new year and all that’s wrapped up with that. Resolutions, fresh beginnings and new plans. For me January means Paris (a city I adore) for one of our biggest buying trips of the year and possibly New York so I have to say I always approach Jan with much enthusiasm.

Part of my new years resolutions is to delight clients with a mesmerizing take on colour and push the design envelope with some truly exciting products. Colour like nothing else I know re shapes, highlights and lends depth and excitement to any room – and in my humble opinion is massively underrated. I’m thinking of painting the outside of the store a golden hue that shimmers in the light.  The inside has just been painted London Clay a beautiful colour by Farrow & Ball which I am obsessed with – our bathroom is soon to be painted that very same colour (sorry honey I probably haven’t mentioned that yet – oops)!

In terms of products I truly think last year our style came into its own. Its somehow kind of mutated from organic and understated to an in your face, funked up, idiosyncratic collection of goodies. Its sophisticated  and glamorous s but with a twist and I very much want to keep going along that line. So I leave you with two images both taken from Issue 2 of Lonny (loving that magazine). The first shows a serious does of colour in Kate Spade’s New York store – a fab rug, and a colourful floor cushion shout instant happiness. To me this very much personifies what design is all about – it thrills, it seduces and it surprises.

The second image shows an irresistible owl accessory  – it’s the little humorous details such as these that add interest to any scheme.