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Lots to tell this Friday morning first up  our sale is now on. Yay! The biggest deal is on our dog lights, all the seconds that is with discounts from 15%, 30% to a whopping 65%!

Secondly we have a new facebook page to enable us to do lots of new stuff including a fab new Style Surgery feature – you guys can tell us your stylistic dilemmas and we will shall solve them,   more on that on Monday. Not to mention competitions, cool insider tips and so much more.. We are also on foursquare, and twitting with advanced notice on discounts and deals.

Finally Maud (my dog) will be posting from time to time with her own little posts called Maud’s Musings. We were in the bookshop the other day and she spied a book by a fellow canine called My Name is Moose and got a little jealous to say the least so I said she could have her own postings from time to time seeing how she lives, breaths, and sleeps all things Atelier! When she is not sleeping that is like now !

Oh and one more thing on our facebook page we will be talking flowers,  ALOT, clustering big blousy blooms faux or otherwise in fabulous pots vintage or modern or even on candlesticks as I am doing below. Happy weekend – not quite so happy when you are on a detox but 3 weeks and counting and then the hugest bowl of stringy fries in the Spotted Pig in NY is my current plan!!

Musical chairs

I have a thing about chairs not sure why but I do. I have way more than I need but I like creating focal points with them, partnering them with say a little side table a cluster of blooms and a few tomes and I’ve put them everywhere from the bathroom to the bedroom, on landings in hallways and against the odd wall. I’ve got all sorts, all finishes and all colours. Some are vintage, some are modern, some are super comfortable and some are not so. They really do spruce up a room. If you want a rather individual look as I do opt for lots of different types (no plumping for a set now) as it creates far more interest. My house is Victorian so I’ve coupled the odd trad wing back with some modern numbers – concrete rocking chairs, a super loungy velvet and tweed number with then an old leather thing I found at a market that Maud has eaten a little!.  Layer them with textiles and an interesting dialogue begins to happen. I’ve never brought off ebay or online as I always kind of want to sit in them first – even if they are not that comfortable I want to look at the finish establish just how sturdy they may be and so on.

Anyway a few of mine below – fell of the detox wagon last night and had a couple of glasses of very fine wine and am now feeling like hell so its off to the gym for a pound on the treadmill.

These used to be in the store but I pinched them rather naughtily and now they reside at home. I love the bus roll chair, the font creates an interesting pattern without being too overwhelming and the orgone hang out by fireplace seen below.

And below Maud’s chair sit on it if you dare! Fraudie will stare you out until you feel so guilty you can’t stand it for a second longer!

Think Pink

One of the most transformative things you can do to a space is add colour – its one of the most over the counter, mood changing components around. It makes you feel uplifted, happy and if you are me an overwhelming urge to dance when you get it right. When you don’t get it right like last weekend in my pad for example it makes you so frustrated you stay up to midnight painting the whole thing back. One colour I have never dabbled with is pink – accessories, blooms, rugs perfectly happy to go with but pink  on walls and my self doubt kicks in. However I am coming around to the idea of pink but more of a blush really. Beautiful in bathrooms or dressing rooms I’m thinking.So lets talk pink for a minute its one of those hues that does far more than it says on the jar – it relaxes, it excites and it provokes glamour and romance.  Pretty darn cool hey. It’s way more versatile than you might think, and yes boys will freak when you possibly mention painting walls pink but then change the name of the colour call it blush or pearl or some such thing – its worked for me, hey I think I called deepest darkest black summer cloud! Opps

Photography Earl Carter.

 

Its all in the mix

When I fly to Australia next month I will be giving a seminar  at  Furnitex about creating emotion in design.  In every interior I design including my home of course I want that feeling of squishy contentment the moment I or any of my clients  walk through the door. The kind of contented feeling you get after say downing a whisky or two.  A buzz runs through your veins,  and you feel like your home is your most favourite space in the world. I know it’s mine.

So when I saw Claiborne Swanson’s Frank pad in Vogue  recently  I got that quickening of the heart kind of feeling. Her parents gave  her the place  when she was 22 its her country retreat and she set about making it charming, bohemian and eclectic. Whilst  it may not be exactly my cup of tea design wise its intriguing and you can ask nothing more than that.

Its a crazy combo native American art hanging out with French toile but it totally works.

Bold shots of colour anchor the space and the vibe is boho and eclectic filled with stuff that you find on travels.

Very sweet outside porch – I love American porches it reminds me so much of our travels Stateside – happy days. All photography by the way by Claiborne Swanson Frank