Competition time!! I was thinking it would be great to give away a master class – its a pretty easy competition all you have to do is write why you want to come along, I shall select the best answer and announce the winner tomorrow pm. Competition ends noon tomorrow.
Let me give you a little insight into what we will be covering. We shall start with my top 15 rule breakers that will take your home to a whole other level, followed by a ‘be brave’ section so interesting combos on layouts, colour and lighting. Then there is a house tour, lunch of course (hopefully in the garden if the weather holds). More stuff on things to make your home feel great, a mini challenge (don’t freak its fun), instant updates and finally design on a shoestring. Rounded off with cakes from Violet and a glass of champers.
Interested?
If so let me know why (oh and you can also enter via facebook)
me me me me, pick ME!! where do we enter Abigail? I would
LOVE, no NEEEED to come because I am brave bold and fearless,I love colour, I love design, I love STUFF – I just need someone to guide me in conducting this orchestra!! I have “champagne tastes with cider pockets” and I believe you can teach me how to bridge the gap. I KNOW you can!
Because I crossed over to the dark side and I never EVER want to go back… Beige is boring!! (I live in manhattan though, so there’s almost a snowball’s chance in hell I can go to your class in London… When are you coming to new york?!?)
I have a fab little flat but it’s always saddened me that I have never been brave enough to inflict my personality onto it. I often browser your website in envy and wish that I had the courage and the talent to interior design the way you do. Like for most people buying a flat is the most expensive and scary (as well as exciting) things you’ll ever do and I guess I’m just very scared that I might ruin it. With my own style I’m always up for taking risks and standing out, I’d love my home to be the same. I know I have it in me but I really need your help to drag it out!
Please please give me the chance to have a bright, colourful and inspiring home.
x
Because you inspire me every day to be a little bit more daring, different and dark, and because like Alice I would like to fall down the rabbit hole and find your home at the bottom and enter your world of enticing dark drama and loveliness and because tomorrow is my birthday and it would be the best present ever.
*raises hand*. I have a safe but somewhat dated house that needs something, anything. It would be good to do a masterclass and embrace the dark side *Darth Vader swoosh*
To “Get My House In Order” is what I need to do
I think I could achieve this with a Masterclass by you
The merits of The Dark Side? I don’t need to be persuaded
Of deadly boring, dull, beige haze I’m well and truly jaded
I long for space that’s interesting, that sends my senses reeling
I could be brave, I could be bold and even choose dark ceilings
A mirror here, a moose head there, or something off the wall
Every time I’m in your shop I seem to want it all!
Give me Downpipe, rich Hague Blue, I really won’t be frightened
Spread the word around the town so all can be enlightened
Cushions, tea lights, flowers, the gorgeous final touch
That little hint of humour, I want it all so much
When coming home at night and opening the locks
Oh Abigail, please give me a house that really rocks!
Because I am absolutely obessed with design and feel utterly missunderstood by boyfriend family etc I need to see that there are people as crazy as me or I will start thinking I am crazy, changing furniture and painting all day. I need empathy, I need to learn, I need to talk about how design can really change your life and why I am always looking for the holly grail, the perfect room, the perfect corner, the perfect wall colour and furniture.. I need you Abigail!! – PS and of course cause I love love love your style
because your book is the best decoration book ever! I would come all the way from Hamburg to see you!
Thank to you I have painted my living room in dark grey and my bed room in dark blue and I love it. I am now dreaming of painting some furnitures on neon colours.
Thanks for inspiring us Abigail.
See you soon!
Elodie
I can approach this in so many ways…..I could say that you have inspired me for such a long time, with your daring designs that goes against everyone else’s white, pale offerings and now boring schemes.
I could tell you that you have brought me over to the dark side, experimenting with colours friends have been quite frankly appalled at until they see the beautiful results.
I could say that it is your responsibility, seeing as you brought me over to the dark side to now tell me what the heck I should be doing with lighting, pops of colour etc as I am slightly at a loss here- I suppose it’s liking getting to your holiday destination airport but not yet to the resort!
I could offer to sell my soul or even that of my child (his is slightly darker…railings to my down pipe!) or….
You could think of it as marriage counselling as my husband cannot and will not listen to my decorating woes/ideas any longer…… So go on save my marriage, I beg you!
OOOOoooo, because i totally believe in your interior design philosophy. You had me at downpipe! Completely mesmerised by. It’s totally awesome and i never ever tire of your yabbering! Oh, and i am all up for breaking rules!
What a cool & generous prize. We are almost at the end of renovating our new home… one year later. ‘A Girls Guide to Decorating’ has been a big influence. I’m always thinking about what you say about the house making your heart skip a beat when you walk in the door – that’s the look I’m going for! So with that in mind your class would help me to finish the house off just right – that last bit can be more tricky than moving a wall, as I’m finding out.
. Its been an experience I’ll never forget!
Saying that I’m not sure I’m the most deserving of the prize, doing the work on our house (all ourselves) over the last year has had so many ups & downs but I know we will get there soon & a daily read of your blog usually helps with the motivation
At 21 i’ve lived in 20 rented houses, and never been able to decorate a single one, you wouldn’t believe what affect it has on how it is to live in a space that is borrowed, shameful as I am a design student fascinated with form and function.
I considered interior design to be ‘decoration’ (incorrectly) until a visited my partners beautiful house a year ago and its completely opened my eyes. Whilst oozing character and potential the rooms were so cluttered some things hadn’t been thrown away for twenty years, Id never seen anything like it and I got a sudden rush! For two weeks I cleaned scrubbed, and scoured for furniture on a shoestring and raising money to do it all, nothing was more liberating and exhilarating. After it changed his mood, and ultimately how he functioned within his space, it transformed him. Now we our buying our first house together and nothing would be more beautiful then a masterclass by you, it would give me the confidence to use those inky blue hues, embrace the dark side, and let my personality flow. I adore your designs and the confidence you have, its exciting, and transformative, it simulates so many emotions and everything it should be.
I heart Downpipe and want to use it EVERYWHERE! I need help though. Lots of it please.
I have just bought my first home and since I got the keys I’m now in the hating-everything and wanting-to-change-everything stage.
I am limited to budget because all of my hard earned savings went on the deposit but can’t help to want my home to be amazing and use all the space properly before I get into bad habits.
Your blog, talents and style are so inspiring. I love your boldness and would love to take risks in doing the same in my own home.
Winning this would give me a real opportunity to gain a better understanding of great interior design, use of space, colour and perhaps if I’m lucky, a better chance to make my mind up and to stop procrastinating over many of ideas.
i have been dreaming up interiors and trying to convince my friends and family to move their furniture around and paint their walls ever since i can remember! im a painter, so i went into graphic design and always regretted my premature career choice. now we finally bought our own house (a charming 100-yr-old terraced house in holland) and in renovating it, i realize my desire to beautify the world around me runs too deep to stop here! i really relate to your work, abigail… and i think i am ready to challenge myself in your master class, if you’d have me.
Hi Abigail!
The main reason i think you should pick me is because i covet all your interiors very badly and keep on going back to gaze at photos of them as though they were illicit porn. As the sort of person who has always taken the sight of an open living room window as an invitation to look inside, a tour of your house would finally allow me to satiate those interior cravings..
Even worse, my poor boyfriend is always having to talk me down from 70s brass palm tree floor lamps, zellige tiles, grotto chairs, a variety of odd modernist ceramic animals and random Victorian taxidermy. Tragically, my taste never comes cheap. So your amazing interior knowledge- especially when it comes to design on a shoestring, would not only be wonderfully informative, but might even have magical restorative relationship powers. Not that were on the verge of breakup -but he could probably use the sleep.
Thank you!
I’d so love to attend your masterclass as it would force me to take a break from my work, which I love but has taken over my life recently. I have endless F&B paint charts but find it impossible to choose especially when a mistake could prove costly in a flat with very high ceilings. Time away to think, get ideas and actually see finished spaces would be really great and inspire me with work and at home.
I would be absolutely over the moon if you pick me! My story is a bit of a lengthy one. I married in 1997 and we moved in with my husbands parents, thinking that after 3 years we would have enough money to buy our own house, but alas due to all sorts of financial and other family issues we could not move. Now after all these years we have our very own home!!!! It’s a lovely house but requires a good up date, its also veerrry beige, I need lots of inspiration to make this house a home. I have always had a very keen interest in interior design and dreamed of this day to come (MY OWN HOME). So like I said before, if you were to pick me, you would make me a very happy chick!! Thank you for taking the time reading about my story, and for giving your fans this opportunity. No hard feelings if I’m not chosen, I’ll still read your blogs and check out your website. Thank you once again.
I would love to be invited to the masterclass because it would be amazing to visit your beautiful house and learn the tricks from the design master! Plus, it would be such a great environment to learn in, surrounded by interiors designed by my ‘design idol’.
I have just applied to start an interior design course in September and, being completely truthful, you were the person that sparked my love of interior design. Since I first saw your blog I have been a dedicated follower and have been converted to the dark side!
truth be told (part a), i’d quite happily dole out 150 clams to come and see your pad & do your design school masterclass… truth be told (part b), i’m already feeling particularly lucky having finally been offered a design internship today after nearly 3 years of study and 8 months of begging letters… but truth be told (part c), given i am about to be paid less than it costs to keep me in lattes (what the!) for the next four months of my life whilst doing the aforementioned internship, i’m not sure my miserly budget will now extend to masterclasses of any description, even if it means hanging out with a crazy lady & two of the cutest little furry critters this side of the equator… so, if the offer is on the table i would be forced to happily accept and then grin wildly like the village idiot for a good many weeks afterwards! regardless of the outcome, thanks again for your generosity of spirit! for that alone you’re a stand out in the design world, even without your six inch high boots! sue
Well Abigail… there’s 2 things you should know about Border Terriers like me:
1. We just don’t listen to you half the time and there’s no point shouting our names – chasing squirrels will always be more fun than the plastic sausage you’re waving at me
2. We are a discerning bunch and we just want our humans’ homes to have colour, colour, colour. What use is magnolia to a puppy like me?
Please Abigail fix it for me for my daddy to bring some colour to his life. Love from Vegas (aged 1 and 1/4)
PS: Can I come? x
Mine is basic. After more than a decade I’ve moved flat, to my perfect flat and this is suppose to me the new me. I have grand dreams but a relatively small budget and I’m starting completely from scratch. I’ve been in here for just over a week and can’t seem to get into a groove, find inspiration or a cohesive decorating plan. I decorated my old flat easily, and even decorate my self daily with ease but am truly stuck on this one but don’t want to decorate my new pad in the same style as my old. I find your blog inspiring and informative, and your house looks fantastic, but I would like to find my own personality in one of your master class instead of ripping off your ideas. Also, I’m sure you don’t have many men in your classes.
Why I’d like to come, hum…… I’ve been doing up my house from scratch over 5 years and ended up with light colours in all rooms except one, which my husband chose. I’d like to win so I can learn how to use dark colours, I do consider/try but end up with a watered down result. My daughter enjoys re-arranging rooms but has no idea about interior colours so I’m hoping by being inspired myself, it would inspire her. My budget is usually non existent so learning how to be creative on a shoestring would also be a massive help. I have no idea how to put things together and usually copy images from magazines, it would be nice to come up with the idea myself in the first place. Saying hello to Maud & Mungo is also high on my list
So having excitedly seen your competition. So here I go on trying to make you decide upon me. It starts with a little rhyming then some pleading!
In 2011 my house burnt down,
But this did not make me move to town.
My house was old and beautiful,
now we need to make it suitable.
Accessories and colour,
will make the house less duller
To do this I need a master class in design,
So I can add some fabulous new lines.
So please pick me to join you,
So I can add some oooooh
The house needs saving,
It needs to be amazing.
Terrible I know, luckily I am not interested in becoming the poet laureate! But I am interested in your masterclass and sadly our house did burn down last year. It will be a while before I need to be picking colours and accessories but we will have a blank canvas to maybe apply your rule breakers! I have the chance to be bold and turn this house into a beauty. So please pick me!
because i wanna meet mungo ‘n maud.
oh, & have a snoop! x
I wish I could come but it’s just toooooooo far to trek from Sydney.
Have fun in your Masterclasses, Abigail. Hope the weather holds for you!
Dear Abigail, I was inspired by your talk at the KLC day at the Design Centre. I love your blog with its stimulating images and your generosity in sharing your ideas, which ultimately helps everyone. I totally get it! I have no formal training but I am obsessed with interiors and the impact that they have on people’s lives. I have played successfully with F&B’s ‘plummett’ and ‘cornforth white’ (not too dark but getting there) in my own place and trying to layer with the antiques and curiosities foisted on me since my mother-in-law died last year….. Friends and now employers have recently asked me to work/advise on their homes. Very exciting but a bit scary! I would love the chance to learn more and gain confidence at one of your classes, and, of course to have the chance to check out your home after reading so much about it! Here’s hoping I’m in with a chance…..
Hi Abigail, it would be a dream come true to visit your beautiful abode. Seeing your house in photos is great but to see it in the flesh would be a dream come true…….. I think im more like one of the characters on your tv show, Im abit of a hoarder, have piles of clothes, books, objects, collections of stuff everywhere, I just dont quite know where to begin, and its been like this for years……….I blame it on lack of space but really Im just stuck and to see the magic you have created in your own space I think is the kick up the arse and inspiration I probably need. Warm regards, Nico
I’m coming out on the other side of a really tough year. Through this year i’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole and by this i’m meaning i’ve decided to embark on a complete career change. I’m trying to unleash all the creativity that 10 years of retail work have sucked out of me. Interior design courses dont come cheap and whilst I save and save to do one, i’m am trying to immerse myself in the design world. Yours is a style i’ve admired over the last year as you dont conform to the norm that I see in a lot of blogs/mags etc. I think a days masterclass would certainly help me unleash my creative potential even more than i’m doing now. Your fun interiors really float my boat and they are something that have defo contributed to my career now being pointed in the way of interiors, so thank you for that!
Dear Abigail,
You are part of my morning routine – breakfast, coffee and your blog post! I bought my own house a year ago and have already shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get rid of the granny look that was not so chic! I’ve loved every minute of it, and this along with your inspiration has led me to pick up a part time interior design course! Even though I have listened to your eclectic words of wisdom on textures, layout, mirrors, lamps and faux flowers, I am yet to go dark… I have been away from home for a few months and am dying to get back and take the plunge! Your masterclass would help me do this with style and give my house the Wowzer factor!
And also, I love dogs so would be excited to see Maud and Mungo too!
Leah. x
Because of you, I have one kitchen wall painted Downpipe, because my outside paintwork on my Victorian House has been painted Hague Blue, because I love your blog which daily lightens my life. I am standing on the edge with one toe already dipped in the water. I yearn to visit the dark heart of your home to see it for real so that finally, my eyes having feasted on it and having learned from lips of the mistress of the dark, I can return with the confidence to fully plunge right down into the depths.
Me please:) I’m doing an Interior Design Diploma whilst working full-time and spending all my money on paint and drills and it would be the absolute olive in my martini to get the opportunity to go to one of your masterclasses! Also, my cat Matilda could do a northern perspective to Mauds London blog, and doing a quick count, I have nine sets of lights in my little living area at different levels, i’m ready for the next level of Ahernism!
I want it and I want it now…
your ridiculously beautiful, ‘devil-may-care’ fearlessly fabulous interiors.
Voodoo, black magic, and more than a little design hi-jinks from the dark side makes the mayhem and madness of this masterclass possibility thrilling.
Giddy with anticipation at the prospect of sharing!
I would LOVE to win a Masterclass!! I inquired about them when you first announced them, but but I’m from Sydney, Australia so need to work out a few other things and ways to get to the UK!! Would love to be able to tell my boyfriend that I WON and we have to go to London, no excuses!!
Your book Girls Guide to Decorating was the first decorating book I purchased a few years ago, and it inspired me to study Interior Design! I just started up my own interior styling business and would love to meet you in person as you are a huge mentor to me, and would def take alot from the masterclass!!! xx
I would love to come along,I’ve always loved dark the darker the better,I would love some inspiration as I’ve got an old Victorian house,I love to be engulfed in dark it feels like home,I love your taste I love your style I know we would get along,I would love nothing more than to met you,it’s rare to know someone who loves dark,my friends and family are always why why why it makes the room dark,the room smaller but when I’ve finished painting a room dark it’s like magic they just get it
help me keep the dark alive pick me happily loving the darkness Katrina xxxx
Hey just wrote a really long reply and phone crashed! So shorter version I thought id recently discovered you but my scrap book of when I moved in my flat has a picture and in it vases which are from your store! I have just been painting my corridor grey. Thought if it for ages. You have encouraged me. I need to be brave about a few things in my life right now and reflecting this in my interior I know will give me a constant energy and a reminder that I can be strong and I will always have my sense of humour! Even if you don’t pick me I would like to say thank you for being a bloody good tonic! Em x ps I should note my boyfriend has given me a new nickname Abs
I would welcome the opportunity to attend your master class. I have read your blog every day since i saw the photos of your home on the selby website and it is so inspiring. I LOVE your style of decorating and it would be such an honour to be able to see your home, meet you in person, and to learn from you.
My husband and i bought a small one bedroom flat last year (my first home). I’m from miami but i now live in east london. We live in an old converted match factory and the walls are all white. The walls are not very symmetrical and it is difficult for me to think about what can be done to decorate the flat. This is the first opportunity that i have had to express myself in my home since we have always rented until last year. However i do not know what to do or even where to begin! We obtained some stuff to personalise the flat and make it unique but so much work needs to be done with the wall colours.
I am hoping to learn about the options which are available to get that ‘inky-sludgy’ look. I would feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to go ‘to the dark side’ with an introduction to it from you.
Vyvy
10pm in Cambridge, Massachusetts…I really should be getting myself ready for the inevitable – finding out in the morning if we did, or did not, get that fixer upper house we fought so much for for the past 3 days…It is down to us and one other buyer. But somehow, I would rather find out in the morning I got a spot in your fab master class! I have been your huge fan for the past 2 years even though I never posted… Well, I cannot even find courage to post on my own blog set up over a year ago, to a dismay of my husband who “gave up” his best URL for me, as he claims… But this class could be it – the ultimate inspiration to stand up and speak up loud the language of design and creativity. There is no one like you on this side of Atlantic! It is a joy to read your blog every morning.
Hope to see you in London.
Because Marianne Williamson said, “Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.” I’m finally ready to shine, to decorate in a way that reflects my soul, rather than hides my authentic self. I’m at long lost feel deserving of a home that hugs me when I walk through the door – and all my visitors!
Abigail you burst into my life at the Design Centre Chelsea last autumn when you spoke at a master class. I liked the fact that you was/are such a free spirit with your ideas. And the audience were in my opinion either captivated or looked as if they were in design shock!
x
Before that day I thought interior design would just be one long lesson in shades of beige.
I needed you. Ever since then I’ve read your blogs regularly, constantly refer to your style when I’m in class with my fellow students and am your Facebook friend and follow you on Twitter.
I am re-training as an interior designer after a career in the beauty industry and then the airline industry and then receiving an organ transplant. I really feel that to learn your philosophy first hand would be a mini dream come true. Then to go out and spread the word throughout my world of interior spaces.
Oh and it’s my birthday.
Abigail I would LOVE to win this competition! We moved into our apartment 5 years ago and no matter how much money I threw at it in products and paint I was never happy with it, it always looked so ‘textbook/catalogue’. I HATED going to friends houses and seeing that they had the same or similar stuff to me and could never work out what I was doing wrong. I actually started to hate our apartment so much we moved out and rented somewhere else for a year (was a good idea at the time!) We soon realised that we needed to go back to the apartment and start to make it work for us so when we moved back in last October I was determined that the decor needed to change. After much research I found your work through Pinterest early last year and was in awe of how, when you inject your own personality into the room, (instead of Next Home’s personality) what a transformation it makes.
So armed with my new found inspiration we’ve since refitted the kitchen (all dark walls!) and I now spend hours (who am I kidding – weeks!) researching online and locally for just the right, quirky, fun stuff that reflects my personality and makes me smile everytime I come home!
I’d love to win a free pass to your masterclass to learn a bit more about your design ethos in person and thankyou for making me much happier in our home!
I’ve been obsessed with dark ever since wanting to paint my room black as a teenager (my parents wouldn’t let me) to make my vibrantly painted thrift store furniture and my flea market finds pop, most notably a huge Victorian wing mirror from Brick Lane market that I transported back to Germany on the plane balanced on my knees, before there were restrictions against things like that.
These days I live in a rented apartment in Los Angeles and the darkest hue my landlord allows is cloud, a faint touch of blueish grey.
I still try to make my place look louche with a wild assortment of found and lovingly restored furniture, desert and mountain thrift store curios and some designer pieces. An eggplant coloured Eames shell chair for $10, a mid century Danish chair I upholstered in silk Kimono rope and some Verner Panton heirlooms are among my most cherished possessions.
My bathroom and kitchen are the ugliest bathroom and kitchen I’ve ever seen, they still bring tears to my eyes whenever I walk in, but I try to combat the depressing ugliness by piling on wonderful and dramatic pieces, it works to a certain degree…
A wild mix of 60′s space age, industrial, cabin style, relaxed desert vibe and 70′s California hippie, accented with modern art and, for some strange reason, a weird animal theme creeping in…can I mention here that some people scream when they enter the apartment upon seeing the half panda/ half antelope head mounted on my wall in lieu of a moose head?
Is that what you mean with tantalize and titillate?
Or the time I couldn’t sleep and got up in the middle of the night to create a bedroom curtain out of lace bits and crochet pieces in what I thought was an abstract fashion and my daughter identified my installation the next morning as a sleeping cat.
Questions I ponder:
How to combine different styles and periods, as well as a very clean, modern look with vintage, patinaed pieces, without making it look like a motley flea market assortment?
How to combine bright colors with dark and muted hues and not make it look like a color blind person has decorated?
And what to do if you cannot paint your walls dark because you’re renting?
How to furnish rooms that are a combination of things, like entrance hall (they don’t have that much here in the US), living and dining room wrapped into one, so they don’t look like you’re in a furniture store?
How to use cushions, blankets and rugs so they don’t look doily and like my grandma has decorated?
How to spice it up with house plants and flowers?
Not sure sometimes if my interior design approach is madness or genius…
Please help!
Can’t quite get it all to work..great ideas ,some great stuff around the place, Mid Centuary modern leanings with oddities..but inviting??. not quite. Got a toe half in the water ..painted half my floorboards in Down pipe ( what is it with that colour ?) about 3yrs ago..and the 3 of 5 walls in 6565 Albany about a year ago! Help. Just quit my job as a tapestry weaver to go solo, as a Textile artist..so changes afoot all round. Plus my sister-in-law has asked me to help her decorate her massive place in Brockley which their just extending, exciting!!..its a complete white out at the mo. Came across you via Interiors Nut blog ..I think. Pretty much like everthing you do! And would hope your energy and enthusiasm rubs off. I think the day would be hugely informative…and fun:-)
Jo
On my bookcase, I have the books of 3 women who I find to be a true inspiration; fearless in their creativity & true to themselves – Helen Martins Owl House (please google her), Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture Garden and your Girl’s Guide to Decorating. I have been fortunate enough to visit the other 2 homes and I would so love to attend the Masterclass to experience your work first hand and to learn more about how to work your magic myself.
I have been a BIG fan of what yours ever since stumbling across your shop while looking for Haby Bonero cushions a couple of years ago. I was immediately hooked, mesmerised by what I saw and now I can never go back that bland beige world where it was like living in a cardboard box!
Pick me please Abi!
Hi Abi,
I would absolutely love to go to your Masterclass. I have always loved Interior decorating and design and wish i had have been able to make a career of it but life had other ideas. Somehow i have ended up in an office job doing the exact opposite of what i love to do, I am basically Chandler Bing!! . In the past few years i have really realised that you have to do and live what you love to stay sane, happy and healthy! so i decorate and more often just dream out schemes as much as i can for my own home and friends and families, i keep a blog and follow oh so many other beautiful ones so i still feel involved with my passion everyday even if its not how i earn my living.
I would love to study Interior design but its not an option financially for me at the moment, attending your masterclass would be amazing so that for one day i could totally indulge myself in creativity and beauty and totally and utterly just be me!
What a fab competition, thank you.
Hilary
@Emma Dominique, I see that you are doing in a diploma in the north? Would you mind letting me know which one? I can’t seem to find any in the northwest where I live and am saving to do the klc one. Really grateful if you could let me know the one you’re doing? Good luck with the comp!
Hey Alexis, its with the Interior Design Institute, its about £600, all online, and absolutely fascinating, can’t recommend it enough! good luck to you too:)
I’ve been waiting to write this for the past 24 hours and now that there is only an hour left in the competition, I figure I just need to get it out.
I’m 26 and have been working with domestic and sexual violence survivors for the past 7 years. The world can be really dark and horrible things happen– I’m a secret keeper for many women. I can’t tell you the horrible things I hear at work— and that’s kind of the problem with the job. You hold on to all of these secrets and most of the time can’t tell anyone. People who I work with get things like vicarious trauma, meaning you take in other peoples trauma and act them out. I’ve lost hair, had night sweets and not been able to sleep with my husband because of hearing these stories (when someone talks to you about a rape and then you go home, its hard to switch off). But I am a optimistic person –
So I started decorating and designing off the wall projects as my outlet. It started with a small addiction to ebay and all things old and wonderful, it blossomed to making funny paintings, then designing off the wall things like chemistry set lamps/chandeliers and wooden dinosaur heads mounted onto walls. Now we do things like reupholster chairs bought from ebay with new shades (and use copper, I love copper) and mount pelmets.I promise you there are few weekends a year when I am not painting or making something (my husband works on the weekends, so I have some time to change things around before he gets home and says no– it’s been known for him to come home to a black chalkboard painted bedroom and such). We rent, can’t afford our own place yet, however that has not stopped me from painting every wall and changing every curtain/light/furniture he had here in our home in South London. Friends are always coming around to see what new thing we have done to the place- this is always on a shoestring budget (I mean hey- the place isn’t ours) and always starts with a purchase through ebay or a rummage at a boot fair.
My inlaws are fabulous and have embraced this kooky side, and now that my mom-in-law has a kitchen design company of her own, she is asking me to use some of our lamps/furniture in her store and to have a look at the kitchen’s she is designing to suggest colours/lights/kooky things the client could use to decorate. This makes me ever-so-excited because what was an outlet for me to deal with the dark side of the world, is now being used to brighten other peoples lives a bit.
But that’s where the problem comes in, I am a complete novice. I religiously read your blog and a couple others daily, and that’s the only bit of training I have ever had. I know I need some help- not just the virtual kind. I can’t afford your class until I sell a load of our little projects, so winning would be really something great for me/us (my husband has embraced the decorating- he also does kitchen design but has taken a while to come to the world of comfy and not static). Picking me would help turn what was my own personal outlet for dealing with the horrible stuff that people do to others, into something sunnier that I can share. xo
I need to come along to your Masterclass for so many reasons….but to summarize, my top 10 reasons to win this fabulous prize are:
1. I like rule breaking. But how to do it stylishly?
2. I need to move on from Pointing, Slipper Satin and Dimity and find my dark side.
3. Your house looks SO lovely, I really want to see it all….even the loo!
4. I want to explore interior design without fusty rules, beige or boxy sofas and everything just so….Kelly Hoppen! (meow)
5. I want to be brave and leap into a new world.
6. It will save me £150, which is good because I am going through a poor faze.
7. I like cupcakes and fizz!
8. I want to know how to mix up a room with different styles without it just looking really flippin messy.
9. I read your blog everyday, have bought your book, watch you on tv and it would be just fab to meet you in person and tap into your wonderful/crazy world.
10. I love dogs and would like to meet Mungo and Maud when they get home from school!
Fingers tightly crossed x
…because I’m looking forward to see an inkling of what comes after Downpipe, and hope by attending your class I might get an insight in where you are going next with this – am always looking to push things further in design and think you are definitely one to be inspired by in taking braver choices..
Being a bit of ‘House porn’ frantic and discovered you via a BBC programme which Mary Portas was presenting and since then I’ve learnt so much from the tips and musing on your blog. I’ve managed to transform my modest flat into chic little pad on a budget that my friends and family glee over. (Don’t hate me) your my little secret and have only shared your tips and blog with a few.
Your blog (my bible) has helped me be bold with colour, helped with contrasting an art wall; your bright turquoise office desk inspired me to transform a second-hand ‘brown’ side hall table into a chic modern piece of furniture.
When I moved into my new bigger flat last year I couldn’t decide on how I was going to add the mandatory fuchsia pink I love so much to my new bedroom, having gotten bored with the ‘Feature wall’ look. But wollá your entry on adding colour to ceilings was my lightblub ..and golly it worked!!! My bedroom is now a white box with a huge splash of fuchsia pink on the celling… Genius.
I only wish I had loads of more rooms so I can experiment more from your tips.
I’m always popping into your Shop when I’m Angel and hold back on buying your whole display of faux flowers (i’ve limited myself so far to a couple of Roses and Hydrangeas).
Your blog posts on style and design ideas always make sense and click with me because I like to think out of box and find alternative solutions to design problems, I use to live in a large Studio flat and my imagination converted into from studio into a perceived 1 bedroom.
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Being a bit of ‘House porn’ frantic and discovered you via a BBC programme which Mary Portas was presenting and since then I’ve learnt so much from the tips and musing on your blog. I’ve managed to transform my modest flat into chic little pad on a budget that my friends and family glee over. (Don’t hate me) your my little secret and have only shared your tips and blog with a few.
Your blog (my bible) has helped me be bold with colour, helped with contrasting an art wall; your bright turquoise office desk inspired me to transform a second-hand ‘brown’ side hall table into a chic modern piece of furniture.
When I moved into my new bigger flat last year I couldn’t decide on how I was going to add the mandatory fuchsia pink I love so much to my new bedroom, having gotten bored with the ‘Feature wall’ look. But wollá your entry on adding colour to ceilings was my lightblub ..and golly it worked!!! My bedroom is now a white box with a huge splash of fuchsia pink on the celling… Genius.
I only wish I had loads of more rooms so I can experiment more from your tips.
I’m always popping into your Shop when I’m Angel and hold back on buying your whole display of faux flowers (i’ve limited myself so far to a couple of Roses and Hydrangeas).
Your blog posts on style and design ideas always make sense and click with me because I like to think out of box and find alternative solutions to design problems, I use to live in a large Studio flat and my imagination converted into from studio into a perceived 1 bedroom.
(Sorry my laptop is playing up and has posted this a couple times now. Sorry this is my entry below sorry!)
Being a bit of ‘House porn’ frantic and discovered you via a BBC programme which Mary Portas was presenting and since then I’ve learnt so much from the tips and musing on your blog. I’ve managed to transform my modest flat into chic little pad on a budget that my friends and family glee over. (Don’t hate me) your my little secret and have only shared your tips and blog with a few.
Your blog (my bible) has helped me be bold with colour, helped with contrasting an art wall; your bright turquoise office desk inspired me to transform a second-hand ‘brown’ side hall table into a chic modern piece of furniture.
When I moved into my new bigger flat last year I couldn’t decide on how I was going to add the mandatory fuchsia pink I love so much to my new bedroom, having gotten bored with the ‘Feature wall’ look. But wollá your entry on adding colour to ceilings was my lightblub ..and golly it worked!!! My bedroom is now a white box with a huge splash of fuchsia pink on the celling… Genius.
I only wish I had loads of more rooms so I can experiment more from your tips.
I’m always popping into your Shop when I’m Angel and hold back on buying your whole display of faux flowers (i’ve limited myself so far to a couple of Roses and Hydrangeas).
Your blog posts on style and design ideas always make sense and click with me because I like to think out of box and find alternative solutions to design problems, I use to live in a large Studio flat and my imagination converted into from studio into a perceived 1 bedroom.
Abigail i would love to come to one of your masterclasses! You are such an inspiring person and clearly passionate about what you do. You have completely your own style and as far as i’m concerned you’re right on track! i love your evocative interiors and the fact that you combine glamour along with comfort and liveability.
My home, i have to confess is white, as a creative person (i’m a photographer), i like to think it looks reasonably ok. however it’s definitely missing an elusive something. i don’t think i’m going so wrong however it’s not quite there. i think this is a problem for many of us and that’s why we need you!
i would love to meet you and benefit from your wonderful interiors eye in person. i’m sure you could help me find that missing something to elevate my home from ok to amazing!
thanks for the chance…xx
Abigail, we’d LOVE to come on the masterclass. We bought our first flat last year. The place hadn’t been touched for over forty years, but we saw potential. So we’ve spent the last eight months pouring every drop of our energy and free time (not to mention money!) dragging it into the 21st century. So with walls knocked down, and the builders, plumbers and electricians out, we’re starting on the all important decorating. We’ve come so far, and we want the place to ooze the wow factor and to reflect our personalities. We’ve been totally inspired by your blog, and have two years worth of decorating magazines piled around the place, and F&B swatches covering the walls! We’ve spent all this time making the place into somewhere that can be lived in. Some expert advice and answers to our questions would let us make the place into a home – which in our opinion anyway, is what all its all about!
Abigail I would love to attend one of your masterclasses! You are such an inspiring person and clearly passionate about what you do. I love your evocative interiors and how you combine glamour with comfort and liveability.
My home, I have to confess, is white. As a creative person (I’m a photographer) I like to think it looks reasonably ok. However it’s definitely missing a certain something. This is a problem, i feel, for a lot of people and that’s why we need you!
I would love to meet you in person and benefit from your wonderful interiors ‘eye’. I’m sure you could help me to elevate my home from ok to amazing!.
Thanks for the chance…xx
This is a loooooooong shot!! But why not dream big I say!!! I’m in Australia…(and omg we need you down under, desperately!) I want to come along to your masterclass because I really want to soak up some of your design aesthetic and bring it back! I want to meet you!! I want to walk around your beautiful house, I want to see it all in full dark dimension. I want to give Maud and Mungo a big cuddle. I want to see the wood you managed to ‘source’ for your new renovation….if only it were possible…is it possible?? I will get on a plane – I’m about to complete my diploma in interior stying next month and you have been an ongoing source of inspiration for each and every assignment I have completed. I turn 40 next year and my hubby is buying me an overseas trip – so I’m coming to London and I so want to do your masterclass. Please let it me me!!!
Thanks Abigail, you’re a star x
Eek how exciting and what an opportunity! I honestly need all the help I can get.
I bought my old family home in Central London from my parents over 15 years ago and it is now home to my husband and I. It is still treated by all as a, somewhat dated, hotel and whenever we broach the subject of decorating and refurbing it seems to cause too much upset – amazingly more to one of my siblings rather than my parents! We have so far managed to decorate just two bedrooms which look okay but nothing amazing and I realise that it takes more than just painting a wall to make a stylish and comfortable home. We need your help!
We are a young(ish) couple who love our home but it needs an injection of cool, it needs a modern yet retro touch (we are in a 60/70s listed development), it needs some balls, and it needs to have some gorgeous va va voom – something I think you are brilliant at! It would be amazing to attend one of your master classes as I am determined to decorate this year as it simply isn’t fair on my husband to continue to put up with the past as this is now our home and I want to make it somewhere where we both want to spend time and enjoy entertaining friends and family a-like.
Thanks ever so for this opportunity and fingers crossed.
Helen
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