01 | June | 2012 | Abigail Ahern

Hugely excited to announce I am taking the Design School International!! On the 4th August at the achingly hip Ace Hotel in Manhattan I am holding a one day class (or two half days if you would prefer). Here is our schedule

Session One

9.00 9.15 Drinks

9.15 -10.45 Creating your dream home

10.45 – 11.00 Break

11.00-11.45Breaking the rules

11.45-12.00 Abigail’s little black book exposed

12.00-12.15 Q&A

Session Two

1.00-1.15 Drinks

1.15-2.30 Finishing Touches

2.30-2.45 Break

2.45-3.15 Decoding colour

3.15-4.00Design on a shoestring

4.00-4.15 Q&A

If you want to tantalised, mesmerised, if you want a home that ‘s fit for the glossies that makes your heart pound the moment you put your key into the door AND makes your friends jealous then this is the class for you. Some lovely words from some of our past pupils:

“As much inspiration as 1000 Elle Deco’s all crammed into 1 day”

“Didn’t get much sleep as all the things we discussed were going round my head”

“Thank you for letting us enjoy your staggering beautiful home”

“Went to the amazingly badass @abigailahern workshop yesterday and still pulling my jaw of the floor. #inspiring“

“One of the most inspirational days in “my whole wide life”

“A blissful journey into disorientation and drama, an adventure of delight and wonder”

“Just need to say that I had an amazing day attending your Masterclass last Friday thank you. Head is brimming full of ideas and great inspiration for my own place”

Spaces are limited and here’s the link to book online. Cannot wait to see you in NYC in August.

A four day bank holiday weekend how fabulous is this, (for those of us who live in the UK of course). For me its a mixture of down time and work, I’ve just written the schedule for the Fall classes with lots of new courses plus half day ones which I am super excited about and will announce those next week. AND today at 3pm my masterclass in NYC goes live, one day only (although its structured in two half days so you don’t have to do the full day) on 4th August. Spaces are limited so its on a first come first serve basis, but will post all the details here at 3pm.

I have a problem with the snootyness surrounding interior design. For instance I give away tons of sources during the classes which apparently according to the people who attend is rather unusual, since other courses they have been on or talks they’ve attended won’t divulge such info. My aim to is democratise this sometimes snooty business a tad , who cares if I give away a cool rug source, if someone can get as much enjoyment as I do in discovering a new furniture store then hey to me that’s fabulous and that is what it is all about, although I am sure many people would disagree.

We all know right that you don’t need tons of money to create a fabulous home, I just happened to come across some images on Habitually Chic of Tom Ford’s home which kind of proves my point, its tasteful, its semi interesting but its rather uptight, sorry Tom. But then each to their own am sure Tom wouldn’t be advocating what I am going to bang on about now which is how to inject a cool vibe into your home without spending tons.

Easy peasy (i want to say lemon squeezy but that makes me sound about 3 years old)!! Here goes in no particular order:

Change the door handles (any old cupboard or wardrobe will look way more bespoke if you replace boring ones with super cool ones) like this, made from oak from a DIY store and painted bright pink, supersized to add a magical vibe:

Write on walls, instant personality, instant colour injection and instantly cool

Copy Kate Moss I have and take a flea market painting (Kate’s isn’t flea by the way) and scrawl over it for a rock n roll vibe. Tons of landscape oils can be found in fleas and auction houses that no one wants, scrawl over it like Banksy did for Kate and suddenly you’ve transformed it to a whole other level.

Graffiti a boring piece of furniture (even better if you’ve got kids to do it). Maud and Mung’s can’t quite draw get too young so its not an option for me!