COSY COLOURS FOR WINTER WARMTH

I was recently asked to shoot the November cover for House Beautiful magazine http://www.allaboutyou.com/housebeautiful/  with photographer Mark Scott, and couldn't resist using one of my favourite colour combinations of the season to create a cosy and inviting dining room.  The wall colour Brassica from Farrow & Ball http://www.farrow-ball.com is a confident and perhaps unusual choice for a dining room with its rich purple/brown tones but is the perfect contrast to the rich indigo blues in the scheme from the lovely handcrafted ceramics from David Mellor http://www.davidmellordesign.com to the eye-catching patterned rug from Barker & Stonehouse.   www.barkerandstonehouse.co.uk.  Team with a mix of industrial furniture for an informal practical feel - pair a large scale table http://www.johnlewis.com with a mix of chairs from Barker & Stonehouse - 

This room recipe requires the final finishing touches, hot soup,  crusty bread and some juicy reading material to escape from this dull and rainy October day..

How to Choose Your Flooring Texture: Carpet, Rugs or Vinyl

http://www.carpetright.co.uk

How to Choose Modern Flooring to Make a Statement

www.carpetright.co.uk

Top Treats

Just a taste of one of the exciting things happening in London's Design world over the next few weeks, Top Drawer is here again and great for spotting new products and and seeing some of the up and coming trends for giftware and accessories for Christmas and the new year - here are a couple of things to whet the appetite..

Take a look at Cavallini  - their decorative wrap is great for not only wrapping gifts but for framing or creating works of art - http://www.cavallini.com

Kitsch things are going down a storm this season too (more posts on the way!) and I love these plastic pooch brooches from Acorn & Will - in particular the pink poodle caught my eye - so cute.
http://www.acornandwill.co.uk

I also love these fun and original Origami boxes from Identity Papers http://www.identitypapers.com/ combining two favourite things - Tin Tin  (enough said) and Origami.. - oh to be an expert on creating those perfect folds !

A Lotta Bottle

 Liberty has added some gigantic glass jars and bottles to its irresistible and oh so enticing
homewares range so you can either start preparing the home brew or.. group a few together for a style statement of giant proportions.  From £45 in gorgeous shades of blue and green they are jar-gantic bargains -http://www.liberty.co.uk/?gclid=CIfIufHghrcCFZQZtAodZyoAAg

Blue is the Colour (even when you're not a Chelsea Supporter)

There's a myth that you should avoid using blue in your bedroom as it can look cold and uninviting - hmm - not sure about that - in fact the cool blue-grey hues are taking off in a big way in our decorating schemes and the more muted and moody they go the better.  For a fresh summer scheme team with white and add touches of deep dark indigo with soft watercolour printed designs for the latest on trend look.

This bedroom is one of the shots I worked on for the May issue of House Beautiful http://www.allaboutyou.com/housebeautiful/ and teams a fab white buttoned bed and white upholstered armchair from sofa.com http://www.sofa.com/?utm_expid=1160571-13 with Lulworth Blue Paint from Farrow & Ball http://www.farrow-ball.com.  I love the glass pendant from Sainsbury's - yup only 19.99 too...

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/index.jsp

12 Go Mad in Birmingham!

I've not been blogging for some time as just been up to my eyes rushing around the country styling for all sorts of exciting interiors projects  but after a rather adventurous time at the NEC recently styling the entrance halls for the Interiors UK show thought i'd share these fun sets with you.

My trusty team of 6 setbuilders and 6 stylists trecked up the M1 through the snow to build, style and walk round the miles at the NEC to create some very colourful creations.  These quirky shops in the main entrance all  feature items from the Interiors Uk exhibitors - very realistic faux book panels from Original Bookworks, clever origami dogs from Lazerian and ceramic dogs from McGowan Rutherford and the cake shop features amazing creations made by the talented Beryl Miller using Nina Campbell fabrics and trimmings - who would have thought that it could have been so much fun at the NEC!!

Movie Mania

Sitting in a row has never been so cool - cinema seating is the latest trend to be seen in the hippest homes and I suppose it's what you would call space saving too so tell your fella the large leather lazy boy has to go and invest in a row of cinema seats complete with large tub of popcorn to enjoy the latest episode of Towie...

Mel Porter's bespoke knitted cinema seats fully restored from 1930's cinema seats from a theatre in Cambridge take some beating http://melanieporter.co.uk/shop/hardy/- or if you fancy industrial style seating take a look at these cool seats from Rockett St George.

http://www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk/three-seater-theatre-bench-12405-p.asp

Showtime

I recently put together these images for UBM's forthcoming interiors shows catalogue covers including Interiors UK as well as  their new and very exciting london show - (InteriorsLDN), and the Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms (KBB London) show. http://www.interiorsuk.com It was wonderful to work with some of the leading brands from each of the shows and to plan the visuals for each of the covers putting together the products to create the stylised images. There were too many wonderful exhibitors to thank each one personally but a few of my favourites were Lazerian with their huge origami dog"Gerald" and  their giant space age lampshades.   http://www.lazerian.co.uk.  Other key participants were Calligaris http://www.calligaris.com, one of my favourite london shops of the moment Pitfield http://www.pitfieldlondon.com for loads of wonderful furniture and accessory pieces and  Timney Fowler for their vibrant fabrics and wallpapers http://www.timneyfowler.com/TIMNEY_FOWLER.html.

To check out the exhibitors and to find out more about each of the shows just log on to the Interiors UK website http://www.interiorsuk.com

Roll on Autumn -

I know it's still August and  at last it's finally hot and sunny so I don't want to be a party pooper but just couldn't resist sharing a little peek into the new AW12 Homewares Collection from French Connection http://www.frenchconnection.com.  With  all kinds of tempting things to buy the Premium Collection is full of yummy homewares and incorporates new materials such as sheesham wood, denim and washed linen as well as handblown recycled glass. The range includes snuggly tactile cushions, throws and rugs as well as vases, furniture, storage and lighting.    The colour palette is gorgeous too-  muted neutrals - greys, beige and taupe punctuated with the khaki rust and indigo.  So enjoy the last few weeks of summer but keep any eye out in  store from mid September and add to your wish list for the new seasons top treats.

High Street Hero

John Lewis has to be one of my most frequented places on the planet - I suppose I must visit the flagship store at least once a week -  and then there's Brent Cross and Watford too where I pretty much recognise all the staff and feel rather like a resident when rummaging through the fabrics or thumbing the pattern books.  With this in mind, I was chuffed to bits to be asked to style the John Lewis Autumn/Winter and Christmas press images this year.   Working with the very lovely in-house team and photographer Nato Welton we put together the images for their seasonal trends and here are a few of the results. My favourite is the so adorable Thomas Dachsund print chair closely followed by the fashionable utilitarian looks of the Ingalls sideboard.  The glam Russell chair is also a favourite item and teamed with the beautiful turquoise Florence Broadhurst cushion are a perfect duo that capture the opulent style of the Autumn WInter 'Theatre' trend.   In fact - so much to choose from just head straight down to the store at the first hint of Autumn (with this weather that's pretty much right now!)..http://www.johnlewis.com/

The Perfect Pooch

Gerald is the new man in my life -and before you start wondering - he's this amazing origami dog from genius Liam Hopkins in collaboration with Richard Sweeney at Lazerian who as well as Gerald has whole collection of amazing statement piece furniture and lighting. http://www.lazerian.co.uk/ - At around 1m high large Gerald cuts a dash and was the talking point at my shoot last week stealing the the show for the new and very exciting Interiors LDN event which will be happening in 2013 .http://www.interiorsuk.com/page.cfm/Link=142 - My Gerald was around 1m high but if he's just too large then be tempted by mini Gerald - he's a must for every home

Scandi style does it again

Danish company Nordic Elements is full of those gorgeous things that we all love with that unmistakable simplicity of design and style that is so trademark scandi. Their collection of all things with ooh factor focuses on design, quality and practicality and Helle Moyna the founder states - "Nordic Elements is the home of contemporary Scandinavian designed and inspired products for the design conscious family" in short uber cool collectables. http://www.nordicelements.com/product-subcat/?c=1

A little bit of ooh la la...

French Connection has gone a bit glitzy on the fashion front - sequins silks and plenty of beading - it's not that I don't like it but.. it's far from practical for a day on a shoot rummaging amongst the tape and tool box.   I'm giving a massive thumbs up however to their first collection of homewares - it's got everything I love about design- gorgeous tactile textures teamed with simple, understated design -  linen throws, chunky knits, practical woven rugs and pretty little glass and paper votives - magnifique I say... looking forward to collection no 2...http://www.frenchconnection.com/category/fc+home/home.htm?sitelink=homerange&gclid=CNzYsprMoK8CFUYKfAodQhlucw

Homebase Goes High Rise

Yes this is an amazing creation - and blowing my own trumpet I had a hand in helping to create this fifty container ten story home for Homebase which includes three gardens, three kitchens, living rooms, bedroom and bathroom.   I've always had a fascination with unique houses stemming from a love of Tracey Island's uber contemporary home as a child so when asked to come up with ideas for the interiors of the Container House I was thrilled and so excited - how could you not want to get involved in this dream challenge??

I had numerous late nights drawing up scale drawings for the interior rooms and trawling the Homebase store in search of the right  sofa or wallpaper to include in the very narrow container rooms and make them look real lived in interiors - a challenge when decorating long thin containers but take a look at the advert and check out the finished results (and take a sneak peak at how it was all made http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomebaseStaticPageSecondLevel?langId=110&storeId=10151&includeName=HBCreateTheLook/homebasetv_makingof.html) and as Homebase say - 'with a little imagination you can create anything!!http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomebaseStaticPageSecondLevel?langId=110&storeId=10151&includeName=HBCreateTheLook/homebasetv.html