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!!