Summer in the city, nothing better. I mean I love the country and am pretty desperate once the Merc decides to work again to escape for a weekend but there is something about London in the summer that I love. Everyone out and about sitting on pavements, the relaxed vibe that permanents the air, love it. Thank goodness with the fab weather we are having that the three of us (Maud, Mung’s and myself) all got our hair cut last week (told you I was going for a job lot) so we feel lighter, and much cooler for pottering around the streets.

I digress as always, today we are going to be yabbering about style, particularly style for less. I say it a thousand times and I shall say it again style has nothing to do with money. You can have the coolest pad on the planet and it need not cost the earth you just need to think outside the box. For instance top top top trick, visit flea markets for some cheap but well made furniture. If you like the form, shape and size buy and then spray. Don’t just spray it a conventional colour, no no no we want to push boundaries. Go for gold, go for red, go pink. Do this and you will immediately elevate its status, it will feel grander a little more rock n roll. I’m a big fan of the boho look, the rustic look but they can feel a  tad boring unless you have something that knocks it off balance and a brightly sprayed piece of furniture does just that.

One of my flea market finds below, £30 which I then sprayed, told you style has nothing to do with money.

Have a lovely weekend, for me it’s teaching Saturday and pottering in the garden Sunday, heavenly!

Straight down to business then, I wanted to show you guys today that creating a house you love takes time. You can’t just pop along to one store in my book buy it all up and wham bam instant cool eclectic pad. It has to grow with you, you have to rattle around in it a tad in order to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In all my years of looking at interiors the ones that stand out and are the most memorable are those that juggle vintage with modern, spontaneity with rigor, coupled with the odd tongue in cheek find. They don’t fit in, they push boundaries and stand out.

I didn’t start off with my house looking this way, we moved in painted the whole thing white and lived like that for a good few years until it no longer seemed quite good enough. Too easy, a little simple, I wasn’t taking any risks, pushing boundaries. There was nothing wrong with it and yet it didn’t make me happy. I felt indifferent walking through the door, now my spirits raise and my heart skips a beat no matter what time I walk through the door.

So we’ve gone from this

To this.

It takes time, if I were to give one piece of advice it would be to come out of your comfort zone, think slightly differently about colour, pattern, form, and scale and push yourself creatively.  Creating a memorable interior takes a certain amount of confidence, you will along the way fail at some point.  The trick is to not be put off, to keep pushing that envelope, and once you’ve got one room right all the rest will follow.

Happy Thursday

Anyways enough on my dilemmas of which there are many! I thought we might have a bit of a yabber about colour today, I’m a bit of a colour freak or junkie as there is nothing, repeat nothing quite as transformative as adding a spot of colour to a room. It can seem daunting to some,  guessing that’s why the majority of homes are beige hazes of blandness yet if you break it down to an instinctive level it will get you on your way. For instance as abstract as it may sound look to nature for inspiration or the beach for that matter or take a stroll and just look at the stuff around you and start thinking about how it makes you feel. Every afternoon, or I should say as many afternoons as possible  its my turn to walk the dogs so the other day we went to the Dalston Eastern Curve garden, its sooo sweet. Slap bang in the middle of the city, planted by volunteers it’s a little oasis. Maud and Mung’s love it as there is so much to sniff and investigate. They still have much to do with the garden but just wondering around looking at all the plants, herbs, trees, and all the varying types of green working so beautifully together made me realize I should use green a lot more.

I love green, but for some bizarre reason I hate green on walls cannot stand it, unless its an olive, murky, bottom of the pond type of green and then I’m on board. Colour is  so personal – I favor colours that cocoon, mesmerize feel sophisticated glamorous and confident (boy that’s a lot to ask I know ) but that is why I opt for dark. You might prefer lighter hues, there is no right there is no wrong. Follow your heart, be brave and experiment and the most important thing is to select colours that make you happy. Do that and you will always have a happy home to come back to. Simple hey!

Below some beautiful colour combo’s that make me happy

All of us are pooped we spent the whole weekend digging up rocks huge rocks and planting. There were a few scares, Maud and Mungo escaped, and my world very nearly ended but we found them. Graham had left the door open by accident, neighbours were kindly helping us hump 3 massive trees through the downstairs window out into the garden and we were all congratulating ourselves drinking beer in the garden when I thought it was oddly quiet. Out they had popped down the street and had zoomed into a neighbours garden, Mungo was hanging out in the front garden sniffing, but Maud had zoomed through the front door and up the stairs in the house (she is such a nosy parker). So at one point we had Mung’s but couldn’t find Maud, stress, stress, stress. Anyways so exhausted by their adventure were they that within 5 minutes they were flat on their backs fast asleep with legs in the air. As was I, funnily little family that we are!

Down to business, today I thought we should talk about hallways and transitional areas, areas that we pass through and are often times neglected.   Places that are transitional, poky, plain old awkward  I think deserve as much respect as say a living room.  Take hallways for instance. The minute you put that key in the door you want to be tantalised and surprised and you want your spirits to lift. For example I have a big white hand sticking out from the wall (2 actually) one holds handbags the other a big bloom of wisteria. On a console sits a bulldog, a big bunch of blooms, a candle and a massive book. A few pieces of art line the walls and an ostrich table hangs out on a little landing above. A little granny esq rug skims the floor and wham bam done. On a teeny tiny landing I have a rug, a little yellow chair, a moose and painting above. Simple as that, it doesn’t take much but by turning a boring old landing into a super cool little hang out zone is so much fun,   every time I come up the stairs to go into the bathroom I smile. Now I’ve come full circle back to bathrooms, oh dear wondering if I can possibly not wash the hair, splash a bit of water onto the face and get on with the day,  don’t get me started!

How simple is this. It really doesn’t take much to take transitional spaces to a whole other level.

Love love love this idea, scraps of rugs skimming stair treads. Pattern, texture, colour you don’t need anything else.

I say this  all the time, but the more things you add to a space the more interesting it becomes.

Happy Monday

This is my current one to be implemented really within the next few days unlikely as that will be!

Finish planting back garden

Order wicker planters for flat roof and figure out what sort of plants will survive up there. Our neighbours the lovely Jehovah’s Witnesses are building a monstrosity. They’ve taken down an old wooden sort of shack and are replacing it with what looks like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Not only have they chopped down decades old wisteria, messed up everyone’s back yards but they are also building up and out big time. Only thing to do plant the flat roof to shield the view (more goddam expense)!!

Finish ordering Christmas stock

Run to Paris buy bedding

Test scented candle range and hopefully give lab the go ahead

Design stand for Maison Objet

Book hairdressers for Mung’s Maud and myself – could the dog groomer possibly do all 3 of us in one job lot? Would save heaps of time and we are all starting to look the same anyways

Restock the store

Swim or go to yoga at least once over the weekend!!

Take Design School international – figure out where, when and dates!

When I was a teenager I would write lists, stuff like what to achieve by 30 ie go up in a  hot air balloon in Kenya, jump on a helicopter in NY, potter around Venice in a gondola.  Now I still make lists but my how they have changed. They’ve got longer and more mundane but without my lists I would barely even remember to order food, get haircut, stick out the rubbish stuff like that. With so much going on without my funny little lists scrawled on post its and bits of paper all over  the place who knows where I would be.

Anyways let get down to business. If you want a truly fabulous interior then follow this simple plan it works every single time I promise you. 90% of your space, should be harmonious, co-ordinated, beautiful and so on but then the remaining 10% should totally and utterly throw it off balance. WHY I here you cry, simple if you have an interior that is decorated to within an inch of perfection it will, no matter how casual the vibe automatically feel more uptight. This 10% is loosening the mood if you like. Opt for something that’s kitsch or fun, or supersized, or is in a bright zany hue that literally knocks your space totally and utterly off balance. So a funny piece of art, any kind of animal (elephants, owls, dogs all hang out here), a supersized table lamp, ostrich tables, art that has attitude. Its so simple when you actually narrow it down.  There is nothing worse than having an uptight interior in my book. There is enough tension and up tightness going on in the world without our homes reflecting that too.

That’s me  done, late,  need coffee, same old, same old!

Photography Todd Selby

Have a lovely weekend

Today 3 tall, extremely tall bay trees arrive for the back garden. How they will go thru the house we don’t know (crane possibly), as their root balls are larger than both the door or window openings. Minor problem – they have a job to do, take out the neighbours that is all I ask of them. Grow bushier, higher and faster than any tree on earth and secure our little garden again so we can potter around in pyjamas watering, reading the papers, and weeding that sort of thing. The 10, 3 metre jasmine are fine except they are not growing fast enough – so maybe they have only been planted a week but that is quite long enough in my book. If you can’t do your job in a week time for a replacement, or I should say a new addition, hence the arrival of the bays!

As well as that happening I’ve got my head fully ensconced in Christmas. One of the best parts of my job is buying; one of the worst parts of my job is having to get my head around Christmas in May. I’m ordering so many cool products I want it to be Christmas now!  I’ve just ordered thousands of winter blooms, amazing chestnuts, berries, dahlias as well as these cool things below. They won’t be in for a while but I wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Tables as I mentioned yesterday are the hardest thing for me to buy as I hate so many of them, but how strange is this, yesterday I came across this totally cool one  and jumped for joy, scaring Mung’s curled up at my feet. Simple and beautiful and a great canvas for displaying a load of stuff.

Oh and baskets am obsessed with them, for blankets, for wood, for magazines they cosy up a space like nothing else I know.

A home wouldn’t be a home without animals the real kind or otherwise, so I instantly feel in love with these super cute owls.

Happy Thursday,  I’ll no doubt be munching mince pies and lighting fires if I get anymore into the Christmas spirit!

Oh and big thank you for all the amazing feedback we got for last weekends masterclass, if I may here are a few quotes:

“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”.

Thank you, flattered, delighted and surprised if I am honest at such fabulous responses.  AND its a two way thing its not just me up there yabbering we all pitch in and put out ideas, sources, dilemmas,  so I get as much from it as everyone else does.

Next up our latest product, the illustration table. I am a little obsessed with this I have to say. First up its super cool, arty, compact and totally rocking! I’ve plonked one in my bedroom see below.I wanted to actually put one in every room but that would delete stock way to much so for once I am being professional and leaving them in store!As a buyer I find tables one of the hardest things to purchase since so many of them are so boring, one of the reasons many of my tables are vintage old African drums. I want a table to be cool, then practical not just practical which goes for most things in this house if I am honest.

Again I should be at yoga, again I bailed. Maud and Mung’s were in top snuggling mood so we lay in bed in a sun beam baby talking! Nuts yep, who cares,  the sun is out today which makes everything alright.  After so much rain and miserable weather its a big tonic. . I’m half tempted to skip work and potter around the garden so much needs doing but I can’t. I want to, so I might, after a little bit of work, but then I’ll feel guilty as there is so much to do. Who knows I might sneek and potter and plonk the computer on a table near by. Dilemma’s dilemma’s.

Happy Wednesday xx

Lets talk design what’s great about it these days it that anything goes. I favor a silver pig hanging out on my landing, you might favor a painting. I plonk an acid yellow chair on a little rug on another landing outside my loo, you think I’m nuts and what’s the point – but hey each to our own. Colors, styles, art come into fashion and go again just as easily. Ignore all of that and follow your heart. It takes time to build up a collection of finds but if you follow your heart and not trends you can’t really go wrong. OK maybe sometimes you can, I have. Brought a 60’s coffee table not so long ago which I can’t make work no matter where I try to place it, and a flea market painting – again can’t make work no matter where I plonk it.

If you don’t fail you don’t get better its as simple as that. Below an image I found from US Vogue, a totally personal apartment that may not be my exact cup of tea but it feels loved and that really is the whole point. Who cares who likes it, if you do you’ve nailed it. What I do love is how traditional hangs out with edgy in this apartment which sort of  throws it off balance. I yabber all the time about this in the school, if you can add an off note, an animal, something kitsch, some zany colour you will find you’re knock your interior out of the park as Ms Rachel Zoe would say.  Its not easy but it is far cleverer  than having everything co-ordinated and balanced within an inch of itself.

I should be at yoga in 100 degree heat instead I had 2 beers last night and couldn’t stand the thought of that combination of heat and booze so feeling very disappointed in myself . Instead I’m going to make coffee and plan all the things that need to get achieved in the next 12 hours!

Oh and I’m certainly in NY end of June or beginning of July just trying to work out if I can swing a weekend of master classes into the schedule. Will keep you guys posted.

Ok that’s me done, today at least half of today is a rest day. Some work this morning and then off to a bunch of garden centres this afternoon to sort out the terribleness of our back garden where the neighbours if you are listening neighbours chain sawed a 25 foot decades old wisteria so they could replace with a new straight fence, criminal! We’ve brought 10 three  metre high jasmine but its not tall enough I need instant, instant instant 25 feet planting to totally and utterly seclude us from the outside world. And I need to spend time with Mungo and Maud who were rather well behaved for the last few days and need a lot  of gallivanting at full speed around a park to let off some stream.

Happy Monday

OK so if it doesn’t stop raining then I’m up and moving. Cannot stand it any longer – Australia, America, France maybe. Somewhere warm where I can potter in the garden it’s spring after all. This evening I am being photographed in the garden no doubt looking windswept, wet and cold if this blasted weather front keeps up (we are supposedly in drought conditions), it’s driving me nuts!

Anyways lets move on and talk about something fun like accessories. I have a saying you may not be an extravert but your accessories should be. By adding the odd random crazy thing, something kitsch something animal inspired maybe you are throwing your interior off balance. That is a good thing not a bad thing, rooms co-ordinated to within an inch of themselves are an instant no no in my opinion. You will find me backing out the door with any old excuse to get out – Maud needs her pills and I forgot them, gotta dash (she’s not taking any), Mungs’s blood sugar is so low gotta dash and give him some food NOW (not true), that sort of excuse.

You don’t get an instant surge of serotonin if you play it safe with everything. Be safe with furniture and lighting if you like but with accessories take risks. Not too many we don’t want rooms to look crazy she says with a papier mache elephant and large plaster parrot sitting on her mantle piece. You get my drift right or am I droning on about the point too much?   I do that, people moan at me for not letting things drop. The other day I said to Graham ‘do you remember how cool that hydrangea looked in our well before you killed it by over watering! That was over a year ago but you know its worth pointing out every now and again, poor hydrangea!

Pictures below taken by the fabulous Mr Todd Selby:

This is what I am talking about, perhaps its a little crazy but its fun and it makes you smile.

It might not be your cup of tea, or even totally my cup of tea but the point is the people that live here love their space. You get that feeling the minute you lay your eyes on the images and that dear friends is what I am talking about.