Rock N Roll Interior Design

Advice You Can Trust

2012-08-09T21:04:00.000+01:00

which.co.uk asks the same question we all need to know the answer to at some stage. Which hoover/ fridge/ dishwasher is for me?

Sign up for a pound (sterling) and they supply you with a 1 month membership including;

access to 1000s of independent reviews and recommendations online.
Which? Magazine delivered straight to your door.
Plus consumer legal and personal finance support by phone, and member recommended local services

Other headings include Technology, Garden, Cars, Money, Baby & Child, and as far as I'm aware they use the sign up fee to fund ongoing research so at least it's the most extensive and up-to-date info you're getting

One Small Step for Woman...

2012-08-09T20:42:00.001+01:00

So after years of imagining, yearning, scrimping and saving, the time has come to announce that I am now a Home Owner! (*Smug Grin*).

But in my true style, I couldn't have picked any old house. No. It had to have... problems.

A quick glance out the back tells me more than any engineer could. Apparently its sinking and cracking down the middle! And the brickwork out front is no less than completely naff. But in every tragedy lies an opportunity, and I see mine in this. Total restoration bliss, the chance to make this every inch the home I've always dreamed of.

Watch this space :)

Lemonade Bottles and Cancer Theories...

2011-11-22T21:56:00.001+00:00

This week I can across some empty Lorina (www.lorina.com) pink lemonade bottles that I had kept for decanting other liquids into. You know, the litre bottles with the pressure popper lid...

And for some reason I was reminded of the theories about plastic bottles being associated with cancer. The nurse in me just has to clear things up for you all. So I thought I'd have a little rant...

Plastic bottles do contain a chemical called BPA. When plastics are heated (when you've left your bottle of water in the car on a sunny day, or heat dinner in a plastic container) the BPA is transferred from the plastic into the food! The only lab studies that this impacted on were samples of breast cancer tissues. When BPA is mixed with these breast cancer tissue cells, they no longer responded to chemotherapy. So really, it wont give you cancer, but if you are battling cancer already, it may hinder your recovery by making treatment ineffective.

This information was gathered from "Anticancer: A New Way Of Life" written by Dr. David Server-Schreiber. A very easy to read book, written for the general public.

http://www.anticancerbook.com/

This is the inside of my mind on a daily basis... interior design and human biology!

Makeover 1950's Terrace

2011-09-01T15:03:00.001+01:00

I'm currently updating my grandmothers 1950's end-of-terrace house in the Midlands. It's a gorgeous retro little thing with the original features from the decade it was built (both a good thing and a bad thing at times!) and because of this it's becoming a challenge to update it while being sympathetic to the style of its' era.

Id love it to end up something like this....

http://www.plainenglishdesign.co.uk/spitalfields-5

Georgina Riverside Location image from blog at http://www.katyelliot.com/

via http://moregeous.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/design-rose-cottage-cutest-georgian-cottage-bathroom-ever/

But right now I'm doing all the work with my own two hands so I guess it'll end up looking a little less glamorous.

GARDEN ROOMS

2011-08-30T22:19:00.001+01:00

Greenacre Escape single door log cabin

Make your escape from your house with a garden office, gym, cinema room or my favorite idea, guest bedrooms! It suits when you dont have space in your house for guest bedrooms and also like the idea of not having to share bathrooms with visitors as your garden guest room can house everything they'd need.

Stick it close enough to the house that they don't feel kicked out, but far enough away that you maintain your privacy in your own home that is often lost when hosting overnight visitors.

The Greenacre Escape (just under €2,000 depending on size) pictured above may not be much to look at now, but surf through the Walton Garden Products website for other log cabin plans and find one to suit your needs. When decorating, use your imagination. Paint it dark green, the door yellow, the windows white and stick a trellis with climbing roses up the side and this room will look so cute and relaxing you'll be tempted to move into it yourself.

See Crane Sheds and Summerhouses gallery here for more ideas. What I like about these is that you can opt for a slate effect roof, making it look less like a shed and more like a haven.

COTTAGE SPOTTING

2011-08-28T00:56:00.001+01:00

I love to spend hours on end trawling through property sites, so much so my boyfriend informed me the other day that I'm "a whore for them"!

I've decided to open a new category for one of my favorite types of houses: cottages! As I've said before, they are unique and allow most style of interiors to work well within them, inspiring originality and creativity, which is of course the very essence of rock and roll.

Check out Rose Cottage, Athlone on Daft.ie...

A turn of the century thatched cottage with sash shaped windows and split opening front door.

PERIOD STYLE IN THE BEDROOM

2011-08-27T18:44:00.001+01:00

This sumptuous Provencal bed from Maison is sure to impress. Soft upholstery with carved wood make this an exceptional piece of period style rock n roll!

Available in a few different fabrics of upholstery and a few more different colours of paint, this king size bed will set you back a breaktaking £1,995 sterling.

See here for the full Provencal Collection listing.

HEART AND A DOLLAR - Propaganda Posters

2011-08-21T18:03:00.002+01:00

Red Cross Christmas roll call poster from December of WW1. Images like this remind me why I became a nurse.

I bought this image in the largest size possible and had it framed for my dad because I though it would look class hanging above his desk in his surgery. And I was right!

Buy Heart and a Dollar Christmas roll call here

Available from Rainfall.com. (Or just Google 'heart and a dollar red cross poster' for other sources, there's loads to choose from!)

See WW1 Propaganda.com for information on Nurses in World War I/ WW propaganda posters like this and the one below... (Items not for sale on this site)

Buy Third Red Cross roll call here on rainfall.com

KISSING on VJ Day

2011-08-21T17:31:00.000+01:00

One of the most iconic images ever. The photo of the sailer kissing the nurse on Times Square on VJ Day would look stunningly romantic on any wall in a skinny black frame

Kissing On VJ Day

This poster comes from allposters.ie, my favorite poster website. They have a framing service but it would be much cheaper to buy your own seperately.

PUNK & TATTOOED Homeware from 'Too Fast'

2011-08-21T17:04:00.001+01:00

Too Fast Clothing, manufacturers of punk, rockabilly and tattoo culture clothing sell more than just t-shirts...

Blood Bath shower curtain

See all bathroom accessories from Too Fast HERE

Sid and Nancy mousepad

Sugar Skull Switchplate

DON'T FORGET YOUR GARTER IF YOU WANT TO GO TO WORK

2011-08-21T16:14:00.001+01:00

This is how real women do the dishes...

With a range of vintage aprons, gloves, potholders and, eh, garters, there's definitely something for the rockabilly at Carolyn's Kitchen Online

Dorothy apron. With garter, of course. See all aprons HERE

Dorothy glove. See all gloves HERE

TATTOOED TEACUP

2011-08-16T21:43:00.001+01:00

Teacups from the Love Hate collection; fine bone china with an edge from 'welovekaoru' at Luna & Curious. For the more conservative rock 'n roll teatimes.

And the matching Love Hate tattooed teapot...

And while your browsing the Luna & Curious website you might come across a few more odd but beautiful items like these skeleton espresso cups..

WALL TAPESTRY

2011-08-13T05:24:00.000+01:00

Again, for when paint just won't cut it.

Starburst Tapestry @ Urban Outfitters

FRILLY WINDOW CURTAIN TIME!

2011-08-13T05:17:00.000+01:00

Urban Outfitters Homeware Bedding section is definitely fast becoming one of my favorite browsing stops

Looks better in grey I reckon...

Waterfall Ruffle Curtain

LACE Hits The Windows Again!

2011-08-13T05:12:00.000+01:00

I knew I was onto something when I previously posted about lace window panels! Another Urban Outfitters find, this black lace panel, featuring velvet burnout design, wins.

BLACK & WHITE BEDDING

2011-08-13T05:08:00.000+01:00

Continuing on one of my favorite styles, black and white stripes of different kinds, Urban Outfitters displays a zig-zag version here.

'A One-Way Ticket To TACKY TOWN On A Seat Next To LADY GAGA'

2011-08-13T04:55:00.001+01:00

Jaelyn Molyneux explains the Do's and Don't's of Glam Rock for Avenue Calgary - read here

"All that Glitters is Glam Rock: The decadent flamboyance of the 1970s returns in decor that is sophisticated and saucy"

Black Candles- Not Just For Halloween

2011-08-13T01:43:00.000+01:00

Plain Gorgeous show us how to put black on the dining table with this 5 arm candelabra

5 Steps To A Rock 'N Roll Living Room

2011-08-13T01:38:00.001+01:00

1- Pick your favorite decade. 1950's onward are the typical rock and roll eras. Different decades have different colour schemes and accessories, red is a very 50's colour, lava lamps and tie dye are very 60's/ 70's, and so on.

2- Pick your colour scheme. Bold colours are rock and roll. Concider monochromes (black and white stripes for example). Smokey purples, fire engine reds, electric blues. Or the colour scheme of your favorite band. See Wallpaper and Borders.co.uk for black and white ideas..

3- Concider your fabrics. Heavy rich fabrics are best (velvet, suede, faux fur). Heavy extra long floor sweeping curtains in velvet will look amazing, as would similar cushions/ throws/ rugs. It's imporatant to make the room comfortable enough to spend hours lounging in. Musicians tend to sit/ lie around an awful lot, this is what contributes to the importance of textiles in a rock and roll theme.

4- Decorate with emblems (skull & crossbone, guitar, flames)
a- Accessorize your walls by framing your favorite posters. For example, your old faded, slighlty torn nirvana or Deep Purple posters will look amazing in large frames with thin plain black borders. Place them in pairs on one wall, eg over the couch or either side of the chimney breast. Look for musican note bookends like these Treble Clefs from Fish Bookends.com.

b- Turn your ordinary items into feature pieces. Look for plectrum shaped ashtrays/ coffee table bowls. A clock with drumstick hands. Try making one out of a vinyl record! See Life Hackery for '5 Ways To Reuse Old Vinyl Records', and check eHow/ WikiHow/ Google. Throw a few skull and crossbone/ flame/ city skyline iron-on transferes onto oversized, slightly understuffed cushions. Buy unusual lamps (see lighting), or replace normal lampshades or stick trimming onto existing ones. Also, try looking for coloured lightbulbs like these from Lamps Online...

Incandescent - Fireglow

5- Lighting. This brings us on to lighting. Create a sultry, darker atmosphere with your lighting. Instead of a central ceiling light, use floor lamps/ table lamps with low wattage bulbs/ coloured bulbs, or if you've an unused fireplace, bundle up your fairylights into it for a muted glow. If you're into candles then you've a huge variety to choose from. Chunky large church style candles give the best look, placed symetrically on, for example, the mantlepiece.

Switch On, Rock On

2011-08-09T22:00:00.000+01:00

Designer Denis Popenkov brings us this lighting project, a floor lamp with the ever recognisable rock on hand gesture! Via Industrial Design Served

'rocknrolla luminous'

Lost Society Bar, Dublin

2011-08-09T20:58:00.001+01:00

Lost Society, based in an 18th century Georgian mansion at Powerscourt Townhouse, won this years Most Stylish Bar Award from Licencing World.

The interiors, designed by Irish design company Box Seven, were described as 'richly tailored'.

They also boast an afternoon tea menu, as well as cocktail and party food menus (see menus here), and the opportunity to drink and dance in a choice of rooms including the White room which was apparently once the dressing room of Lady Powerscourt herself!

Rockin' Tablecloths: Harder To Find Than You'd Think

2011-08-09T06:37:00.001+01:00

It's way harder to find tablecloths that fit into the rock n roll catagorie than one might think. There was no specific term I could type into Google Images that would yield any appropriate result so I simply searched for 'tablecloth' and began a long and mostly dissapointing trawl through every page return. And still found very little to suit me :/

This funky scooter detail can be found at tableclothshop, along with the dark purple polkadot below. These two are of the shiny vinyl variety, so keep them on the kitchen table only I think!

When in doubt about how to make something seem a bit more hardcore I usually just go for something in dark purple.

Of course plain black can have a striking effect when used with the right table decorations to prevent it looking a bit goth, as in the example below.

Wedding dinner ideas via 'Home Improvements Info'

Using high shine cutlery and glasses and contrasting white napkins and chair covers prevent the black looking dull and harsh.

Zara Home of course will never fail to deliver something spectacular..

Fia Tablecloth Zara Home

Carolina plastic covered tablecloth Zara Home

Notonthehighstreet.com will bring you some odd patterns too, this one comes in a blue aswell, and there's a similar in two tones of grey

Corsica tablecloth by etoile home via notonthehighstreet.com

Still failing in your search for your ideal tablecloth? Then try a plain spread and decorate with some quirky tablecloth weights or napkin rings

Cutting It Fine With The Finest Cutlery

2011-08-08T22:35:00.000+01:00

It's something we all do everyday, we're all guilty of taking for granted these items when we make our tea, spread butter on our toast. They're everywhere, in every house, used throughout the day, and yet our humble cutlery is never given a second glance. Well it doesn't have to be that way anymore! See how quickly people notice their teaspoon when it looks as cool as this...

Zara Home has some of the most unique ranges of everyday essentials, which is why I love them so much! Nothing is as pleasantly strange as your girlfriends saying "wow I love your spoons!"

Sienna range of cutlery

Sure, they're not the cheapest, but add four teaspoons to your existing cutlery for a colour injection, or for show, when you've people over for tea...

Or buy these Mang teaspoons and keep them in the sugar bowl...

And for really making a dramatic tableware statement (and really, how dramatic can tableware get), go for the elegant and almost dangerously pointy Oro Viejo. Would look stunning I think on a thick, crisp white linen tablecloth!

Pointy!

FRILLY SHOWER TIME

2011-08-05T19:30:00.001+01:00

I'm really not too gone on the bird detail but I love the frilly ends on this Anthropolgie shower curtain! I'll be searching for similar (and by that I mean cheaper) on eBay..

Unreal Bedding and Quilts

2011-08-05T19:23:00.000+01:00

Laelia bedding

Exotic looks for your bed from Anthropologie