Category: Design
Candy Store x
Kilims on my mind..
You can’t beat a good rug. (Except of course you can..)
They work with anything, anywhere, quietly bringing soul and drama to a room.
Traditional or modern. It doesn’t matter.
I’ve been trying to source some as runners for our main stairs and cellar stairs. It hasn’t been easy: No runner is long enough and narrow enough to fit a complete flight, so it’s about finding combinations that work together, fit together in size….and still make the heart sing.
The pair for the cellar have just arrived, prompting a nostalgic glance back at the cellar stair’s upwards progression…from this..
To this.
The kilims still need to be fitted properly…but I think that’s best done once the floor is down (May 3) and possibly after all the furniture is down.
But it’s progress….and I love it.
Laters, Kate x
Floored x
There was no dispute over which flooring to choose for the new cellar: It’s sisal all the way.
It’s not only such a natural look with an ancient, timeless quality….
(It’s a floor covering that’s been used for centuries)
But it’s also that smell – the flooring equivalent of cedar wood – which feels so grounding and calming. Nostalgic almost.
I have The Husband off for a much needed days holiday today…so the lucky man is coming with me to browse samples and help make a final decision.
(If he chooses right we might just squeeze in a naughty lunch somewhere. Promises, promises..)
Laters, Kate x
Some dreams are made of this..
The temperature is rising, the bluebells are out! And like the instinct of an awakening hibernating beast, the brain is coming alive with illicit thoughts of cloudless skies and barmy evenings and how best to harness those precious summer months.
More and more I’m dreaming of hammocks and swing beds.
That primitive allure of quiet self-indulgence: Peace, tranquility, old soft cotton and a damn fine book.
If our garden was huuuuge I’d go for one of these…beds on top..potential den beneath…broken bones a given…but just think of the fun!
This is probably more realistic – and I like the pagoda style..a bit more secretive and tucked away. Maybe with a curtain to block out nosey neighbours…and with a back support – I hate reading completely flat. It would eat the space…but in a rather wonderful way. The truth is we have an urban life: Our garden will never be a football pitch…so why pretend?
Laters Kate x
Top design x
The children are on holiday which always make for an interesting dynamic: There’s the eternal conflict between my projects and their needs which sometimes overlap…but not always. The mornings are usually my time to write, organise and plan whilst they learn to squeeze every ounce from the fruit of boredom. Which sounds desirable, except Charlie, like a heat seeking missile has the unfailing knack of finding me just at the most concentration-needed moment. Yesterday I was writing a letter to Building Control (he’s here right now..spooky) and there he was at the study door. ‘No!’ I said, holding up my hand, ‘not a step further…do not say a word…you have to give me ten minutes.’
‘But Mummy…’
‘No..I have to get this done NOW. I cannot speak to you’
‘But Mummy…’
‘What part of no am I not making clear? I will not speak to you..yet you are forcing me to speak to you..so I am now getting cross and feeling like a hamster in a wheel because we’ve had thIS same conversation SO many times. Except now the hamster is dead..no no.I didn’t really say that – ignore me..it’s just I don’t want to formulate words to you, I want them for this – I need to sound like a rational human being. GO!’
‘But Mummy..I don’t want to speak to you..I want to look in this mirror and see how cool I look…’
Hole. Ground. Open up.
Todays project is a crossover and one for all of us….to tidy up Charlie’s room…which looks like a nuclear war zone. If I were Olga Kostina living in Kamarchaga in the Siberian Taiga his rubbish would probably provide the most wonderful creative outlet. Her work with 30,000 bottle tops is sheer genius.
Except I’m not.
Blood could be spilt.
Laters, Kate x
Wall Bling..
There are three large storage cupboards at the back of the underworld room – four if you count the boiler..
Would it be an utter extravagance to attempt to disguise them?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm….
Laters, Kate x
Progress x
It’s the painful part of the cellar renovation…painting all the bookcases. Probably more so than usual because they started off black…and they’re going..off black. The reason is the shelving is an Ikea Billy hack – using basic Ikea units to look more than the sum of their parts – and that requires a layer of camouflage paint.
At least I have the TV to keep me company.
But it’s still slow progress.
The hunt has been on for the perfect pink for the stair wall.
And I think I’ve found it via the felt our tap came wrapped in.
Now to get it colour matched..
Laters, Kate x
The kitchen: The Reveal
Before: The original kitchen, in a separate room.
Open to the back.
The front sitting room.
The works (basically knocking down the dividing wall and fitting a two storey eight frame)
The result.
Laters, Kate x
Curtain call: Design hero..
I’ve been trying to write this post all morning and failing miserably – head is all over the place as really, all I want to do is start nesting in the new spaces and get them ready for Easter/before the kids break up. But there is a subject that’s caught my eye: The Great Interior Design Challenge has just finished on BBC 2 and it was compulsive viewing (for good and bad reasons) for anyone interested in the story telling of interiors. The overall winner was Sarah Mitchenall who’s designs were a true delight to the eye – she excelled at rooms where the raw ingredients appeared completely wrong (the orange medieval room par example) – but the end mixes proved to be both balanced and exhilarating with Everest sized visual impact and inherent cool.
Like the greatest creatives and raconteurs she has the power to dazzle with what is simply there and squeezing it to it’s enth degree, stepping out of the box, defying convention and believing in what just works.
All these pics are taken from her visual treat of a Pinterest page under the name Black Parrots – named after the company Black Parrots Studio she has co-founded on the back of her winning success.
Luckily for us mere mortals the company isn’t limited to just designing interiors: They already have their own lighting with the aim to design more products, wallpaper, textiles and more.
Look how the stem becomes the flex, and the flex becomes the stem. Genius: Definitely one to watch.
Laters, Kate x
The Kitchen..
Hard to believe..but the kitchen is actually in!! We have a fully functioning oven, sink, taps, hot water tap and fridge-freezer!!!…having said that, it’s still needs it’s handles (they’ve been in various solutions to age them over the weekend and are due to go on today – until they do, there’s no way to open the dishwasher which has sat there, tantalising us…) There’s also the painting of the skirting boards, splash back to be fitted, removal of builders equipment, the addition of a table….and then there’s unpacking the old kitchen. But ignoring all of this – it’s a triumph!! Proper pictures will be taken rather than this sneak peak – but doing a reveal now feels like sending out an opera singer to Covent Garden in just her underwear…chances are it’s been done..but would you want it to be done??!
But all the lights are up and deserve closer scrutiny – this is the brass chandelier as talked about here, now hanging low over what will be the dining room table, opposite the fireplace/mirror. It’s on a dimmable switch which really brings out the details of the edison style light bulbs when they’re dimmed down. I like the austerity of it’s shape with the bonus that if you want to add glass droplets – or ivy at Christmas, you can.
This ornate number is in the hall. The idea is that the intricate ironwork relates to the black of the crittal glass doors arriving soon, but softens the harsher straight lines.
This is one of a pair of wall lights above the fireplace and either side of a large mirror. The design is very simple but the shadows if gives are beautiful. Again, it’s on a dimmable switch which turns the glow to almost candlelight for cosy, shadow dancing evenings.
And these are my unique and gorgeous babies – I commissioned them from the highly talented master canal artist Terence Edgar, they’re proper, original milk churns that the builder’s have cunningly adapted into pendants by removing the bottoms and putting a hole for the flex in the lid, and then hung with brass chandelier chain. I am a huge fan of folk art and feel very privileged to have these stunning examples of canal art as the focal point to the kitchen.
The light they give is magical – like beams of sunlight on the work surface below.
Though they all have similar features, each one is subtly different: On one side is a word..
On the other is a typical canal art scene.
And the three are hung so that ‘love’ and ‘live’ face out..
But laugh always belongs to the cook..
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 