Category: interiors
Clip Art x
Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make the biggest impact: Take the Tiny Homes movement sweeping across America quietly proving that small can mean freedom. They’re also icons of great design where every square inch counts.
This is a Tiny Home from Portland that just sings with love and clever details.
Just because it’s compact, doesn’t mean it has to be modern.
It puts a smile on your face.
Laters, Kate x
Spare Room part 2
Bedside tables are a great richness in a small space. They’re the earrings of a bedroom, framing the focal point as well providing great function…and I need to chose a pair for the spare room.
If money was no object I’d be pulled, without fail, to the antique option: Timeless, chic, classic (but they’d be a little (big) voice in my head whispering but where would you put your cup of morning tea??) (fitted glass on the top for protection?)(would it be enough??)
And besides, modern designs can work: There’s a sense of simplicity and space to them – an avoidance of clutter where less is more.
If your bed is your nest, as mine is, then taking a leaf out of hospital design could be the way to go. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone made a brass version of this with hidden wheels in the base and maybe a marble top?
Love the function here, but the mdf style presentation? Needs to be better.
But this is a super clever idea for those with a thin, narrow bedroom. Genius.
An interesting picture: The colours, the velvet, the sheepskin all draw the eye in. The mirrors add that touch of glamour..
And then you see this photo and realise how much better the proportions balance when the mirrors are smaller than the headboard: Little things.
And as I only have a little space……I’m thinking an old fashioned wall sconce might be just the thing: Cheap, simple, effective. Maybe with a smaller mirror above them.
(All pics from Pinterest)
Or even use a pair of upcycled corbels…
Watch this space.
Laters, Kate x
Doubling up..
It was a long night last night – after birthday celebrations it was home late to a very sick Charlie with projectile vomiting and diarrhoea..in his sleep..you can just imagine the amount of bed linen/antiseptic spray we got through. Finally we both went to sleep on the bathroom floor – the easiest place to keep clean. So it feels appropriate to look at clever, space saving beds – for which I have to thank the Sunday Times for coming up with these finds – but they’re just too good not to pass on. The bed above is from Noa and Nani – a really good, affordable £129 brucie bargain, chic choice.
They do other designs too, including this very cunning one at £249..
There’s storage..
with a trundle bed above. Genius.
Or what about a space saving bed for three? A bunk bed with a simple trundle you can add for a mere £59.
Or just a trundle you can keep out of sight?
I heart this bed. Disguised as an ottoman it comes up trumps with a padded headboard. From Sofa.com. Although a little bit more expensive at £530.
An Ikea classic. At £349?
Or this one at £499 – apparently flips open to make a double. Check out Made.com for more information.
I’m liking the smaller size option of a chair-bed. This ‘ched’ (my word..) is from Willow and Hall at a currently reduced price of £393
I like the chunkiness of this option…but I’m never sure of the design virtue of armrests shaped as wheels….but if it floats your boat it’s from Loaf at £875.
Maybe you will be able to squeeze that extra guest in this Christmas..ho ho!
Laters, Kate x
Head Space x
The spare room has definitely been unquestionably subservient to the rest of the house. Not surprising as it’s the least used space. But I’m starting to think it needs to be finished with it’s own injection of glamour.
It needs four elements to complete it – a headboard as the focal point, a rug to ground it, a wardrobe for storage and 2 bedside tables for practicality.
Which way to go? Dramatic contrast? quiet luxury? or boho bliss?
Spoilt for choice..
Laters, Kate x
Taste Wars x
First day back to school after the two week half term holiday and bizarrely it’s Halloween…an oxymoronic combination which will probably leave the rest of the week in tatters with the children trying to recover juggling routine and school. But hey, at least we gained an hour this week… it’ll be put to good use carving pumpkins and slapping on the grease paint later. Sigh. But leaving blood dripping knives and the prospect of tired kids aside, I need to actually write a post so I’m going with something that struck a nerve whilst we were away in Hastings.
We stayed in a little wooden lodge that was very pleasant….but didn’t look like anything in these pictures. Which has become a bit of a bug bear – in England, when you go away to a resort setting, chances are you are either paying a fortune for a properly imagined rustic aesthetic (casing point: Soho Farmhouse) or you’re having your tastes dictated to by a narrow number of bulk buying, short sighted, cheap loving, tight fisted suits that think modern always means good.
But the rub is rustic isn’t about expense. It’s roots lie in making the best use of the materials available in the best way possible, given the space available.
It’s about finding elements that are both practical and will stand the test of time, yet still look good: Re-using, re-thinking, re-energising.
It’s not generic canvas’s from Ikea but vintage pictures from a charity shop. Not ready made velour curtains but re-imagined blankets and kantha quilts. Not shiny carpets but wooden floors and battered rugs.
Does taste cost more? Sometimes…but mostly it just takes a bit more thought.
And how often is it that those thought out things cast the longest shadows?
Laters, Kate x
Sculpted x
I’m re-cycling this post because I love it x
Great Art is like a chemical reaction in the blood, sparking signals to swell the brain and heart with waves of love and wonder. So it is with the ceramics of Fenella Elms.
Another feather in her talented cap: She never started her professional life as a Potter, working instead in mental health as an occupational therapist.
‘I’d always joked that one day I would become a potter. And then ten years ago, for my 40th birthday, my husband bought me a wheel.’
She did an art foundation at Swindon College follwed a year later by a part-time HNC-level course in ceramics. Who knows what would’ve happened to a fledgling Fenella and whether she needed to treat down her other path first: She’d always enjoyed pottery at school but couldn’t see how to make a career out of it. But the mature, newly graduated Fenella immediately started winning awards including the Ceramic Review Award for Exceptional, Innovation and Challenging work at the Ceramic Art London exhibition.
Organic, living, breathing her work crosses the boundary between manmade and nature.
‘The approach I make to porcelain isn’t so different to my psychoanalytic practice; It’s all about the subconscious , where things aren’t forced or contrived. I do masses of preparation and drawing, then I put it all aside and wait to see what emerges.’
Her studio is based in Wiltshire, in a converted milking parlour, which speaks of beauty, age, space and peace: ‘I enjoy looking at the world around me. It’s nice realising that all the time I spent staring at the details of plants or ripples in water was for a reason.’
Laters, Kate x
Who is Kate Bentley?
It’s half term this week and we’ve gone away to the sea side town of Hastings to breathe the country air and walk by the sea. As a result this is an eco-friendly week of posts, re-cycled from the past..starting with this one. Enjoy x
Ever Googled yourself? I could be Kathryn Bentley..a Texas Native designing handmade jewellery and running the rather wonderful Dream Collective in Los Angeles..love her dress..
And her style.
Or maybe I’m Kate Bentley the award-winning professional painter based in the Lake District in the beautiful Lyth Valley.
Pretty idyllic..
Or collecting pins on Pintrest..’cept it isn’t me..but I like her taste. I think she might be a nurse..
Or maybe I’m just Kate in a Bentley..
(Photo by Kelvin Bruce)
The truth is, out here in the cyber-world, we can be who we want to be….and sometimes it’s pretty awe-inspiring to look around..
But after the burst of imaginary gasoline…I rather like coming home to my little reality again..after all, home is where the heart is.
Laters, Kate x
Future Candy x
The future doesn’t eat, but it does draw you in with it’s promise of change and difference.
If I could predict a future trend it would be a move away from regular pattern and symmetry.
Not an easy concept to pull off: How do you make something cohesive whilst embracing chaos?
(All pictures Pinterest)
Except it’s that perfect imperfect sweet spot that makes it so very tasty.
Bon appetit.
Laters, Kate x
Sweet Dreams x
A bedroom with a statement bad that draws the eye and makes the heart beat faster with it’s come-to-bed loucheness..
(All pictures Savoir Beds)
Who am I to disagree?
Laters, Kate x
Pegged out..
I was talking about this to a friend today, so now I’m blogging about it: It’s a simple retro peg board discovered at Berylune complete with wooden pegs which would be perfect in Charlie’s room to carry the clutter from his desk.
(Though I’d quite like one for my study too)
It’s good, simple, honest, clever design with multiple uses. To be honest, you can probably pick up a bargain by searching ‘work shop storage’. I was being a bit anal, loving the wooden pegs. But I’m hoping I’ll be able to customise it anyways – there are plenty of websites on how to make your own.
Maybe not this far…but who knows?!
It’s a winner. Chicken dinner.
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 