thriving etc

The sound of the Living Etc magazine hitting my door mat each month is a pleasing thud of promised inspiration: and June’s issue has surpassed my expectations. I recognised old friends in the form of furniture and designs, and found myself meandering into new territory entirely with some surprising meetings of colour and texture.

First up was the sight of these familiar rocks lurking in a grey-toned room:

Goodness knows what we’ll do with them when they hatch…./ Living Stones’ pebble poufs

It’s a different designer and store from the one featured in my pouf! post, and I’m pretty sure you can get cheaper versions on eBay too. It looks like the word stoneware is about to take on an alternative meaning.

Then the cobalt Shibori print from Scion caught my eye, which I’d hankered after as a wallpaper at the end of last year. The ink blotted design works so well on fabric, and this featured bedroom is wonderful:

Scion Shibori print duvet set: making it entirely appropriate and tasteful to launder your bed linen in public

Explorations with wire-based furniture potential continue with this eye-boggling collection by Jinil Park:

Doodle becomes real/ Drawings furniture by Jinil Park at Viaduct

I would love to see this in the flesh – or in the wire, or however you might want to describe it. It looks, as the name suggests, exactly like a line drawing, with the ‘scribbles’ so flat on the page. Such a clever, humorous and striking piece of design.

Focussing downward for a moment, it’s hard not to be impressed by this exceptional wooden flooring, which isn’t even the subject of this particular article:

I see your geometric parquet, and I raise you an ornate multi-wood pattern

After all that parquet obsessing a few weeks ago, I spotted it right away.

Following the reminiscing, I was struck by some new and inspiring ideas. This patio wall covering is a superb endeavour: whoever said all your best house ideas had to stay inside?

Take it outside/ spectacular garden tiling

The tiles are by Neisha Crosland, called Navajo and made by De Ferranti. At £540 a square metre these are not a budget option, but surely this concept opens a gateway to a myriad outdoor possibilities.

I surprised myself with the next realisation. This is because I am not generally a ‘pink’ type of person. I don’t really do girlie shades, and shy away from the bolder statement brights as well. But as I glanced at this page, I remembered that there is a pink I do like:

Dusky. A sort of pink I like.

I suppose there is a lot of brown in this pink, and the shade seems quite a natural one. It also doesn’t look like it needs to remain quite as clean, which in my house would definitely be a positive.

A grubbier shade of pink.

I’m still not saying I’d need to do a whole room this way. Just one item would be fine.

When I was planning for our wood-effect/Japanese-inspired ensuite shower room, I kept looking out for wooden duck boards to incorporate into the shower ‘exit area.’ The problem with the products I found then was that they were bulky, very solid, and threatened to have the potential to get quite warped after a few months of soggy footfall.

Roll up: Teak bathmat from Waterworks, approx £153

This handsome piece is a lot more subtle and flexible: slightly steep price for a bathmat notwithstanding.

I love the following picture for the strongly veined marble, orange-toned wood, brash dark green plant and glinting copper pendants. You can’t undertake a tour of any self-respecting design magazine or blog at the moment and not see marble. It is boldly featured throughout bathrooms and kitchens, in enormous slabs and in slivers of tiny tiles.

Marbellous decor

I suppose it’s a step on from the travertine and limestone shades which have populated our homes, and particularly bathrooms, and corresponds to the colour obsession of the moment. As modern paint trends have moved away from brown and yellow undertones (beiges, creamy whites, even magnolia) to the more sultry ranges of grey, so the accompanying natural materials need to fit in with the scheme.

I have seen lots of excited response from designers to online interiors retailer Rockett St George’s products recently. I’ve always been fascinated by the tin tiles used to glamorise ceilings, and thought they’d  make a superb splashback. Here a bed headboard is putting on the glitz.

Tin-spired headboard/ Rockett St George suggest a new use for the classic ceiling tile, part of their new collection

And finally – what a beautiful kitchen! – of Portuguese artist Ana Vichgal. These reclaimed blue ceramic tiles are gloriously distressed, set against simple white kitchen units, delicately pale work surfaces and simple grey floor.

New lease of life: reclaimed tiles in an artist’s kitchen

Lots of food for thought with the creative ideas here. Thanks Living Etc for a great read!

dark room exposure

The room we chose to use as our living room is dark. Outside the stately front window, four large holly trees stand sentry, dominating the front garden and blocking natural light to the front of the house. Each is in possession of a preservation order, a council-given right to remain despite lacking any redeeming features, guarding the front door with evergreen austerity like a gang of moody bouncers.

Leaf it out. Holly trees hulk in front garden

When we were thinking about wall colours and window covering we kept coming up against this, and bemoaning the lack of light. Then, in discussion with a curtain fitter one day I discovered that the room, with its wood panelling and shadowy aspect, would almost certainly have been the library, decorated in rich dark colours, and containing shelves full of carefully bound volumes. Dim light was a boon in this setting. Well this did change it for me, and we started thinking about turning the room’s challenges into an inspiration.

These guys don’t mind it gloomy: In the Library by John Watkins Chapman

Having painted the wood- and plasterwork a refreshing white, we decided to go for a densely dark grey on the fireplace wall. The remaining walls are a lighter shade on the spectrum. The contrast between walls and woodwork is dramatic.

Serene and grown up

We removed the small fireplace, which we thought may not have been the original for that space: gaps in the skirting suggested that there had once been a grander version there. We did like it, though, and had it cosmetically reconditioned (not to be used, it’s patched up mainly with plywood) and placed in Jonas’s room. We spent a good while choosing a more suitable statement fireplace for the room, along with a marble surround in place of the existing rather timid wooden construction. The significant costs of the products (fire, grate, slate, mantel, backing boards), were small beans compared to the enormous cost of installation. An open fire is a luxury: once you step along that road to renovation you are bound to be shelling out at high levels. Because of fire safety, you don’t feel as though you can argue with the professionals, after all, who would want to jeopardise their home and family with a “shoddy” job? Suffice to say, if anyone was looking for any area to retrain into, I’d suggest the fire installation trade as a dead cert from the money-spinning perspective.

Incendiary costs: a new fireplace

Other rooms in our house are quite vibrant and full of light. This room has turned out to be a calm, peaceful retreat in a sometimes hectic home, and a wonderful evening hideaway. It does feel more grown-up, and, whilst the children do come in here to watch TV now and then, it’s not part of the daily circuit for them (or their cars).

I think I may be off the beaten track a little here

Next time I’ll tell you about the windows — we now had two bays to dress, one large and stately, one weeny and cute — and a far deeper journey into the suffocating folds of upholstery than I ever thought I’d embark upon….