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Archive for the ‘decor’ Category
Friday, August 28th, 2009
 A Girl's Guide to Decorating Decorating secrets, ideas, tips and knowledge abound in A Girl’s Guide to Decorating.
Written by internationally renowned interior designer and stylist, Abigail Ahern, this book offers a hands-on guide to all you need to know to decorate your home.
The book literally does cover everything, from choosing your style and planning your space, to creating a wow factor, using colour, adding texture and making the most of lighting.
One of the great points that Abigail makes is that creating a stylish home doesn’t necessarily mean spending a fortune. Yes, it can help to have money to splash out on unique home furnishings, but it’s by no means it’s essential and you can achieve a fresh, unique new look without breaking the bank.
Before launching into exploring ideas for decorating and transforming your home, the book begins with the basiscs - analysing the space you’ve got and planning what you’d like to do with it. They’re both essential steps, but all too easily overlooked when you’re longing to get your paintbrush out and start changing your home!
Abigail explains why they’re important and how you can work out the best way of dealing with the space and light you’ve got in the various rooms of your home, even if they’re small and you seem short of space.
Glamour, texture, colour and light
The subsequent chapters each deal with creating glamour in your home, using colour, creating different forms of texture and how to use light effectively.
Between them, they each offer a lot of practical advice, expert knowledge and insight into what you can do to get great results. There are clear and highly illustrative photos throughout the book and this helps a lot with visualising and seeing what you can achieve.
With the various practical ideas, like how to put up shelving, how to make a stair runner, or putting together a flat-pack cabinet, there are clear step-by-step instructions, plus a shopping list of items you’ll need.
The specialist advice and knowledge is invaluable and you’ll learn some great decorating tricks, like different ways of displaying items (symmetrically, in themes, asymetrically and mixed up), different ways of arranging pictures (in grid formations, organic clusters or in lines) and the different effects that colours can have.
The book ends with a useful section dealing with the tools of the trade - the items you’ll need in order to decorate successfully and a basic guide to accomplishing certain techniques, like sanding, stripping, filling a hole or calculating how much paint you’ll need.
Overall, it’s a great book that’s packed to the brim with informative advice, knowledge and tips, all of which can be taken away and applied to your own home decorating.
If you’re keen to create your own unique space, but aren’t sure where to start, or wish you could afford the advice of an interior designer, then The Girl’s Guide to Decorating is the book for you!
The Girl’s Guide to Decorating by Abigail Ahern, published by Quadrille, RRP £16.99
Find out more about Abigail Ahern’s design tastes on her blog.
Tags: abigail ahern, book review, decorating
Posted in book review, decor, design, designer | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 10th, 2009
If you’re looking to adorn your walls with eyecatching wallpaper, then there are some great contemporary floral wallpaper designs on the market. Here are 10 of our current favourites.
1. Sanderson Dandelion Clocks wallpapers
 Sanderson Dandelion Clocks wallpaper This bold floral design wallpaper from Sanderson’s Options 10 collection featured stylised dandelion flower heads.
Shown here in the blue, green and grey colour scheme, the paper is also available in red and pink shades too, but we’re rather fond of the fresh blue and green.
The colours and look are reminiscent of 1950s designs, but they’ve been given a fresh and contemporary look.
The Sanderson Dandelion Clock wallpaper can be purchased from John Lewis for £29 a roll.
2. Prestigious Radiance silver wallpaper
 Prestigious Radiance silver wallpaper This Prestigious Radiance wallpaper features a big, bold floral design in white on a metallic silver background.
The flowers are highlighted in greys and black and it’s the ideal monochrome design for a contemporary home.
Alternative colours are available and it can be purchased for £26.50 a roll from Wallpaper Direct.
3. Villa Nova Florence Raspberry wallpaper
 Villa Nova Florence raspberry wallpaper The Villa Nova Florence range of wallpaper are available in a variety of colours, but we rather like this fresh raspberry shade.
Only the flower heads are raspberry, with the rest of the design a more subtle shade, so it’s not too overpowering on the wall.
You can buy the Villa Nova Florence wallpaper from Select Wallpaper for £27.25.
4. Magdalena rich chocolate flock wallpaper
 Magdalena chocolate flock wallpaper Chocolate is high on the list for desirable contemporary wallpapers. This rich chocolate flock Magdalena floral wallpaper is a special paper for a feature wall.
The luxurious wallpaper has dark chocolate flocking and metallic gold designs on a chocolate background, with the design running in vertical lines.
The Magdalena paper is £95 a roll from Feature Wallpaper.
5. Monsoon Elise wallpaper
 Monsoon Elise duck egg floral wallpaper This Monsoon Elise contemporary floral wallpaper by Monsoon is very dainty and delicate, yet makes quite a statement on the wall.
The duck egg blue shade is very on trend and the floral design wafts across the background in a shimmery silver shine.
The Elise wallpaper can be purchased from Totally Home for £24.99 a roll.
6. Linda Barker Tempting wallpaper
 Linda Barker Tempting wallpaper This bold and beautiful Tempting wallpaper by Linda Barker features a gorgeous large pink chrysanthemum flower against a chocolate brown background.
It would look great as a statement wall in many areas of the house, including the bedroom and living room.
The Tempting wallpaper is £30 a roll from Graham and Brown.
7. Marcel Wanders Alice wallpaper
 Marcel Wanders Alice wallpaper This stunning purple and gold contemporary floral wallpaper is designed by Marcel Wanders, winner of the 2006 Elle Decorations International Designer of the Year.
Made of vinyl, the wallpaper is £26.99 a roll from Inspire My Home.
8. Cockatoo Red wallpaper
 Neisha Crosland Birdtree wallpaper This contemporary floral wallpaper features red, grey and gold bold flowers on a cream background, which the designer calls Cockatoo Red.
The wallpaper is also available in several other colourways.
It can be purchased for £62.91 a roll from Fabrics and Papers.
9. Superfresco Easy Charming wallpaper
 Floral mint and chocolate wallpaper This lovely stylised floral wallpaper is in a soft green and chocolate shade (very mint choc chip).
The flower heads have a soft suede brown finish on the outside, and creamy inner petals.
Superfresco Easy Charming, by Graham and Brown, can be purchased from Totally Home for £9.99 per roll.
10. Circulo black wallpaper
 Circulo black wallpaper
And finally, if you’re looking for a contemporary floral wallpaper that’s not too overly floral, then this silver on black Circulo wallpaper could be the solution.
Each individual circular design (which resembles a polka dot from a distance) features an intricate, interwoven floral design of swirls, flowers and leaves.
If black’s not your colour, then there’s also beige, red and teal available too.
The Circulo wallpaper is only £12 a roll from Feature Wallpaper.
Related Posts
For more great wallpaper ideas, check out our post on the top 10 designer wallpapers.
Tags: contemporary, floral, flowers, linda barker, marcel wanders, Sanderson, wallpaper, wallpapers
Posted in decor, designer, top 10, trends, wallpaper | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
 Desugn your own bespoke lampshade
Sometimes finding the perfect lampshade to fit in with your colour scheme, design or decor ideals is jolly tricky, but this clever idea from Duffy London could solve the problem.
They’ve put together a self-assembly kit which lets you customise and design your very own lampshade.
The lampshade itself is ready made and is suitable for either pendant lights or floor standing lamps.
The outside layer of the shade is sticky, so all you have to is stick your desired design on it. It could be photos, strips of wallpaper (to match your walls) or even fabric.
It all sounds very easy and, at only £10 for the do-it-yourself lampshade kit, it’s cheap enough to have a go and experiment with.
The lampshade kit is available to purchase from Bouf. Why not have a go?
Tags: bespoke, bouf, lampshade, make your own
Posted in bargain buy, decor, design, home accessories, lighting | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
 Barneby Gates wallpaper
This wallpaper by Barneby Gates, with its array of colourful butterflies and bugs, would be rather fun to use for a statement wall.
The neutral background of the wallpaper features silvery, lace-like stripes, but it’s livened up considerably by the raspberry hue of butterflies, ladybirds, ants and centipedes crawling and fluttering their way up the paper!
Used all over a room, it could be too overpowering (and a bit pricey), but for a single wall, or perhaps two alcoves, that you’d like to stand out, it would be ideal.
The Barneby Gates company was formed by Vogue Living Editor Vanessa Barneby and Alice Gates, a fashion and textile designer.
If you like the bugs and butterflies wallpaper, then it’s available from stockists such as Rockett St George for £53 a roll.
Related Posts
For more inspiring wallpaper ideas, check out our guide to the top 10 designer wallpapers.
Tags: barneby gates, Rockett St George, wallpaper
Posted in decor, designer, wallpaper | No Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
If you’ve ever wanted to add a bit more dimension or a 3d effect to your wall, then you must try these fun wallflowers!
This set of 25 flowers in five sizes from small to large are made out of polypropylene, with magnets embedded into them. This allows them to be mounted to the wall easily and without fuss, via means of either a small magnet or a tack. As well as being available in black, which looks great used in a monochrome colour scheme, they’re also available in pink and white.
They add a real sense of dimension to any wall, are fun to use and can be moved around when you change your mind about your decor. Available from Amazon for £29.36.
Tags: art, decor, design, wall art
Posted in decor, home accessories, wallpaper | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
 Graham and Brown Midsummer
There’s a still a bit of a ‘love it or hate it’ view associated with wallpaper, not helped by the horror stories of people getting in a pickle putting it up, wallpaper falling down and air bubbles ending up everywhere. But if you learn how to hang it properly - or, better still, get an expert to do it for you - well hung wallpaper can create a stunning effect in your home.
Whether you’re keen to wallpaper a whole room, or simply want to create one wallpapered wall in a room for impact and colour, there are plenty of wallpaper designs to choose from. We’ve rounded up our current top 10 of designer wallpaper favourites. Enjoy!
1. Designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has a great selection of wallpaper options available. The Navonna design, shown here in bitter chocolate gets its inspiration from Northern Italy.
The chocolate brown background is coupled with swirls, dots and other patterns in cream and lighter shades of brown. It would look great used as a statement wall in a room decorated in neutral shades, or in a chocolate themed room.
The Navonna bitter chocolate wallpaper is availale from TotallyHome, in lengths of 10m, for £24.99.
 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Navonna wallpaper 2. This Fioretti wallpaper features a striking purple background with a large gold and black flower-like design printed on it. Seen close up, the purple seems quite bright, but when you see it in place on the wall, the colour seems softer.
Either way, if you’d like this wallpaper on your wall, it costs £47 for a 10m roll from Fabrics and Papers.
 Fioretti purple and gold wallpaper  Wall adorned with Fioretti wallpaper 3. Graham and Brown have designed a whole range of wallpaper for Monsoon, including this Chrysanthemum print.
The idea for the big and bold floral print was gained from 19th century Japanese textiles. It’s been given a modern touch by using monotone colours - charcoal and white - and would give a bold look to a wall.
The chrysanthemum wallpaper can be purchased from TotallyHome, in 10m lengths, for the special offer price of £12.99.
 Graham and Brown Chrysanthemum wallpaper 4. Graham and Brown are keen to invest in young design talent, so challenged students from the world famous Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design to come up with some new designs, based on an eco theme.
They eventually chose six winning designs, including this cool modern Fossil design by Andrea Sallee. The simple wallpaper design highlights the natural beauty found in fossils and reminds us about the footprints we leave behind. The neutral white and pale blue colour scheme allows the paper to work effectively on walls in many rooms of the house and you can either use it with the middle angles of the fossil design joining together (see the individual paper picture, where they form small circles in the middle), or as strips all angled to face out in one direction.
10m rolls of Andrea Sallee’s Fossil wallpaper cost £30 and can be purchased from Graham and Brown.
 Andrea Sallee Fossil wallpaper  Fossil paper in a bedroom 5. Mode are one of the key players in the wallpaper world and one of our favourite wallpapers is the Manderley, especially in the claret and gold colourway.
It’s a large scale floral design, with big, warm claret flowers, and gold metallic shimming leaves, to give it an antique edge. It would equally well used in an entire room, as it would as a single statement wall.
The Manderley claret and gold paper normally costs £24.99 for 10m, but if you buy it from TotallyHome, it’s currently on offer at £12.99 (bargain!).
 Mode Manderley claret and gold wallpaper 6. Originally a fashion illustrator, Barbara Hulanicki has been designing interiors since the 90s and now creates highly fashionable, fresh and modern wallpaper designs.
Here Viva design is a modern black and silver square print vinyl wallpaper, which is slightly celtic in nature and very dramatic when in use. The wallpaper is available in rolls of 10m, usually retailing at about £24.99, but if you buy it from InspireMyHome, it’s currently on offer for £19.99.
 Barbara Hulanicki Viva wallpaper If the black and silver isn’t quite to your taste, the Viva design wallpaper is also available in light blue and silver.
 Viva in blue and silver 7. For a modern, industrial look, which wouldn’t look out of place in an urban open living environment, how about the Hemingway Concrete Grey wallpaper?
As the name suggests, it’s made to look like concrete, with vertical panels running down the wall. Don’t let the concrete idea put you off, as it’s surprisingly light in shading and works very effectively. The paper comes in rolls of 10m and you can purchase this print from Godfrey’s Diy for £24.99.
 Hemingway Concrete Grey wallpaper 8. If vivid geometric prints are your cup of tea, then you’ll love this vibrant, busy wallpaper from Basso and Brooke.
The multicolour wallpaper, Soma, features a range of geometric shapes that are neatly joined together in an abstract pattern. It’s the type of wallpaper you can look at for hours and always see something different or start guessing what the individual shapes are (some people think there are skateboards in there, others see shields, pacman, cameras and more).
The Basso and Brooke Soma multicoloured wallpaper is available in 10m lengths, for £22 per roll, from Wallpaper Direct.
 Basso and Brooke Soma multi wallpaper 9. The Ornate wallpaper, in this lovely rich blue, was created by fashion designer, Julien Macdonald. The design is based on ornate, decorative architecture, but although its origins may be old, it works very effectively in modern, contemporary homes - especially when used alongside fresh, minimalist white.
The Ornate wallpaper comes in rolls of 10m and can be purchased from Select Wallpaper for £21.95.
 Julien Macdonald Ornate blue wallpaper 10. For a more natural and neutral wallpaper, that still has a hint of pattern and interest in it, but without being overpowering, then this Sirena wallpaper by Harlequin is ideal.
The neutral background is enhanced by a stylish, gentle curving leaf print. The colours are described as vanilla and gold and it’s from the Romanie collection (alternatively, it’s also available in Mocha or black and gold, for a more striking look).
The Sirena wallpaper can be purchased from John Lewis and is priced at £29.
 Harlequin Sirena wallpaper
Tags: designer, top 10, wall, wallpaper
Posted in decor, designer, top 10, wallpaper | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
 Ferm Living Power Birds
So, we’ve featured wall stickers for decorating children’s rooms, but there are also some great options for the rest of the house too.
Ferm Living are one company who produce some creative wall stickers for wall art decoration. Their wall sticker collections have a wide variety of designs, sizes and colours which can be used to create a unique look in a room. They can be used on any kind of flat surface, such as walls, ceilings, furniture, mirrors and windows, and if you get bored with them or want to change your colour scheme, they can be easily removed.
The Power Lines wall sticker features birds on power cables and the barcode one is literally a barcode that you can stick on your wall. This one is certainly unique and sure to become a talking point!
 Barcode wall sticker
The Ferm Living stickers are available from Ezstyle.
The Power Birds wall sticker measures 100cm x 50cm and costs £67.50 ; the Barcode wall sticker is the same size and costs £47.50. Both come complete with everything you need to mount them and are fully adjustable.
Tags: art, stickers, wall
Posted in art, decor, wall stickers, wallpaper | 3 Comments »
Monday, June 1st, 2009
 Forest wallpaper
Wallpaper has evolved considerably over the years and there are now some lovely designs available these days. If you’re living in the city without green spaces on your doorstep, or simply like the environment, then this forest wallpaper could brighten up your walls.
The Mysterious Forest mural-style wallpaper features a very atmospheric misty grey image of tree trunks and is supposed to evoke feelings of the morning light. It would be most effective used on a single wall, as a statement wallpaper effect, rather than on every wall in a room.
It’s available from Wallpaper Direct and is specially made to order.
Tags: decor, wall, wallpaper
Posted in decor, wallpaper | No Comments »
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
 Orla Kiely patterned cushion
Cushions are an essential part of any home design. Not only are they great for comfort reasons, but they’re also perfect for adding a splash of colour or pattern into a room.
What’s more, if you fancy a change of colour scheme, but can’t afford to change the whole room, then you can easily buy some new cushions to inject a new air of freshness into the room (and it’s less expensive than a complete re-design).
We love these bright and colourful cushions from designer Orla Kiely. Utilising a classic multi-stem patterned design, the cushions are eye-catching, bold and would definitely liven up any tired and old sofas.
Available exclusively from Heals, one cushion with pad insert costs £50.
Tags: accessories, cushion, fabric, seating
Posted in cushion, decor, designer, home accessories, soft furnishings | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 29th, 2009
 Bird Tree
Decorating children’s rooms is often a bit of a conundrum, as no sooner have you painted or wall papered their room with their favourite cartoon character or colour, then they change their mind and like something different. And as much as children may love to have pink or train-themed when they’re seven, it’s not so much fun when they’re 14.
If you’re faced with children’s bedroom decorating dilemmas, then these wall stickers could solve your problem. Ferm LIVING have produced some great sets of wall stickers that can be stuck on children’s bedroom walls, but easily removed when they’re bored with the design or simply fancy having them up elsewhere.
The stickers are easy to use and come complete with everything you need to successfully stick them in place. What’s more, they don’t cause damage to the surface they’re stuck on and can be used on walls, ceilings, windows or any other form of flat surface. Some even look good enough to be used in adult rooms too!
The Bird Tree Wall Stickers cost £65. Also available for children’s rooms are the Animal Tower wall stickers, which depicts a variety of animals all stacked up in a pile and doubles up as a height chart (£55) and the Butterflies, which are £31 for a set of 12. You can find them all - and more - online at Cloudberry Living.
Tags: children's rooms, decor, wall art, wall stickers
Posted in children, decor, design, wall stickers | 4 Comments »
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