Interior design

We've recently added a new batch of colourways of one of our most popular wallpapers - Julia Rothman's Daydream Wallpaper design - and this got me thinking about wallpaper with a big pattern. I love pattern and am happy to clash it and layer it in a room. I also like a good feature wall with a bold pattern used sparingly for striking effect. It's also nice when you see a pattern blended into a room with clever use of colour and texture. Basically I like pattern. And I especially like pattern on wallpapers, so here is a quick round-up of some of...
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Daydream wallpaper is one of our most popular products on the site. It's a beautiful, whimsical print by Brooklyn-based illustrator Julia Rothman. I love this print, it's so charming and really looks good in a big range of interiors. I'm always happy when someone orders it, because I know they're going to love the results. In fact, it's one of the products I often get thank you emails about, and people often send proud photographs of their lovely new rooms with the paper in situ. I just got another picture recently, of the colourway with yellow birds and blue clouds used by...
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I use Pinterest as a way to keep up to date with trends, so bookmark interesting sites and resources and to while away 10 minutes looking at kittens while I have a cup of tea.... oops, I mean, to research design and important things like that ;) So, while on a recent foray into that world of beautiful images I discovered a mini-trend for watercolour walls.These are beautiful, delicate, dreamlike colour palettes washed across an entire wall. They are complete with imperfections, colour bleeds and tonal variations. They are interesting ad stimulating to the eye, while still feeling elegant and not...
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This week's chilly weather has made me want to close the door, grab a blanket and get all cosy inside. So when I saw this beautiful image from Architectural Digest on Pinterest, it hit all the right notes. I've always wanted a wood-burning stove since I visited a friend's house with one. They are just a lovely way to heat your home and can make a space feel very cosy very quickly. The warm toned wood is across every surface - walls, ceiling, floor - creating a very welcoming space. I like the way the curtains hang slightly bunched, giving it a...
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I have recently moved back to the UK from Barcelona, and have been thinking about how to inject some life and personality into my new rented home. It's a beautiful Georgian flat with very tall windows, shutters and high ceilings, and as a result it has a slightly chilly feel and needs a bit of cosying up. My first thought was rugs. And the second. And third too. Rugs offer so many benefits when designing a space that really they are hard to ignore. So what can a rug do for you? - Add pattern and or colour - Add texture - Help you...
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At my recent visit to the Tent design show at London Design Festival I spotted an interesting trend emerging…   Many of the exhibitors, showing cutting edge design from all over the world, had made detailed, elaborate surface texture a prominent part of their work.   Here is a quick round up of images showing texture being used to great visual effect on everything from stools to mirrors to wallpaper and also showing the wide range of materials used to create this, including paper, concrete, metal and fabric.   Jeonghwa Seo stool with luxuriously smooth bases topped with contrastingly rough textured concrete. Jake Phipps had some of...
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London Design Festival was a wonderful source of inspiration in so many different arenas - from fabrics to wallpapers, cushions to ceramics. This week I've decided to pick out some of the lighting which caught my eye at the shows this year. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but a few which attracted my attention as I wandered around enjoying all the new design on offer. TENT LONDON Mater designed these lovely acorn-ish lights The Salute light from Seeddesign - based on a wine glass don't you know. A wonderful chandelier fitting from lighting wonders Curiousa & Curiousa. Vezzini and Chen brought their...
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Cement tiles are something of an obsession for me, particularly the encaustic patterned tiles you see everywhere in Barcelona. Since moving here I’ve developed a habit of snapping every beautiful pattern I see - and there are many – and sharing them with a #tileaddict hashtag (and in this Patterned Tiles blogpost I wrote earlier this year). For those who are interested, encaustic tiles are ones where the pattern is made using clay of different pigments, rather than being painted on the top with a glaze. This means the pattern stays even as the tile wears down.   So, imagine my delight...
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I am kicking off the first of our London Design Festival blog posts with a personal favourite. It combines a lot of the things I feel very passionately about – bold colour, vintage furniture, social change, minimising waste, quality craftsmanship, personality in design and – last, but never least – flowers! (Image from Zoe Brewer's website)   These images are of the furniture collaboration between Out Of The Dark and Zoe Brewer. Zoe is the owner of My Interior Stylist – an established and successful interior styling and design company. Having been twitter friends for a while I was excited to see the...
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Recently I was asked to provide some "Designer Insights" for an interview on the Terry's Blinds blog. It was fun thinking about how I approach interiors, my take on design and the 'rules' I do or don't follow. For example, I had to describe my own unique style and creative aesthetic. How would you describe yours? Do you know straight away or do you have to think about it? For me, I know that I like to be open to ideas, to give things a go and to try things out to see what works. I enjoy adding an extra element...
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