In March I presented a new client of mine with mood boards for their interior design project, and got the thumbs up for that job.

Days later, as our cold spring dug its heels in, my family all arrived from Australia and it was time to show them the sights of London.

And then it was time for my BIG DAY!! Which was just wonderful, but over far too quickly. My gorgeous husband and I finally tied the knot in the Swedish Church in London, and the day was an integration of his Swedish/English roots with my African heritage.

After all that it was time for some sunshine and much needed R&R whilst on our Lune de Miel in Costa Rica. We saw the Caribbean and Pacific oceans, covered about 1500km, visited rain, dry and cloud forests, saw sloths and monkeys, frogs and reptiles, and hundreds of birds. Costa Rica was just fabulous, and oddly enough I’ve missed the gallo pinto for breakfast ever since!

You can see some more Costa Rican snaps on the Decorex blog where I have written a post about Nature’s Colour Inspirations.

As if all of that wasn’t enough to keep me busy, five days after getting back from honeymoon my DH and I moved home and office on the day of my 40th birthday!

You will be hearing more about our new home over the coming months as this Victorian house, full of ‘character’, is very much a project for me, and one that I am looking forward to tackling just as soon as the dust from the whirlwind last two months has settled!!

One of my favourite suppliers is Orchid. I can spend hours wandering around their beautiful King’s Road showroom. They stock a fabulous range of furniture and accessories for every room, ranging from Chinese antiques to more modern items, and they can also source bespoke furniture.

Another company I have used before is Shimu, who have a large stock of more natural wood-finish furniture. They also stock a selection of Chinese art, and can source bespoke silk painted wallpaper.

Lombok are another supplier of more mainstream Eastern inspired furniture. Their furniture includes styles from other regions in the Far East, but they do have some great Chinese style pieces too.

The new kid on the block is QD Design, who specialise in contemporary Chinese furniture. I love the bright, cheerful colours that are part of their range, and their contemporary twist on furniture and hardware. They do also stock a range of antique furniture and art works too.

I have long harboured a wish for Fromental wallpaper in my home. They produce exquisitely luxurious wallpaper and fabric designs. Their wallpaper would definitely be the crowning glory to your Chinese style room.

Happy Chinese new year!

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.”
Chinese Proverb

Image credits: 1. All other images from respective companies.

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One of these interiors is Leah Forester’s home on the boardwalk in Venice, Los Angeles. This cool architectural triplex home on the beach has been transformed into a home with a real sense of colour, texture, and art. The style of the house is modern, glamorous and bohemian, and is obviously influenced by her and her husband’s life and travels. (Leah is a mother of twins, stylist, and creator of the popular blog, Glamour Squaw.)

Here are some of my favourite inspirations from their home:
The lighting, vintage Chinese screen and sculpture in the living room.

The offbeat zebra print wallpaper and African landscape photographs on the media room walls.

The light streaming into the bedroom from the floor-to-ceiling glass doors.

The huge bath tub surrounded by pot plants.

The delicate wallpaper and lighting in another bathroom.

The picture wall memories in the stairway.

The painted design on the children’s wardrobes.

The unobstructed ocean views from the balcony.

And Leah’s advice for transforming your own home – “Take time to decorate your home; let it stem from you organically like the rest of your life.”

What inspiration do you get from other people that you dream of incorporating into your own home?

All image credits from Apartment Therapy.

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A new and exciting take on traditional wood finishes are these rustic wooden panels by Heliot and Co, which are produced by hand using recycled timber. The designers behind Heliot and Co are those from Giles Miller Studio who I covered in my blog of this show in 2011.

XyloCleaf produce a range of thin veneer-like melamine panels that can be applied to furniture, kitchen counters, doors, walls and floors, etc. These wonderfully tactile panels come in a range of finishes from classic to trendy.

On display at the show, and attracting a lot of attention, was a ‘wooden textile’ throw by designer Elisa Strozyk. Seeing this visually it is difficult to image how it will feel, but it was actually fairly soft and unexpectedly flexible. This is definitely on my shopping list for being so unique!

Francesca’s Paints was launching her new range of lime wash, eco emulsion & associated paint products, but I loved her Urban Chic range, which would be perfect for creating the ‘Solace’ colour scheme that is trending this year.

I was blown away by the intricacy of Graphic Relief’s incredibly intricate surface detailing on concrete. This fabulous tile is adapted from a Timerous Beastie design, who is one of a number of collaborators. I can’t wait to see more from this company.

These 3D acoustic wall panels, designed by Aleksandra Gaca and available from Casalis, caught my eye. They would make a fabulous feature wall in almost any room.

I have a bit of a thing for utilitarian design at the moment, and so it was no wonder that I fell for these beautiful concrete-effect ‘Design Industry’ tiles from Italian tile company Refin Ceramiche – simply stunning!

Do any of these surface finishes take your fancy?

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep”
Scott Adams

Image credits from respective companies.

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This is rather a long blog – for which I apologise, but there were a lot of wonderful products to get in so I hope you will bear with me.

My absolute highlight company from the Autumn exhibition is love milo, a South African designer who is inspired by nature, and produces the most wonderful ceramics, fabric and wood products. I could buy them all!

Another creator who inspired me last year was Sian Zeng and her magnetic wallpapers. Inspired by the changeable nature of fairy tale stories, where frogs can suddenly become princes her work allows visual narratives to be created using magnetic characters on the wallpaper. Hours of fun for a little one!

And there was a stand featuring various South African producers including beautiful hemp bowls from Moonbasket, beaded table mats from Sithabe African Crafts, and trophy sculptures with a twist created by Head on Design.

Other Autumn exhibition products of note include Sandy A Powell’s feltwork, Authentics quirky products, Swedish textile company Linum, and funky homewares from New House Textiles.

Woop Studios were at both shows, and I think their art is such fun!! Whether you’re after works to depict a clan of meerkats, a murmuration of starlings, a bale of turtles, or whether you have another favourite collective noun for an animal, bird or even insect, there is something for you here.

Talking about trophies, how about these ingenious Trophy bicycle holders – a slightly unusual and inventive way to store your bicycle in the house.

This year’s international inspiration came from casaNOA, an Argentinian company selling beautiful Alpaca silver, fabulous cowhide rugs and wonderfully colourful textiles that will add a splash of sunshine to any scheme.

To add that ‘something distinctive’ to your home, how about these wallpapers from Mitas & Co, Jessica Hogarth Designs and akin & suri? All of them are wonderful for very different reasons!

And for the Spring exhibition there was also fabulous thread drawn illustrations by Tobyboo, fabulous tableware from reikokaneko, Denise Moloney’s playful ceramics, and characterful textured fabric from Waffle.

What is your favourite from this selection?

“In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?”
Igor Stravinsky

Image credits from respective companies.

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This time I took along my mother as she is currently staying with me, and it was wonderful to be viewing the art from a completely different perspective.

So, for this Friday I thought I’d leave you with some of my (and my mother’s) favourite pieces from the London Art Fair 2013.

1. Feast by Susie MacMurray – Gina Agnew Gallery
2. Halo I by Oliver Marsden – VIGO
3. Butterfly Owl by Nancy Fouts – Pertwee Anderson & Gold
4. 02 Lime DD by Marc Ricourt – Sarah Myerscough Fine Art
5. The Liquid Beauty of the Sky by Jack Milroy – Art First
6. Yellow Ribbon by Grace O’Connor – Paul Stolper
7. Case of Turtles by Katharine Morling – Long & Ryle
8. Cerne Abbas by John Piper – Portland Gallery
9. James Dean at the Albert Hall by Peter Blake – Paul Stolper
10. Pastoral Monument 1; Myosotis Aruensis by Helen Sear – gbs Fine Art
11. Bird Riders by Amanda Marie – Jealous Gallery
12. The Road to Thaxted by Edward Bawden – The Fine Art Society
13. Large White Bowl by Christopher Bramham – Jonathan Clark & Co
14. Solar by Ruth Waller and Lee Hewett – Byard Art
15. Bug Balls by Claire Moynihan – Byard Art
16. Preliminary Stage of: American Maincourse, Mysteries of Topramen by Stefan Hoenerloh – gbs Fine Art
17. D-Train by Richard Estes – Sims Reed Gallery
18. Woods 1 by Jim Whitty – Adam Gallery

Do any of these pieces have your name on them?

“A picture is a poem without words.”
Horace

Image credits from respective companies / artists.

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AkzoNobel, however, have picked a different colour, and their colour of the year is … Indigo. Colour forecasting is done by an international group of creative experts from design, architecture and fashion, to determine the key colour trends for the forthcoming year. These insights are then translated into various colour palettes, and it is around the dominant trend of Indigo that AkzoNobel have created their five colour trends with the theme ‘Connections’. As they state, “Modern life is all about the ‘Connections’ we make”.

These five colour trends are:

Collective Passion
This palette mostly consists of quite cool colours, and is not my favourite palette. It is spontaneous and energetic, swooping from one colour to the next. “These attention-grabbing fluro and pastel colours express energy, joy, creativity and purpose”, say AkzoNobel.

Switching Off
This colour palette is much more ‘me’! Its quiet simplicity gives you time to clear the mind and create space for new thoughts. The colours are delicate and smoky, but a mix of matt and high gloss finishes will lend it sophistication. AkzoNobel describe this as “a palette of silent colours: ethereal hues we associate with misty hazes at the edge of morning and sultry deeps that speak of still waters, starry nights and the transient hours of dusk and dawn.” Oh yes please!!

The Art of Understanding
These colours offer a bright, charming version of life, which is fun to enjoy for a while. The vintage inspired ice cream tones are paired with laid back neutrals or deep teal and brown to add that extra pizzazz.

Home Factory
Another one of my favourites, this colour palette is inspired by nature’s dyes – following our current desire for small-scale creation. The colours are simple but richly saturated with reds from beetroot and summer berries, the warm burnt oranges, bright greens and the beautiful indigo tones of denim.

Solace
This colour palette is soothing, gentle and feminine with a sense of serendipity. Delicate floral pinks and dusky mauves are combined with muted golden and bronze hues. Darker violets complete the palette and add a sultry depth.

Which colour palette would make you feel at home?

“Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.”
Oscar Wilde

Image credits: Numbered images – 1, 2, 3, 4. All other images – www.colourfutures.com.

It’s been a little quiet here on my blog with life, work, and travel getting in the way of blogging. But, before we get too far into the year I thought I’d share with you my exciting news. Whilst in Zimbabwe in October my beloved popped the question!! I have been waiting for that day for a long time, so the answer was definitely a ‘yes’ – we will be getting married in a few months’ time!

So, after a couple of busy months setting our plans into motion, we finally got around to buying an engagement ring from the lovely Lewis Malka of Joseph Sterling Jewellery, and then, during a lull between Christmas and New Year, we celebrated our engagement in style, treating ourselves to a fabulous 7 course tasting menu at Viajante.

I have long been wanting to experience this gem of a restaurant tucked away in the grand grade II listed Bethnal Green Town Hall in London’s East End, far from the glitz of the more established fine dining areas. Viajante (which means ‘traveller’ in Portuguese) opened in March 2010 and gained a Michelin star just 10 months after opening. The man behind Viajante is Portuguese-born chef Nuno Mendes, who is well known for his avant-garde style of cooking. His restaurant is one of the highlights of the London dining scene, and it was a delight!

First stop was the bar for a cocktail, before going into the restaurant. The interior of the restaurant is generally calm, with pops of colour like the beautiful wall hangings by Tzuri Gueta, and the ceilings lamps that seemed to scribe patterns across its surface.

Viajante pride themselves on doing a ‘surprise’ menu – you don’t know what you will eat until it is right in front of you. And, the Viajante journey doesn’t just travel through flavours – one is catapulted through smells, textures and new cooking concepts. The exquisite gastronomic delights are prepared in an open kitchen by a team of tweezer-wielding chefs. Some of the dishes were even delivered by Nuno himself! The meal started with a selection of canapés, ending with ‘Bread and butter’ – beautiful thin potato flutes and rustic chunks of bacon & walnut sourdough bread served with two different kinds of butter.

Then began our 7 courses:

Langoustine with buttermilk and frozen pine
Halibut with vanilla and yuba
Cod and tripe with onions, parsley and potatoes
Salsify with toasted flour and black truffle
Iberico presa with fermented squash
Wood pigeon with cep mushroom and chestnuts
Cucumber with reduced milk sorbet
Milk
Petits Fours

The ‘Milk’ pudding was one of my favourite courses – as its name suggests it was simply different preparations of milk, similar in taste to sweetened condensed milk, but with an interplay of different textures and temperatures. Sublime!

All in all a real treat!

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food. “
George Bernard Shaw

Image credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-9.

Hopefully all of us will manage to make time just to kick back and relax this Christmas, and what better way than to curl up on the sofa with a mug of something warming and a pile of magazines. Here are some of my favourite on-line home décor reads:

One of my favourites is Heart Home Magazine, which was launched just over a year ago. Founded by Arianna Trapani (Arianna Interiors), Carole King (Dear Designer’s Blog) and Daniel Nelson (Atelier Tally), this British lifestyle magazine is a quarterly publication celebrating unique interior decor and lifestyle. I love the imagery in this magazine, and eagerly await each edition.

Next up is 91 Magazine which was launched around the same time, and is also a quarterly magazine published by interiors and lifestyle brand, Patchwork Harmony. This magazine has a distinctive vintage feel to it, and features news, style tips, shopping ideas, interiors, features on craft and vintage style and proudly supports small businesses, designers and crafts people. If vintage is your thing, this is the magazine for you!

Adore Home is Australia’s first online home and lifestyle magazine, founded and created by designer Loni Parker. Adore Home’s mission is ‘to bring you beautiful homes from across the globe, tips and design advice from interior experts, as well as easy online access to the latest home treasures’, and it certainly does this.

 
Rue Magazine is produced by Chicago based Anne Sage of The City Sage and Crystal Gentilello of Plush Palate and focuses on interiors and entertaining. Rue is for everyone searching for the inspiration and resources to design their most stylish life, including interiors advice, party ideas and shopping guides from across the pond.

Designer Michelle Adams and photographer Patrick Cline are the founders of Lonny Magazine, a bimonthly magazine, launched in October 2009. The magazine’s name was formed by combining London and New York, the hometowns of its two founders.

Curio Magazine launched this month, and is a new interiors and style online quarterly. This magazine promises to feature ‘beautiful imagery, intelligent writing and interesting people’, and the first issue is packed with meaty articles and including interviews with Tara Heber‐Percy (Mr & Mrs Smith), Nicola Beauman (Persephone Books), and interiors stylist and designer Faye Toogood.

What is your favourite online magazine?

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Dr. Seuss

Image credits from respective companies.

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But, if you’re looking for some festive inspiration for yourself then, before we blink and it’s the New Year, here are some of this year’s Christmas decorations that have caught my eye.

1. Vintage mother-of-pearl flower – The White Company
2. Set of four black and red Christmas birds – Designers Guild
3. Tangled web bauble with red ribbon – Timea Sido
4. Rustic hearts bauble bundles – Nkuku

1. Festive Friends make-at-home Christmas characters – Hen & Hammock
2. Nordic Christmas tree toppers by The Contemporary Home – Not On The High Street
3. Swedish paper star pendant lamp – Ikea
4. Pop candles in glass vessels – Jonathan Adler

What festive decorations are catching your eye this year?