sharland and lewis home

we are delighted to announce our friends at sharland and Lewis in Tetbury are opening their new lifestyle home store in Nailsworth today.
the shop is in the old days mill building right in the centre of town (opposite the post office and raffles wine).
Co owner Libs, has a great eye for antiques, but not in a precious way, she chooses pieces which would work well in any home. She has added some new wares in to the mix, and the store looks set to be a roaring success. When i went in to take some photos i was reminded of Baileys of old, when they used to be in the engine shed in Ross.  where i think that Libs and Ali have the edge is that have a great eye for colour as well.
if you can't get to the shop they have a website here and they are both great at sourcing specific pieces for clients.

duck egg and red in a bedroom

i am working with a lovely lady on a bedroom project this week.
there were a few key pieces to fit into the bedroom scheme, such as a beautiful red chair and contemporary dressing table, and the lady loves duck egg. so i have had a search for a little duck egg and red inspiration.

 first there are some colour boards created by some clever users of flickr.
i really love looking at peoples colour boards. sometimes when i am doing custom colour ways for clients i like to have a bit of affirmation that i am not going off in a mad colour combination direction.
i think a little chocolate brown added to the duck and red combination could work, and definitely some of white.

and now some room ideas using our duck egg, raspberry and cream.

we start off with a more muted  idea , with duck and cream as the main colours, dark wood for the bed and red highlights. we have got solid red here for the lamps and a cushion, and then some red and cream , and plain curtains. i love the chinoiserie style quilt in here, overall a gentle and calm room.

 Gin keeping with a more gentle palatte,  above we have very soft duck egg walls and lots of cream and off white, with highlights of stronger duck/teal on bolsters and cushions. i think with the addition of a couple of red and cream cushions in here, the red dressing table and chair would sit happily in this room.

 duck with a tiny touch of red.

 and now moving into a bolder more rock and roll version of the palatte!
i love the combination of the strong teal above with the funky scarlet toile curtains - a modern take on a classic design. the room is lightened by off white bed and the wonderful chinoiserie mural behind.

again stronger colours balanced by off white.

 this room has a feeling of relaxed glamour. no red but you could easily accent a room that is mainly duck and cream with a few touches of red.

another take on toile in a contemporary setting.
what are your favourite colour combinations of the moment?
images from the following sources (if i have posted your image without crediting you please contact me and i will put that right, i found some of the images via google and they had no link)
simplifiedbee
the lenoxx
emily gilmore design
flickr
freehouse interior design
house in to home
karentusinski on etsy
interior design it your self
orangina dreams
studio ten25

visually beautiful

caught  

both sania pell and veronica from few things from my life have featured this cafe in zagreb called velvet

i love the scabbily chalkboard illustrations and, really really love the idea of revering that for a wall decoration and using a scratchy black charcoal pencil on white - it would be stunning on a feature wall.

golden room

over the last few weeks i have had the pleasure of working with a lovely family on a custom colour project.
we have been trying to create a calm soft golden version of chinoiserie chalk.
so i have perused some favourite haunts looking for interesting images.

i think most of the images are from the enchanted home blog and some from the very beautiful paper mulberry blog , enjoy x

putting up pictures

nice things come from sad things, something that makes mr h smile each day is a picture he inherited from his parents house, and after much humming and haaing we have had an art move around. we are lucky to have collected a lot of original paintings over the years, nothing valuable, just beautiful things from favourite artists. however hanging things is often a problem, family photos and paintings don't always sit happily together. so here is some inspiration form  people who manage it effortlessly!!
all images via the lovely blog a few things from my life.

what are you making?

a few weeks ago over on lobster and swan Jeska did a post on making a pinboard - well the post was inspired by pinks (its a lovely post as always from lobster and swan) anyway she asked the question 'what are you making? i have to say i seem to have a whole host of started but not finished projects on the go - which is making the studio mighty messy and somewhat uninviting! i did however finish this for a special little friends birthday.

here is a little detail, i used a plain canvas, and then a bit of paper collage using some vintage paper - old books painted with watercolour and some old maps, and then stamped the old saying on.

i love giving handmade and homemade gifts, but it is always a dilemma, as some people thing they are they cheap option, when really they are not because the time and thought that goes in to creating them is more costly than dashing out and buying something, what are your thoughts on giving or receiving a home made gift?

french style

hello lovely people, long time no speak.........
too much has happened since i last appeared here, a lot of sadness and much upheaval, however here we are coming out the other side, still intact, and ready to start again!
we inherited some treasured pieces of furniture over the summer, and it has sparked in us a new vigour for finally sorting out our house. That combined with a brief trip to france in the holidays (more of that later),
has made me come over all brocante style! 

Jo and i have always had a fondness for Baileys in Ross, however when i happened upon the divine website www.adeodata.com via the hoard  (more from the hoarde later) I was totally hooked.

the website is truely visually beautiful and i would happily have anything from there in my house........if only there were room.............

where have you been to my lovely?

Seven weeks ago the Pope family set off on holiday and gave the builders the keys to our house. The brief was to knock down a wall to make a large (ish) kitchen diner and it was thought it would take 2 weeks. Knowing that builders never get it quite right I organised 4 weeks accommodation with friends and family thinking that would be plenty.

The phone was quiet whilst in France so we assumed no news was good news. Oh, how niave of us! Our thoughtful builder thought he'd wait till we were home to break the bad news: the old lath and plaster ceilings needed replacing - upstairs and down, this in turn revealed hugely dodgy electrics and some not too impressive plumbing, the very beginnings of dry rot and a bad damp course treatment. In fact this has turned into a complete refurbishment project, thank goodness we only live in a 2-up-2-down.

That is why I've been so quiet. Living out of suitcases, with no internet and only an ancient pay-as-you-go mobile is not conducive to leading a normal life, and certainly makes it impossible to a) be creative and b) write a blog. This is also the reason we have been unable to coordinate our Autumn workshop programme, but do not fear, we do intend to get ourselves back into action for the New Year. Meanwhile I'm heading into the fun part of all this work - decorating and making our home a home again.