Decorex 2016 here we come!

On Tuesday my friend Jane Fitch, also an interior designer, and I made our annual pilgrimage to Decorex at Syon Park. Decorex is internationally renowned for being THE event to discover the very best and most coveted products from 400 exhibitors.  Decorex has been running for 39 years and this is the third year that I have been.

We were not blown away by much this year as it was very much the same exhibitors as last year. However some new blood gave a much needed injection of interest.  I've included below a few newcomers as well as some highlights.

Naomi Paul beautiful crocheted lampshades were a feature in the VIP lounge as well as on their stand. Their ethos is to create beautiful functional textile objects by highly skilled craftsmanship and they certainly have achieve this. The lampshades are simple, stylish and elegant.

Bert and May are another newcomer to Decorex. They are committed to raw materials, natural pigments and fine craftsmanship which they certainly have achieved in their products. They launched a fabric range at Decorex which were beautiful subtle colours and bold geometric designs.

Santorus is another exciting newcomer. Brother and sister, Fabian and Tara have a rich cultural heritage of Indian and Italian parents and their products certainly reflect this. I adore the patterns and colours of their fabrics and wallpapers.

Tom Raffield is a relative newcomer to Decorex.  Their beautiful wooden lighting and furniture are made in a woodland workshop in Cornwall where the company is based. 

Tom Faulkner is not a newcomer to Decorex but I am always interested in visiting their stand and seeing their exquisite handmade furniture.

No visit to Decorex would be complete without a vist to the Ochre stand. I am always in awe of their celestial pebble light!

There is always the obligatory over-the-top glitz and these Murano chandeliers by iDogi were no exception! 

This chandelier was the princely sum of 130,000 Euros!!

I always look forward to the floral displays on the exhibition stands but they were few and far between this year and very disappointing. The one that stood out for me was on the Sir John Soane Museum stand which was designed by Ben Pentreath and the magnificent display of dahlias was grown and designed by Ben's partner Charlie McCormick.  This stand stood out from all the others for its design and colour.

To finish this whistlestop tour, here are a few more shots that I took.

Charles Burnand light

Clark and Clark

Clock House Furniture

Cox London - stunning sofa

Curiousa & Curiousa beautiful pendant lights

Serip lighting

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the highlights of Decorex.  It was a long day as there were over 400 stands to see.  A few glasses of bubbly in the VIP lounge with canapes helped to keep up our energy levels!

Did you go to Decorex this year? What did you think of it and what were your favourites? I would love to hear so do drop me a note.

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Sleepover in the Cotswolds

Last Saturday early evening I headed to my friends' new house near Cirencester for a sleepover. They have built a stunning New England style home on Summer Lake which is part of the Cotswold Water Park in a beautiful rural area in the Gloucestershire countryside, with 147 gravel-quarry lakes, formed over time and enriched with diverse wildlife and natural resource. Summer Lake is the last of the lakes to be developed and there will be 45 of these luxury detached lodges. 

I arrived at 8pm as the sun was setting. The house was bathed in the early evening light and the setting sun over the lake was simply magical. One lone paddle boarder glided past in a world of his own. 

There were six of us and we ate a leisurely supper with the doors open and the evening air wafting in

Smoked salmon blinis with caviar with champagne for starters!!  Don't you love the Lalique caviar bowl with its dolphin lid and feet?

A main course of chicken breast skewers and sweet corn on the barbecue, stuffed peppers with taleggio and a potato salad

I prepared the dessert of strawberries and blueberries with fresh basil

I was in awe of this gorgeous fruit bowl carved out of a huge piece of wood

The next morning the sun shone and I could really appreciate the lake and surroundings. Some of us bird watched with binoculars, others dozed in the sunshine. The indoor/outdoor flow of the house works so well.

After rising around 10am and having a coffee & croissant breakfast we headed into Cirencester about 10 minutes away. I've never been before and found it to be the most delightful, quintessential English town with the beautiful church of John the Baptist in the centre.

The centre of Cirecenster has some fabulous architecture.  In one of the shops on the main street was a fantastic antiques market which was a rabbit warren of rooms. I could have spent hours there browsing.

We stopped for a liquid refreshment at the Kings Head hotel opposite the church. It has been beautifully but sympathetically designed inside 

We sat in the roof garden in the sunshine

The hare is a bit of an icon in Cirencester and there is a hare festival every year in the town

Very stylish leather chair or is it a sofa?!

Love this light

Down in the cellar there are some fantastic rooms for private parties.

My friends hired this room in the cellars for a private party. It was being set up for a wedding.

Then it was back to the lake house to pack and return to London. Who needs to go abroad when you could own a house on a lake like this one!!

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Headboard or Artwork in a Bedroom?

Do you have a headboard on your bed? Many of us don't. So what alternatives are there?   Mirrors, artwork, wall hangings.......... ?

In one of my bedrooms the bed has no headboard so I have added a very narrow bookcase on which are two lamps. However the wall above that was completely empty and crying out for a wow factor alternative to a headboard. 

I recently purchased a boxed set by Natural Curiosities of 14 x 14 inch square prints called 'Images for the Inquisitive - Volume 12 - Hortus Eystettensis'. They bear the authentic Latin name of an important 1613 collection of engravings of every species in the palace garden of Prince Bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria).  The box had been sitting in a cupboard and this was the perfect opportunity to have some of them framed and placed as art decor behind the bed.  I used my wonderful picture framers, Read and Booth, in Wandsworth Bridge Road, London SW6, who helped me select nine of the prints and a suitable frame (with no mount).  I planned to hang them 3 x 3 to add a real sense of drama to the room. The ceilings are very high in the room so there was plenty of space below the picture rail.  I also painted the lamp bases in Annie Sloan's 'Aubusson Blue' and bought a pair with a lovely botanical fern pattern pleated shades by Pooky Lighting. 

In the other bedroom there is a headboard but the wall above the headboard needed something on it to complement the headboard and add a wow factor.

I had forgotten all about a very old book of Pierre-Joseph Redouté rose prints that was my grandmother's. Belgian born Redouté achieved success as a painter working for the French royal court as a tutor to Marie Antoinette and later from 1798 was appointed to paint the flowers of Malmaison by Josephine Bonaparte. His famous published works include 'Les Liliacées' and 'Les Roses'. This version of 'Les Roses' was published in 1954 and I had rescued it from my grandmother's house in New Zealand when she passed away over 40 years ago!!  I had a light bulb moment and decided to create a group of framed rose prints above the bed as the colours would beautifully complement the headboard and the colours of the cushions and Kantha throw. Also, the wall colour, Farrow & Ball 'Teresa's Green' would provide the perfect colour to enhance their beauty. Once again my lovely framers, David and James from Read and Booth helped me select the eight prints from the book and a suitable frame. The frame is a reddish-brown wood which really works well with the background colour of the prints and the red/pink colours of the roses.

I hope I have inspired you to use art in a bedroom in place of a headboard or even to enhance a headboard.  I would love to see what you have done with the wall above your bed(s) so do send me pics.

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Light and colours of St Tropez

I'm currently staying with friends in north Italy and we have just returned from four days on the Cote d'Azur. We went in their camper van and camped about 30 kilometres from St Tropez at a campsite near Frejus.  It's my first ever trip to the south of France and I loved it - the light and colours in particular which are quite breathtaking.  The views, the vegetation and the colours they paint the houses - all divine.

The campsite where we stayed is on the edge of a river and a ten minute walk through a stunning nature reserve to the beach where the river widens into the sea.  My friends and I enjoy good food so we didn't slum it with the food we ate at the campsite! The local supermarket sells wonderful oysters, bread, pastries, cheeses ........ and it all tastes so much better outdoors.

The flora in the nature reserve was exquisite - some tiny delicate flowers and the huge broom bushes smothered in bright yellow flowers were quite spectacular and some were over 8 feet high.

The maritime pines are a feature of the Cote d'Azur and we saw many of them on the coastal road.

On Wednesday we took a bus into St Tropez for the day. It's impossible to take a car there let alone a camper van. It's a single lane road that winds along the coast hugging the sea through large towns and beach resorts.  In the summer the road is a nightmare and there were a couple of spots when the bus was actually unable to move due to a long line of stationary traffic so the scheduled 1 hour journey took 1.5 hours.

The population of St Tropez is only 5,000 but in the summer it increases to over 100,000 !! Lucikly it wasn't too busy when we were there, however the place was swarming with Vespas for Vespa World Days from 2-5 June in St Tropez to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Piaggio.

We had lunch in a local restaurant, Un Jour a Peyrassol, recommended by a lady in a shop who I stopped and asked, near the bus station. I'm always of the opinion that one needs to ask locals where to eat and this was an excellent recommendation. If we had eaten in one of the restaurants in or around the port it would have been double the price and probably not as good. We were the only non French people in this restaurant so that has to be a good sign! The food was very good (small menu of traditional dishes), the service friendly and efficient. We even returned there later in the day for coffee and ice-cream. We managed to sink two bottles of the beautiful blush rose wine, Chateau Peyrassol, which went down rather too well !

These calamari were to die for!

Tarte Tropezienne (local delicacy)

After lunch we wandered through the streets towards the older part of the town.  An interesting mix of hotels, luxury boutiques, food and wine shops and ice-cream parlours.

Hotel de Paris

Hotel de Paris

The gorgeous jasmin covered Auberge des Maures

More of the Auberge des Maures

House of Chanel

House of Chanel

After lunch we wandered through the narrow streets of the town which were quiet and cool after the baking sun of the port.

Then we decided the best way to see St Tropez and its surrounding area was by boat so we boarded one of the boats that takes you out for an hour and shows you the bay. The port is awash with huge "gin palaces" which look incongruous against the old buildings of the town.  Then the huge private villas around the bay which are usually accessed by helicopter to avoid the road traffic - the guide on the boat told us who some of them belonged to (if he was to be believed!).

Yacht belonging to owner of Zara

Owner of this monstrosity is the owner of Vauxhall. You can rent it for 50,000 Euros a day!!

Brigitte Bardot's house

Back on dry land we headed around the waterfront to a little beach to rest in the shade.  The houses are right on the edge of the beach so get a hammering from the waves in a storm.

We caught the 7pm bus back to the campsite and luckily it only took the scheduled hour as the traffic was fairly light.  It was a long day but a very happy one. I could quite happily return there in fact plan to do so very soon. I want to go to Antibes and I'd like to go inland to Aix en Provence. 

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Chelsea in Bloom - inspiration from spectacular floral displays

It was the Chelsea Flower Show last week and the shops in the Sloane Square and Kings Road area embrace the Show by decorating their shop fronts.  These are spectacular displays and quite inspirational in both design and colour.

I thought you would like to see a selection of the best ones.  My favourite display was Links of London. They had flowers out front as well as in store and they were spectacular.

Another stunning display was Hackett in Sloane Street which had the real wow factor in reds and oranges.

And here are some of the other displays that deserve a mention. Obviously this is only a small part of the whole Chelsea Fringe during the Flower Show and it's a bit of a whistle stop tour but I thought you would be equally inspired by the colour and style of these displays.

I'd love to hear if you have seen any of the Chelsea Fringe this year. Do share some images with me.

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Inspiration from the colours at the Isabella Plantation

It's that time of year when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in flower and what better place to see them in all their glory than the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park.  For those of you who aren't familiar with this London landmark, the Isabella Plantation is a 40 acre woodland garden set within a Victorian woodland plantation planted in the 1830s. It was first opened to the public in 1953 and it's best known for its azaleas which line the ponds and streams and are at their best in late April early May.  Given the bad weather we've had recently they are a bit behind schedule and should be at their best about next week.  The Plantation also is home to a wide variety of rhododendruns and many other rare and unusual trees and shrubs.

It's amazing how much inspiration for interior decoration you can gain from looking at nature and what better than a display of colour from acres of azaleas and rododendruns!!  Their colours are simply mind-blowing when seen in a condensed area as they are in the Plantation.

When we arrived, we immediately entered the bluebell wood which had this sea of blue beneath the canopy.  I was pleased to note that the bluebells are English bluebells and not the pesky Spanish bluebells which seem to be invading our woods.

It had rained heavily in the days leading up to our visit and also the night before so everything was heavy with rain and there was a lovely mist across the Plantation. However it was warm and the paths were not too soggy. I actually preferred to be there without direct sunlight as it's better for photography and also the azaleas and rhododendrons were only half out which made them a lot more interesting to view.

There is a huge variety of trees in the Plantation and some very beautiful trunks, especially after the rain.

Before I get to the azaleas which are obviously the star of the show, there are so many other features of the Plantation, not the least the pocket handerchief tree which my sister is totally obsessed with!!

The rhododendrons are also a feature of the plantation but had only just started to flower.

There are other interesting plants in the Plantation (I'm keeping you in suspense with the azaleas!)

And now for the star of the show, the azaleas. They were only 50% in flower but actually I preferred to see them like this than in full bloom

If you are in London in the next week or two, take the time to visit the Isabella Plantation as it really is a very special place.

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What better than a quintessential English pub

Today a friend and I headed to Surrey for an antiques sale at a private home.  We wanted to find a lovely English pub for lunch and boy, did we find a cracker of a place - The Duke of Cumberland Arms in a small hamlet called Henley in Surrey.  It was raining but that only added to the depth of colour of the countryside.

The Duke of Cumberland is a beautiful 16th century pub perched on the side of a hill with breathtaking views. From the gardens, on a fine summer’s day, it’s just possible to see Leith Hill, the highest point in Surrey. Today’s Duke still retains a lot of its original charm. Inside, there are flagstones, brick floors, wooden scrubbed tables and local ales served straight from the barrel. Outside, you will still find fresh trout in one of the many garden ponds. The pub is hidden up a hill with a handful of houses around it. It dates back to the 17th century and it is definitely the perfect English country pub. You approach it up a path where there is water cascading down the side of the path from various ponds and the recent rain only added to the volume of water but the sound of the water was like music your your ears.  On the left they have an open fire where there as an elderly gentleman sipping a beer alone and not really in the mood to engage in conversation with some random Londoner!!

The inside of the pub is old and atmospheric. There is a modern extension for the restaurant but chose to sit in the old part. The food really is excellent. I chose six raw oysters which were Irish and absolutely enormous. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven !!  A glass of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc to wash them down and then on to an oven-baked walnut & seed crusted goat’s cheese, honey & thyme roasted root vegetable, croutons, mixed leaf, mustard dressing. I much prefer to order a couple of starters rather than a large main. My friend had the fish and chips which were fantastic and so large she couldn't finish them - lovely crisp chips and very fresh haddock covered in a crisp batter!!

The gardens are absolutely beautiful and despite the rain I continued to take photos both on my Nikon DSLR and my iPhone. The photos below speak for themselves

There really is nothing better in this world than a quintessential English pub.  I'll challenge anyone to find something better !!

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Messing about on the river in Richmond

Hi All, London is experiencing some unseasonably hot weather after a month of cold miserable days. The least two days have been around 23C and today it is supposed to reach 26 degrees!  

Yesterday I met a friend, her four year old daughter and her mother-in-law and we headed for Richmond on the train. Armed with my trusted Nikon D5500 I waited for my friends at Balham station.

 While I was waiting for them, I saw this guy on a motorcycle - he had made a hole in the top of the storage box on the back of his bike for his dog!!

We strolled around the shops initially, especially the charity shops as we adore a bargain!  We bought picnic food in Marks & Spencer and headed for the river and sat on the grass eating our lunch and watching the world go by.   The place was a hive of activity - the man on the bridge painting the river, people in all sorts of boats doing all sorts of activities and people like us just chilling out on the river bank.  Londoners always maximise the sunny days as we don't get many of them and everyone always looks so happy when the sun shines.

Check out the sign on this pub which is by the river.  The Thames is very tidal and spring tides can bring the water level up and over the path to the terraces of some of the pubs. In fact yesterday and today are spring tides - the water was rising fast as we left but we didn't see the flooding which was after 4pm

Now which glasses do I need?!

A trip on the river is a must and if Jane and I had been on our own we would have hired a rowing boat. But a more sedate trip was in order so we took a round trip to Teddington Lock and back.  As you can see from the images below, there was a lot of activity on the river - a boat with a wedding party, rowing boats hired out to people having fun but with not much of a grasp on rowing techniques (!), the Richmond yacht club's lesson of novice yachtsmen (watch out for these as they are unpredictable!) and on the way back we passed four barges heading up towards Oxford.  It was going to be a very high spring tide yesterday and today where the water covers the tow path and even reaches as far as people's gardens and some of the pub courtyards!

In Richmond you are never far from the flight path to Heathrow

 I love London and when the weather is lovely I can't imagine a better place to live.

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