Top tips for buying & arranging flowers for your home

Hi everyone. Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently; I’ve been manically busy with client work.  Can’t complain, quite the contrary but something has to give and it’s usually my blog.  I am continually asked by friends and clients to write a blog post about how to arrange flowers in the home so here goes.

There are so many places to buy flowers – florists, markets, outdoor stalls, petrol station forecourts, local shops etc – but it’s the supermarkets that have usurped most of these outlets. How many of you are regularly tempted to buy flowers when you are in your local supermarket? I for one am guilty of it – the flowers are so reasonably priced and always fresh so it’s hard to resist the temptation. However the selection is limited and there are always so many awful mixed bunches of flowers (even worse in petrol station forecourts) where they mix one of every colour and every variety.  Avoid these like the plague and NEVER give them as gifts to someone who loves flowers!

But what do you do with the flowers when you get them home?  So many people just jam a bunch into a vase with some water and hope for the best.  No wonder they never look good and don’t last as long as they should.

Here are my top tips for flowers in the home:

1. Best shaped containers have a narrower opening than the base - try to buy containers like this as they allow the flowers to fan out better. However for flowers like daffodils, narcissi and tulips a straight sided container works well as it will emulate how they grow, straight!

2. Monotones work best – buy flowers that are one colour as monotones create the most impact. Of course there are exceptions to this rule - mixed colours of the SAME flower, for example, tulips are rather lovely in mixed colours though I still prefer them in monotones or two colours (as you can see in the images below). 

3. Prepare your flowers well before putting in a vase - strip off a lot of the foliage on the stems so that it isn't sitting in the water getting smelly!  Also, the foliage takes nutrients so if there is less the flower will have a better chance of survival.  With roses, remove any thorns as they also take nutrients.  Always cut the stems on a diagonal and with any woody stems (stock, hydrangeas, blossom, pussy willow or any other hard stemmed flowers or greenery) cut a slit vertically up the stem as well, about half an inch (see image below).

4. Don't waste anything - when stripping the stems of foliage there are often offshoots. Don't throw these away, put them in little vintage bottles on a window ledge or a small vase. I waste nothing!  Freesias and hyacinths are classic examples where they have a lot of offshoots that look like they will never flower but usually they will.

5. Keep the vase clear of water marks - I add a drop of bleach to the water AFTER I've filled the vase (if you do it before you add the water it will create a lot of froth) and this stops the water smelling and any water marks on the vase (crucial with glass containers). I also add a sachet of flower food.

6. Keep it simple! - Don't always feel you have to add foliage to flowers that have their own foliage as it just detracts from their beauty.  Less is definitely more! Flowers should look as if they are growing especially spring flowers like tulips and daffodils. You would never see Eucalpytus growing in the middle of a clump of daffodils! Same with roses, they have beautiful leaves so don't add anything else.

7. Try and buy flowers that have their own foliage -  They look so much more natural in a vase with their own foliage. I'm particularly fond of spring flowers and dahlias with their own foliage.  Unfortunately most of the retailers sell them without leaves but I've managed to find them in my local florist and local market stall.

8. Use flowers to style a room - flowers are a great way to add colour to a room but don't forget they can also add texture, height, scent and of course to create a focal point.  Here are some examples of how I've used flowers in my home this week:

Here you can see vases of tulips and blossom in the sunlit sitting room.  It's like bringing the outside in !

The pussy willow adds drama, texture and height to the mantlepiece

I just had to capture this gorgeous blue anenome in this little blue vintage jug bathed in winter sunlight. 

This vintage preserving jar of boughs of white blossom adds texture and a focal point. The blossom is nearly over but the green shoots are appearing so I'll leave it for another month.

This is a little vintage jug of anemones enhanced with off-shoots from long stems of wax flowers and Ericas that I bought to fill some vintage bottles

9. Do it on a budget - it doesn't have to cost you a lot of money to style your home with plants and flowers. If you buy carefully and look after your flowers you can create multiple containers of beautiful flowers, some large and some very small, that will last you several weeks (or even longer).  Here are some that I have in my home currently, both inside and outside.

I hope these tips will help you to enjoy buying flowers for your home.  If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm always happy to help!

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Look at the outdoors to inspire your interior style

Hi everyone. We've had the most amazing few days in London rather like in the Nordics - freezing temperatures, clear blue skies, no wind and the most incredible sunrises and sunsets.  It's been such a mild winter until recently so a proper cold spell was long overdue.  However it only lasted until yesterday and today it rained and the temperatures rose to a balmy 11 degrees Celsius!

I took full advantage of the glorious sunny days being out and about with my Nikon D5500 DSLR camera. I'm still a total novice with it but it's less intimidating now and I'm actually starting to enjoy using it.  It is my first ever DSLR camera hence the trepidation.   But the photos you take on a DSLR (and NOT on auto setting I stress!) are fantastic compared to a compact camera aka point-and-shoot.

On Tuesday I'm sitting at my kitchen table working away when I suddenly felt the urge to be out in the sunshine taking photos so I donned layer after layer of warm gear (I ride a little Vespa moped so keeping warm is always a challenge) and headed to the Chelsea Physic Garden as it's snowdrop week there.  I am a member of this wonderful little garden which is older than Kew Gardens. It is a walled garden in the heart of Chelsea, founded in 1673 by the Worshipful  Society of Apothecaries for its apprentices to study the medicinal qualities of plants. It became one of the most important centres of botany and plant exchange in the world. It really is an oasis in the heart of Chelsea, flanked by the Embankment (constant traffic) and Royal Hospital Road which is quite a busy road, but you are hardly aware of the traffic once you are inside the walls of the garden.

I spent two hours wandering around photographing the plants.  It's winter so you wouldn't expect to see much in flower.  However, there were spring bulbs in flower and two of my favourite plants in full bloom and creating both a visual and sensual impact - Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) and Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill'. 

I always use the outdoors to inspire my interior design and styling.  Here are a few tips to help get you started:

1. Look at the way the colours of flowers work together in gardens. For example, you may not dream of using purple & orange or pink & orange in a colour scheme but they work brilliantly outdoors.  If you are afraid of colour, do some "interior gardening" and bring indoors plants and flowers in bright colours (even clashing colours). This is an inexpensive way of introducing colour and if you can't cope with the colour you can just remove it!!

2. Look at the textures and layering in a garden as these add so much interest.  Most people never think of this when styling their homes so everything is very one-dimensional.  Stimulate the sensesby aiming for at least three different textures - introduce these with cushions, throws, rugs, lighting etc. For example, glass, wool and velvet - a chandelier, a sheepskin rug and velvet cushions - and voila, you have textures and layering.

3. Never stop looking at the outdoors and visually framing scenes as if they were rooms.  This can really help when you are trying to decide how to style a room. For example, different heights are really important - try using floor lamps, tall vases of flowers or plants on a mantelpiece and compilations of artwork and furniture of different heights. 

4. And don't forget weights of colour. We are environmentally conditioned to think that darker colours should go lower down, something to do with the earth beneath our feet and the lightness of the sky and air above. so we are subconsciously emulating the outdoors with which we are both familiar and comfortable. However, it doesn't have to be the rule of thumb and there are a lot of people bucking the trend and painting walls & ceilings in dark colours and having a lighter coloured flooring.  Either way, remember to mix up the shades of colour.

Enough said, and now I want to share with you some of the photos I took at the Chelsea Physic Garden, the best of them. It's a visual feast of colours and textures and hopefully will stimulate you to look at your interiors differently. Please note that these photos are all unfiltered, not Photoshopped, exactly as I took them on my Nikon.

Frozen Pond

Frost on leaves

Frozen lily pond

Dried Artichokes

Wintersweet reaching for the sky

Heavenly scent

Wintersweet

Icy paving stones

Daphne bush

Daphne

Heavenly scent

Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill'

Absolutely spectacular and you should have smelt the heady scent

Just look at the mass of flowers on the Daphne bholua

Native fern from my country (NZ)

Native fern of NZ

Mimosa (wattle to us Antipodeans!)

This was a plant for sale. Mimosa isn't in flower currently but I had to photograph it as it reminded me of home. We never brought it inside when I was growing up as it was supposed to bring bad luck!

Kowhai (New Zealand native)

This was a plant for sale. There is a huge Kowhai tree in the gardens but it's not the time of year to flower. I had to photograph this plant as it reminded me so much of home

Friendly robins everywhere

Icy pond

Resident cat - great tail light!

Dusk in the garden

Beautiful houses overlooking the garden

Beautiful houses overlooking the garden

Battersea Bridge at dusk

I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos and that they have inspired your interior styling.  If you are London based and would like some help/advice, give me a call. I offer an initial free consultation and then I charge by the hour so you can use me as little or as much as you wish.

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What sort of relationship do you have with social media?

Hi everyone. I have the urge to communicate my thoughts about this whole social media malarkey.  I can't imagine I'm alone in my opinions about it so here goes. 

I appreciate that social media is crucial, even critical, to businesses especially fledgling businesses like mine.  I started my company, Angela Bunt Creative, in November 2014 as an interior decorator after working for 15 years in the financial services. As an employee of a large financial company, I dabbled in Facebook and Pinterest purely for fun and it was actually quite pleasurable to communicate spontaneously with family & friends on Facebook and to save images of things I liked into aptly named boards on Pinterest purely for the hell of it.   I didn't do Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or any of the other channels.

But that was to change once I started my own business.  The worst thing is that all the pleasure of using social media evaporated and it suddenly became a necessity, a chore, at times bordering on an obsession (sometimes I'm on social media in the middle of the night if I can't sleep!).  Don't get me wrong, I totally get why social media is so important to businesses but boy does it take the fun out of so much that we do spontaneously.  For example, once I signed up to Instagram I found myself wanting to photograph every meal that I ate in a restaurant or cooked at home, every nature scene, urban scene, cute baby/child/animal, water, buildings, nature and on and on.  It is ridiculous, you can't look at anything without thinking "Ah ha, that would make a great photo on Instagram and might bring me new followers!".   And Pinterest, well I use it for my clients and it's great - I set up a board (protected so that only the client and I have access) and we can share images which saves time and ultimately saves the client money.  But filling up boards with photos just for the hell of it or to get followers and/or likes is crazy.    And Twitter,  I love this form of social media but I'm so rubbish at it and I find it really difficult to learn how to be clever, humorous and concise. It's like a whole lingo that you have to learn.  I speak and write fluent Italian plus basic French and Spanish but Twitter, well I'm exhausted just thinking about how to learn the lingo!!

Social media is all about manipulating it in your favour to gain recognition and ultimately, hopefully, business or at a minimum, kudos.  At worst it's a way to be worshipped and adored which a lot of people crave or need.  But the majority of us just want to be normal people where we can be ourselves.  I've learned a harsh lesson since I started my own business i.e. you can't be spontaneous and not always yourself as you are constantly thinking what you can do to promote yourself.  I love my blog, Flair Fairy, as it's the one place in all of the social media channels that I use where I feel I can truly be myself. If I want to post a recipe of something I've just cooked then I do just that; if I feel the need to recharge my batteries by spending a few hours at Petersham Nurseries savouring the surroundings and food, photographing the beautiful styling in their glasshouses and then sharing that with you on my blog, I do it;  or just posting something spontaneously that is dear to my heart or about which I'm passionate I feel I can do so. Unfortunately it is never the same on social media channels as there's always an ulterior motive.  

Being successful on social media is all about your USP (Unique Selling Point).  You need to come up with a USP that (hopefully) "goes viral" as they say.  Here's a great story, I have a roofer who has been fixing my roof for 20 years. I discovered last weekend that he is passionate about reggae and 18 months ago his daughter started posting 15 second videos on Instagram of him singing along to Reggae tracks.  He now has 16,700 followers on Instagram and over 14,000 on Facebook!! How crazy is that?!!  Check him out OriginalPapaCrook.  He's a normal, regular guy who fixes people's roofs; he's passionate about his family, is really humble and shy and has this magical ability to sing and dance reggae. He has more followers on Instagram than Maxi Priest!!!!!!  So here's a guy that has a defined USP i.e. reggae, and the proof is in the number of followers he has on social media. I told him to ditch roofing and make a career of his music. I hope he succeeds as he's fantastic. Check him out.

As those of you who know me, by nature I'm very spontaneous. I'm passionate about a lot of things having been a national level competitive swimmer,  a semi-professional cellist, a professional florist, a data integrity specialist (in the financial services). Pardon the pun but I have a lot of strings to my bow. Also, I continue to be a passionate cook, a health freak, working out at the gym, doing Pilates and I've always been crazy about style (fashion and interiors), colour and most of all nature. I'm a totally visual person which is why I love photography so much and having recently purchased my first ever DSLR camera (a Nikon D5500) I find myself framing photos in my head purely to be able to take the perfect photo and not so that I can publish it on social media.  But of course I do publish some of my photos on social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) because a) I want to share them with people (that's my spontaneous side) and b) because it's expected of me as a user of social media. 

Then I trained as an interior designer and started my own business, Angela Bunt Creative and everything changed.  Don't get me wrong, I love my new career and feel that finally I'm doing what I truly love, being creative and helping people to transform their homes into spaces they can be proud of.  I cannot avoid bringing the outside in so I always encourage my clients to style their rooms with flowers and/or plants. Sorry I'm getting sidetracked. What I wanted to say is that I'm struggling with this whole USP thingy. I don't consider myself to be a one-trick pony so I therefore struggle to create a USP.  My motto is "you can't take the florist out of the girl".  I haven't worked full-time as a florist since the early 80s (apart from helping out occasionally at my local florist, Jayne Copperwaite Flowers, when she's really busy.  However I find that I cannot live without flowers in my home, I cannot resist clicking "like" to lovely photos of flowers and plants on Instagram or Pinterest, I cannot help myself from photographing beautiful flowers, plants or nature scenes and most of all I always style rooms for clients with flowers and plants.  I'm all about colour. Maybe that should be my USP? Or should it be flowers, styling with flowers?  I just don't know. What do you think?  I would be really grateful for your feedback. Do you identify with any of what I state above? Am I showing my age by ranting about social media?!

Unusually this blog post is bereft of beautiful images; it's all about the words this time! I look forward to your feedback so PLEASE comment.

Cardamom, pistachio & marmalade drizzle loaf

Hi everyone. It's ages since I posted a recipe and that's because I've been so lazy with trying new recipes in the last six months.  However today I decided it was time to bake a cake and use a recipe that I've been wanting to try for ages because the ingredients really appealed to me - pistachios (my fave!), cardamom (another fave!) and marmalade.  And of course the drizzle on the top I can never resist.

It's a BBC Good Food recipe and here it is. I highly recommend you make it as one of the most appealing things about it is that you throw everything in a bowl and mix it up.  I can't be doing with those recipes that state you must cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and then the dry ingredients. With our busy lives and fast pace of life there's no time for that!!

Cardamom, pistachio & marmalade drizzle loaf

Serves 10 -12; prep time 10 minutes (yeah!!); Cook 1hr - 1hr 15min

Ingredients

Seeds from 8 cardamom pods

200g shelled pistachios

150g soft butter, in pieces plus extra for greasing

125g golden caster suga

3 large eggs

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp. of your favourite marmalade (I used my LA sister's as she makes the best)

2 tsp orange blossom water

FOR THE DRIZZLE

2 tbsp. marmalade (see above)

Juice of one lemon

50g caster sugar

1 tsp orange flower water

1. Heat over to 170C/150C fan/gas 3 and prepare a 19 x 7cm loaf tin - butter the inside and line the base with non-stick baking paper, or use a non-stick loaf liner

2. Crush the cardamom seeds in a pestle & mortar. Whizz half the pistachios in a processor or blender until very finely chopped.

3. Using an electric hand whisk (or an electric mixer), beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, marmalade, orange blossom water, crushed cardamom seeds, chopped pistachios and a pinch of salt in a bowl until combined. Roughly chop the rest of the pistachios and stir them into the cake mix.

4. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1hr to 1hr 15mins, covering the top of the loaf with foil halfway through to prevent it over-browning.

5. For the drizzle, gently heat the marmalade, then combine with the other ingredients in a bowl and spoon on top of the warm loaf. Leave to cool in the tin then remove from the tin, cut into slices and eat it !!

Make your New Year's Resolutions enjoyable!

Happy New Year everyone. As you may have noticed, I took a couple of weeks' break from blog posting over the festive period.  This was due a busy social calendar and also I was helping my older son pack up his life in London and move to Sydney to live, where my other son has been living for over two years.  It's a weird feeling to have one's children all living on the other side of the world; now I know how my parents in New Zealand felt with all three of their children living 12,000 miles away. However technology has moved on from when we left home and communication was restricted to letters, faxes and (land line) phone calls. With Skype, Facetime and free calls via tools like Whatsapp and Viber, the distance feels much smaller especially when you can see your children on your phone or computer.  Hey ho, at least I have a good reason to visit Sydney regularly!

I'm sure many of you have made serious lists of new year's resolutions.  There are all the usual things that people have on their list of new year's resolutions, the self-flagellation things like no alcohol for January, joining a gym, losing weight, not spending any money and so on.  I'm of the opinion that our new year's resolutions should be about doing things we enjoy especially creative things, stretching ourselves by getting out of our comfort zones.  For example, I'm going to learn how to dance salsa even though I'm a lousy dancer.  I know I'll enjoy it even if I don't master all those sexy hip movements!!

Below are five suggestions for some new year's resolutions that are both enjoyable and creative and will also develop you by making you push the boundaries:

1. Learn how to paint furniture - up-cycle your own items, those already in your home or ones you find at junk shops, markets or auctions. Find your nearest Annie Sloan stockist and sign up to an Annie Sloan Workshop to learn how to paint furniture with confidence and to achieve a professional finish.  I did the workshop three years ago at Phoenix on Golborne which is a fabulous shop and one of my regular haunts. I love the fact that you just slap on the paint - no sanding or undercoating - and eureka, you have transformed a piece of furniture!  You can paint any surface including silver, ceramic, wood, metal, walls etc. The day after I did the workshop I was so inspired I painted my mahogany sideboard which I had actually planned to get rid of.  I started with a coat of Aubusson Blue (my favourite colour) and then a coat of Florence - I adore both of these colours.  Then distressed it with a coat of clear wax, then dark wax and finally another coat of clear wax. It was so much fun transforming the sideboard and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling when friends and family paid me a lot of compliments!!  At the end of this blog you will find links to other items I've painted. Please sign up to an Annie Sloan workshop; you won't regret it.

Before

After

2.  Transform a room in your home with a strong colour - most people are terrified of colour and stick to decorating rooms with neutrals.  If you are one of these people, be brave and have some fun - transform a downstairs loo or walk in pantry or cupboard in a bold, strong paint colour or fabulous extravagant wallpaper. Loos are great places to have real fun with decorating.  Here are a couple of ideas: Farrow and Ball 'Stiffkey Blue' is a stunning darkish blue paint and looks stunning on walls.  You can also paint the ceiling and skirtings in the same colour or contrast these with white to complement the white loo and basin.  Or paper the walls with one of the divine Cole and Son Fornasetti II Acquario wallpapers (several colourways though I'm partial to the black background one).  Both these ideas can be seen in the two images below. 

3.  Take classes in something fun and creative - I've signed up salsa classes!  I'm no dancer and I know this is right out of my comfort zone but I am sure it will be really enjoyable (eeek!!).  I'm also going to learn how to play bridge. I've always thought bridge was for the "oldies" as I associated it with my grandma and mother but I'm constantly being proved wrong; it seems to be quite trendy these days and it is great for the brain!

4. Buy more flowers and plants for the home - I bang on about having flowers in the home in many of my blog posts (it's the florist in me!).  Flowers & plants are not only beautiful but they can be therapeutic to have around as they always make you feel happy.  I have them in most rooms and often they actually make me smile when I enter a room and see a vase of beautiful blooms.  They are also a great way to introduce colour into a neutral colour scheme. Be brave, be bold - buy purple and orange tulips and put them in the same vase as I love to do (my two favourite colours); pink and orange roses in the same vase; an orchid plant in the bathroom.  Just three suggestions. I'm not a huge fan of green plants but I do love flowering spring plants like hyacinths and daffodils so buy some of these when they are in season and put them in pretty pots around the house.

5. Be kind to yourself - Have a regular beauty treatment - I have found a local spa that offers a half hour back & neck massage for only £20 and the girl who does the treatment is absolutely superb.  I feel totally "filleted" after the massage and they always encourage me to chill out afterwards on their reclining sofas with a herbal tea for a half hour.  I struggle to get up after that and go home!!  I cannot stress enough how important it is to treat yourself - a manicure, pedicure, massage or other (just not a waxing as that's self-flaggation in my book !!!!!).

I hope you will consider some or all of the above five suggestions for your new year's resolutions.  Just remember to love yourself and you deserve to enjoy life a bit more. So less of the self-flaggation and more of the above tips!!

I'd love to hear of any resolutions that you have on your list that involve enjoyment and creativity as well as pushing you out of your comfort zone.

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Follow me, I'm a guest blogger for Real Homes magazine!

A month ago Real Homes magazine kindly invited me to be one of their guest bloggers and write a monthly blog post.  I adore this magazine as it really is about real homes that readers can relate to and aspire to.

My first blog post was published on 11 December entitled 'Making the most of a Victorian sitting room' about my recent sitting room revamp. I shall be continuing in the new year with further blog posts about this revamp. 

In the meantime, on 21 December, they published my latest blog post entitled 'How to create a woodland-inspired Christmas theme' in my home.

I hope you will take the time to read my two blog posts and share them through the various social media channels. Also, have a look at the Real Homes website; there are lots of great articles and plenty of advice for homeowners. 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and happy and healthy 2016.

Tips for decorating your home at Christmas

Christmas is only three days away!  If you haven't finished decorating your home here are some tips on preparing your home for the festive season:

1. Start the festive feel outside the front door with a Christmas wreath on the door. It's all about curb appeal!  This is a lovely welcome to anyone coming to visit.  Last year I decided to have a different sort of wreath so I bought a dried hydrangea one (see image below). This year I opted for a more traditional wreath made from fresh Norwegian spruce and decorated with real cones, dried oranges and apples to which I added some cinnamon sticks which exude a heady scent of spice.

2. Ensure you continue the Christmassy feel with a ta-dah moment once you enter the front door. I chose to do this with red Amaryllis in a tall vase and coloured lights (battery powered). 

3. Use fresh flowers and greenery in abundance.  I have a huge vintage preserving jar of holly in my hall and a large vase of scented Longi lilies in the sitting room and another in the kitchen. Don't forget poinsettias as they always create a splash of colour if you group them together. I prefer the white ones so have a couple of tiny plants which just one flower on each! 

4. You always need a pièce de résistance, a large Christmas tree. My preference is for a real tree but there's nothing wrong with an artificial one.  It needs to be placed where its beauty is maximised and can be seen from various angles and ideally reflected in a mirror.  As children we looked up at the tree so I ensure that my two sons can always look up at the tree so it needs to be taller than them - we're up to a seven and a half foot tree now!  I tend to decorate my tree in two colours rather than multi-coloured. This year it is silver and glass with pops of purple.

Decoration from The White Company

Purple cone from Designers Guild

I bought five of these beautiful sparkly stars from Petersham Nurseries this year. 

This vintage decoration is from local shop Quirky Dovetail

Another beautiful glass bauble from The White Company

5. If you have children around over Christmas make sure there are decorations that can be appreciated by children. I have a little faux tree from The White Company that I place on a table in the hall and all the decorations are geared to children.  I also have five little straw angels with musical instruments that I bought in a Christmas market in Bratislava that children love.

My snowy owl is from Jayne Copperwaite Flowers, my local florist. I have another one on the main Christmas tree.  I love the expression on his face!

This comical little felt bird is a new addition on this tree from Petersham Nurseries

I bought this rooster at Daylesford

Little felt robin from Daylesford

Petersham Nurseries

Another cute decoration from Petersham Nurseries

Little straw angel musicians from the Christmas market in Bratislava

5. Continue the festive theme by decorating your mantle pieces, stair rails, mirrors and other available surfaces.  I bought a lovely metal tree with glass tea light holders from Petersham Nurseries which I placed on my mantelpiece with sprigs of fresh spruce at its base.

These stems of faux leaves and pearls are from William Yeoward

The little metal tree with glass tea light holder that I bought this year in Petersham Nurseries

I'd love to hear how you decorate your home for Christmas so do send me some comments.  May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

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Find inspiration for Christmas at Petersham Nurseries

Hi everyone. I guess you are all frantically preparing for Christmas - decorating your homes and trying to decide what gifts to buy and what food you will eat.  I got off to a late start this year so on Friday I decided I needed some inspiration. So I headed to my favourite mecca for inspiration and soul soothing, Petersham Nurseries.  For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, I'm a sucker for Petersham and I've done quite a few blog posts on it. They are usually highly visual posts i.e. few words and loads of images, because Petersham is all about visual stimulation.  I therefore have decided that what you all need is few words and loads of gorgeous photos to feast your eyes on.  Hopefully they will inspire you on how to decorate your homes and your Christmas trees and also what gifts to buy. If you are lucky enough to live in London or the surrounding area, jump in the car and head over to Petersham.  Take a tray of coffee and cake into one of the glasshouses or a tray of lunch depending when you arrive.  Here's my coffee and delicious apple cake. Don't you just love these vintage painted distressed metal tables & chairs?

I took my new Nikon DSLR camera this time and spent three hours practising my photographic skills. I hope you are impressed with some of them; I'm very much a beginner but I'm really enjoying the learning curve!

I hope you enjoyed that.  Now it's back to the grind of lists and shopping. Bring on the festivities! 

I'd love to get some feedback from you about how you prepare your homes for Christmas so please write to me and I promise to respond!

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Inspiring locals with my 'Colour in the Home' talk

Hi Everyone, I guess you are in the throws of starting to decorate your homes for Christmas and furiously buying presents. It's a lovely time of year; I love all that anticipation. 

Last week I gave a talk on 'Colour in the Home' at the local interiors shop where I work two days a week, Quirky Dovetail.   This is a lovely local interiors shop where I've been working (running the shop) part-time for the last three years.  We specialise in up-cycling old furniture and painting it in Farrow and Ball neutral paint colours as well as selling antique and vintage items and homewares.  The event at which I spoke was our annual Christmas shopping evening which is always well attended by regular clients, new clients and friends.  Given that I am an interior decorator and colour consultations are a crucial part of my services, and also I'm absolutely passionate about colour, I decided to give a half hour talk on how to use colour in the home.  The majority of our clients are afraid of colour so I wanted to show them how they could inject some colour into a neutral colour scheme.  Grey is definitely the trend currently and many people paint rooms grey, add grey flooring and furniture but then wonder why the room looks bland and insipid.  I hope I inspired them enough to introduce some colour; the feedback after my talk certainly gave that impression!

Given that Quirky Dovetail paint furniture in Farrow and Ball paint, I used the six Farrow and Ball neutral families as the basis for my talk.  There are so many colour brands and each paint chart has way too many colours but I like the fact that Farrow and Ball have created these six neutral families to make our lives easier when selecting a colour scheme. And Farrow and Ball paint is particularly lovely with such high levels of pigment and such depth of colour.

I know the word 'neutral' can sound really dully and boring, even a bit of a cop-out to some of you, however neutrals are easy to live with, elegant and un-demanding if they are used correctly.  It's all about how you put the neutral shades together as to whether the effect is sophisticated or insipid.

I prepared a board for each of the Farrow and Ball neutral families and I included some accent colours and also a couple of fabrics to create a sort of mood board so that the audience could imagine how these could work in a room.

For those of you are not familiar with the Farrow and Ball neutral families, they are:

Traditional Neutrals - Soft grey-green tones, sophisticated - Lime White, Old White, Slipper Satin, Off White. Suggested accents: Light Gray, Mouse's Back, Pigeon

Yellow-based Neutrals - Creamy undertones, prettiest group, country feel - White Tie, New White, String, Matchstick. Suggested accents: Cord, Cat's Paw, Tanner's Brown, Mouse's Back or for a country scheme try Cooking Apple Green, Cook's Blue and Rectory Red

Red-based Neutrals - Red undertones, warmest group - Pointing, Dimity, Joa's White, Oxford Stone. Suggested accents: London Stone, London Clay, Eating Room Red

Contemporary Neutrals - Lilac undertones, appear grey, add edge but retain warmth - Wimborne White, Strong White, Skimming Stone, Elephant's Breath. Suggested accents: Dovetail, Charleston Gray, Pelt

Easy Greys - Neither too warm nor too cool, delicate gauzy appearance - Wevet, Ammonite, Cornforth White, Purbeck Stone. Suggested accents: Mole's Breath, Railings, Stiffkey Blue

Architectural Cool - Cool with blue undertones, have architectural edge - Blackened, Dimpse, Pavilion Gray, Plummett Suggested accents: Down Pipe, Railings, Stiffkey Blue

Here are my boards of the six neutral families and accents:

I also created some separate colour schemes on smaller boards again with a complementing fabric and these were pinned to the reverse of the presentation board for viewing after my talk.

We had a full house for my talk and the evening was animated and sociable fuelled by plenty wine and food and lots of shopping!  Never the most flattering when you are being photographed talking animatedly and passionately and waving your arms around but here goes .......... !1

I would love to hear how you have introduced colour into your home and what paint brand and colours you have used. Or if you have any questions you would like to ask me, don't hesitate to get in contact.

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An invite to an exclusive blogger event

Hi everyone. I had the pleasure of being invited by India Jane to an exclusive blogger preview event today, Tuesday 1st December, at their flagship store in Kings Road, Chelsea, London.  For those of you not familiar with India Jane,  it's a family-owned home interiors business which was founded in 1992.  Their signature style embodies the understated elegance of updated classics and sleek lines of contemporary sophistication. They have ten stores in the UK but none abroad, at least not that I'm aware of. There were five of us (all ladies!) handpicked discerning bloggers of interiors!!  We were given a talk by their head of Marketing and PR, the very charming James Neil, on the key trends and latest products of India Jane while being offered bubbly and nibbles.  We were also offered 15% discount on everything we purchased and it was very much the embarrassment of the choice as to what to buy as it all looked so incredibly inviting, beautiful and luxurious.  And if that wasn't sufficient, they offered us a goodie bag when we left which I discovered this evening when I got home, contained a selection of gorgeous India Jane homewares.  I know Christmas hasn't come yet but I felt as if all my Christmases had come at once! 

I adore this time of year when the shops are dressed and styled to the hilt. Indian Jane is certainly no exception!  I'm no stranger to India Jane; I have a house full of their furniture, mirrors, soft furnishings, accessories and lighting (I have no less than five of their chandeliers in my home!). However I never tire of browsing one of their stores as they are styled within an inch of their lives but with the utmost taste.  Glitz and glamour but understated and refined. What more could you want?!

I took some photos on my iPhone but they aren't the greatest quality (says the gal who has just done a course in DSLR photography!) so do excuse the poor quality of some of the shots. I think I was overcome with the emotion of trying to decide what I could afford to buy when all I wanted to do was transport the entire shop to my home!

 India Jane is one of those shops, you have to buy something. I've never left empty handed! I'd love to hear about any interiors local shop that you frequent and the things they sell that you cannot live without. 

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Learning to bond with my DSLR camera!!

Hi everyone.  Recently I purchased my first ever DSLR camera.  Don't get me wrong, my Panasonic Lumix compact camera is superb (it's 12 years' old and still in perfect working order) but I wanted something better to take photos of my clients' homes (before and after). I also am developing a real passion for photography. 

It seems that you are either a Canon person or a Nikon person.  Most people I know seem to be Canon people.  I did loads of research and then went to a very reputable camera shop, Jessops, where I probably drove the shop assistant nuts while I ummed and ahed for ages before I finally chose a Nikon D5500.  It's pretty daunting when faced with a shop full of cameras but luckily the staff at Jessops are very knowledgeable and weren't trying to influence my decision which I really appreciated.

I got the camera home and basically "stalked" it for the first few weeks as I found it quite intimidating having been used to a point-and-shoot type of camera.  Then I plucked up the courage and started to use the camera but only on Auto. It seemed to take fantastic photos on Auto but I knew I had to learn how to use it on manual or it defeated the purpose of buying it. I don't have an aversion to manuals, quite the opposite, but I found the manual terrifying!

So I bit the bullet and signed up to a four hour course through Living Social on how to use a DSLR camera.  There were 8 of us booked on the course and we met up with the tutor, Joshua Bareham,  at London'sFestival Hall on the South Bank.  As you can see from his website, he is a very talented photographer. We started off with introductions which made me realise that I wasn't the only one with little or no knowledge of how to use my camera. One lady had been given a fancy Canon by her husband and she hadn't even worked out how to turn it on!! After some basics we were outside along the South Bank by the Thames river learning how to take action shots, closeups, panoramas etc.  

I thought I'd share with you the best of the photos that I took that day. I'll let you be the judge of whether my photos are any good!  

Our tutor, Joshua Bareham, jumping so we could learn how to take action shots. I had loads of blurred photos but finally got it right .......... at least I think I did!!

I call this 'an urban puddle' !!

I was practising close-ups!

There's always a cigarette butt wherever you look !

Skateboarders are a feature of the South Bank as are the graffiti artists

Me photographing the guy photographing the graffiti artist!!

Gloomy day in London and luckily it wasn't too cold to be outside taking photos

Pedro, one of the students in the class.

Beautiful hair of one of the students

Urban pigeon !!

Using my moped helmet to practise closeups

Beautiful streetlamp

Closeup of part of the streetlamp

I'd love to hear from you if you own a DSLR and any tips you can give me on how best to use it.  Are you a Nikon or Canon person?

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Another inspiring day at Petersham Nurseries

Well, I'm not sure what season this really is as it's nearly as warm as late summer and we are already at the end of October. Talk about Indian Summer - it's last way beyond the end of September. This weather is unprecedented - warm (up to 20C) and no wind or rain. The trees are the most incredible colours, the best autumn colours in many years due to this late warmth. 

It was a stunning, sunny day up to 19C last week so I decided it was time for another pilgrimage to Petersham Nurseries which is one of the most inspiring places in London for me.  I get trigger happy with both my iPhone camera andmy compact Panasonic camera as there are so many beautiful things to photograph.  The shop displays are styled so well and the use of plants and flowers in the styling is superb.

And of course the food in the cafe is wonderful so my friend and I arrived in time for morning coffee and a huge slab of cake, browsed the gardens, glasshouses and shop for two hours and then returned to the cafe for a tray of lunch dishes to share. 

I've decided to devote most of this blog post to images, a veritable optical feast.  Most of the images speak for themselves.  I hope you derive as much pleasure and enjoyment from the images as I did seeing everything in person.  There's lots to learn about styling in the home from these images so take note!!

I'll start with a selection of photos of how they styled some of the public spaces - the cafe where you queue to get your food, the loos (!) and the glasshouses where you can take your food on trays to eat. 

Trough of plants on the counter in the cafe. Did you notice the lovely white French soup bowls on the shelf behind?

My friend Nick in the glasshouse where we were having coffee and cake.  I am not a lover of marigolds but a terracotta pot of them on the table looked gorgeous

These gems of vintage framed prints are actually in one of the loos!!!  I so want to have them in my house!!!!

This beautiful trough of plants is outside the loos to welcome you! Look at the stunning mix of greens including the silvery greens and the way they complement each other and work so well with the purple violas

An urn of my favourite combination of colours - purple and orange - which sits in the glasshouse where you can sit and eat

This is a Plectranthus and was grown from three tiny plants back in May !!!  It is absolutely beautiful

The zinc-topped tables in the glasshouses are beautifully and simply styled with a mixture of plants, cut flowers and a few Halloween pumpkins. See also next two images

Note the cyclamen plant at the bottom of the image. Its cleverly been wrapped in sphagnum moss and chicken wire. Very effective.

Another group of images follows:

This is the garden where they grow vegetables for the kitchen and also some of the flowers used to decorate the restaurant and glasshouses

Ginormous lemons growing in a tub!!

The most enormous dahlia flower in their gardens.

These are the gorgeous rustic vintage tables and chairs that they have in the glasshouses and outside where you can sit and eat

I love these mini carafes that they use to serve a glass of wine (really equivalent to two glasses!)

I bought these two small Heucherella Tapestry plants and a red one also (separate image)

The other Heucherella that I bought. Isn't the colour amazing?

Clever display of plants which are wrapped in Sphagnum moss and chicken wire or twine to hold the soil and moss in place.

And the most mouth-watering photos I'll leave until last - the shop which is my favourite part of the whole Petersham experience. Check out the vintage chandeliers, they absolutely gorgeous.  It is so beautifully styled and full of items/objects that I covet. I never leave empty handed!

A wall of Christmas decorations

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Meet an inspirational Kiwi - Charlie McCormick

I had the great pleasure this week of meeting Charlie McCormick and his partner Ben Pentreath at Charlie's pop up shop next to Pentreath & Hall in Rugby Street, Bloomsbury, London.  Charlie is a very talented, fellow Kiwi who grows magnificent flowers at their home in Dorset,  is an excellent cook and has a superb eye for styling interiors. He also runs a supper club. Ben Pentreath, Charlie's partner, is a charming, well-known and highly talented architect and interior designer and he and another fellow Kiwi Bridie Hall, own the beautiful home products shop Pentreath & Hall.

I've been following both Ben and Charlie on Instagram for some time and am always inspired by their photos on Instagram and Ben's superb blog.  I own a copy of Ben's stunning book English Style which shows the best of English Style. 

Anyway, this blog post is about Charlie's pop up shop which is open for the month of October. I read about it online and just had to pay a visit. I really wanted to meet Charlie as he comes from the same part of NZ that I do, though he grew up on a farm north of Christchurch and I was a city girl, from Christchurch.  I was lucky enough to meet not only him but also Ben Pentreath on Monday so I felt very honoured.  And of course, Charlie and I did the requisite selfie!

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The pop up shop from the outside is very inviting thanks to the vibrant colours, textures and Charlie's superb styling touches:

The inside has a stunning yellow dresser as the focal point laden with vintage items, Charlie's home baked cakes and a huge container of Charlie's homegrown vivid pink dahlias. There are several other containers of the beautiful dahlias dotted around the shop and in the window, a feature above the fireplace of stunning 19th century framed prints of pressed plants, rustic watering cans to die for and a huge basket of apples from Ben and Charlie's orchard just outside the door. I wanted everything in the shop but first I wanted to chat with Charlie.  He is very down-to-earth, laid back and friendly like all of us Kiwis (!!) and he is incredibly multi-talented.  I'm a massive foodie myself, as some of you may know from my tried & tested favourite recipes that I include on my blog so a note to self to book a place at one of his supper clubs so I can sample his renowned cooking.

I left the shop having purchased so many things that I wasn't sure if they would fit on my little Vespa moped. Note the dahlias squeezed in a bag on the right!!  Charlie kindly gifted me one of his homemade Afghan biscuits for the road, to remind me of home. It's a traditional Kiwi biscuit made with cocoa powder and cornflakes, topped with chocolate icing and then half a walnut.  I managed to demolish it a bit at a time at each traffic light where I had to wait!!

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And my purchases, well, plenty of them and I am going back for more on Friday!  I bought two of the 19th century prints, four vintage containers and some dahlias.

The dahlias in situ on my mantlepiece. Aren't they divine?

Beautiful vintage bowl I purchased

The little vintage bowl I purchased has found its place on a tray I recently painted in Farrow & Ball 'Brinjal'

The two 19th century pressed plants prints that I purchased. I'm going back on Friday to buy two more as I plan to hang two either side of the bed in the guest room

I couldn't resist buying these Portuguese dishes as they reminded me of my grandmother who had a several similar

If you are lucky enough to live in London do try and visit Charlie's pop up shop.  It's only there until the end of the month.

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Transform a wooden tray with Farrow & Ball paint

It's way too long since I last painted something for my home so I've lined up several items, the first of which is this wooden tray that I purchased from Petersham Nurseries a couple of years ago.  Don't get me wrong, it's a nice wood but it had lost its appeal so I wasn't using it so I fancied a change. Actually these are the trays that they use at Petersham Nurseries in the cafe when you buy your coffee, cake or lunch and they suit that environment as it's very rustic but it doesn't suit my home. 

I usually paint with Annie Sloan paint as you don't need to key (rub the surfaces with sandpaper) or undercoat, you just slap on the paint, on any surface! However the Annie Sloan range of colours doesn't include a purple/aubergine colour (something I think they need to address) and I couldn't be bothered to mix the appropriate colours to create purple, so I decided that this time I would use Farrow & Ball 'Brinjal' which is a gorgeous aubergine colour.  I ummed and ahed about whether to distress the edges of the tray to bring through some of the wood but decided it would be too much of a vintage look so I opted to paint it all over. 

I painted three layers of the colour (I used less than two of the small sample pots)

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and then used Annie Sloan clear Soft Wax which is a wonderful wax and way superior to any other clear wax I've ever used.

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And voila, here is the finished article.  Isn't it stunning?!  I love the way it works so well with the colour of the cyclamen and the vintage bowl which I purchased this week from Charlie McCormick's popup shop.

I'd love to hear about things that you are painting for your home, what paint you use, what colours and paint finishes you like so do email me with your comments. I'll create a separate post for some more items that I'm currently painting.

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Inspirations from Design Week (Sept15)

Hi everyone. The last two weeks have been manic, firstly there was Design Week in London so I was absorbed in Decorex 2015 and Focus 2015, I had a "significant" birthday which involved organising a dinner for 45 of my closest friends and family. Then on Monday I came down with a bout of 'flu.  All in all, pretty busy two weeks but no excuse really as I should be able to squeeze in an hour to write a blog post, you are probably thinking!  Anyway, here's a visual feast for you from Design Week to stimulate your creative juices!!

First up, Focus 2015 at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour.  It's twice a year and an intense week of visiting the showrooms and chatting about any new launches or just generally catching up and usually over a drink and nibbles (better not to drive!). I also attended a talk by the wonderful India Hicks who took us through a visual feast of slides from her new book Island Style  I am always drawn to the floral displays as they are spectacular. My friend Jayne Copperwaite Flowers .  Here are some of them

Turquoise and White Theme

Stunning white delphiniums

Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam showroom

Sanderson and Zoffany Showroom

Sanderson and Zoffany showroom

Pierre Frey showroom

Fantastic display of gladioli

View from Pierre Frey showroom

This is a wonderful view but soon to be ruined by a building on the site right in front of the window

GP&J Baker Showroom

Beautiful flowers by Jayne Copperwaite Flowers

GP&J Baker Showroom

Beautiful flowers by Jayne Copperwaite Flowers

Colefax & Fowler showroom - flowers by my friend Jayne Copperwaite Flowers

Beautiful flowers by Jayne Copperwaite Flowers. Don't you just love the rosehips and crab apples?

Porta Romana Showroom

I couldn't resist a photo of these stunning lights

India Hicks giving a talk about her new book, Island Style. 

The following day, my friend and I headed for Decorex 2015 which was being held in the grounds of Syon Park again this year. For those of you who don't know what it is, Decorex is internationally renowned for being THE event to discover the very best and most coveted products from a collection of 400 hand-selected exhibitors. Here are some of my favourite photos that I took on the day. A veritable optical feast.  Enjoy and be inspired!!

Mineheart eclectic light with tiny chandelier inside

Mineheart eclectic light with tiny chandelier inside

Mineheart wallpaper and light

Harlequin London exquisite tableware

Love this sputnik shard chandelier from Charles Burnand Lighting

Temple & Ivy lights which are based on Indian and African birds

Temple & Ivy lights which are based on Indian and African birds

Temple & Ivy lights which are based on Indian and African birds

Vervloet Belgium - funky door handle!

Beautiful lighting from Pooky

Beautiful archway of flowers in the foyer at Decorex

Inside the arch of flowers

Amazing alabaster lights

Volevatch - incredible and enchanting handmade and hand painted bathrooms with the wow factor!!

Love this shower from Volevatch

and there's me, queen of the shower!!

Phew, a lot of photos but I hope you enjoyed them.

I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog so do get in touch.

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Hot tips for cleaning chandeliers

Happy Monday everyone!  Sorry for the lack of blog posts; I was working all day every day last week and was out most evenings.  Back to normal this week so I have more time to devote to writing on my blog.

Much as we all love a chandelier or two in our homes they are an absolute nightmare to clean. I'm not sure which I enjoy less, cleaning silver or cleaning chandeliers, probably the latter.  I have a chandelier in every room of my home except the bathroom so cleaning them is the bain of my life.

Chandeliers seem to attract dust and spider webs or is that just an illusion?!  I have tried all sorts of quick and easy methods of cleaning them e.g. blowing on them (!!), feather duster and even the vacuum cleaner but to no avail.  There is no quick and easy fix.

However, there are some things you can do regularly to stop dust clouding the crystal drops.  Give the chandelier the once over, lightly, with a feather duster every couple of weeks as it really does help to minimise the the accumulation of dust which then solidifies on the drops and bulbs.

When the chandelier really does need a good clean here are a couple of methods (remember to turn off the chandelier first!!!):

1. Drip dry method is the easiest method. It involves using the best glass cleaner you can buy. Remove the bulbs (give them a good clean) and plug the sockets with paper so they don't get wet.  Cover the floor underneath the chandelier to catch the liquid. Spray the chandelier generously with the cleaner and let it fall from the chandelier. It should take the dust and dirt with it when it falls!  Then just leave the chandelier to dry, remove the paper from the sockets and replace the bulbs.

2. Cotton glove method - More involved but less messy than the drip dry method. Using white cotton gloves and a small bowl of glass or chandelier cleaner, dip your finger tips in the solution and clean each crystal drop very gently all over.  You will have to change the solution if it starts to get dirty.

3. Removing all the crystal method - If your chandelier has been neglected for several years and either or both of the above methods don't work, you will need to use this method. First and most crucial piece of advice, make a note of where the drops go or you may not be able to reconstruct it afterwards!  Dismantle the chandelier and wash every crystal droplet and strand by hand in warm water with a little mild detergent. If you want to use vinegar instead of detergent, make sure it doesn't come in contact with metal or brass pieces as it will corrode them.  This method is a nightmare job but the reward of seeing a beautiful sparkling chandelier makes it worthwhile.  Hot tip: when you put the chandelier back together work from the inside out starting with the centre pieces.

I'd love to hear what method you use to clean your chandeliers.  I'm sure there are some tried and tested methods handed down the generations so do let me know.

I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog.

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Are you a passionate collector?

Hi everyone.  Last week was manically busy - working hard but also very exciting as I bought my first ever grown-up camera - a DSLR !!  I've had a compact Panasonic Lumix for 11 years which I've used to take all the photos, including those on my blog, and frankly it's a pretty amazing little camera. It's never let me down and the quality of the photos is superb.  I'd prefer to buy another Panasonic as they have the most fantastic Leica lenses but they don't (yet) make DSLRs, just Bridge cameras.   In the DSLR range there are really only two brands to consider, Canon and Nikon, and from what I understand you are either a Canon person or a Nikon person.  I'm neither, I remain brand agnostic and am more influenced by price and reviews.  I ended up buying a Nikon (D5500) so I guess I'm now a Nikon girl!!  So I've been stalking my new camera for four days now as it sits on the kitchen table, quite intimidated by it.  I've managed to charge it and take a couple of pics but that's about it.  I need to bite the bullet, read the manual and start to use it.  Enough of that, this blog post is supposed to be about collecting items so here goes!

Do you have a passion for a particular type of item and are amassing a collection?  For example, a type of china, all things "owl" related, teddy bears (hope not!), glassware, mirrors ....... the list is endless.

Some people collect a certain type of china.  The photos below are the home of a florist who (obviously) collects Wade china vases.  She has cleverly, to great effect, made a feature of them in a living room and also in one of the bathrooms. 

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By nature I'm neither a hoarder nor a collector but I do adore mirrors and have over 15 mirrors in my home so technically that could class me as a collector, no?!  Recently I've developed a love of small vintage tins and whenever I see one that I like, I buy it.  Currently I only have six tins and I don't plan to avidly search them out just to add to the collection as and when I find them.  I usually pick them up in junk shops, second hand shops or markets and the rustier the better.  I've never parted with more than £22 for a tin and that's in a shop; if I am at a market or junk shop I can buy them for a couple of quid.

I'm all for collecting items but I think it's really important to display them in such a way that they become part of your interior styling, rather than just build up a clutter of them on a shelf to gather dust or in a cupboard where you can't see them.  I'm also very practical by nature and a time management freak so I use most of these vintage tins for storing useful items like pen, paper, reading glasses, TV remote, stapler, post-its etc.  The pretty tin on the pile of books (makeshift side table!) next to the chair I sit in to watch TV is particularly useful. Means I don't have to get up to find a pen and paper if I suddenly have a brain wave which often happens when I'm watching some mind-numblingly boring programme on TV! And being of a certain age where my eye sight is no longer perfect, if I can fit a pair of glasses in the tin all the better so they are strategically placed in each room, hidden in a tin where possible, so out of sight. 

Here are the vintage tins I currently have.  They may not appeal to everyone but I love the age of them, the old-fashioned design and subtle colours. The larger ones are old biscuit tins. They certainly don't make such beautiful biscuit tins these days, do they?  Anyway, here are my tins and how I've used them as part of my interior styling.

I'd love to hear about what items you are passionate about and that you collect - what quantities you have, how you store or display them, where you find them to buy etc.  Do let me know and I'm sure my subscribers would enjoy reading about your collections.  I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog.

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Styling with flowers and plants - in and out

Gosh, I've just realised that it's two weeks since I did a blog post.  Really sorry. It's been a mad sort of two weeks and I don't know where the time has gone.

I did however get some time on Thursday to replace flowers in my house and buy a few flowering plants to replace some of those that have finished flowering.  It's been a pretty awful August with low temperatures, grey days and rain - what's new, that's a typical English summer after all !!  My plants haven't flourished as well as I would have liked from a flowers perspective, due to the lack of sunshine.

Anyway, as you all know, I'm an ex florist and I can't live without being surrounded by flowers and plants so every room in my two-bedroom home has either a vase of flowers or a flowering plant in it.  My budget has decreased dramatically since I took voluntary redundancy from my job in the financial services last July so I have to make the most of the flowers that I buy.  I even will them to live longer!!!!

Here are my top tips for buying and arranging flowers in the home:

- I buy most of my flowers in the supermarkets (mainly Waitrose as they have the best selection) as they are cheaper than florist prices. However if you want more interesting flowers and greenery find a good local florist as well as buying from the supermarket

- Don't just buy flowers randomly. You need to plan where you are going to put them in your home and what vase you will use

- Monotones create the biggest impact i.e. flowers of one colour.  Red & white flowers in the same vase is a big No-No (blood & bandages!!). Stick to tones and hues of the same colour.  Or you can have a couple of colours like pink and orange to create a real impact as I've done with the roses in my hall (see photo below)

- Cut all stems on a diagonal and any thick woody stems should also be cut vertically up the stem for a couple of centimetres e.g. sunflowers, stocks, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas. 

- I always add the flower food sachet that comes with the flowers to the water as well as a blob of bleach (it stops water marks on the vase).  Food and bleach don't seem to harm the flowers, on the contrary my flowers seem to last for days/weeks!

- Best vases are those that have a wider base than the neck.  Flowers display better and you don't need so many of them (budget, budget, budget!!)

- Clean the stems of the flowers to remove any leaves or thorns and off-shoots, just save a few at the top.  These need nutrition so the more you remove the more the flower has the best chance of survival.  I always remove anything that will sit below water level and even some above water level.  Off-shoots can be put in small bud vases or vintage bottles as you can see in the photos below.

- If you are lucky enough to have a garden (I don't!) pick some foliage to add to the vase of flowers. This adds, texture and bulks up the flowers so you don't need so many flowers

- Top up the water in the vases regularly (some flowers drink copious amounts of water so keep a sharp eye on the level of water - sunflowers for example drink loads!). Change the water regularly especially for flowers like stocks as the water can get really smelly. Just remember, you like to shower/bath regularly and flowers do also !!

So here's what's in my house currently and a few pics of my three square feet of outside space.

These are blue Scabias and are one of my favourite flowers. They last really well and I love all the off-shoots which I sometimes remove and put in some of my vintage bottles (I was in a hurry but will remove them in the next day or two to give the flowers a better chance of survival). Excuse the gilt mirror (not that attractive is it?!)  it's there for me to paint but I've not had time yet!! Am still toying with what paint colour I'll use to paint the frame. Any suggestions?

Asters, cheap as chips !!  About £3.00 for a huge bunch in the supermarkets.  They have a lot of offshoots and foliage on each stem so cut off the offshoots and strip back the stems as they can make the water really smelly. Great lasting flowers and I love their simplicity.  I only ever have one colour of Asters in a vase though

My vintage bottles with the offshoots of other flowers I've bought. The little jar of white Asters were the offshoots also

In my hall I have this vase of pink and orange roses which I've cut very short and crammed into this glass jar/vase.  Roses last much longer if cut very short. I chose these two colours to complement the 60s flower print that sits behind.

The white Asters whose offshoots are in the vintage bottles.  Note the vase as a small neck but wide base which means you can splay the flowers out better

Glass vase of white lilies to add scent to the sitting room. Remember to remove the pollen from each flower as it opens or you could end up with horrible stains on your furniture or carpet.

This is one of my favourite vases and you will probably remember it from previous posts.  These are like mini Delphiniums but am sure there's a botanical name for them but I'm not great on botanical names!  These last for ages but drink loads of water. There are a lot of offshoots which I've put in the vintage bottles

My staple in the bathroom is always the orchid plant as they last for months and months and require little or no water (there is no soil in the pot). I never feed them either.  This one is four months old!!

Good old Sunflowers, cheap as chips and last forever. Remove the leaves as they take too much sustenance from the flower. Cut vertically up the stems as well as the usual diagonal.  Beware the drink loads so you need to top up regularly

My vintage bottles on the kitchen window ledge enhanced by the hanging basket outside the window!  I stick anything in these bottles that I remove from the stem of a flower or bits and bobs from my tiny outside space. I don't mind the green mould that forms in the bottles; it's asethetcially beautiful !!

And here are the latest photos of my limited outside space - three square feet and the steps down to the garden belonging to the owners of the flat underneath mine. I have tried to keep to blues, mauves and pinks but I've also included a soft orange at the bottom of the steps.  Bees love blue and mauve flowers which is why I tend to go for this colour palette

I hope these photos have inspired you to create some gorgeous displays inside and outside.  I cannot live without being surrounded by flowers (you can't take the florist out of the gal, as I always say!).

I'd love to hear about how you use flowers to style your home and also about your outside space and if limited, how you maximise it.  Do let me know as I'm always keen to hear from my readers.  I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog.

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Upcycling a couple of trays with Annie Sloan paint

Happy Sunday everyone!  It's a gorgeous morning here in London (for a change) so I'm up early, had my usual hearty Sunday breakfast of eggs cooked with garlic, chilli, spring onions and tomatoes washed down with a pot of tea and I'm ready for the day.

I've been pretty slack in the last 12 months with my up-cycling with Annie Sloan paint.  I have so many small items that are waiting to be painted so I thought it was time I got out my brushes and paint and worked on them.  I started with a couple of small, quick and easy items - two wooden trays.  My default Annie Sloan colour is Graphite so I decided to paint both trays in this colour. 

One tray was already painted in an Annie Sloan colour 'Old Violet' but I wanted to change the colour to Graphite and use it to display all my Cloth Shop Swedish linen napkins on the kitchen table.  That's the great thing about Annie Sloan paint; you get tired of the look of an item so you paint another colour on top of it - no faffing around with sanding or undercoating, just paint directly on to any surface, be it wood, metal, china, glass, walls etc etc.  You can distress the paint finish with either sandpaper or just by rubbing hard with the Annie Sloan Clear Soft Wax. Youtube is full of short videos of how to paint and wax with Annie Sloan so if you've never used the paint before, have a look at some of the tutorials on Youtube.

I now love watching my guests choose a napkin to use at the table - they um and ah for ages because all the colours are so beautiful they can't decide.  No-one ever picks the beige napkin though!  The tray of napkins makes a great centrepiece for my table, don't you agree?

The other tray is an Edwardian wooden tray with metal and wood handles that I picked up for a tenner in a second hand shop. I painted a layer of Annie Sloan English Yellow first and then a layer of Graphite so that I could bring some of the yellow through on the rims of the tray for a more interesting finish, as you can see in the images below.  I didn't paint the handles as they are too nice to paint.  This tray is a gift for one of my clients. I was seriously toying with keeping it as I love its shape.

HELP FROM THE PROFESSIONALS

I understand that not everyone has the time or inclination to paint furniture. I am happy to help if you have any questions or concerns, and am available to revamp your pieces that need a new lease of life. Get in touch to have a chat with me. 

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