Apr 12

A city townhouse high on style

Posted in art walls, bedrooms, dark walls, green and blue, pattern, Uncategorized

One of the things that caught my eye earlier in the year was this house that was featured in UK House & Garden. My mum had bought the issue and had stuck a post-it with my name on it on this spread- she knew I’d love it! I call it a town house because I picture it being a tall and narrow terrace house- the perfect city pad.

Symmetry reigns here (above), and these are my colours- greys and blues, with lots of natural textures thrown in. I love the dark grey walls, the nickel wall lamps, the books, the casual chunky sisal rug. I’m even partial to the display of a bit of taxidermy, animal horns and skulls, but this is something that should be practiced in moderation people!

The other side of the room shows the hit of yellow and the modern abstract artworks. My boys would love it if I used framed pictures of Lego figures as artwork!

A very modern Scandinavian-style dining area in the open-plan kitchen at the back of the house. You can only just see it, but the stairwell coming down into this space is also the office and is lined with Hicks hexagonal wallpaper. The thing I really like about this house is though it’s small, it has colour and pattern used in every space, which can sometimes look as though someone has tried to use every single fabric and colour they like in a space that’s too small to house them all. Here it makes every corner interesting and homely as well as stylish.

Look at all the pattern in the red and grey master bedroom- and the wall of mismatched artworks - it’s fun, warm and cosy.

The twin bedroom above and below made me stop because it’s basically the same scheme I had been planning for one of my boy’s bedrooms in our next house- I’d even bought the same fabrics! The bedhead fabric is one I had used in a recent job and loved it so much I needed to use it at home too. I love, love the dark grey/blue walls. Notice how in the magazine photo above they placed a mirror in between the beds to reflect the green greyhound painting opposite, but it’s absent from the room normally (below).

I’m hoping to get to at least one open house tomorrow, hope you all have a great weekend!

Naomi xx

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Oct 10

Harlequin style

Posted in Colour Love, flooring, pattern, Uncategorized

I had an email from a reader last week asking if I had any pictures of rooms using colour and a harlequin design. I love getting requests like this because I have an enormous collection of magazines and clippings collected over many years and I often forget what’s even in my many boxes and folders and files! So, when I got this email it immediately put into my mind a house that featured in Traditional Home magazine a few years ago (along with UK Homes & Gardens, this has been my long-term foreign favourite. Domino and House Beautiful came later).

From memory I think the house used to be home to a circus group, and the new owners wanted to keep that spirit alive in their renovation and redecoration. That meant lots and lots of bright colour and pattern. I loved it and kept it because I love the sense of fun that this beautiful, grand house has, and although I probably wouldn’t live with it myself, I think the use of colour is great.

There’s a bit of harlequin pattern (above)! It’s basically just the diamond-shaped pattern worn by clowns in a traditional circus. I remember reading that the family who lives in this house eschews formal dinner parties in favour of popcorn and corndogs (which in my mind are what we Australians call dagwood dogs) - I think that is so fun!

I had a little hunt around for more harlequin-themed ideas. You can buy a chest similar to this one (above) new on ebay.

Love this classic black and white harlequin- patterned bathroom!

Dream stairway!

Isn’t this beautiful (above)? The grey and white-tiled floor looks like a harlequin pattern from this angle, though of course if you moved a little to the right it might just be square tiles laid in a chequered pattern! The French doors and shades of grey are a dream..

This is a slightly different take on harlequin, using triangles instead of diamonds, but the effect is similar (above).

I think I saw this framed artwork on etsy. You could do this with a scarf or blanket too, or make it yourself with diamonds cut out of coloured paper! So easy and doesn’t it look great framed in white (below).

Not exactly fun and colourful, butI loove this panelled timber wall with the large-scale harlequin pattern!

Have a great Monday xx

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