Daisy 500

This is my dearly loved 1971 Fiat 500 L, I called her Daisy and she was 'Positano' yellow.  She was hard to find, overpriced but absolutely charming. My husband warned me not to sell her as I would miss her too much and he was entirely right.  She wasn’t very reliable but boy did she give me moments of great happiness.  She had a sound system that drowned the battery and in rainy London that’s a real bore, especially when you live 10 miles out of the city.  She wasn’t the safest thing either for today’s roads and she would not have fared well here with the crazy drivers and giga-trucks, just the thought of it makes me shiver!  Nonetheless I miss her lifting my mood as soon as I sat in the ‘deluxe’ black vinyl seats and the way she made people smile on the way– how often does that happen in London?

Saarinen House

From Influential Interiors by Suzanne Trocme

This is the living room and studio of Saarinen House, now a museum, created by architect and furniture designer Eliel Saarinen (1893-1950), father of Eero Saarinen designer of the famed Tulip table and chairs amongst other pieces.  Eliel Saarinen a native of Finland emigrated to the US where he became president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art of which the textiles designer Jack Lenor Larsen was a graduate.  Now part of the Colefax group the Larsen collections are a definite favourite of mine as they are so adaptable to traditional and contemporary interiors with a wonderfully subdued palette

From the Larsen website

Hollandais

For some time now I have wanted to use Dutch wax prints or Hollandais (sometimes spelt with an e) in interiors.  These prints of East and Central African decent have wonderful colour combinations and patterns.  They would work well for upholstery - a large armchair, a headboard - and could be the starting point to a fabulous scheme as long as it didn't go eclectic mad!  Here are some of my favourites from Vlisco

Louvers Louvres

I am fanatical about shutters, louvered shutters to be exact or plantation as our American friends call them. To my mind they are the most practical type of window treatment, they filter the light beautifully and the louvers easily adjust the amount of air coming into the room. They buffer noise and act as a sort of secondary glazing and make me feel like I live in the Caribbean all year round.  A combination of shutters and curtains is ideal although most of the time I could do away with curtains altogether - except for palaces and historic houses of course! 

I do not like skimping on shutters, in the same way well made curtains or draperies are expensive to produce, I will only have shutters of basswood or tulipwood and always custom painted.  I have also seen them faux leather clad and I am still unsure if they are elegant or the height of common.  I particularly love The New England Shutter Company TNESC as theirs is the most complete and innovative range and as a bonus they are produced locally.

TNESC recently collaborated with Rupert Bevan to produce an incredible range of metallic and gesso finish shutters, they could be fabulous I am sure, I just need to get my head round them!

California Dreamin

 Images from Michael Smith for Jasper.  I have used his prints but only just discovered the furniture and I could easily install a whole house with just their pieces, beginning with a Maya chair for me!

Maya Chair

Lyon bookcase - chic as it gets!

Jacob chair, I would add castors to the front for a desk chair

Mad about Mado

On my travels sourcing for a project I came across the Mado table by Donghia, it is perfect, at least I think so and hope the client will agree.  In our case it will be lacquer finished in Coral (orange red) to the inside.

Camelus dromedarius, the Camel of Arabia

Camerons Camel Campaign

Raising awareness on litter. Stop people from littering, it is killing our camels

Too many cooks in the kitchen

I really only like two varieties of kitchens, ultra modern, usually Italian, or simplistic Shaker that I have drawn up - by hand, none of this CAD business - for the client's particular needs and wants.  Seven years ago I installed a kitchen of white high gloss flat fronted cabinets offset with the palest olive green walls.  The worktop of Carrara marble horrified the builder who advised granite was far more practical.  Indeed it is but I hate granite with a passion and I replied that I was looking for a stone that would age in the same way as it would at a butchers shop or fromagerie. In the end we sealed it as a compromise.  It was a huge success with a few contemporary art pieces even though the house and its architectural details were late Victorian.  Due to budget constraints I used charcoal coloured marmoleum for the floor which is not only warmer underfoot but easy maintenance and kinder to breakages!

Below is an image from Architonic of a 1988 design by Antonio Citterio for Arclinea, still so relevant today.

Would make life so easy and beautiful with the Kohler Karbon tap below

And finally two of my favourite stones - sealed of course!

Jura Blue

Black Moroccan Fossil

Classic Chairs and Other Must Have Seats

Another favourite mid 20^th Century chair, the 1958 moulded plywood Cherner Chair was reissued a few years ago to exacting standards by Norman Cherner’s  sons, Benjamin and Thomas. I was tickled to see it featured in the animated film Toy Story 3.

A thebes stool is another favourite, the image above is from Chairs by Florence de Dampierre of an Egyptian stool from the British Museum.  In particular I enjoy Arts & Crafts Thebes stools like the ones produced by Liberty & Co for example. Below is an image of a past lot from Christies.

The pair of Gustavian 'Klismos style' chairs below are also from Florence de Dampierre's book and I love their simplicity.  Client's often dismiss checks as being confined to kitchen schemes and I have to argue the case that not only does it work but it is the height of understated chic.  This picture should be enough of a counter argument for next time.

Late Gustavian Swedish chairs by Ephraim Stahl

Gaufrage

Image from Chairs by Florence de Dampierre

"Unusual 19th C upholstered armchair, formerly in the house of Christian Dior, Paris.  Bill Blass Collection"

Gaufraged velvet lends itself to all kinds of upholstered pieces and can often round a scheme together.  Different piles are used according to different designs, I particularly like using (indestructible) mohair velvet, but have also used flatter weaves that work well for walling for example. Gaufraged fabrics also sit very well in modern interior schemes. Below are some designs from the Lelievre book of graufrage steering us away from their usual classics.

Les Bulles #9344

Renouveau # 9433

 

More gaufraged velvet on this Art Deco bench at 1st dibs

I Wish for a Wishbone

The Wishbone Chair

Designed by Hens Wegner in 1949, also known as the 'Y' chair, it is one of my favourite mid 20th century designs.  It so easily sits alongside traditional and modern furniture much in the same way (good) chinese lacquer furniture does.  In fact it was inspired by prints of merchants sitting on Ming chairs so no coincidence there.  I have always loved it in black but last year new delicious colours were added - dilemma, dilemma... Available from my favourite London shop for modern classics Twenty Twenty One

2010 New Wishbone Colours

Palm for the Palm

Etienne print by Colefax and Fowler

This is the most perfect botanical print for Arabia, I love it! The aquamarine and heather shades are particularly beautiful and high on my list of favourite scheme colours.  The print lends itself to upholstered walls, covering of furniture, and I will have to have cushions of it on my sofa.  

Perfect with my rusty-orange silk velvet stool.  

Etienne is from a few collections ago but will not doubt remain a classic.

La Gazelle D'Or

 Tented Ceiling in the Dining Room

Some ten years or so ago I stayed at the Gazelle D'Or in Taroudant, Morocco.  Whilst there I snapped a few pictures of what I thought was wonderfully 'undecorated' decoration.  I have kept the memory of the Gazelle close, it is a wonderfully peaceful place, the food is sublime, the service discreet and impeccable.  I am thrilled to see the decoration remains.  A triumph in this day of the uber-trendy nothingness of so many other establishments.  The Gazelle does not need to try and impress anyone, she is who she is, 'she puts her purple hat on and just goes out to have fun with the world'. I will visit again, soon I hope.

 

Ebay finds

 Strawberry Leaf

 Suffolk Leaf

I love sifting through EBay looking for textiles and it’s become quite a habit of mine over the last two years.  It all started with my affection for Fortuny prints and loving a good find.  I haven’t found a nice bit of Fortuny as yet.  It is very rare to find pieces in Europe and in the US they are vastly overpriced.  I refuse to buy a remnant for $30 from someone else's sample library, that’s just rude!  I have however found out of print gorgeousness like the long discontinued Colefax and Fowler Strawberry Leaf and George Spencer’s Suffolk Leaf.  The later is still being printed but on a linen ground and has been re-coloured a lovely plum and lime green colour way.

I have enough Suffolk Stripe for a single headboard with, I think, a coral bed valance contrast bound in mouse’s back, ideal for a small guest bed with horizontal Tongue and Groove walls.  The Strawberry leaf will cover my soon to be IKEA Patrik desk chair.