Room Sets at the Ideal Home Show

April 21, 2015

I loved the idea of these Room Sets put together by Ideal Home Magazine to show off this season's design and style trends and the best of Britain's creativity. And while I was happy to wait for MOH to arrive before wandering around the Show Homes, I decided to head over and take a peek at these before that. They're all laid out on a single level too which made it easy to wander between the rooms, I'd loved to have been able to take a closer look but looking in was almost as good. And for each room there was an A4 sheet giving all the details of wall colours through to the accessories used, which now looking back after everything's settled is very useful, and a poster alongside each room giving tips on how to get the look.

There were five room sets with each covering the main rooms we all have, or have elements of. So let's get started.

1. Indigo & Earth Living Room

To get this look:

Paint walls in a deep blue or earthy brown
Include timber to warm up the dark wall colour and add a natural touch
Choose muted shades for furniture
Add polished metal accessories to add interest and avoid the room looking overly dark.

My view:

I liked the overall look of this room with its cosy, snug feel. It's definitely one you'd want to snuggle up in on a cold day. The highlights for me were:

This gorgeous side table by Multiyork
The starburst mirror (shown above), also by Multiyork

But I was less keen on the molecular looking ceiling light and the textured table lamp in the foreground of the top shot - I'm not sure why, but I can imagine it would be a nightmare to dust!

2. Copper & Clay Bedroom

How to get this look:

Choose a warming clay pink colour for a feature wall and the lower wall sections, using a powdery pink colour for the upper sections.
Add a neutral toned floor covering
Add warmth with copper accessories and zig-zag patterns for interest and fun.

My view:

I was less keen on this room as I'm not a huge fan of copper. I think would be good for a teenage girl wanting a more grown-up bedroom. My highlights were

the yellow and white zig-zag chair from Flock.
the shelves for pictures.

I can't see this ever being a look I'd go for but I think that's partly because of the colour and the furniture - I like Danish furniture but not the Ercol styles, I think they're just a bit too 1970s for me. And I know some of you will be thinking they're a design classic, but not me.

3. Sand & Stone Bathroom

How to get this look:

Choose a simple white bathroom suite
Paint the walls in beach-coloured neutrals, the idea of these colours are sea-foam white, sandy beige and pebble grey
Add pale timber effect floor coverings for a driftwood feel
Add some luxury with marble accessories and beach-style accessories.

My view:

I wasn't keen on this room either and I didn't get that the colours were beach-y until I read the poster - I can see it more now, but to me the walls look more like mountains than a beach.

I think a white bathroom suite is always a wise choice - although I seem to be on a bit of a personal mission to rid the world of avocado (and other coloured) suites as almost every house I've moved into has had one! Note the past tense there. Although I didn't like the overall look of the room, there were a couple of things I did like:

the inset shelves around the bath - great if you can build these into your room
the shelf by the sink, not only great for ornaments but also for toiletries too.

4. Slate & Leaf Dining Room

How to get this look:

Use a dramatic charcoal colour on the walls
Paint the door in a vivid green so it stands out
Add a dark wood flooring to give an almost tropical feel
Include some rich wooden furniture
Add green throughout the room in prints and accessories and of course greenery,

My view:

This was very much my favourite room set; I loved how dramatic it was, and how vibrant too. It may be that I'm tuned into Dining Room's at the moment (remember how I fell in love with that Danish table and chairs?) but I was a big fan of this room.

Of course it won't go in my house - we have an open plan kitchen/diner and lounge, but that doesn't stop me loving it! My highlights were:

The mix and match chairs - that's definitely something I want to replicate alongside a wooden table
The boldness of the black and green
The group of terrariums set in one corner on the floor.

5. Basalt & Rose Quartz Kitchen

How to get this look:

Start with a high-gloss kitchen in a pale colour
Add darker wood effect flooring
Paint walls and woodwork in a gentle rose quartz and soft greys
Keep appliances chrome or steel and add a striking splashback
Add black wood and clay accessories for natural texture.

My view:

I'm a fan of high-gloss kitchens, and the advice we had was always look at them close up - if you can see an orange peel texture (or similar to cellulite) then it's not as good a quality as the salesperson is telling you, and ask for a price reduction!

We weren't convinced and spent a fair bit of time staring close-up at many kitchen units before we bought ours, and once you start to look you can see a difference. Trust me. Ours is champagne, which is really a fancy name for a kind of grey with sparkly bits in.

I also liked:

the wall of high gloss cupboards, but I'm not sure I'd put a TV in the middle of them - an inbuilt coffee machine would be much more useful!
the pendant lights over the island, but I think that's my Dining Room bent coming out again as I'm looking at those for above our replacement table too!

So five room sets, each bringing its own inspiration - whether it's all or part of the room, what's your favourite?

Stiffkey: Hedges and stores

April 11, 2015

Stiffkey isn't pronounced how you think, and from looking on the internet for something to help me explain why it seems there's lots of views of how it should and shouldn't be said. My parents, who are almost locals living in Hunstanton pronounce it without the k, as we've heard others pronounce it too; others it seems say it's Stewkey but not everyone agrees. And before this turns into a post on what it should, might or might not be here's the best link I found on how to pronounce Norfolk place names - and there's some funny ones in there.

However you choose to pronounce it we popped along for a visit over Easter; it's on the North Norfolk Coast and is between Wells and Blakeney. It's got some history too as Stiffkey was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and means "stump island, island with stumps of trees". It's also a pretty little village with some fab hedges - and you know how much I like those - and as we discovered a fab village store, which I'd definitely stop at again.

So let's start with the hedges...

HOW FABULOUS ARE THESE?!?! I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing, and how much work to get them into and to keep this herd in shape. Mum and Dad spotted them from the Coasthopper bus and knew that I'd like them, I can tell you they weren't wrong!

And these below look like they're shaping up for something special too.

I can't decide what the next one is, I think perhaps a squirrel with a bushy tail? What do you think?

And these two would certainly cheer up any trip to the wheelie bins!

And not every village can claim a Tardis.

Even without the hedges it's a pretty village:

Part-way through the village we reached the Stiffkey Stores set in an Old Coach House and yard. As well as a myriad of lovely things to buy, there was a cafe with places to sit sheltered out of the Norfolk wind - you might think they're sheds, but I think they're better called tea huts!

So if you're in North Norfolk do stop in Stiffkey and check to see how those hedges are coming along, and definitely take a browse around Stiffkey Stores and its Barn. Norfolk is full of treasures and you never know what you mind find.

The Faraday effect. In a shed.

March 31, 2015

So today I'm sharing pictures from "The Faraday Effect" housed at Trinity Buoy Wharf, and it's the museum in a shed that I've mentioned before.

When I said a shed, I really meant a shed. But it's a shed packed full of information and artefacts and like any shed you can only get one or two people in it at once before it gets crowded and you have to move carefully around each other.

It's probably one of the smallest museums I've ever been in and my photo ratio to museum size was huge!

Michael Faraday as you'll know was an English scientist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. But he did this, and became one of the most influential scientists in history with little formal education. He's known for many things, including the Faraday effect which in 1845 was the first experimental evidence that light and electromagnetism were related as well as something much simpler which I have memories from school chemistry lessons, for inventing an early form of the Bunsen burner.

Now I don't profess to understand much of what he discovered, so I'm not going to share much of that here but nonetheless I found this shed absolutely fascinating. Partly for the artefacts on show and their scientific importance but also partly because they and the information about them were presented so well.

It's said that Faraday was able to convey his ideas in clear and simple language and I'm sure that contributed to his success. I mean if you're a ground-breaking scientist you're going to have to explain brand new ideas and theories to the uninitiated so you'll need to be able to explain it well!

It was at Trinity Buoy Wharf that Faraday spent time on projects such as the construction and operation of lighthouses and protecting the bottom of ships from corrosion. His workshop is still there today above the Chain and Buoy store next to the lighthouse which I shared pictures of in yesterday's post More from our visit to Trinity Buoy Wharf.

During the 1840's Faraday worked for Trinity House trying to improve the ventilation of gas powered lighthouse lanterns. The problem was how to stop the outer glass from becoming blackened by soot, thus reducing the light emitted. He developed a chimney which sent the products of combustion up the inner glass cylinder and then down between the inner and outer glass cylinders and away to an outside flue. This ingenious chimney was very successful and was installed in all lighthouses as well as other buildings such as the Athenaeum and Buckingham Palace.

- Taken from an information board beneath the Faraday Lamp.

And finally one of my favourite shots was the door, with its characterful grain and furniture - and after all the information I'd read inside the shed, for me it was the perfect ending.

So, Trinity Buoy Wharf was quite a find with so much to see, but I bet very few Londoners know about it let alone got close enough and visited it. If you're in Docklands it's really worth a visit.