Interior trends for 2018, and chairs to match

January 28, 2018

I read an article on the Ideal Home website recently where they predicted the key looks for interiors for this year. I read it and all the while comparing it to my own style. I nodded along to the idea of rich pigments, as I think we can all be bolder with colour in our homes. This weekend I've also read in The Times that these bolder colours could be overtaking our love of grey.

I'm also on board with botanical and tropical prints, with a preference for the former if pushed, which I'm sure doesn't surprise you. And so it makes sense that pineapples continue to be popular, there's still everywhere in the shops. It's a trend I've contemplated, picking them up in the shops to admire, but so far I've not succumbed.

The other trend that makes a lot of sense for me is what has been termed "global goodness" which is how our decor has been influenced by our travels, and we can the article predicts expect to see more of this in the shops. But there were a few I was less sure about, I've still not managed to get on board with the copper trend, and to read that brass is likely to feature this year alongside these got me wondering.

For me brass evokes strong memories of my childhood, and more specifically cleaning the brass in our church on Saturday mornings armed with Duraglit and also polishing the brass step of our front door, and so it seemed odd to me that a childhood chore could return. I think even as I'm writing this I can smell the distinctive aroma of the metal polish.

And so, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to unscientifically test if I could find armchairs, and statement pieces at that, that corraborated these trends. To narrow my unscientific test I set some criteria, and looked at the armchair range on Utility Design site.

Let's start with brass, the trend that evoked the strongest personal reaction. It's not that I don't like brass, it's just that I see it as a little bit old fashioned, and I'm much more of a brushed chrome kind of girl. Or so I thought. This Gubi Beetle chair, named because it looks like an upturned insect, with its brass legs might have changed my mind though. Isn't it gorgeous?

BRASS: GUBI BEETLE LOUNGE CHAIRAll images courtesy of Utility Design — BRASS: GUBI BEETLE LOUNGE CHAIR
All images courtesy of Utility Design

I think the Beetle chair would be a great match for the drinks trolley that I'm now also lusting after. I didn't think I'd want one of those either, but after entertaining at Christmas I can see their value, I'm just not sure where I'll store it the rest of the year...

I thought this Cappellini knotted chair would be a great match for the botanicals trend, and I suspect it's way more comfortable than it looks. But add a botanical print cushion, or two, and this would give any room a stylish update. For me, this chair would be great in the conservatory, but especially the very posh sort you see in the big country houses. Although I'd happily take this chair while I'm waiting - and saving - for the big posh conservatory!

The Glam Dark Woods was another prediction I struggled with. But I think the key word here is glam. Mention dark woods and my brain immediately goes towards the reproduction mahogany furniture, which while I have nothing against this - heck, it's not long since we sold our table, and before we moved here I sold my own reproduction mahogany dining table too. I think I was struggling with how this furniture could be predicted to be an interior trend for this year.

But then I saw the classic Vitra Eames Lounge chair, and I got it. I'd need a snug, or a library, or a study for one of these chairs and I'm sure MOH would be happy with one of these in his dream music room, and I can see how these continue to be so popular - the true stamp of a classic!

GLAM DARK WOOD:  VITRA EAMES LOUNGE CHAIR — GLAM DARK WOOD: VITRA EAMES LOUNGE CHAIR

The artisan trend was another that I could identify with, we have a wealth of talent in the UK and we should be celebrating this. The Artek Armchair shown below is a good representation of that trend, I think, and a similar style of furniture was very much evident in the Houzz of 2018, but more on that another day.

I could go on, and find further chairs to support these trends - but I won't - as I think I've evidenced enough to support the predictions I read about. I've realised that each of these trends is broad enough to find something for each of our tastes, even if our first thoughts are "no, never going to happen" which is where I was with the brass!

But what do you think? Are there trends that you've struggled with, or those you loved but quickly fell out of love with? Leave a comment and let me know.

* This is a collaborative post but as usual all views and opinions are my own.

Love This #78: Mirrored furniture

January 23, 2018

It's funny the things you lust after isn't it? I mean, if I were to plan my dream bedroom I'm pretty certain it would include mirrored furniture. There used to be a shop in the village which I think secretly knew of my dream bedroom design, and for many months - or it felt like many months anyway - had the most gorgeous window display of mirrored furniture. And of course I found myself walking past it everyday, wanting to stop and admire it more than I should when I had a train to catch.

I'd visions of the lifestyle this furniture would bring, which if I'm honest with myself, no single piece or set of furniture could bring. In reality, of course, my life wouldn't be much different - there'd still be the day job to get to every day, too many pots and potions to make a dressing table have the minimalistic approach I have in mind, and of course mornings would still be a rush because, well, the bed is cosy, and you're much more likely to find me up in the small hours of the night, rather than the early hours of the morning.

But that's life, hey?

Photo credit: All images courtesy of Zurleys

Mirrored furniture from Zurleys adding a touch of glamour don't you think?

That doesn't stop me daydreaming though, and when I browsed the Zurleys site, I knew which furniture range I'd be sharing. The essentials in my dream bedroom would be bedside tables, a dressing table and a chest of drawers. Having become a bit of a self-appointed expert on mirrored furniture, I've realised like any furniture there's more than one style.

So whether your style is sleek, modern lines or a more Art Deco feel, or like me taking the opportunity to fulfil my equally long held French-style shabby chic dreams, there's plenty to choose from. I'm already working on my sales pitch to MOH in my head...

Antonia-Shabby-Silver-Mirrored-Chest-of-Drawers-ZUR206045.jpg

Not that it'll be a big pitch, but I need to combat his questions and sometimes, as you know, because sometimes we all need to back up what is essentially "because I like it" with more hard fact evidence. There'll be the added light reasoning, they have mirrored surfaces and so I'd expect them to bring light into any space they're in, that's what mirrors do, right?

I'd have to counter the "what's wrong with the furniture we've got" and actually the answer right now is nothing, I love that too. But even I know suggesting we have backup bedroom furniture isn't going to be a winner, so it'll be a case of picking my time, as these aren't exactly items that could be snuck in and fall under the "this old thing" approach.

Of course an obvious plus is their sheer good looks, and the my killer argument drawers in the bedside tables! For my clutter-loving-wannabe-minimalist-self, it'll be a winner. I like my stuff and can artfully arrange it (in my eyes anyway), but MOH would rather it was all shoved, or rather carefully placed, into a drawer. Now thinking about it, this furniture is a compromise, now that really is a winner!

What reasoning do you deploy, and more importantly what would you deploy those tactics for?

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.

A mixed year on the plot

January 18, 2018

If you've been following my "year in review" posts you'll know that they've been full of things I've enjoyed, and this one is no different, but it's also been a year of challenges. We knew when we took on our overgrown plot that it wouldn't be easy, but I don't think either of us realised quite how hard it would be either.

That said, it's still been rewarding, just a little bit more back breaking and soul destroying than we'd hoped for. And eating produce you've grown yourself makes your back ache just a little bit less, although in my case that wasn't helped by my "allotment tan" that gap between my shorts and my t-shirt, ouch! (It's still brown now!)

But 2018 is a new year, and once again I'm already itching to thumb those seed catalogues and start planning where we'll plant things this year. And I'm determined that this year I'll make that cutting patch...

My allotment year in 2017 was a shorter year, in fact not a year at all as my posts only cover April to November, so there's another lesson for me and that's to get out there digging earlier this year.

If anything I think these two first two photos from my post in April checking in with the plot were to be indicative of our growing year - the celeriac above ground looked to be doing well, but below was just a mass of roots without the lovely celeriac bulb. We'll try again - hopefully with more success - I'm sure.

But I'm grateful for one thing for our first visit last year, and that's one of my favourite photos of the year - yes the one with the lichen, and yes I still liken my lichen a lot!

Later that month I had potatoes chitting everywhere. Almost every surface was covered with them and it felt like the potatoes had taken over the asylum, and that's still true today. We're still eating potatoes we harvested in autumn last year - I told you there was a lot! And that gives me a dilemma, as it's apparent we're not big potato eaters so I should grow less, but then they've done wonders for our soil, so we'll be growing them again.

...perhaps I should look for a different solution, it would most definitely be easier to start eating more potatoes!

By May my broad beans were planted out and our plot was looking semi-respectable again, and the battle of the onions lay ahead of us. We took a new approach to the weeds too and rather than dig them up, decided to try blocking them out with soil in a raised bed.

MAY: BROAD BEANS AND A WEED FREE PATH  (IGNORE THE REST OF THE WEEDS!) — MAY: BROAD BEANS AND A WEED FREE PATH (IGNORE THE REST OF THE WEEDS!)

The next month or so saw me wage that battle with the foxes over the onions. I'd like to call it a truce, but I think in reality they won and my onions never really recovered. It's the second year I've had no luck with onions so I'm going to give them a miss for a bit and hope that when we try again the foxes have forgotten, or moved on.

We did have a bumper crop of strawberries, and later raspberries and later still apples and it's these small wins that made having the plot so worthwhile. Especially so with the strawberries as they were off plants I'd moved over from our garden - most of them free plants too from the runners, and you know how much I like free plants. And strawberries!

The plot next to ours continues to inspire me, but there's also an element of envy too. I know how much effort our small progress has taken, and at times I think ours will never be quite as together as this, but I also know that having it right next door gives us something to aim for. I suspect our neighbouring plot owner looks at ours hoping we'd hurry up and get it sorted, but I'm sure they also know just how much effort that will take.

In August we were back on the plot and making good progress, although there were notable losses - pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumbers, I'm looking at you, but once again we did have some beautiful sunflowers.

AUGUST: PLENTY OF BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS STILL TO COME

In September we were overrun with red and green bounty and feasted on borlotti beans and rhubarb - not together and all was good with the world. Our biggest harvest was later this year than the previous year, but it was much needed and our energy and enthusiasm was renewed. Phew.

But that wasn't the last of our harvests, we still had the potatoes to come. In the end that took us two attempts, and I think we've still got some in the ground (mental note: need to check on these soon) and as I said earlier in the post, we're still working our way through the almost 10kg of potatoes.

ALMOST 10KG OF POTATOES, WHICH IS A LOT OF POTATOES...

So thankfully there were highs in our allotment year, but there were also lows too, and lows that were lower than I'd expected to feel and I seriously questioned if we should keep our plot. There is still so much to do, but we have a plan to bring a new section of it into fruition this year, and I'm hopeful that won't be quite as bad as we hope. The section in question has been covered with tarpaulin since we took over the plot so at least there isn't the grass (above ground) to dig through.

Wish us luck - we're going to need it - and I'll keep you updated with how we get on.