An art inspired lounge

Pale green and pale pink is a great colour combination and it was great to see this at Grand Designs Live earlier in the year. There they mixed in some art and the whole room set had a feeling of art deco about it. I’m not sure about the vertical battens on the wall though.

I am a fan of the freestanding boxed shelf unit, not only because it matches the room so well, but also because it’s not a uniform shape and because it’s so versatile, it could work in many rooms.

Look at the fringing on those cushions, and the screen. There’s definitely a 1920s feel, isn’t there, which is only accentuated with the geometric patterned rug.

I do like the lamp above the light box, it makes me smile in an unexplainable way. And (with clothes) it’d be a great fancy dress costume, and relatively easy to achieve. I have costumes on the mind at the moment as we’re off to a celebration of the First World War this coming weekend, and the dress code is of the era. After much research and looking at images on Google, I’ve realised it’s an era that isn’t as easy as it sounds, and it’s certainly not as fun (obviously) as the 1920s. For men, most often it was uniform, which is harder for MOH to source than a longish skirt, white blouse and hat that I sourced in the charity shops this weekend.

I’ve some final touches to put to the hat to dress it up a bit - I was thinking fabric flowers, and I’ve a suffragette ‘hunger strike’ medal to finish my outfit, and I’m sure I’ll share more here if I manage to make it work, and if I manage to persuade MOH to buy anything from a charity shop that he’ll actually wear. I got him to buy a flat cap, and it suits him, and I’ve a feeling he quite likes it too, but isn’t letting on too much just yet. Ideally with a brown coloured waistcoat and a neckerchief he could pass as a gardener, or similar, which is a lot easier than anything military. I’m not sure I’ll persuade him to wear wellies out on a Saturday night, but you never know…

But I digress, what do you think of this room?

A dark and citrus living room

Room sets are a great way to get an idea of how colours go together, or how they might work in your own rooms without actually doing the hard work of decorating. And they’re also somewhere where you’ll find me drooling over them at the home shows, such as Grand Designs Live. At the show earlier this year, the room sets were, shall we say, provocative and often a bit marmite. The rich in colour and pattern bedroom, which I shared a while back emphasises that point, I think.

Today’s room set, a living room, is also bit more out there than those at the Ideal Home Show, which are generally (but not always) more traditional. Grand Designs Live has it’s own USP which in some ways is a bit more edgy and encourages bolder decoration, with colour - or dark walls in this case, and soft furnishings that really have some zing.

And when they said citrus, they really meant it.

Yes, orange, yellow and green mixed with the grey - that has citrus covered doesn’t it? Or actually perhaps the colours are tangerine, lemon and lime to be more accurate. It’s the use of those three colours together, that gives it the zing, and makes you grateful for the grey. And it’s the grey that makes it work and pulls all the brighter colours together.

It’s the rug though that my eyes keep coming back to. The orange tub chairs have the zing, but the rug. Its pattern. My eyes are constantly trying to work it out. What is that pattern? What era does it come from? Is it a pattern, or just splodges? Do I like it, or am I just intrigued by it?

… so many questions, and for that last one I’m really not sure if I like it, think I should like it or don’t like it at all.

There is a touch of the seventies about it isn’t there?

And maybe that’s it, maybe it reminds me of something from our first home. I remember that the living room was yellow and orange at one point, and I’m certain we also had a grey and pink carpet much later on when the walls weren’t quite so citrus. Maybe this room has a bit of everything my mind’s eye remembers from my childhood home.

For me, the lights have a touch of murano about them too. And the matching vases.

Again that could just be reminiscing, as our first family holiday abroad was to Italy - how cosmopolitan were we?

The sofa though, now I have grey sofas (many of them) but back in my childhood there was an orange one (yes really) and one finished in brown velour, but I don’t remember anything grey.

What do you think of the room set, and what evokes memories of the decor in your childhood home?

My garden in October

October has been a lovely warm month, I think I read somewhere that it’s been the warmest for seven years, but suddenly this last weekend it changed and now we know that winter is on its way, but until then let’s hope for some more clear and crisp autumnal days. There’s only been a bit of pottering in the garden this month and we’ve yet to put the garden to bed for the year, covering up tables and chairs and moving pots into more sheltered places but I’m hoping that the weather will continue to be kind and we’ll have some time to do that before winter really kicks in.

The garden manages quite well without us and during that time pottering I grabbed some snaps too. This year the cyclamen arrived early, but they’ve also put on many more leaves than I’ve noticed before, so I’m hoping that means lots more cyclamen over the winter and in years to come.

Our agapanthus have had a quieter year this year, with only three or so flowers. The seed heads are dropping off now but the structure of the head remains, for now. I’ll need to cut the stems soon so that the plants can regenerate and provide plenty more flowers next year. We lost a couple of our agapanthus plants this year, I think because they got so wet, so I’ll be covering them with fleece again this winter to offer them some protection.

Yes, more cyclamen. They are slowly creeping around the garden, but I don’t really mind.

The sedums have been stunning this year, the colours are so vibrant. I’m sure there’s a scientific reason which pins this down to the warm and dry summer, but whatever it is, I’m pleased to see them when they’re as beautiful as this.

ANYONE ELSE SEE A HEART?

Strangely the lettuce seems to have come into its own. Yes, in the month when I’m least likely to eat salad I have lettuce a plenty (and don’t worry, that darker green leaf of the left of the picture below, I know that’s not a lettuce, so we’re not about to eat it).

I’LL SKIP THIS TOMATO IN THE SALAD, THANKS

My ‘best’ tomato didn’t survive my week away. It looks as if someone, or something, else had their eye on it too and got there before me. They didn’t get my borlotti beans though, but as borlotti beans were in the meal I ate before being ill on holiday, I’m off those at the moment and our crop is drying to be used as seeds next year instead, as I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to look a borlotti bean in the eye by then.

The pots are doing well, in fact too well. It looks as if I’ve some unexpected Lords and Ladies in with my rhubarb - I thought that wasn’t growing, but now that the rhubarb’s in there it seems to have sprung into life. Typical hey?

RHUBARB IN A POT, THE SMALLER OVAL LEAVES ARE LORDS AND LADIES

And behind the bamboo in a pot that we haven’t used this year I discovered a self seeded and flowering primula. I really don’t mind when plants self-seed, and I’m doubly impressed when they manage to get themselves into a pot too.

ANOTHER OF THE EVERLASTING PRIMULAS, EVERLASTING BECAUSE THEY JUST KEEP ON GOING

The other thing that I have to mention in this monthly update, is the leaves. They’ve started - it is autumn after all - but as you can see it’s going to be something that keeps us busy, until they’re all down.

THE START OF THE LEAVES

Secretly though, I think MOH is willing them down so he can get out the leaf blower again…