Blinds and shutters with Thomas Sanderson

No doubt like me you've heard of Thomas Sanderson and their conservatory blinds and shutters and think you know their products. I did too, but when I visited their stand at Grand Designs recently, I realised that maybe I didn't after all.

It's been a long time since I've looked at blinds, and I think it's safe to say that I've never really considered conservatory blinds.  But with the work we have going on in our conservatory at the moment I was interested to find out if conservatory blinds really could be for us. 

I was surprised to learn that Thomas Sanderson have partnered with Laura Ashley to bring two great names into your conservatory.  There's twenty two colours in this range and while I didn't see them, I'm pretty sure the colours will be classic, muted, easy to live with and coordinate easily with every kind of conservatory decor.

There were a couple of other things I learnt on my visit too, and it seems that blinds are no longer just blinds. I expect the design to be elegant, and functional of course, but I never expected blinds to be full of innovation and technology.

The Duette energy smart blinds have a honeycomb layer, which is where the innovation comes in.  These two layers of pleated fabric offer superior insulation, keeping conservatories warm in winter and cooler in warmer weather - clever hey?  Someone's been doing their homework on the typical UK conservatory! 

Thomas Sanderson's website says that these blinds can "reduce energy bills by up to 25%" and as well as keeping the glare out they "absorb up to 45% of noise pollution" which is quite something.

The technology I mentioned before is two-fold.  Instead of manually raising and lowering your blinds you can opt for a remote control, which was new to me.  But even newer, and only to be expected is a new app.  I told you it was clever.

Shutters provide a completely different look for a conservatory and are also suitable for kitchens and bathrooms.  Thomas Sanderson have developed their LifeTime shutters to keep the heat in, to not fade or turn yellow from exposure or sunlight.  Which sounds exactly what you want, and like their blinds don't have to be boring, as the image below from the stand shows.

It was fascinating to learn more about modern day blinds, and both MOH and I walked away from the Thomas Sanderson stand truly inspired and wowed by the possibilities for our own conservatory. 

What's put us off even thinking about conservatories so far is thinking that blinds were fuddy-duddy, but these certainly aren't.  Another consideration we thought might make blinds a no-go is the width of our window, which is around two metres but we learnt that this shouldn't be an issue either, and the people at Thomas Sanderson's have clever ways around this too, if needed.

Since we've been back from Grand Designs we've given blinds in our conservatory some serious thought.  We are tempted but at the moment our priority is getting through this part of the refurbishment and it's something we'll come back to and give further consideration to once that's done.  The unknown though is the price, and while I understand that Thomas Sanderson is committed to craftsmanship and personal service, it would be nice to know if they're in our price range before booking a design consultation, which for me, is something I'd do once I was seriously considering taking this forward.

I know from our visit to Grand Designs that it's well worth talking to their people, not only were they well informed and knowledgeable, they were also extremely personable and proud of the company they represented.  And how a company's people operate tells you a lot about a company, I think.  So thanks to Debbs and her team at Grand Designs for making us feel so welcome, and for sharing their knowledge, it was much appreciated.

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

Those pom poms in the Botanical Bedroom

In my Ideal Home Inspiration post last week I teased you with some pom poms, today I'm sharing the rest of the bedroom - a botanical bedroom room set, at that.  I wasn't surprised to see the botanical theme pop up in one of the roomsets, as it is one of the trends for 2018 and I've spoken about that here on the blog before, but I didn't expect it to be the bedroom.

Nor did I expect it to be quite so stylish.  I'll admit, that even as a plant lover, I'm not so sure about having so many in the bedroom, even though they're fake, but I did love the colours and the effect. 

A FOUR POSTER WITH A POM POM THROW

The muted greens, greys and neutrals were set off with the purple and lavender greys and the overall result for me was a calming and relaxing room. Even the wood of the four poster bed toned with the colour scheme, and what an elegant four poster.

The louvre doors of the wardrobe also work with the style of the room.  The top of my wardrobe would never look so stylish though, I've long since learnt to have floor to ceiling wardrobes so that I can hide things like suitcases and extra storage for the wardrobe I'm not wearing.

Looking across to the wardrobe gives a really good overview of the colours used, and don't they work well?

The other nod throughout the room set to the botanicals look are the black edged mirrors and terrariums, shown well on the dressing table.  I've only just spotted the shaped mirror leant against the wall and it's the little touches like this, that made the room sets feel like proper rooms for me.

But at times I think they can be totally impractical.  The photo below sums that up perfectly - the ivy climbing into bed with you and the very pretty, but less practical bedside table - is it just me?

The room sets often challenge and push my opinions, but at times they're pushed in a direction that I don't expect to like. Take the artwork below, if you'd described the picture then I might be wary. Clearly I can see it's some kind of skull, but it's prettier than you could ever describe it, don't you think?

Lighting is something we often take for granted, and this roomset had some interesting choices.  Of the bedside lights and ceiling lights, I much prefer the bedside lights - although I'm sure I'd walk into them regularly!

And remember that mustard armchair from the inspiration post? Well I hadn't forgotten to include it, but I thought I'd save it until now so you too can fall in love with the room all over again, just like me.  It's not the obvious choice to put with the muted colours, but I really like how its turned out, don't you?

Hello February!

This post has been hanging around for a while, and I never realised I could be so patient! Today I'm sharing the first of a few months of papery loveliness, and one of my Christmas presents. I don't know about you, but I embraced all things subscription boxes for Christmas presents and while researching presents to buy, found one for my list too...

My first instalment arrived the first week of January, which goes to show just how patient I've been about sharing it all - you might remember the Happy New Year garland which I pinned un-cut-out on my noticeboard in a half-attempt at making use of back then. And that was only the paper sleeve. 

inside the box there was a tropically patterned notebook, a month card (look out for that on Instagram at some point during the month, I'm sure), and some slogan pens all brightly coloured and wrapped in zingy tissue paper.

Add to that a contrasting, plainer notebook and a handy to do pad and a matching birthday card too, and I'm all set for a colourful, and yet organised month!

THE FULL SET IN FEBRUARY'S PAPERGANG BOX BY OHH DEER

The next box has already arrived - the crazy timing of the subscription box world- and you might have already seen a peek at it on my social channels. I can't bring myself to share it all before March, because, well it feels like I'll be wishing the months away, and they already go pretty fast don't they?