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Fashion Guest blogs Interiors Lifestyle Uncategorized

Interior style v catwalk style

Should your home be flowery, just because your dress is?

It’s nearly July and dedicated fashionistas will be turning their attentions to Autumn & Winter’s styles; their Summer wardrobes picked out months ago.  But does it follow that, to be truly in vogue, what’s hot on the High Street should be reflected in your home?

Floral ‘14 – various designers interpret this year’s trend

A hallmark of Spring / Summer ’14 has been the rebirth of flower power; maybe not as brash as in its ‘60s heyday but, nevertheless, livelier than Jerry and Margot’s chaise longue! With floral patterns set to continue through Autumn & Winter, does your home décor need to echo that flowery dress?

Should interior design mimic clothing styles?

Perhaps the main difference between interiors and clothing is the fleeting nature of sartorial style. Before the High Street has a chance to catch up, leading designers have moved on to next season’s looks. We do our best to keep our wardrobes in check, but to extend that through the home would be a major undertaking – both practically and financially.

This bathroom design reflects current pastel and floral trends

Clothes and interiors do share a similar function though. We dress ourselves and our homes as an expression of our personality. We’re unlikely to wear something that feels uncomfortable, just as we might not choose to paint our walls neon yellow – even if it was the season’s colour.

Clothing designers present a collection of styles, from which we select the elements that suit us best. A three quarter length coat might drown a petite frame, but its monochrome colour scheme could be just your cup of tea.

Various uses of monochrome – it’s not all black and white!

Good design always suits its era. ‘40s and ‘50s styles were built around post-war austerity, innocence and traditionalism. Modest wooden furniture and window blinds characterised interiors, while clothes were utilitarian, simple, and chic.

Film stars, Fred MacMurray and Doris Day, demonstrate simple 1940’s elegance

Designers in the ‘60s were pushing boundaries – colours and shapes were brighter and bolder, and the materials used were at the forefront of technology. People were excited about space travel and psychedelics, and metals and plastics were used in futuristic ways. At the same time, the hippy movement took us back to the earth, with flowers and natural materials the order of the day.

1960s style experiments with colour, shape, texture, and materials. Rama CC-BY-SA-2.0-fr (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en), via Wikimedia Commons

The ‘70s maintained this split personality. Experimentation was taken to overblown proportions, but equally balanced by subtle, Scandinavian minimalism.

The bold patterns worn by these models in the early 70s were at odds with the restrained minimalism of this Scandinavian interior design. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-L0902-114 / Ulrich Häßler / CC-BY-SA 3.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en), via Wikimedia Commons

The number of styles covered over these few decades show how quickly fashion develops from one trend to the next; the constantly changing seasons only helping to spur it on.

Interior design changes at a naturally slower pace. It’s like a go-to outfit that you change-up by varying its accessories. Imagine deciding on an outfit that you had to wear for the foreseeable future. The same kind of thought is involved in designing interiors but, fortunately, we can turn to stylists who are in tune with the zeitgeist!

Trends are a great thing for keeping us on our toes, but it’s what we choose to do with them that truly shows personality – and makes fashion and interiors such an exciting area of work.

With thanks to
www.interiorgoodsdirect.com
for this guest blog

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Fashion Home staging UK Interiors Lifestyle Property Uncategorized

#dressingrooms #interiors #property #styling #style #dailymail

My original replies on my thoughts on dressing rooms
some of which has appeared in the Daily Mail interiors feature on Dressing Rooms below

To me, there’s something very luxurious and glamorous about having a dressing room – do you agree? Why do you think it is? Is it our associations with showbiz etc?
Dressing rooms have an association with celebrity, glamour and 50’s style old-school Hollywood glamour in particular.

To have a dressing room also means that you are affluent or successful enough to own a large selection of clothes and accessories and also to have enough space in your home to be able to create the dressing room which is not a necessity but a luxury.

Have you worked with clients to create dressing rooms at all? Have you noticed an increase in demand?
All my female clients would like a dressing area- or a whole dressing room so that they have a separate space for their clothes to their husbands or partners. Usually I find that the man’s wardrobe space and indeed many of the wardrobes around the home have been overtaken by the wife’s clothes/shoes/coats/evening dresses etc
I created a weekly column in a magazine, quite a few years ago now, when I was regularly styling celebrities, “in the closet with….”
It was an interesting insight into the world of celebrity and how, what and where they stored their clothes….

Are dressing rooms just for very big homes/ very wealthy clients – or can they be achieved on a budget?
My whole Interior/property styling business/ethos is to create an aspirational lifestyle for my clients on the budget they can afford- however small- (cerilcampbell.com)
There are always ways of creating the look/the dressing-room/the living space you want within your budget. Its about thinking outside the box.
This is my forte.
Making the inexpensive appear expensive, and the simple look luxurious.

Have you seen or worked on any examples where space has been used creatively in this regard – for instance, a cupboard being turned into a dressing room?
yes- with clever use of room dividers, dressing areas in bathrooms, in corridors, walk-through wardrobes, walk-in wardrobes. Borrowing space from the room next door, creating a dividing area between bedroom and bathroom. Anything is possible with creativity,

What to you makes the ultimate dressing room? How can you combine practicality and luxury?
Firstly mirrors
You would be surprised how few clients have long mirrors to see how they look- (many try never to look in a mirror at all)
and mirrors to see your backview too.
Hanging space that creates logical storage and easy access to the clothes to be worn in the current weather/season.
Ie;Summer clothes in the Summer and Winter in the Winter and the rest to be stored.
rails high enough for long clothes and enough shelving for folded clothes, accessories and shoes.
My top tip is plastic or acrylic shoe boxes which can be stacked and you can see what shoes you have. I have changed many a clients life with these!
Its all about organisation

It has been said that a dressing room can add value to a property – are they quite a savvy investment in this way?
I would say that a stylish kitchen and bathroom add the most wow factor and value to a property, but I think that its often women who may help sway the decision to buy a property, so a dressing room would always be a plus point for us.Bit like Carrie in Sex and the City when she was going to get a flat with Mr Big- the flat had a walk-in closet where she could put all her shoes!

With the difficult housing market, have you noticed a trend for people making modifications to their home instead of moving/ selling – as a sort of more affordable treat?
Absolutely, especially as it is often cheaper to modify than move and also will add value.

Is it necessary to undergo serious building/ structural works to create a dressing room or can it be done more easily?
Are there any recent developments – hotels, blocks of flats, etc – which have featured dressing rooms in a way you have admired?
Dressing rooms I admire
see my board on pinterest ( ceril campbell)- “dressing room” board

Finally, any top tips for our readers looking to create a dressing room on a budget?
Find from the High st/online/charity shops/car boots etc
the following
Boxes
stack various sized attractive boxes/vintage suitcases/hatboxes for storage
arrange accessories/bags/jewellery to hang from hooks on walls
source a vintage or 2nd hand dressing table to renovate/paint/decorate to fit your dressing room theme.
find a chair or chaise longue that will make a statement in the room- maybe to re-cover with a new fabric.
A glamorous statement chandelier style light- loving the ones I have just seen at BHS press day for autumn/winter 2014
Fake or real fur cushions/rugs/throws( according to your preference)
any cushions or fabrics which are tactile and appear sexy and lush
Coloured rails for clothes

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Home staging UK Interiors Lifestyle Property

#interiors #curtains #style #windows #property

I thought it would be really useful to share this informative guest blog entry with you on stylish curtains and window dressing, and the best ways to make curtains work in your property.

Accessorising Curtains with Holdbacks and Tiebacks

Curtains are available in almost limitless variations of shape, size, colour, pattern and texture. Particular attention should be paid to your choice of curtain, since they can add huge value to a room’s character and essence. For those who opt out of investing in traditional shades or blinds for more intricately designed curtains, curtain accessories are a practical yet decorative way on holding back curtains for display purposes over general everyday use.

 

For some, a tieback is an afterthought, something that is not well considered since they can often be seen as boring and ordinary. This doesn’t have to be the case, they can also have fabulous designs which can enhance the look of the home’s interior and allow more light to flow into the home. As well as being extremely useful, tiebacks themselves come in many shapes and forms; ropes, hooks, rings and ties all offer something different for your window dressings.

The right curtain holdback can make the difference between an exciting window dressing and a drab one. There are many options available – no matter the budget – and it is often a case of doing research into your theme to find what has worked well previously.

So, what are the options?

Wooden Holdbacks

These holdbacks generally work well in rooms with a country or rustic theme. Usually they are either purchased unfinished to allow consumers to decorate accordingly or finished with a desired colour to enhance a room theme to help enhance a colour or style . Wooden Holdbacks enable the consumer to either holdback or loop curtains into a desired position. These are often chosen as they are free from adornments, easy to install and use.  These particular holdbacks have a hand-turned or machine-turned finish, giving a muted elegance.

Metal Holdbacks

These can be directly screwed into the wall next to a curtain and can protrude five or six inches. The holdbacks these days are made from a wide range of metals – from brass, silver or steel to chrome and iron, often varying in price depending on the value of the metal, design and finish. These metal fixtures come with straight or swivelled stems and are often etched with ornate designs. Metal holdbacks are becoming increasingly popular as they provide a sleek profile that works well with contemporary curtains and are easy to install.

Fabric Tiebacks

The most popular and traditional tieback are made of fabric. They are used all over the world because they are cheap to buy, easy to install and can hold back heavier drapes. The traditional fabric tiebacks are frequently braided and include fringe tassels. This style is commonly used in formal dining rooms and receiving areas, where an air of decadence is often desired. More often than not they will be ropes or pieces of large patterned fabric.

 

Homemade Tiebacks

In recent years the frugal fraternity have created some innovative and interesting homemade curtain tiebacks in a bid to save money. Many of these homemade tiebacks incorporate household products, jewellery, napkin rings, floors, teddies, bandannas, old rags and clothes. There are thousands of homemade tiebacks online, so if you feel that a unique tieback is what you need for a theme just type into Google “Homemade curtain tiebacks” or take a look at this article on the 10 Creative Ways to Use Household Items As Curtain Hardware.

As you can tell there is no one-size-fits-all solution and households have the opportunity to invest in tiebacks that will not only do the job it was made for but will enhance and add to a theme as well. If you ever struggle selecting one please do ask an interior specialist, the last thing you want to do is mess up all the hard work that has gone in to decorating and creating a theme.

This post was contributed by Karl Young, a DIY and interior enthusiast on behalf of Poles Direct, a leading UK online supplier and manufacturer of high quality curtain poles and accessories, including a wide range of curtain holdbacks and tiebacks.

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Home staging UK Interiors Lifestyle Property Uncategorized

#interiors #styling #property #metallics #dailymail

An Interiors feature in the Daily Mail on the Metallics trend and how to work it into your own home design.
It is simple to take a fashion or interiors trend and try it out as an accent or accessory rather than full-on straight away.
Reflective metallic fabrics, wallpapers and accessories can create opulence and luxury
whilst metals such as copper used in lighting, bathrooms and kitchens can work brilliantly in urban industrial style interiors.

I personally love mixing up textures and styles- smooth with rough, shiny with matte.
It creates a more interesting style in a home.

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Guest blogs Interiors Lifestyle Property

Simplifying #woodflooring #interiors #style #property

Natural wood is a stylish flooring solution that can suit many interiors. If you are considering natural wood, you will soon come across technical terms that may appear to complicate the process, unless help is at hand. In this guide we aim to explain your options, should you decide to venture in the direction of natural wood during your next interior design project.

Types Of Wood Flooring

Types such as natural, solid, engineered, wood effect and others often come across confusing. Your first decision is deciding as to the most suitable type based on your project’s requirements.

Solid Wood – Floorboards of the solid type are made from 100% natural wood. When clients first think of wood flooring, the solid type is often the only one they are aware of. The solid type suits most surroundings, unless fitted in damp or humid areas. In such areas, the likes of which are the kitchen or bathroom areas, natural wood may expand when the temperature rises and contract when the temperature drops. Overtime, this instability can damage the wood.

Engineered Wood – Floorboards of the engineered type are made from 10% to 25% natural wood placed on a core of MDF, Plywood and even Softwood. The first visible layer typically 3mm to 6mm thick is made from the same natural wood as used in the solid type, though the bulk of the floorboard is made from alternative matters. This combination of materials means that an engineered floorboard can be fitted across the entire project, even in damp or humid areas and even on top of under floor heating.

Wood Effect, Laminate and Vinyl – These floorboards are made from synthetic materials such as wood fibers, plastic and even recycled materials. They contain no natural wood, but made to look similar to wood by copying visuals such as sapwood, grain markings, knots and colour. Wood effect, laminate and vinyl are substantially more affordable than real wood flooring, therefore in certain circumstances such as when the floor is to be laid on a tight budget, they are worth considering.

Colour Of Wood Flooring

After deciding on the type, comes the creative part of deciding on colour. In most circumstances, wood flooring comes in shades of golden honey. When clients come across colours such as white wood flooring, dark and even bold black they are often amazed at this outcome. In truth, over the years manufactures developed techniques to colour the floorboards to make them suitable in a greater number of projects.

White Wood Flooring – These solid and engineered white flooring are exceptionally popular in recent years. Each floorboard is painted over using diluted white paint and therefore referred to as white washed wood.

Dark Wood Flooring – These solid and engineered dark flooring are exceptionally popular in heavy footfall areas as they hide daily wear better. Using an industrial oven, the wood is baked and therefore often referred to as thermo treated wood.  Depending on the length of the process, the outcome can be dark wood or even solid black.

Bold Colours – Grey, yellow and even red can be achieved. Your interior designer will know what is available and the best means to procure your desired colour.

Wood Flooring Texture

The last considering after choosing type and colour, again takes a creative form.  Texture refers to the look, feel, appearance, or consistency of the wood flooring surface.

Together with colour, the look of each floorboard is also determined by grade. In its natural state, wood contains features such as sapwood, knots, grain markings and colour fluctuations. Premium grades such as Prime and Select present a uniform look in which these natural features are toned down. Country and rustic grades are the basic grades in which sapwood, knots, grain markings and colour fluctuations are widely present. It is a matter of personal taste, some people prefer a uniform look, others more rural.

The feel and appearance is traced back to your choice of coating. Coating is a chemical layer that is applied to reduce wear and tear. It comes in the form of oil or lacquered material. Oil finish wood flooring creates a smooth matt finish feel, while lacquered finish wood flooring creates a slightly textured surface, and in some cases a glossy finish. Again, it is a matter of personal taste.

We hope this handy guide has helped clarify your options. Contact interior stylist Ceril Campbell to discuss your project requirements.

Written by Jonathan Sapir, managing director of  WoodandBeyond Ltd

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Home staging UK Interiors Lifestyle Uncategorized

#styling #bathrooms #cloakrooms #ensuitebathrooms #homestaging #London

The following photos of bathroom, cloakroom, and en-suite master bathroom are all part of an empty London property that I interior styled for a client who is selling his house.
Home staging a large London house for around £20,000 that may go on the market for around £2-£3 million, can often increase the selling price by much as £100,000, as it offers prospective buyers a view of an aspirational lifestyle within the property.

The ground floor cloakroom, although the smallest room in a house, is a very important room

I added an interesting stylish mirror, and a small grey circular table on which to place hand towels and lovely smelling White Company hand lotions and soaps.

Its often the smallest details that attract interest

The view of the master en-suite bathroom into the bedroom.
His and hers luxurious chunky oversized white towelling dressing gowns add interest to the doorway into the bedroom.

The master bathroom has generously sized floor towels, piles of strategically placed and carefully folded bath towels and hand towels, fake plants and White Company soaps and lotions. These styling touches together with candles, grouped on the side of the bath suggest that the prospective buyers will have a lovely room to relax in at the end of the day.

The family bathroom has the same neutral colour scheme as the rest of the house, as this bathroom is also shared by the 2 guest bedrooms.

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#kidsrooms #property #london #interiors #styling #homestaging


I styled and home staged this empty room into a colourful and fun kids bedroom in my clients’ London house.
One of the important criteria was to show that the bedroom space could fit 2 single beds, as often prospective property buyers aren’t able to imagine an empty space and how the furniture might fit into it,

 This is an alternative view of the bedroom

This is the bedroom after styling


The red and yellow colours of the bedroom were inspired by the vintage Mickey and Minnie prints I found on Portobello Road. The pretty flower print and gingham bedsheets were from White Company. I added small touches like kids toys and books scattered on the shelving and a wooden bike and added a vintage car outside the bedroom on the landing.

 

Next to the kid bedroom was a small room which could have been transformed into a nursery with a cot or a kids study. I chose to make it into the kids study.


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#bedrooms #london #property #homestaging #interiors #styling

This is the 2nd smaller guest bedroom in the recent London property I homestaged. The room space lent itself to a small 4’6″ double bed to keep the bedroom still feeling spacious.

This is the view of the room before styling.

I removed the short curtains as I felt they added nothing to the room.
I chose neutral taupe shades for the bedroom accessories, softened by blue accessories, blue flowers and touches of blue in the artwork which created a softer, less masculine feel to the room.

here is a closer view of some of the styling details on the bedside tables and bed.





 

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#bedrooms #homestaging #property #styling

My American client’s empty Fulham house had 5 bedrooms to homestage, style, creating a lifestyle to help sell the house at its optimum price as quickly as possible. The master bedroom was on the top floor (see earlier blog posting) with 4 bedrooms of varying sized on the 1st floor.

I turned this bedroom into the main guest bedroom as it was large enough to comfortably fit a king size bed.

I called this my world traveller guest bedroom due to the Globetrotter vintage trunk and artwork.


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Home staging UK Interiors Lifestyle

#interiors #styling #homestaging #london #property #bedrooms

This is how the master bedroom of my clients Fulham house, looked when it was empty before I styled it to sell. Home-staging the property to create an aspirational lifestyle, can increase selling price and decrease selling time.
The bedroom is very large space, big enough to fit a Superking bed and additional furniture as many buyers prefer 6ft beds in the master bedroom.

The above photo is of the bed area with a doorway on the right to the ensuite bathroom.
The photo below is of the reverse view from the bed end of the bedroom.

The next photos are the final staged views photographed in a very sunny bedroom (it must have been the only sunny day this Winter)!
I chose a light grey divan bed with a high headboard to create a statement and 2 slightly “distressed” side tables that teamed in with the Farrah and Ball-Charleston Grey paint tones on the walls. The White Company bed linen had a grey border, and I layered extra large pillows, cushions and throws to give depth, texture and interest to the bed.
Bedside lamps were tall to balance proportions, and as the room was swallowing up furniture, I added an ottoman at the foot of the bed. I chose to go more modern and minimal in my selection of both the bed and the ottoman as I felt the bedroom lent itself to that feeling, more than a button-back.

I leant the large free-standing mirror at an angle into the corner of the room and balanced the opposite corner of the room with a comfy tub-style chair and soft cable-knit cushion on it.
The room is calm and tranquil, somewhere not just to sleep, but also relax and look out through the huge glass windows at the night time sky and roof-top views.

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