Flower Power - The Temple of Flora

A book and an amazing floral inspiration. Oh the day when the whole series, framed, lines the hallway. Until then, just two in our bedroom and many happy times perusing through the rest. One of my best book purchases hands down, ever.

As the publishers say:

A stunning achievement in botanical illustration

The complete reprint of all color plates from Robert John Thornton's monumental work The Temple of Flora, first published in London in 1799. Presented as 33 loose-leaf Elephant folio-sized color prints as well as a booklet including an introduction and explanations of the botanical plates.

Magnificent, inspiring, weird, phallic, innocent and utterly fantastic.

Thought for the week - Simplicity in all things

A chair, some flowers, and something to rest your glass on...

Totally different rooms and styles, but the same principle. Both lovely, just different.

 last image from vogueliving.com.au

Books we love!

Books are very important to us in our house. It's definitely why we've built a library for here.

I'm very pleased with Penguins cloth bound versions of some of my favourites. Uplifting mentally and physically, a pleasure to read and keep forever.

Out - it's coming.

Quilts 1700-2010
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
March 20-July 4
www.vam.ac.uk

A few cushions and a surprise guest

A few pieces of loveliness, plus Lily insisted on some camera action. It's been sometime since she graced the cover of a magazine and well, once its in your blood, what can you do?

 

Floral Inspiration

This is 'Voyeur' by Michael Raedecker.Paint and thread together to create something really, very beautiful. Perfect for a winters afternoon and a font of inspiration!

Have a lovely weekend.

Moodboard - Roy McMakin

This is 'Vases about language and redemption' by Roy McMakin. Be inspired by the artwork above, as Roy has an uncanny eye for creating moods and colour palettes that excite. This image has me itching to use the following Farrow & Ball colours in a house. It needs to be a sunny house and one that leads to a garden of greenery and fruit trees to make the most of these colours - but wouldn't that be a wonderful place to live?

 

From left to right: Ointment Pink, Pointing, Teresa Green, Great White, String

Patterned textiles

For those who know me, you know it's unlikely you'll find brightly coloured walls, feature wallpaper, and statement , well, anything in our homes. 

We like real spaces where what you already own and who you are defines what your home looks and feels like, not what you're told to buy this season. Noguchi, Nana's chair and old Moroccan rug can work. What pulls it all together we think, is a calm framework and a few highlights to tie it in. One of my favorite ways (obviously) is through textiles. Use some old Ikat fabric to rustle up some cushions, some Toile de Joy for a stool, or cover your bed with Chinese silks you picked up back-packing. The images below show five very different homes. Lovely aren't they?

  

First four images from French Elle Decoration. The last is my own.

All you need is love!

The Tate last night, provided a sign I think! Today is going to be incredibly difficult for Ed & I. Whatever the outcome, we still carry on because we understand what love is, what a home is, and what is right. So today is about looking after our Haven. Tomorrow we get back to the business of helping other people with theirs.

If you can, take a stroll down the Thames and gaze at the Tate yourself - marvelously uplifting!

Floral Inspiration - looking forwards

To not dwell on the past, or especially the troubles of the present, requires all muster at times. It's a particularly tough week. However, this morning under the snowy branches I saw spring buds pushing through, proof that every does come to pass and loveliness awaits just around the corner.

I've had this image for a long time, so I'm very sorry that I can't credit it correctly .......

Beach

Three controlled sections of complicated beauty. Inspired by a very old quilt from Asia, the Beach is an opportunity to highlight tiny pieces of extraordinary fabric against more subtle pieces. This example is a combination of Japanese wool and silk, a very old gold handpainted kimono and a 1940's silk sari.

Although every quilt is different, we based them all on six different templated designs, for which I do many calculations. Our Beach is the most complicated. See below................

Yikes! 

I love this quilt - not keen on letting it go, but hey-ho....

Thought for the week

We like/love handmade at Haven. Time consuming - yes, more expensive than mass produced - yes, more in love with it and for longer, if not forever - YES.

Thanks Elle Decoration

Thank you Elle Decoration for featuring one of my quilts in the February issue. Possibly better if they didn't tell you to make one yourself, but, all press is good press..........