Sofa update

Inspired by the beauty of this sofa from Canvas, I went the vintage way and bought the below antique beauty from Ebay.

Recover in hand-dyed cotton velvet like the below

and this will be the start of a very beautiful living room...

Family

Tomorrow I launch the Breakspears Haven project. All day today I've been contacting the Press, flagelating myself at the lack of my html skills... and trying to ensure that everything is on THE list. 

And throughout the day I've been thinking about why I'm doing it. Partly to be able to redesign a home of course, but mostly because there are nine young women with nowhere to live and no family to support and surround them. Frightening enough on your own, but they also have to think about a baby. The start of their own family and an opportunity to 'wipe the slate clean', or turn towards or away from something. 

I think any form of family can be what you need, as long as you are happy, healthy, love  and are loved. For me this means adding Stan to ours. I know it's not a standard set up but we all eagerly await his homecoming and for our 'family' to be complete.

Brighton beauty

 

We're in Brighton for the next three weeks, which is lucky and lovely. We are renting a little flat right in the Lanes and if I poke my head out of the floor length windows, I can see the sea in all its glistening loveliness.

Change = rest, although the bleedin internet connection is driving me a bit mad. I can live with it though for the big skies of East Sussex, lovely food markets and people who celebrate the individual. We are definately not in Clapham now Toto! I am ignoring the presence of Primark and are focused on finding unique shops, places and people.

Where ever you live, there is an almost primal need to make it yours. When it's only briefly, some do it with candles. I do it with flowers - living, breathing beauty. I'm not proud they came from the supermarket, but I'm looking for the flower stalls trust me.

On the hunt for a sofa

Torn - that is what I feel. I know the sofa shape I would like, but you can buy it new or hunt for it in antique shops, ebay or at markets. I know what we would like it covered in - grey wool flannel - like wearing a comfy pea-coat - marvelous, and unfortunately because George Smith is out of the budget for this purchase, I truly am torn. 

It is near impossible to find the 'clean/elegant' sofa I'm looking for and I do not, repeat do not, believe in the mantra "That will do for now". That mantra means a whole lot of land-fill.

So there are two options. The first is the above sofa from sofa.com. They look better in the flesh than the website which is unusual, and they are a good price. I'm slightly uncomfortable with only a 5 year warranty..... and I'm slightly uncomfortable that I'm slightly uncomfortable. So whilst I know this sofa - lovely that it is - is waiting and available within 2 weeks - even that makes me slightly uncomfortable, I shall trek around the countryside to see if I can rescue something and put it in the hands of a skilled artisan. Keep the sofa alive and keep the upholsterer in business.

Did you follow my mental struggle there?

An (un)healthy addiction to paint charts

I am a lover of Farrow & Ball. I am also a lover of Resene of NZ and Porters of Australia. I must now add Little Greene with its relatively new Paint scales collection. It's colours have pipped F & B on a house project. Historically based colours, full of pigment and super matt so that you feel like the walls are almost three dimensional. Beautiful colours that let books and art and people hold centre stage. I'll be using the below colours...

Pale, humble and happy.

And to continue my childhood addiction, I only took 5 colour charts. A table full of paint charts spread out is pure therapy...... I think I even giggled!

Inspiration for a house project

Time to walk away from the emails and pick up a pencil.

Do something nice this weekend - lots of new lovely books coming in this month, plums are dying to be put in a free-form pastry pie, there is liquor to be consumed with a friend somewhere, and a lovely big walk with the dog. Perhaps a rummage in Notting Hill tomorrow.

Sound good?

Walking the walk

At last, at last, we have bought a house. Not a big house, but a house, that the minute I walked in, I felt good. Yes it needs work..... but it has all the things I believe in. Light, a happy face, a garden big enough for Lily and space for everyone in our family.

So now, rather than just espousing thoughts on what Haven's are, maybe I'll be able to show you. Of course, you may not like my version, but that's fine too because home is a deeply personal thing.

A myriad of ideas to finish the week with......

He's finally made it. A cabinet for many occasions - kitchen, bathroom, office. Antique pine which we have painted in our favourite Farrow & Ball ( oh to create a paint range.... ) Black. He's available in the shop now...

On to more serious pursuits

Sitting on a bench being idle.....

 There is something extraordinarily restorative in sitting on a bench doing nothing. In summer, a g & t and nothing on your mind. Now that we head into Autumn, a cup of tea and a four legged friend catching some afternoon sun. 

The above is a (terrible) shot of my garden in NZ. A resting spot between furious gardening episodes, or a place for cake with my mum, or a drink and chat with friends. At best though, sitting, doing nothing with my aged pussycat wrapping herself around my legs and two doggies lying in the sun. These are happy days.

Snapping to it, I wondered why I had planted rhubarb amongst the lavender and perennials...... 

Nature knows best

Who was it that said - if all else fails you, turn to nature to be your colour guide? Mother Nature is a very smart lady. She would never put things together that didn't work. As the season is changing, look how the flowers are drained of colour, autumn fruits are ripening and the bleached seed-heads, all work together to create beautiful, restful palettes. 

 The above pictures are from our last visit to Kelmscott. A simply magical afternoon.

Surfaces that make you feel great!

We have five (six really) senses, all equally important. At home, when we touch, we connecting with our surroundings. Seeing is often a detached viewpoint - an observation, whereas touching creates hopefully good sensations. It calms our minds and makes us happier and healthier. There are reasons laminate floors don't make you feel the same as wooden do. So, when choosing things for your home, think about not just how they look, but how they feel - the weight of a solid wooden door, the smoothness of a marble benchtop, the softness of a woven merino throw or the lovely 'handmadeness' of an old wooden stool. It isn't about throwing about lashings of cash, it's about choosing once and well.

Front Doors - the importance of...

The best way to explain how I like to create homes is the following - when you put your key in the door and push it open, you should feel good, safe, uplifted and protected - a little flutter on the insides as it were. Your front door is the first contact between you and your home. It's important it's right.

Whether that means big numbers or a bright pink door, it doesn't really matter. It should be solid, with the right amount of locks for where you live, a way of seeing out before you open it so that you can avoid 'that' jittery feeling. Lights so that you can see when your putting the key in the lock during mid-winter nights and perhaps the most important feature - a personal expression of who you are. Duck-egg blue and a french antique number plaque - excellent. Black and modernist chrome numbers - smart. Cerise and stained glass - well you can't help smile at that.

Magazines and property programmes aplenty will tell you the importance of a good first impression for re-sale. All I can tell you is that your front door (and all that lies behind it) should make your heart happy and content.

Our Haven

Do you remember me talking about creating our own haven? Well I've ransacked my storage, re-arranged, re-framed, re-purposed - you name it. Above is my old Armoire/cupboard. It was creamy, bluey-ish. Now its painted 'Railings' from Farrow & Ball, interior eggshell for the perfect level of low-sheen. We're very happy now.

Wait till you see the rest!

PS: How can you not love Ed when he loves a quilt with a substantial amount of pink in it and red floral cushions on his bed... seriously. He loves it.....

The dilemna of a bedside table....

When I go to bed, I usually travel with tea and maybe a book or two, a magazine or three, pen, pad....... get the picture? Well, on my mission to embrace our flat and make it our haven, well the bedside tables weren't right for me. I like symmetry in homes, because it's more restful and easier on the eye. We had two different tables, different heights, different sizes. And worst of all, mine allowed me to keep adding to the pile described above.

So in a bedroom with a vintage silk quilt, antique danish wardrobe, modern art, barkcloth cushions and black metal windows, I went for the above. Two lovely, blackened brass indian tables. Eds has a lamp and a tiny brass pig on it. I have a bit more...... a picture that is dear to me, my glass koru, two special boxes I've had for years, and the first vase I bought when I arrived back in London. It's currently sporting a rose Ed stole for me whilst walking Lily late at night.....

Happy is - not too much stuff, but just enough to feel secure when you go to sleep.

PS: For once I bought new... the tables are from here.

A little bit of press

One day you turn 40, and then the next day ( literally ), you get called hip..... Youth really is wasted on the young.......

A little bit of press this month from Time Out, Red and Selvedge. Super.....

Some piccies from our contemporary quilting class

Such fun. 

We have one space left for May 9th, and a new class on June 6th. Book here!

For the love of lampshades...

At our show on Sunday, the beauties above, well, they just flew out the door, along with many of the other lampshades we created.

So, lampshades will become a full-time member of the family.

Antique silks, lined in hand-dyed silk. Lovely and so much fun to play with. We'll be making more and putting them up on our website in the next few weeks along with a whole raft of cushions.

PS: our first quilting class at The Papered Parlour is FULL! Never fear, a second class is scheduled for May 9th.

Come visit!

At the last minute.... oh lordy.... we have taken a tiny (and somewhat challenging) space at Mid Century Modern, this Sunday. Come along, see the kinds of quilts we make, and .... audible gasp.... delightful lampshades and cushions. Antique silks, Organic hand-dyed silks and velvets. It sounds lovely, fingers crossed it looks like how I have it in my head.

Apologies also for sporadic posts. back to normal on Monday!

A bath, a bath, a kingdom for my bath (and a glass of delicious pinot gris)

 

Besides making quilts,getting ready for a show and a new class to teach, I'm helping set up the new Anthropologie store in Chelsea, London. A short cycle ride from home and a very early start - these are actually good things in my book.

Today - sewing, painting, sanding and sourcing props in Spitalfields - nothing more can be said.......

Tonight - new designs for a show that is 2 1/2 weeks away.

Wine anyone? 

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!