Tips for decorating your home at Christmas

Christmas is only three days away!  If you haven't finished decorating your home here are some tips on preparing your home for the festive season:

1. Start the festive feel outside the front door with a Christmas wreath on the door. It's all about curb appeal!  This is a lovely welcome to anyone coming to visit.  Last year I decided to have a different sort of wreath so I bought a dried hydrangea one (see image below). This year I opted for a more traditional wreath made from fresh Norwegian spruce and decorated with real cones, dried oranges and apples to which I added some cinnamon sticks which exude a heady scent of spice.

2. Ensure you continue the Christmassy feel with a ta-dah moment once you enter the front door. I chose to do this with red Amaryllis in a tall vase and coloured lights (battery powered). 

3. Use fresh flowers and greenery in abundance.  I have a huge vintage preserving jar of holly in my hall and a large vase of scented Longi lilies in the sitting room and another in the kitchen. Don't forget poinsettias as they always create a splash of colour if you group them together. I prefer the white ones so have a couple of tiny plants which just one flower on each! 

4. You always need a pièce de résistance, a large Christmas tree. My preference is for a real tree but there's nothing wrong with an artificial one.  It needs to be placed where its beauty is maximised and can be seen from various angles and ideally reflected in a mirror.  As children we looked up at the tree so I ensure that my two sons can always look up at the tree so it needs to be taller than them - we're up to a seven and a half foot tree now!  I tend to decorate my tree in two colours rather than multi-coloured. This year it is silver and glass with pops of purple.

Decoration from The White Company

Purple cone from Designers Guild

I bought five of these beautiful sparkly stars from Petersham Nurseries this year. 

This vintage decoration is from local shop Quirky Dovetail

Another beautiful glass bauble from The White Company

5. If you have children around over Christmas make sure there are decorations that can be appreciated by children. I have a little faux tree from The White Company that I place on a table in the hall and all the decorations are geared to children.  I also have five little straw angels with musical instruments that I bought in a Christmas market in Bratislava that children love.

My snowy owl is from Jayne Copperwaite Flowers, my local florist. I have another one on the main Christmas tree.  I love the expression on his face!

This comical little felt bird is a new addition on this tree from Petersham Nurseries

I bought this rooster at Daylesford

Little felt robin from Daylesford

Petersham Nurseries

Another cute decoration from Petersham Nurseries

Little straw angel musicians from the Christmas market in Bratislava

5. Continue the festive theme by decorating your mantle pieces, stair rails, mirrors and other available surfaces.  I bought a lovely metal tree with glass tea light holders from Petersham Nurseries which I placed on my mantelpiece with sprigs of fresh spruce at its base.

These stems of faux leaves and pearls are from William Yeoward

The little metal tree with glass tea light holder that I bought this year in Petersham Nurseries

I'd love to hear how you decorate your home for Christmas so do send me some comments.  May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

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Find inspiration for Christmas at Petersham Nurseries

Hi everyone. I guess you are all frantically preparing for Christmas - decorating your homes and trying to decide what gifts to buy and what food you will eat.  I got off to a late start this year so on Friday I decided I needed some inspiration. So I headed to my favourite mecca for inspiration and soul soothing, Petersham Nurseries.  For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, I'm a sucker for Petersham and I've done quite a few blog posts on it. They are usually highly visual posts i.e. few words and loads of images, because Petersham is all about visual stimulation.  I therefore have decided that what you all need is few words and loads of gorgeous photos to feast your eyes on.  Hopefully they will inspire you on how to decorate your homes and your Christmas trees and also what gifts to buy. If you are lucky enough to live in London or the surrounding area, jump in the car and head over to Petersham.  Take a tray of coffee and cake into one of the glasshouses or a tray of lunch depending when you arrive.  Here's my coffee and delicious apple cake. Don't you just love these vintage painted distressed metal tables & chairs?

I took my new Nikon DSLR camera this time and spent three hours practising my photographic skills. I hope you are impressed with some of them; I'm very much a beginner but I'm really enjoying the learning curve!

I hope you enjoyed that.  Now it's back to the grind of lists and shopping. Bring on the festivities! 

I'd love to get some feedback from you about how you prepare your homes for Christmas so please write to me and I promise to respond!

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Learning to bond with my DSLR camera!!

Hi everyone.  Recently I purchased my first ever DSLR camera.  Don't get me wrong, my Panasonic Lumix compact camera is superb (it's 12 years' old and still in perfect working order) but I wanted something better to take photos of my clients' homes (before and after). I also am developing a real passion for photography. 

It seems that you are either a Canon person or a Nikon person.  Most people I know seem to be Canon people.  I did loads of research and then went to a very reputable camera shop, Jessops, where I probably drove the shop assistant nuts while I ummed and ahed for ages before I finally chose a Nikon D5500.  It's pretty daunting when faced with a shop full of cameras but luckily the staff at Jessops are very knowledgeable and weren't trying to influence my decision which I really appreciated.

I got the camera home and basically "stalked" it for the first few weeks as I found it quite intimidating having been used to a point-and-shoot type of camera.  Then I plucked up the courage and started to use the camera but only on Auto. It seemed to take fantastic photos on Auto but I knew I had to learn how to use it on manual or it defeated the purpose of buying it. I don't have an aversion to manuals, quite the opposite, but I found the manual terrifying!

So I bit the bullet and signed up to a four hour course through Living Social on how to use a DSLR camera.  There were 8 of us booked on the course and we met up with the tutor, Joshua Bareham,  at London'sFestival Hall on the South Bank.  As you can see from his website, he is a very talented photographer. We started off with introductions which made me realise that I wasn't the only one with little or no knowledge of how to use my camera. One lady had been given a fancy Canon by her husband and she hadn't even worked out how to turn it on!! After some basics we were outside along the South Bank by the Thames river learning how to take action shots, closeups, panoramas etc.  

I thought I'd share with you the best of the photos that I took that day. I'll let you be the judge of whether my photos are any good!  

Our tutor, Joshua Bareham, jumping so we could learn how to take action shots. I had loads of blurred photos but finally got it right .......... at least I think I did!!

I call this 'an urban puddle' !!

I was practising close-ups!

There's always a cigarette butt wherever you look !

Skateboarders are a feature of the South Bank as are the graffiti artists

Me photographing the guy photographing the graffiti artist!!

Gloomy day in London and luckily it wasn't too cold to be outside taking photos

Pedro, one of the students in the class.

Beautiful hair of one of the students

Urban pigeon !!

Using my moped helmet to practise closeups

Beautiful streetlamp

Closeup of part of the streetlamp

I'd love to hear from you if you own a DSLR and any tips you can give me on how best to use it.  Are you a Nikon or Canon person?

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Another inspiring day at Petersham Nurseries

Well, I'm not sure what season this really is as it's nearly as warm as late summer and we are already at the end of October. Talk about Indian Summer - it's last way beyond the end of September. This weather is unprecedented - warm (up to 20C) and no wind or rain. The trees are the most incredible colours, the best autumn colours in many years due to this late warmth. 

It was a stunning, sunny day up to 19C last week so I decided it was time for another pilgrimage to Petersham Nurseries which is one of the most inspiring places in London for me.  I get trigger happy with both my iPhone camera andmy compact Panasonic camera as there are so many beautiful things to photograph.  The shop displays are styled so well and the use of plants and flowers in the styling is superb.

And of course the food in the cafe is wonderful so my friend and I arrived in time for morning coffee and a huge slab of cake, browsed the gardens, glasshouses and shop for two hours and then returned to the cafe for a tray of lunch dishes to share. 

I've decided to devote most of this blog post to images, a veritable optical feast.  Most of the images speak for themselves.  I hope you derive as much pleasure and enjoyment from the images as I did seeing everything in person.  There's lots to learn about styling in the home from these images so take note!!

I'll start with a selection of photos of how they styled some of the public spaces - the cafe where you queue to get your food, the loos (!) and the glasshouses where you can take your food on trays to eat. 

Trough of plants on the counter in the cafe. Did you notice the lovely white French soup bowls on the shelf behind?

My friend Nick in the glasshouse where we were having coffee and cake.  I am not a lover of marigolds but a terracotta pot of them on the table looked gorgeous

These gems of vintage framed prints are actually in one of the loos!!!  I so want to have them in my house!!!!

This beautiful trough of plants is outside the loos to welcome you! Look at the stunning mix of greens including the silvery greens and the way they complement each other and work so well with the purple violas

An urn of my favourite combination of colours - purple and orange - which sits in the glasshouse where you can sit and eat

This is a Plectranthus and was grown from three tiny plants back in May !!!  It is absolutely beautiful

The zinc-topped tables in the glasshouses are beautifully and simply styled with a mixture of plants, cut flowers and a few Halloween pumpkins. See also next two images

Note the cyclamen plant at the bottom of the image. Its cleverly been wrapped in sphagnum moss and chicken wire. Very effective.

Another group of images follows:

This is the garden where they grow vegetables for the kitchen and also some of the flowers used to decorate the restaurant and glasshouses

Ginormous lemons growing in a tub!!

The most enormous dahlia flower in their gardens.

These are the gorgeous rustic vintage tables and chairs that they have in the glasshouses and outside where you can sit and eat

I love these mini carafes that they use to serve a glass of wine (really equivalent to two glasses!)

I bought these two small Heucherella Tapestry plants and a red one also (separate image)

The other Heucherella that I bought. Isn't the colour amazing?

Clever display of plants which are wrapped in Sphagnum moss and chicken wire or twine to hold the soil and moss in place.

And the most mouth-watering photos I'll leave until last - the shop which is my favourite part of the whole Petersham experience. Check out the vintage chandeliers, they absolutely gorgeous.  It is so beautifully styled and full of items/objects that I covet. I never leave empty handed!

A wall of Christmas decorations

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Inspirations from Design Week (Sept15)

Hi everyone. The last two weeks have been manic, firstly there was Design Week in London so I was absorbed in Decorex 2015 and Focus 2015, I had a "significant" birthday which involved organising a dinner for 45 of my closest friends and family. Then on Monday I came down with a bout of 'flu.  All in all, pretty busy two weeks but no excuse really as I should be able to squeeze in an hour to write a blog post, you are probably thinking!  Anyway, here's a visual feast for you from Design Week to stimulate your creative juices!!

First up, Focus 2015 at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour.  It's twice a year and an intense week of visiting the showrooms and chatting about any new launches or just generally catching up and usually over a drink and nibbles (better not to drive!). I also attended a talk by the wonderful India Hicks who took us through a visual feast of slides from her new book Island Style  I am always drawn to the floral displays as they are spectacular. My friend Jayne Copperwaite Flowers .  Here are some of them

Turquoise and White Theme

Stunning white delphiniums

Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam showroom

Sanderson and Zoffany Showroom

Sanderson and Zoffany showroom

Pierre Frey showroom

Fantastic display of gladioli

View from Pierre Frey showroom

This is a wonderful view but soon to be ruined by a building on the site right in front of the window

GP&J Baker Showroom

Beautiful flowers by Jayne Copperwaite Flowers

GP&J Baker Showroom

Beautiful flowers by Jayne Copperwaite Flowers

Colefax & Fowler showroom - flowers by my friend Jayne Copperwaite Flowers

Beautiful flowers by Jayne Copperwaite Flowers. Don't you just love the rosehips and crab apples?

Porta Romana Showroom

I couldn't resist a photo of these stunning lights

India Hicks giving a talk about her new book, Island Style. 

The following day, my friend and I headed for Decorex 2015 which was being held in the grounds of Syon Park again this year. For those of you who don't know what it is, Decorex is internationally renowned for being THE event to discover the very best and most coveted products from a collection of 400 hand-selected exhibitors. Here are some of my favourite photos that I took on the day. A veritable optical feast.  Enjoy and be inspired!!

Mineheart eclectic light with tiny chandelier inside

Mineheart eclectic light with tiny chandelier inside

Mineheart wallpaper and light

Harlequin London exquisite tableware

Love this sputnik shard chandelier from Charles Burnand Lighting

Temple & Ivy lights which are based on Indian and African birds

Temple & Ivy lights which are based on Indian and African birds

Temple & Ivy lights which are based on Indian and African birds

Vervloet Belgium - funky door handle!

Beautiful lighting from Pooky

Beautiful archway of flowers in the foyer at Decorex

Inside the arch of flowers

Amazing alabaster lights

Volevatch - incredible and enchanting handmade and hand painted bathrooms with the wow factor!!

Love this shower from Volevatch

and there's me, queen of the shower!!

Phew, a lot of photos but I hope you enjoyed them.

I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog so do get in touch.

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Are you a passionate collector?

Hi everyone.  Last week was manically busy - working hard but also very exciting as I bought my first ever grown-up camera - a DSLR !!  I've had a compact Panasonic Lumix for 11 years which I've used to take all the photos, including those on my blog, and frankly it's a pretty amazing little camera. It's never let me down and the quality of the photos is superb.  I'd prefer to buy another Panasonic as they have the most fantastic Leica lenses but they don't (yet) make DSLRs, just Bridge cameras.   In the DSLR range there are really only two brands to consider, Canon and Nikon, and from what I understand you are either a Canon person or a Nikon person.  I'm neither, I remain brand agnostic and am more influenced by price and reviews.  I ended up buying a Nikon (D5500) so I guess I'm now a Nikon girl!!  So I've been stalking my new camera for four days now as it sits on the kitchen table, quite intimidated by it.  I've managed to charge it and take a couple of pics but that's about it.  I need to bite the bullet, read the manual and start to use it.  Enough of that, this blog post is supposed to be about collecting items so here goes!

Do you have a passion for a particular type of item and are amassing a collection?  For example, a type of china, all things "owl" related, teddy bears (hope not!), glassware, mirrors ....... the list is endless.

Some people collect a certain type of china.  The photos below are the home of a florist who (obviously) collects Wade china vases.  She has cleverly, to great effect, made a feature of them in a living room and also in one of the bathrooms. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

By nature I'm neither a hoarder nor a collector but I do adore mirrors and have over 15 mirrors in my home so technically that could class me as a collector, no?!  Recently I've developed a love of small vintage tins and whenever I see one that I like, I buy it.  Currently I only have six tins and I don't plan to avidly search them out just to add to the collection as and when I find them.  I usually pick them up in junk shops, second hand shops or markets and the rustier the better.  I've never parted with more than £22 for a tin and that's in a shop; if I am at a market or junk shop I can buy them for a couple of quid.

I'm all for collecting items but I think it's really important to display them in such a way that they become part of your interior styling, rather than just build up a clutter of them on a shelf to gather dust or in a cupboard where you can't see them.  I'm also very practical by nature and a time management freak so I use most of these vintage tins for storing useful items like pen, paper, reading glasses, TV remote, stapler, post-its etc.  The pretty tin on the pile of books (makeshift side table!) next to the chair I sit in to watch TV is particularly useful. Means I don't have to get up to find a pen and paper if I suddenly have a brain wave which often happens when I'm watching some mind-numblingly boring programme on TV! And being of a certain age where my eye sight is no longer perfect, if I can fit a pair of glasses in the tin all the better so they are strategically placed in each room, hidden in a tin where possible, so out of sight. 

Here are the vintage tins I currently have.  They may not appeal to everyone but I love the age of them, the old-fashioned design and subtle colours. The larger ones are old biscuit tins. They certainly don't make such beautiful biscuit tins these days, do they?  Anyway, here are my tins and how I've used them as part of my interior styling.

I'd love to hear about what items you are passionate about and that you collect - what quantities you have, how you store or display them, where you find them to buy etc.  Do let me know and I'm sure my subscribers would enjoy reading about your collections.  I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog.

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Flowers flowers flowers!!

Hi everyone.  I wanted to tell you about last Friday morning as I had a really lovely thing happen to me. My local florist and friend, Jayne Copperwaite Flowers sent me a text message to say she had a lot of flowers left over from a photo shoot and would I like to come and help myself.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  How kind and generous of her is that?! .Thank you so much Jayne.

All of the flowers!

Can you believe that I managed to get all of these home on my little moped?!!

As most of you know, I am a qualified florist and worked as a florist for two years when I first came to London back in the late 70s.  I also help out at Jayne's shop when she has a busy period.  I just love being back in a florist shop surrounded by the heady scents and colours of flowers and plants.

Anyway, I whizzed around to Jayne's shop on Friday morning on my moped and scooped up as many flowers as I could comfortably fit on my moped.  The flowers were all pretty pastel colours.  My kitchen suddenly transformed into a florist's workroom when I laid out the flowers on my kitchen table. I  thought you might enjoy seeing how I styled each room with the flowers.

As an interior decorator I think it's so important to have flowers and/or plants in a room. It's a good way to add pops of colour and different textures to an interior.  It's an integral part of my room styling for clients; I always encourage clients to include something live in their rooms.  I love pots of herbs in the kitchen. Some flowers work better than others in a kitchen, for example, I'm not a fan of roses, orchids or other formal flowers in a kitchen, rather more country-style flowers.  A sitting room, dining room or hallway are perfect spaces to use more formal flowers or formal flower arrangements. I've labelled each photo so you can see in which room I placed each vase.  Enjoy them and hopefully be inspired!

Hall table

I've placed these pale orange roses in front of a 60s vintage print and a large red vintage Christmas bauble.

These roses were very long stemmed but they last so much better if you cut them very short and cram them into a vase with a narrow neck

Kitchen

I've filled some of my vintage bottles with these tiny spray chrysanthemums in front of a Victorian fan light that has had mirror put in it  The pop of colour is provided by the vintage Indian wooden cow! 

Kitchen

This vase sits on a vintage painted cabinet that I use for my work.  Another of my favourite flowers is Alchemilla (Lady's Mantle) and I love the way the lime green of the Alchemilla complements these soft pinks.

Kitchen

On my Annie Sloan painted sideboard I placed this vintage Hungarian enamel container with soft pink heather

Guest bedroom

More of the mini chrysanthemums crammed into a sweet little glass vase on my grandmother's silver tray in the guest bedroom.  I love yellow as a pop of colour in this room which is predominantly turquoise as you can see from the chest of drawers they are sitting on which painted in Annie Sloan 'Provence' 

Sitting room

Delphiniums are one of my favourite flowers. They merit being given a lot of space around them for maximum impact so I've placed them on the desk behind the sofa.  Aren't they beautiful?

My bedroom

These divine pink roses were crying out for a vintage setting so what better than in my favourite vintage vase and placed on this gorgeous little vintage chair. The satin fabric on the chair is the original and I was loathe to remove it as it is so beautiful.  The wall colour in my bedroom is Farrow and Ball 'Teresa's Green' which is a very calming yet fresh & cheerful colour.

Hall

And lastly, this vase of flowers in a vintage glass jug is placed in the hall on my vintage metamorphic chair  as I think the chair offsets them so well. Not the most practical place to have flowers but hey, a sacrifice I made in the name of beauty!!

SEEKING STYLE INSPIRATION?

If you’re working on your own home decorating project, need help with your outside space, home staging if you are about to put your home on the market or just some de-cluttering/organising techniques, please get in touch and see how I can help. I always offer an initial free consultation with no obligation; if you would like to book one, email or call me.

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You might also like to read previous blog posts about flowers in the home

Route marching around Richmond Park with a friend

Apologies for not having posted anything for a couple of weeks; I've had my dear friend Jill Neame staying with me from my home town, Christchurch (NZ). She comes to stay each year for five years (this is year 2) to walk another section of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route in Spain.  She needs to get some serious walking practice during her two week stay in London so it's a great opportunity to see London on foot and to get some more exercise.  I am always surprised how much more you see when you walk - I'm used to zipping around London on my 50cc Vespa moped or getting exercise by jogging around Tooting Common opposite my house!

I also had some painful surgery on my thumb nail on 29th May and have spent the last 10 days with a fat bandage on my thumb and my arm in a sling for the first four days to relieve the pressure so typing on my laptop has been nigh impossible! You don't realise how much you need/use your thumb until you can't use it.  I had to get Jill to wash my hair, attach my necklaces, chop vegetables ..... but I could unscrew the top of a wine bottle!!!  

Both Jill and I had wedding invites (hers last w/e and mine in July) so here we are modelling our new hats from Petersham Nurseries - these gorgeous Italian made hats made from 70% straw, are just perfect, not too formal and just enough flippancy to counter any formal attire!!

The first day of Jill's visit we decided to route march around Richmond Park. I'd visited the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park a few weeks ago (Bedazzled by Colour) to see the spectacular azaleas and rhododendrons but I wasn't disappointed when we visited the Plantation again, despite the azaleas being well past their best; on the contrary I found their faded glory much more appealing.  You have to forgive me for yet another blog post on Richmond Park; it never ceases to inspire and enthral.  It's hard to believe you are actually just outside the centre of London and if the planes weren't on the flight part to Heathrow airport which crosses the edge of Richmond Park, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the countryside. Entering from Roehampton Gate, the first thing you notice are the deer which is always such a wonderful sight of peace and tranquillity.  Sometimes a deer will saunter into the road and all the traffic has to stop while all the other deer decide to follow suit. They definitely have their right of way!!

Unusual bark

After route marching around Richmond Park and the Isabella Plantation, we returned to Petersham Nurseries for a much-needed cup of tea and slice of cake

White wisteria over outside seating area at Petersham

Petersham's vegetable garden

Petersham's vegetable garden

Belted Galloway Cattle in the Water Meadows

See subsequent posts for further route marching around London !!

SEEKING STYLE INSPIRATION?

If you’re working on your own home decorating project and looking for some inspiration, please get in touch and see how I can help.

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