Heritage looks

Decorating with Old English Charm

Betty has asked me to put together a design scheme for her winter drawing room based around an English eccentric theme.

Winter because she lives in her conservatory in the summer, which is trés français filled with white rattan furniture and bird cages (don’t like to tell her the parrots are a step too far, I’m sure she should have gone for song birds). From where she serves up her sundowners (gin and a slice) from porcelain tea cups.

So for Betty this winter it has to be a Heritage English look. At Sweetpea & Willow we are best known as experts in French style furniture but I think that we can pull off a Trad. English scheme with our usual élan.

I thought about putting in a carpet. See this website for some great ideas http://www.comebacktocarpet.com/makeover.html they are doing a lot to promote carpets in the press and have some amazing striped ones but I still prefer rugs. I saw The Rug Company at decorex http://www.therugcompany.info/default.aspx they have an absolutely perfect rug designed by Vivienne Westwood which is a faded Union Jack. Too British maybe or maybe just a bit tongue in cheek.

Walls will be pale grey/white with loads of oversized pictures of dogs!! Bulldogs, corgi’s, King Charles spaniels…specially screen printed in hyper real colours. Fierce!! Furniture is from the Sweetpea & Willow designer collection. This range is hand crafted from cherry wood, with real old fashioned craftsmanship -mortis and tenon joints and hand painted finishes.
Details, like the handles, which are antiqued brass really make you realise just how good the quality is. I have seen a few of the commodes in the Sweetpea & Willow showroom and the finish is excellent, I’ve played with the drawers and they glide beautifully and the paint work is like silk, really tactile.

There are three sets of drawers which fit the bill, the chest Anglaise, The Alexis chest and the Alfred chest.

Seating has got to look like it came from a Gentlemen's club, sweetpeaandwillow.com leather chairs and sofa have a lived in look that says 'I'm here to stay'I was hoping to get hold of some antlers to go above the door but no joy, so I’m making do with a brace of antler lamps.

As for the rest of the lighting I thought that we should have flickering candle light as well as side lamps and a central chandelier.

This wall sconce is great for making the light dance from its mirror around the room, very romantic and Victorian.
I love the brass finish on this chandelier which is a real statement piece, I hate to say the W word but it has wow factor in abundance. To finish the scheme I’m looking for a stuffed squirrel and three fishes to take the place of traditional ducks. Looks like the wellies and rod are going to get an outing!
Love

Jill xxx

100% Design

Sweetpea & Willow visit London Design shows
I always think that summer is over when the interiors shows are on, but this year they really seem to have crept up on me far too early. This week I did 1oo% design http://www.100percentdesign.co.uk/page.cfm
and next week I’m hoping to fit in Decorex and Focus.

It’s great fun to check out what’s new and exciting in the design world.

100% design seemed quieter than usual but still had a lot of energy and some really inspirational things.

I was really taken with a few designers who were doing a new thing with decoration taking an almost Victorian vibe and subverting it.

I loved the cushions with cityscapes from conceptual textile designer Charlene Mullen using a hard edged modern scene and making it domestic with soft embroidery.


On a rather more disturbing note are the fantastical taxidermy pieces of Lighting designer Jericho Hands. She pitched a bedouin tent which had a few surprises inside. A flock of pigeons were stuffed and transformed into a fairytale thing of beauty, giving a new take on the chandelier. Even better were the stuffed squirrels running up the outside of the tent, each holding a little light. Squirrels are top of my squish list at the moment (having demoted slugs) so I was delighted to see them used for good purpose. No pics available unfortunately, but see website http://jerichohands.com/index.html


Animals were used for inspiration elsewhere, but not quite so literally (Stuffed!) http://www.petermusson.com/ had some witty little ‘Trophy Kills’ used to decorate the stand. I loved the silver hippopotamus head on purple velvet shield---really! You just had to be there!

It was great to see clock designer Paul Beckett www.paul-beckett.com He says that clock making is a dying art and I guess commissioning your own time piece is pretty expensive. This designer told me that he sells to the uber rich all over the world. His clock takes a very modern plastic composite and combines it with hand crafted bronze wheels for a very modern interpretation of an antique piece.
I also came across this in The Guardian on a clock theme http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/18/corpus.clock about a truly amazing clock that has been designed for Corpus Christi.”it is terrifying, it is meant to be," said John Taylor, the creator and funder of an extraordinary new clock to be unveiled tomorrow by Stephen Hawking at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. "Basically I view time as not on your side. He'll eat up every minute of your life, and as soon as one has gone he's salivating for the next. It's not a bad thing to remind students of. I never felt like this until I woke up on my 70th birthday, and was stricken at the thought of how much I still wanted to do, and how little time remained." Have a look at the article with a video of the clock.

Loads more inspired, am hoping to do a pop up Sweetpea & Willow shop in one of the blow up tents from inflate.co.uk…watch this space it could be popping up near you!1

Ta ta
Jillxx