Dream Kitchen

This is it, I am officially updating our kitchen cupboards. I've cleaned them with ammonia (my best tip for removing invisible traces of grease), removed the silly cup handles (silly because who puts cup handles on cupboard doors?? They're meant for drawers!) and right now I'm waiting for the filler to dry in the screw holes left by said handles.

I was trying to explain to my husband yesterday why I want to order brass handles (dark kitchen, brass is a warm colour which catches the light) when I came across photos from an IKEA project in Canada last spring. And lo, a dream kitchen. I'm afraid I am not acquainted Jillian Harris' work, but she has got beautiful taste in kitchens... Using IKEA's standard 'Sektion' kitchen system with 'Bodbyn' fronts in pale grey and antique brass handles, Jillian has created nigh on my dream vision. And it seems to have won my husband over to the brass handles as well. It's nice when we agree :)

I bet you're wondering about those beautiful tiles on the wall... I looked up Jillian's blog, and it looks as if they're called Carrara Bianco Bardiglio Hexagon Honed Marble Mosaic, available from The Builder Depot in the US. Luckily for our finances they don't ship to the UK.

Photo: IKEA

You can find the article featuring Jillian's kitchen here: Canadian Living - Celebrity Dream Kitchens

We Need More Greens

It's time to fold away the blankets and neutral colours and bring out the greens. That means the cushion covers in botanical prints which I made last year, plus another couple which I'll sew in front of the tv this evening.

Green is just lovely...

Photo: La Landriana in Rome by Russell Page

Photo: Spring 2015 collection by Indiska

 Photo: Gucci ss2013

 Photo: String

Photo: Gotland summerhouse, Home by Dean

Powder Pink

I was filing photos on my new PC last night, and looking at the little squares on the screen I realised that all I could really see were colours. All of a sudden the images grouped themselves by colour in a very pleasing way.
Here's a little powder pink to start the day

Photo: Jotun

Wall colour in Lady 'Bliss' by Norwegian paint firm Jotun...

 

Photo: via The Telegraph

Structured floaty dress by Elie Saab...

 

Photo: OKA

'Fyodor' lidded ceramic vase by OKA...

 

Photo: Sandberg

'Hanako' wallpaper by Swedish wallpaper manufacturer Sandberg...

 

 

Painting Pots

I love old weathered terracotta pots for the garden, but when you've got a red brick house like ours it can just look too much. Finding grey or nearly-black pots is not necessarily easy and painting pots to the desired colour has always seemed like a lot of work. However, there is now a new linseed oil paint on the market designed especially for the painting of pots. It comes in three subtle tints: 'Svart Akleja' (Black Aquilegia), 'Blåsalvia' (Blue Salvia) and 'Himmelsblå Vallmo' (Sky Blue Poppy).

The hitch? It's produced for Zetas, a Swedish feinschmecker-style garden centre in Sweden, which doesn't do deliveries abroad. Drat.

I'm going to have to do some research on how to get my hands on this - it should be something that Petersham Nurseries or Cliftons Nursery would sell, perhaps they can help. I'm on the case but if all else fails I might be able to find something similar at Chelsea Flower Show.

 

 

Photos: Victoria Skoglund / Zetas Finsmakar Trädgård

Narcissi or not?

It's daffodil season and I am starting to wonder whether I've missed a trick in ignoring them... I am not keen on the bright yellow ones and so in my bulb-planting flurry last autumn I decided I wasn't going to plant any. But this week I have changed my mind and I am now putting together a list of narcissi I've fallen in love with. It started off with a Gardens Illustrated article about Thierry Dronet's garden at Berchigranges in the Vosges (France), where the narcissi were anything but stridently supermarket-yellow. I particularly fell for 'Edinburgh', 'Jenny', 'Petit Four' and 'Berchigranges'

Narcissus 'Edinburgh' with its pale salmon pink fluffy trumpet. Photo: Sabrina Rothe

Narcissus 'Jenny', all white and looking a bit like a startled maiden. Photo: Sabrina Rothe

 

 Narcissus 'Petit Four' with shades of clotted cream. Photo: Sabrina Rothe

 Narcissus 'Berchigranges', a sublime double variety and the only French narcissus registered by the RHS. 

Photo: Sabrina Rothe

And having seen this gorgeous arrangement below by Eva Sandner Gravesen on her blog Evigglade I have come around to yellow in a big way - how could one fail to love these?

 

Photo: Eva Sandner Gravesen

 
In Norway we call the yellow daffodils 'Påskeliljer' (Easter Lilies) and the white ones with a yellow trumpet are called 'Pinseliljer' (Whit Lilies or Pentecostal Lilies), but then they do flower later than here in the London region. Come Easter I expect we will be watching our first tulips make an appearance, they are already playing peek-a-boo in the border by the front door...

Into the Blue

So blue hasn't really featured on my list of favorite colours for a while - I was an ardent fan of blue rustic stripes for a long time and then went off it, like you do when you've had too much chocolate... But blue has come back into my life, in our bedroom and in my wardrobe. Suddenly blue is the most appealing and refreshing colour, as in these images below...

 Photo: String

 A String 'Pocket' shelf in blue showcasing blue and white china against a vibrant blue wall

Photo: Contura

The classic tiled white 'Allmoge 523' wood-burning stove by Contura is beautifully complemented by the mid-blue walls and restful blue and white textiles in this bedroom

Photo: French Connection

Ibiza, in a blue haze...

Photo: Lagerlings estate agents, via Inredningshjälpen

This divine sitting room styled by Svenskt Tenn where brass and caramel leather are perfectly off-set against the blue velvet sofa. This photo is from the current portfolio of Lagerlings, a Stockholm estate agent, just like the one below.

Photo: Lagerlings estate agents, via Simplicity

My Colour Is A Deeper Shade Of White

We have just reclaimed our house from the painters after six days of dust everywhere, paint pots left open (I mean open! why?) overnight in the dining room and chappies who consistently turned up 1 hour later than they said they would in the mornings. It's bliss to be on our own again.

Our hallway, staircase and upstairs landings have been transformed from a grubby magnolia peppered with scratches and dents to a soothing, unified deeper shade of white from the Little Green paint range. Except our painter chappies refused to paint with Little Green, claiming that it would take them twice as long as with 'normal' (read 'industrial') paint... By the time my husband found these painters (who came recommended by a friend) we had lived here just over a year and were starting to despair of all the work we still had left to do on the house. So we agreed reluctantly to forgo Little Green, which despite its lovely densely pigmented colours and smell-free characteristics even we had found a tad slow to paint with. OK. OK, we would opt for a 'faster' (ie with higher spreadability and opacity) paint for the hallway and stairs. The painters tried it on by suggesting a washable paint with a slight sheen 'very popular in school buildings'. A slight sheen? No thank you. No way. Our house is not a public institution which needs to be scrubbed down every day. I found a 'durable matt' paint by Johnstone's paints, which our local paint shop mixed up into the Little Green colour that we had always planned to have. 'Linen Wash' - the same as we painted our living room last year. A whitish, oatmealy, unbleached linen-y shade.

Somehow the painters managed to steamroll us into having gloss paint on the banisters, windowsills and other woodwork. I'm not quite sure how they did that, since we aren't very keen on shiny paints and had planned for a satin finish. Again, our desperate wish to finally get the job done went in the painters' favour, and they brought gallons of white gloss into our house. Oh yes, apparently they think it is much more durable than satin. Arghhh. They told us the glossiness will 'flatten down' ie lose a little of its shine with time, but I suspect it will not. I wonder if other people feel they have to accommodate their painters or if it was just us?

Anyhow, our hallway and stairs are now clean and light and we are very happy with the colour of the walls. Funnily enough, yesterday I took Inredningshjälpen's advice and tried a little colour quiz on Swedish wallpaper firm Rebelwalls' website. My favourite colour turned out to be...

white

so we're all right :)

Colour of the Year 2015 - Marsala

Every year Pantone compiles trend analysis and in-depth research of interiors, fashion plus social and cultural "strømninger" and declares what Pantone believes the colour of the coming year will (or is that 'should'?) be. It seems an odd concept to me, as I tend to run the other way when I feel that I am told to do something, or that everyone is or will do the same thing. Where is the interest in that, I wonder?

Pantone's colour of the year 2015 is called 'Marsala'. It's a luscious colour somewhere between bordeaux and bronze in my eyes. It's warm, rich and quite grown up. It reminds me of a Guerlain lipstick I used a few years ago... that may sound a bit silly, but I think Pantone's photo is reminiscent of a pot of rouge or a bottle of nail varnish. There is something rather appealing about it, so although at first sight people might think 'no, that would never work in my house' I have a feeling it will end up finding its way into our homes anyway. Or you might realise that you already have Marsala quite by chance...

Photo: Pantone

Photo: thegloss.com

Photo: H&M 

H&M velvet cushion cover in 'burgundy'. We have this one, which works beautifully alongside light and dark greys and blush pink.

Photo: Jotun Paints

Jotun LADY Pure Color paint. Jotun is not widely sold in the UK, but a specialist paint shop can often order it in if you are interested.

Photo: Ferm Living

Two trends in one: 'Marble' side table by Ferm Living combines Marsala with marble.

Photo: Sandberg Tyg & Tapet

Exquisite 'Hanako' wallpaper by Sandberg Wallpaper

Photo: Skandium

Round 'Samsas' sofa by Sjögren in 'Hallingdal' burgundy fabric

Pantone is not the only oracle when it comes to 'colour of the year' statements though. There are several others - more about these later...

Soft Lilac - Another kind of Purple

Photo: Lene Bjerre

For a slightly muted take on advent purple look to these powdery lilac and pinky-grey shades by Danish brand Lene Bjerre. They go wonderfully well with grey, silver, pewter and black and conjure a softly festive mood...

 Photo: Lene Bjerre

Photo: Lene Bjerre

Lene Bjerre is now offering up to 70% off items in their webshop outlet.

Purple Inspirations - Mateus

In December we tend to socialise more than usual - everyone wants to invite friends to gløgg parties and pre-Christmas get-togethers at home. This is when it's useful to have lots of little trays and bowls to put cakes, biscuits and canapés on. We have a combination of cream porcelain in the 'Arv' series from IKEA (this series is now made in chalky-white earthenware) and cream Wedgwood 'Edme'. So far so cream...
I've realised that my strong penchant for white and cream in all our tableware and furnishing fabrics stems from my many years of living in rented accommodation. Faced with pink, mid or dark blue, or mustard coloured carpets, plus varying shades of magnolia or other yellow walls my instinct was to neutralise with whites. White bedlinen, cream curtains, white towels, cream tableware. I must have been desperate for a calm colour-scheme. Now that the communal areas of our house are painted in varying shades of chalky white (no surprise there), I've gradually come to the realisation that it could all be a bit too neutral...
I tentatively dipped my toe in grey. And liked it. Next I went for charcoal. And liked it even more. For our New Years Eve dinner I have found a charcoal-so-dark-it's-nearly-black tablecloth in cotton from H&M. (I find H&M's styling incredibly seductive, their clever stylists really know how to sell to me) I thought a black tablecloth would be more forgiving with red wine sploshes and all those other stains that you end up with during a festive dinner party.

 Photo: H&M

And I have recently fallen for the charms of Swedish tableware brand Mateus, with their rich colours and beautiful reliefs. Imagine a dark tablecloth set with dishes in purple like this:

Photo: Mateus

Or perhaps in grey like this:

Photo: Mateus

Or even pink, as styled by my favourite interior blogger: Anette at Inredingshjälpen

Photo: Inredingshjälpen

Scandiliving sells a selection of Mateus ceramics in their Surrey shop and online.

Purple inspirations - Pasotti

I happen to have a purple umbrella. Not because I have a special umbrella for advent, but because I needed one a while back and I wanted to avoid black. I don't think black does anyone's skintone a favour on a dreary, rainy day. This emergency umbrella is flapping pathetically on one side, where the metal whatever-you-call-it has buckled in the wind. If money was no object I would exchange it for this striking quality specimen by Pasotti...

Photo: Pasotti

Blue For The Most

When we bought our house last year I wanted to paint the whole interior a chalky white and the paint I had in mind was 'Slaked Lime' by Little Greene. I wanted smell-free and I wanted clean, after so many years living in poorly decorated rented flats and houses (to my abiding frustration it is not the custom to redecorate rented accommodation in the UK, so one is stuck with 'magnolia' walls. Oh, how I have grown to dislike magnolia). We bought litres and litres of lovely chalky Slaked Lime and started painting our new rooms. And Little Greene emulsion really is smell-free, which means that you can paint your bedroom and sleep in it that same night. Only, when my beloved had finished painting our bedroom we both realised that this chalky white colour was... simply too white. The big bay window lets in lots of west-facing light, and our bedroom suddenly looked like a Victorian hospital ward. This was not the atmosphere we had planned for at all, so what now? We started rummaging through our many sample pots of paint and decided on a wild-card - a colour which Little G had sent to us in error and which we hadn't really looked at. Gauze, it was called, and it looked somewhere between pale blue and grey. We tried it. It didn't look bad at all. We rushed down to the paintshop and got them to mix it for us, and by the end of the day our bedroom was gauze.
While on the colour chart it looked pale grey (as you can see below) it turned out to be a lovely restful pale blue which works well with the white picture rail and skirting boards. A very happy result.

 
Only, it doesn't really work with my favourite cream and pale brown 'boutis' bedspread which I bought as a souvenir in Nice many years ago. Suddenly I felt I must find a new bedspread. It just stuck in my mind, and I couldn't find anything that worked with this pale blue-grey. Perhaps indigo might work? Cobalt would be too harsh. Indigo then. And one day I found an indigo quilted bedspread by what to me seemed like an obscure brand called Design Port on eBay and I decided to go for it. What the heck, if it didn't work I could resell it. It arrived from the US around 9 days later, and turned out to be just exactly what I wanted. A slightly faded indigo, almost denim, which worked beautifully. Sometimes it's worth taking a chance.

And then things fell into place - those dark blue floral velvet cushion covers I had bought as a souvenir in NYC this summer (as a true Scandi I couldn't resist the tempting Home collection at H&M's flagship store on 5th Avenue. OK, get a souvenir, but let's get something we'll use, is my motto), the ones which when I got them home didn't really work, they now work beautifully.

Photo: H&M

Things are still coming together, and I have spotted a few more elements which would fit into this pale blue-grey and indigo scheme. It turns out that dark blue interiors are sailing up on the interior decorating front this winter.

 Photo: Royal Copenhagen

Royal Copenhagen's new 'Blå Riflet' (the name in English is 'Blue Fluted') china service in a matte glaze, in case one wants to have breakfast in bed...

Abraham's 'Blue For The Most' album for those wistful quiet moments...

Photo: Iittala

Iittala's beautiful new 'Ruutu' vase, which will be available from January...

Photo: French Connection

Or for a more budget-friendly alternative, this roughly hewn glass bud vase and jar from French Connection Home (I would never have even thought of French Connection and stylish pared-down home furnishings, but a google search for occasional tables last year led me to their beautiful web catalogue)

Photo: Inreda.com

Family-owned Swedish-Icelandic paint company Kalklitir has gotten a lot of attention in the Scandinavian interior design press these past months. Kalklitir paint comes in powder form and you mix it with water before you apply it to walls (or wood) with a big flat brush in rough strokes. The finish is chalky with a beautiful texture and deliberate unevenness. Swedish blogger Jannice Wistrand did a feature on Kalklitir with some great photos - see here: Add Simplicity .

Photo: Svenskt Tenn

Svenskt Tenn has just reissued 'Zodiaken', a linen fabric designed by Josef Franck in 1936. Very timely colour-wise, and I love how 30's designs remain so fresh and relevant. 'Zodiaken' means 'The Zodiak', of course, and each star sign is depicted in a flurry of little stars (mine is Libra, top right) with The Milky Way running through it all. I particularly like how ST have combined this with another of their famous prints, 'Elefant', designed by Estrid Ericson in the 1930's (it is available in several colours and in cotton or linen). 'Elefant' in the black colourway has been much depicted in the Scandinavian blogosphere, and I confess that I have never taken to it, but I really like it in this dark blue teamed with the plain indigo. Who says a Chrismas stocking has to be red or green...

Photo: Hathaways/Houzz.com

A surprisingly bold yet very attractive dark blue wall colour. It obviously helps to have three large windows letting in lots of light, but still, this is a major departure from the chalky pale walls of the past years.

Photo: Marks & Spencer

And then this striking top from the Spring Summer 2015 collection by Marks & Spencer. I'm a bit baffled by its beauty. Who knew M&S could do something like this?!