TOP TEN 2017
12—2017
TOP TEN 2017
It’s just coming to a year since I decided to apply myself to posting on Instagram frequently and what fun it has been. I have aimed to post photos of the daily life of my studio and the projects that have ensued. It has been fascinating to hear what the public has to say about the work and because of “likes” I have able to work out the top ten favourite posts this year.
Here they are in reverse order.
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- Kitchen – A house designed for a newly married couple which will be featured in Living Etc. in their January edition. The house was newly with a basic beige kitchen installed by the developer. I worked on the existing kitchen to make it feel more personable and useful. I installed Patricia Urquiola tiles called Azulej from Domus , highly pattered they add a little quirkiness to a straight laced room. The kitchen was not big enough for a fully working island and so instead I installed a raised work bench by Bulthaup. On the wall I designed a slim spice rack in walnut. On the web site look out for Mellow Yellow.
- Dining room. This year I was commissioned to furnish and decorate the most incredible four story penthouse in a new development called Dollar Bay as a show piece for Mount Anvil. It was designed to be photographed and needed to jump out from the page of a magazine, consequently I pumped the colour and style and aim for a lot of exuberance. The dining room has a view right across the city of London and deserved to be glamorous. I have grouped a collection of Laura Meroni lights over the dining table to evoke a sense of excessiveness enhanced further with lavish gold curtains. The rug extends the night sky into the room and is by Jan Kath available from Front in Mayfair. To keep it all grounded I added a pair of French antique carver chairs jazzed up in velvets that I pieced together to create an angular pattern . On the web site look out for Higher and Higher
- WestElm invited me to create a room set in their only store in Europe. What a prospect and something new for me. It felt like a natural thing to do too, as I often use their furniture, it very affordable but because of its great design can easily mingle among more expensive pieces. I wanted to show that it is possible to take a good high street brand and use it to create your own style. I added funky Timorous Beasties fabric used as a canopy, over scaled table lamps and lots of pink in an attempt to create a lush, urban living room.
- Bedroom, mine in fact. It took me a while to get my own flat done, twelve years. Renovations are expensive and sadly I didn’t have the money to do what I wanted and when I had the money, I didn’t have the time. Classic designer too, despite being able to fathom my clients’ style, I found it challenging to indentify my own. With a little push from the others at the studio I ended up with quite and energetic bedroom with lots of layers, a bed from Minotti, a verre eglomise panel and hand painted wall. My favourite though is the Mouth Cushion by Vivienne Westwood for The Rug Company.
- Hallway again my own home. My hallway is more of a corridor and so I mirrored one wall and painted it in Washington Blue by Benjamin Moore. The result makes the room feel sultry and bigger than it is.
- The new office I was delighted this year to move office after many happy years in Great Western Studios, I moved into the ground floor of Georgian House in Marylebone. Before the renovations started I brought the family over to have a look including my father and two year old great granddaughter, Scarlett who as you can see likes to sport snazzy polka dot tights.
- Back to the penthouse show apartment I hosted a party. He I am on the gold sofa just before the fun started. Behind me is one of a pair of lamps that I designed and had made for the project.
- Hallway at the Happy House project. For quite a while this image was the most popular on Instagram. I am believer in hallways being a little daring, especially using bold colours that you might not use anywhere else. Here I used Farrow and Ball Pelt an uncompromising purple. The owners have now moved back to France where I am working on their new home in Limoges.
- The penthouse show apartment has proven popular however the popularity of this image of the guest bedroom was quite a surprise. I didn’t upload the image on the web site as I didn’t think it would be too popular and I was worried that I might have gone a little too over the top. I needn’t have worried.
- And the winner is the living room at Mellow Yellow. There is nothing better than having clients who want to get involved in the design process, so much can be achieved and the barriers can be pushed back. The super star of this image are the Marco Zanuso chairs which are available from Charles Burnand. I upholstered the sofa in a naughty yellow velvet from Gaston y Daniela and the graphic fabric from my favourite fabric company Dedar.
