Beach Inspirations from Broadstairs

Living by the sea while I have been doing the house renovation has been lovely. Long walks along the coast at sunset and coffee overlooking the beach is such a relaxing way to live, far away from the hustle and bustle of London. There are also lots of things to see and inspire as you wander around. I also think its important if you are creating a pared back, simple interior with lots of white and grey, to bring some colour and texture in with prints, cushions and throws, so that it doesn't get too mundane. Here are a couple of my images from around Broadstairs which we framed and have hung up in the house.

Decorex 2014

I never got round to posting about the Decorex show last year, so I thought I would share some of my favourite bits from the last show. I went with my mum (who was utterly horrified to discover that there was no coffee when we got there) and I would say we spent around 5 hours perusing the stalls. The stalls were so varied and for an interiors geek, really really fun to look around. Some had elaborate and exciting displays, others were selling their product, and there were plenty with samples and swatches to take away. Needless to say we came away with bags heaving with brochures, samples and cards for brands both that I had known of, and completely new ones to me.

Compared to the Grand Designs Show that I visited a few years ago, this is so much more creative and inspiring. Rather than simply selling a product, the Decorex show had inspiration for all kinds of interiors by the bucket load. I really enjoyed the day, even though we had no coffee or lunch....(the catering wasn't the best!). So below are some of my inspiration pictures from the day. I hope you enjoy them!

            

           

Colour study.. Copper Accents

Copper for interiors has to one of my favourite materials. It's iridescence is really eye-catching and it goes beautifully with most colours. It will lift a grey toned scheme, perfectly offset a monochrome scheme, and make a pale pink scheme less twee and more stylish. Whether it is a cup, lamp base or even writing in a frame, a touch of copper can do wonders to a space. This pub in Marylebone had the most amazing copper table top and I couldn't resist capturing its beauty!

Design Details.. John Derian

I absolutely LOVE John Derian. His amazing prints are of nostalgic, beautiful imagery and make a wonderfully quirky addition to an interior. I plan on filling frames with these postcards and creating a collaged wall of them. Lovely. Now if only I could get over to New York to his interiors shop and buy the lot! (I came across these prints at Designers Guild in London).

John Derian Company Inc

Interiors Inspirations.. Bathrooms

Searching for inspiration on Pinterest is something I can easily spend many hours doing, and a nice thing to do when your at the building stage of your project. All you talk about is joists, steel struts and such and such. As an interior designer I understand this is necessary for, well, the building not falling down. And I do think that the success of an interior begins from the earliest stages of decision making and a building's structural make-up. However, I am not an architect, or a builder, and the lack of creativity at this stage of the project is a little disheartening. So off to Pinterest I went to get the creative mind cranking. The following images are what I found for my bathroom inspirations.. which pretty much means panelling and greys and whites and blues!

Ideal Home

HandCraftedinVirginia

House and Garden

Project House Progress.. Rock Bottom!

This is the renovation at that awful stage of the process, when you never thought it would EVER look like this. Just absolutely nothing left apart from the bare structure of the building. I think this project has been significant for me because my late grandmother lived here, and I remember her using the space and living here in her own particular way. So to see it like this is somewhat shocking. But I still can see that faint light at the end of the tunnel. It will only get better from this point on, so as they say, onwards and upwards!

Major Renovations: 2

So so so much more work to do, but here is the progress so far as stripping back and taking out goes.. Ceiling beams are off (having been secured with six inch nails this took a while!), bricks (fake ones stuck onto ceiling beams) are off, the textured wallpaper is stripped off (which also took a while..) and the carpets and underlay has been taken up. We are lucky to have a recycling tip not too far away, and so far have done about 10 car loads to get rid of all the rubbish. More progress updates on the way...

Major Renovations: 1

So this is the big project that has kept me so busy recently, a seaside house on the Kent coast. Last interior update was in 1988 so lets just say there has been a fair amount of work to do. And as this is my first project as a property developer, I have so far learnt a lot, but also gained a lot of bruises along the way. These are the 'before' pictures. The property is a '2 up 2 down' terraced house built in 1910.

Dream work space.. TBC

This is literally the perfect work space; love the trestle leg desk, little wall mounted storage boxes, stool and accessories. Practical, organised and a space that makes you want to work! I have a project in mind for my work space so will update my progress...

                                                              Source: letterbox1164.tumblr.com via Kit on Pinterest

Room Update.. A little more finished!

So here is the next stage finished.. slow progress as I have been busy on another project at the moment. I came across this mirror and decided it had to go up on one of the shelves.. I love its dye effect and the blue grey colours in it. And these Ikea shelves are so good, you can easily change what you put on them from week to week to update your space. So this side of the room is completely finished, just the other side to do now!