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!

Room Update.. Slow progress..

This is the slow slow progress that my room has been so far. I have painted roughly one third so far, and hung a new shelf & pictures. So some progress has been made, but there is plenty more to do. I haven't enjoyed painting about 5 coats on in order to cover the flower pattern below! So here is the before picture, and the first finished little corner..

Wes Anderson Palettes

I came across this tumblr the other day, and absolutely love it. Wes Anderson is my favourite director / writer, and one of the reasons is his unmistakeable colour palettes. This ingenious tumblr takes images from his films and matches the colours, to show exactly how they mix and clash and make the imagery so Anderson-esque. Amazing blog. And amazing inspirations for putting together a room with a really unique colour palette.

MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A LOOK!!          www.wesandersonpalettes.tumblr.com

Chair Upholstering DIY Project

I wanted to update these old chairs, which look a bit worn and dated. Also now that I have repainted and decorated the dining room, they don't really go with the rest of the room anymore...

So I took a trip to 'Rolls and Reems' in Lewisham which have a really good selection of fabrics, and got this lovely thick linen to use on the seats, (£8 per metre). I decided not to paint the chair as the wood is actually in pretty good condition. They were very easy to upholster, as the chair seat unscrews underneath, and you just use a staple gun to secure the fabric onto the seat. I pulled it quite tight before securing it on, so then you get a nice finish when you flip it over. Then after screwing the seat back in, I put a sheepskin rug over for some added comfort, and they're done! Scandinavian style heaven..

Sea Urchin Candle Holders

I bought two of these lovely sea urchin candle holders in Cape Town recently, and have put them either side of a mantle piece next to the fireplace. I love their texture, organic shape, and clean, white colour. They are made from cement, so are really heavy too. And the candles are ylang ylang; one of my favourite scents.  I love finding little things that I can (just about) fit in my suitcase, that will remind me of an amazing place like Cape Town.

Ampersand Canvas DIY project

So this is something I saw on Pinterest, and thought I would give a go... I used a plain white canvas, about 40cm by 40cm. I used an ampersand symbol in a serif font, printed it off and cut around it...

Next, I traced the symbol onto the canvas with pencil... Don't worry, this doesn't show later.

Finally, in layers, I placed the pins through the canvas, filling the symbol tracing. It doesn't matter if you go over the lines, just make sure the symbol looks neat around the edges. To finish, I brushed the canvas and edges with some white acrylic paint, to give it a distressed look... and here is the final result!

First attempt done, I do like it,  but next time I will paint the base a different colour (grey maybe?) and try and find some gold pins.. there is a birthday coming up and I think this would go with a present very nicely! Its a lovely way of personalising a room with something homemade.

Inspiring Interiors; Office space

If any of you work from home, you might know how important having an organised, stylish office space is. I find that this image perfectly exemplifies a space which suits its purpose down to a T! The rough concrete texture, open storage system and feature copper light work perfectly harmoniously, while adding interest, making it a space to inspire and produce work in. Beautiful.

Explore Polyvore

Polyvore is one of those great websites you can get lost on for hours, creating virtual mood boards for interiors or fashion. Here is one of mine. Explore at www.polyvore.com

Cape Town; The Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock

On saturday I was lucky enough to visit The Old Biscuit Mill in the Woodstock area of Cape Town. This local market was set up in, literally, an old biscuit mill on the outskirts of the city, and has become a hub for creatives from all over South Africa. 

There are design shops selling local art, crafts and design, art and printing workshops, bars, cafe's and restaurants (including the lovely 'Burrata', and world renowned 'Test Kitchen' and 'Pot Luck Club').

The market on a saturday, Neighbourhood Goods Market, is a lively and bustling market selling amazingly hand crafted food and drinks. From home-grown honey comb to wood fired pizza's, there is a plethora of produce available to try. The only problem may be how much you can manage!

Design Detail; Cafe Lighting

I'm in sunny Cape Town at the moment, where cafe culture is a huge part of the city, with beautiful interiors and design details everywhere. This cafe had some 60's flower power style lights, which added a design detail worth noting. This look could be used on an old lampshade you may have in your house for an instant update and an injection of fun into a space.

Inspiring Interiors: Calming Monochrome

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike colour, but I find quite a lot that monochrome schemes always appeal to me, as they always look refreshing, calm and above all, stylish. Texture is an easy way of adding interest into a room when there is little colour. A white background means the space is light and bright, and the layers of sleek black lines draw the eye to the details here. Sheepskin rugs, patterned cushions, metal accents, graphic grey scale prints and plants add to the overall beautiful Scandinavian style of this room.

The living room of  Nina Holst of Stylizimo as featured in My Scandinavian Home

The Great Interior Design Challenge

I love this programme, it reminds me so much of that old gem 'Changing Rooms'! Lots of brilliant upcycling ideas and some amazing spaces created. Catch up on the series at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Brightening a room with flowers

Some of the best things in life are simple, and one thing for any space that I think works is displaying cut flowers or foliage. Whether you live in a tiny flat or a mansion, they will brighten up any sized room and bring the outside in (especially good for city dwellers). I found these lovely hydrangea's (a miniature variety) at a market.

Lighting Upcycle

These living room lights and wallpaper were looking quite dated, and after I painted the walls a pale grey colour, I decided to paint the metal lights a similar grey to complement the wall. I also bought new lampshades to match, used a metal paint from Wilko's (they have better colour selection in metal and wood paints than even Homebase!), and lampshades from Ikea to give a warm light and also keep costs down. The metal needed two coats but went on well without a primer. All in all a great upcycle, which saved a fair bit of money!

Before (left) // After (right)

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Upcycling Interiors! I aim to bring together interiors that I am working on, my inspirations, DIY projects and most of all, upcycling of everything and anything! I hope you enjoy!