30/08/2015

Statement Walls and Artistic License

Mary Wallpaper www.blackpop.co.uk

Statement walls are back and I’m glad. 
I haven’t been shy to tell you of my love for wild and wacky wallpapers. In fact I'm guilty as charged for shamelessly flaunting my fashionable flamingos and stylish swans. But now I want to talk about a different kind of statement wall - the ones that don’t just say ‘look at me’, but get you thinking too.

I mentioned Blackpop in my post on Bohemian inspired wallpaper designs and briefly covered their National Portrait Gallery collaboration there (mostly because I couldn’t wait until now talk about it). Their full range of wallpapers and fabrics inspired by world renowned Tudor portraits launches at Liberty of London and Decorex this coming month. It's where high brow meets the height of fashion and results in a right royal riot for the senses. 

Henry Wallpaper www.blackpop.co.uk

Designer Maxine Hall has examined and reimagined over 20 works in the Tudor collection of paintings on display at the National Portrait Gallery to create this luxury range of abstract and contemporary patterned wallpaper and fabrics - perfect for this season’s decadent statement walls and bespoke soft furnishings.

Making a statement is a big deal. It’s you putting your personal stamp on your home so it’s kind of important to make sure it says all the right things about you. I’m hoping to cover my dressing room walls with this sumptuous Mary print very soon…



Beautiful, luxurious, artistic, intelligent…. why thank you sire ;-) 

The co-ordinating range of fabrics in The Tudor - Deconstructed range means that you can indulge your new post recession love affair with opulence to the max. 



At £120 per metre it’s delightfully decadent and ask yourself, would you want your individually styled, designer interiors any other way? 

I love a bargain; a charity shop scoop; a copycat high street find, of course I do. But when it comes to making a statement, I’m prepared to splash out. 

The Tudors - Deconstructed will be officially launched during London Design Week 19th - 27th September and Decorex 20th - 23rd September. For more information about the production of this collection and the design inspiration behind it visit www.blackpop.co.uk

Still pinning flamingos and swans to your mood board? Off with your head!

Elizabeth fabric www.blackpop.co.uk


28/08/2015

New Season Heroes and Villains

The Candy Files

What's hot, what's not and what's what at my place. This week

House Candy = Batgirl


Yvonne Craig, one of TV's original feisty females died recently leaving a little pointy eared hole in my heart. I rediscovered the 1960s TV Batman series a few years ago when my son's superhero fixation had me searching the archives for caped crusaders. Craig's Batgirl was funny and fierce, not to mention something of a red-headed stunner. In her honour I’m hoping this best selling print from Bodie and Fou will remind me to always give good Kerpow! 

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Fine and Candy = Cat Woman

Julie Newmar as Cat Woman

Gothic black is everywhere this season and I will be exploring all kinds of ways to indulge in this interiors trend right here on the blog. Meanwhile, we are apparently enjoying a new post recession love affair with opulence home wise - so who better to look to for a bit of goth-ulent inspiration than everyone’s favourite feline, Cat Woman. Luxe fabrics, shiny metals, deep hues … ME-OOWWW.
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Candy Pandy = Superman Schemes

Image 2 taken from: http://interiordesignideas-12.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/colorful-living-room-furniture-set.html
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an 80s Memphis micro trend… And it could spell the end for colour popping as we know it. For me, what goes in Krypton stays in Krypton, right Clark?

Have a SUPER Bank Holiday all. Thinking of a kitchen update to keep you busy? Don’t miss my inclusion in Amara Living’s Dream Kitchen Inspiration roundup. It won’t save the world, but it might save your weekend ;-) Click here:  www.amara.com/luxpad/kitchen-design-ideas/ xx

18/08/2015

Totes Need Votes

                                    http://www.interiorblogawards.com/vote/my-house-candy/

House Candy: noun informal; object of lust and desire intended for one's home
 e.g "Where's mum?" 
"Ogling House Candy" 


I'm eight months into my blogging fantasy and have yet to secure an entry into the urban dictionary. However, I have somehow secured a nomination for #IBA15 Best Newcomer  - and I am the very definition of chuffed about it.

 I'm coming right out and saying that I'm desperate for your vote. I've tried and failed to be cool about it and here's why: My House Candy started out as a bit of fun. A chance for me to write about the stuff I love more than Manolos. In my head I was Carrie Bradshaw (OK minus The City or the designer shoe collection).  But with all of her passion and some of her hair. And I was simply in love with making my space ace.

Now it's more than that. My House Candy is Carrie's Big. It's the thing with a grip on me so bad that I (and ideally also you) demand more. What started out as a laugh now makes me late for the school run and in trouble with the bank. I've come so far and want to go so much further - which I'd like to think is what this newcomer category is all about.

Click on the House Candy Cravings Page for all the kit I've been hollering after this year. 

It might be a limited edition designer piece like this:


Or a cheap as chips junk shop find like this:


I have no standards to which I won't stoop in order to furnish a fashionable home. (See my last post on skip looting for evidence)

Stick with me and I will bring you loads more ideas to help you nail an interiors trend, whatever your budget. I'm also investing in a slick new layout and some fab new clicky/swipey features so that I can look the part too.

In the Best Newcomer category you will see that I'm up against some awesome new blogs and some amazing new bloggers. But worthy as they are, not one of them wants to wear a lovely dress and attend the fancy London finals more than me. Scarily I have to be in the top five for that to happen which means I need every single one of your votes, like Carrie Bradshaw needs Cosmopolitans.

It takes one precious little minute to vote, can you spare one for me please? All you have to do is  click below: 

Yours hopefully,

09/08/2015

Going Boho Part 4: Super makes & Supermodels

Sienna Miller, I love you with every strand of my copycat hairdo. But for me, boho style still starts and finishes with Kate Moss. So it’s right that I end this mini series back where I started; with the woman who works a style statement like no other and a look at some of the boho pieces that can give your home the Moss factor.

                                                            


The Peacock Chair has celebrity form. After a lull in popularity during the modernist movement, it was the comeback king of the 1960s and 70s and the perfect throne upon which a style icon could strike a headline grabbing pose.

From screen sirens such as Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot...



To rock Gods and Goddesses such as Mark Bolan and Stevie Nicks...


Show off in your very own investment piece of home fashion history with this natural Peacock Chair from Graham and Green.


Natural Peacock Chair £795 www.grahamandgreen.co.uk


Original peacock chairs command a high price on ebay and Gumtree but checkout less ornate versions that still crop up at a fraction of the price. Click here for Peacock style chairs currently on Ebay

The cane chair can pack an equally fashionable punch, even if it’s not super fancy. In fact, modern shapes work brilliantly for a skandi-boho vibe. Scour your second hand shops for retro shapes like these.



Better still, keep a beady eye out at house clearances where gems like this lovely bamboo and cane dining chair are sometimes foolishly thrown out

                                                         

There it was getting damp and stinky when I spied it poking out of a household skip. The rules are, you must still ask the home owners permission before taking their junk. So of course it was with the neighbours blessing that last week I made off (faster than you can say BT Broadband) with a 30 year old heir loom under my arm. 

Here it is with another freebie and a great way for you to WOW your friends with your creative handiwork.



This cushion used to be a detailed crocheted evening dress that once stretched nicely over my baby bump. With bump now of high school age, there really is no need to revisit this fashion moment but EVERY need for it to be reborn as a one-of-a-kind accessory. Just like the baby in fact.

Now, I’m no seamstress (sigh) but even I could manage this easy transformation in a day. Cushion pads come in different sizes, as do dresses so it’s not difficult to find one that slots nicely into the body of a dress so that two sides of the cushion cover are already taken care of. I cut off the strappy bit at the top of the dress and stitched one end, then folded the other end over so that the detailed hem became a pretty overlap. The crocheted loops make it suitable for a buttoned flap, but with cotton or sturdier fabrics you could insert a zip. Simps.

Delicacy and detail is one way to go with cushions that look cool on cane furniture, the other option is Moroccan or ikat inspired prints. This bright and beautiful handmade cushion from Att Pynta is a little vision of boho loveliness too.


One more nice cane and cushion combo is clean white - again, more of a skandi take on the trend. Here’s another charity shop find -  a vintage pine and cane bar stool found for a fiver. It makes a pretty kitchen perch, paired with the simple white cushion, handmade from antique French fabric. What do you think?




OK, so I’ve been a bit jammy with my junk shop finds of late. Agreed. What if your neighbours and town folk are more scrap heap savvy than mine and the only cane, rattan or bamboo furniture you can find is a bit, erm, naff?

Then spray it, of course! 



This one was a dodgy red colour before a can of silver spray paint transformed it in less than an hour! The cushion is once again made from vintage fabric, this time I’ve gone for a retro look because it lives in my more psychedelic girl cave. Like it? Why not let me know what you think below.

More wicker wonders to try…


Another fabulous way to work the wicker trend at home is in the bedroom. I just adore this romantic boho headboard. Perfect if you like your walls plain and your textiles plenty.


Find a similar style here for £175 www.ebay.co.uk

There is a romanticism about fancy canework that suits me and my insane girliness.  Caught as I am in the swirl of the current seventies revival, I could happily surround myself with a heady mix of the stuff right now.

                                                             

But I get that this is not a style that will suit everyone. And thankfully, youre not all hopeless victims of fashion like my poor self. You may want to dabble in boho, giving just a fashionable nod to the trend without upsetting the husband or the bank account, right?

If this is the case, look out for a quirky little style statement that says, “I know an interiors trend when I see it.” How about a magazine rack for a bit of cane-but-not-insane accessorising? 




Dealers are getting wise and this one was a rather hefty £20 for a market find... but I bet your granny has one hiding somewhere?
So there we have it. There are all sorts of ways you can use cane to great bohemian fashion effect, it’s just a case of finding your boho mojo. 

How to know if you’ve stumbled upon an interior heir loom or a fashion faux pas? I go by the four letter rule, WWKS, which in style speak means, What Would Kate Say.

I think we could all agree that this is a boho no-no, right?

That’s me done on this series, but please do let me know if you have any burning questions or want to share some super stylish makes. It would make me so happy to hear from you and to connect on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Please click on the links down the side.

It’s been so much fun exploring this latest interior style crush that it’s given me an idea for a regular feature. Follow now for updates of my new Beg, Borrow, Steal feature where I will be looking at working an interiors trend using my trusty 3 sources:

1) The stuff I have to beg for
2) Second hand or vintage stuff that’s borrowed from another era
3) The high street steals that can help you get the look for less.

Please like and share - Oh and while you’re at it, you could also vote for me in the Amara Interior Blog Awards Best Newcomer category?! Now that would just make my YEAR. 

Click here for details www.interiorblogawards.com Voting opens August 10th so I will have to remind you from my sun bed as I’m off on a little bohemian trip of my own next week. 

Lots of love and happy holidays House Candy Cadettes … (Too far? I hear you ;-)  

xxxx




03/08/2015

Going Boho Part 3: Teasing Textures

The Candy Files: What’s hot, what’s not and what’s what at my place. This week…

House Candy = Shag Pile



I’ve found my boho. After some deliberation I have discovered where I sit on the bohemian style scale and it’s round about here. It’s eclectic, but not too bonkers. It’s got colour pops but not full on colour. It’s comfy, with touches of glam and importantly for this post - it’s fluffy underfoot. 

I like the boho rug situation and the artistic mix of pattern and texture. I like the aztec designs and the ability to throw together multiple shapes and sizes. It makes me re-assess my own conventional attitude to flooring - all the practical fitted carpets and boringly plain rugs  - and it makes me realise that if I want to be more boho, I’m going to need a really good shag pile. 



There, I’ve said it. A sumptuous shaggy carpet is the missing piece in my style jigsaw and I think I may have found the perfect one here…



Souk wool rug, £169 - £999 www.westelm.co.uk

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Fine and Candy = Shaggy Lamp



Abigail Ahern has changed my interior thinking for ever. Stuff that once I would never have looked twice at, is now the stuff my dreams are made of. This lamp is a case in point. It’s a classic AA game changer. Consider this the maxi skirt of your boho interior wardrobe. 
(Pssst... I’ve seen it in real life and it is even more beautiful)


Shaggy Palm lamp in white or black £375 www.abigailahern.com

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Candy Pandy = Shaggy off of Scooby Doo




 No matter how much I try to relax into this bohemian vibe, I’m still more of a Freddie girl than a Shaggy girl.

A man that can accessorise… Swoon.



Where do you fit on the boho scale?  Spotted any boho House Candy?
I’d be so honoured if you’d share x



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