My Own Home - Dining Room Update

As I alluded to in my "Catch Up Post", we redecorated the Dining Room last summer and this is how it turned out, but first a reminder of how it looked before .......

Lots of wood!










This is what I planned to do ........

And this is how it turned out ........

The walls are Zoffany Half Paris Grey.

We had the chairs sprayed (too fiddly to paint!) and I repainted all the furniture in Farrow & Ball Drop Cloth.

I've yet to paint the inside of the glazed cupboards.






The table and chairs were sprayed in a lacquer to match the Farrow & Ball paint colour.  We also had the base of the table sprayed because it's tougher than eggshell paint and the table top was French polished to restore it to its former glory!

The carvers and chairs were recovered in Romo Layton, but in different colours.












The curtain fabric is Sanderson Jamila from the Sojourn collection and I contrast lined them in Ian Sanderson Pippi Stripe.  I chose double pleat headings as they're just a bit more contemporary than triple (French) pleat curtains.  The pole is from The Bradley Collection.

























The lamp is from Cox & Cox and the lampshade is from Pooky Lighting.















We haven't done the rug yet either - might need to take the doors off into the Sitting Room to do that so kind of putting off that job!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabrics - Geometric Gems

Inspired by my visit to the V&A a couple of weeks ago (and that lovely kimono) I thought I would do a short post on geometric fabrics.  The definition of geometric is something which is characterised by or decorated with regular lines and shapes.  There are loads to choose from and here are some of my current favourites .......

The obvious place to start is Zoffany Kanoko which is a "meandering graphic zig zag motif inspired by a 1930's Japanese Shibori document from the Zoffany archive, once a kimono."

Zoffany Kanoko

Obvioiusly, I had to show the orange colourway but it also comes in 3 other colours.  It's part of the new Edo fabric collection which is a Japanese inspired collection of fabrics and wallpapers.

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I mentioned in my post about the V&A that Schumacher are really good for geometric fabrics, so I thought that was a good place to start.

Schumacher Betwixt

This is a weave, available in 16 fabulous colourways!
Schumacher - Betwixt

Schumacher Bukhara Ikat

I love an Ikat and, whilst not strictly a geometric, I had to include this - it's Schumacher Bukhara Ikat, a print on linen which comes in 5 colourways

This is another linen print which is also available in 5 colourways

  Schumacher Chain Link

Schumacher Chain Link

Schumacher Cordoba Embroidery

Geometrics don't have to be prints or linens - here is an embroidery (Cordoba Embroidery) which comes in an additional 2 colours.

Schumacher Kaleidescope

Here's another embroidery - Kaleidescope.  This colourway is Smoke and it also comes in Moonstone and Pearl.




This one is Luan Fretwork shown here in Sky, and also available in Porcelain Blue and Cane.

Schumacher Luan Fretwork

Schumacher Ming Fret

Here's another weave - Ming Fret which is available in a total of 6 colourways.

Schumacher Sarana Linen Embroidery

This is Sarana Linen Embroidery available in 3 colours. 

Schumacher Vail Chenille

Finally from Schumacher - Vail Chenille, which is available in 4 colours.











Schumacher are distributed in the UK via Turnell & Gigon - they have a showroom in Chelsea Harbour.  (http://www.turnellandgigongroup.com/)

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Another good source of geometric fabrics (and wallpapers) is American fabric company Thibaut (http://www.thibautdesign.com).  Helpfully, they separate them into separate collections on their website:

Thibaut Geometric Resource (Wallpapers)

Thibaut Geometric Resource 2 (Wallpapers)

Thibaut Woven 3: Geometrics (Fabrics)

Thibaut Woven 6: Geometrics (Fabrics)

Thibaut Woven 7: Companions (Fabrics)

Here are a few from the fabric collections...........

Thibaut Circuit

This is Thibaut Circuit, shown here in fuchsia and available in 10 colourways in total.

Thibaut Sumatra

On the right is Sumatra (available in 7 colours)

From Woven 6 is this weave called Maximillian (similar to Schumacher Betwixt above) - this is available in 6 colourways. 

Thibaut Maximillian

 This is Jelena from the same collection.  Available in 5 colours.

Thibaut Jelena

Thibaut has some great photography on their website too:

Check out their inspiration pages for more ideas.

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Kravet (distributed by GP&J Baker) are also good for geometrics. They also have lots of designers who have collections under the name of Kravet - designers such as:

Alexa Hampton

Barbara Barry

Calvin Klein

Check their website for a full list of the collections by other designers.  Here are some of my favourites .........

Kravet Peries

Kravet Torina

Kravet Fiscoe

First on my list from Kravet is Peries - this also comes in a lovely teal colour

Torina is from the Jonathan Adler Clarity Collection.  This comes in an additional 3 colours.

I love this - Fiscoe - which is by Thom Filicia and also comes in steel.










Desert Air is in the Michael Berman II Collection and comes in one other colourway.

Kravet Desert Air

Kravet Clef

I believe this is called Clef, but some Kravet fabrics in the UK just have a product number, rather than a name.  (The number for this one is 26380).  This comes in a further 6 colourways.

Another one with just a number is this one (33618) which comes in four colours in total.

Kravet 33618

This is an upholstery fabric from the Jonathan Adler Charade Collection and is called Cardin.  It comes in one other colourway.

Kravet Cardin

And finally, Fobes by Thom Filicia which I'm about to have made into cushions for the guest bedroom (in Tango).  Also available in one other colour.

Kravet Fobes

Notwithstanding my post about our kitchen chairs, I don't think I'm capable of writing a short post!  I could go on(!) but have probably written more than enough.  Other good sources of geometric fabrics are:

Romo - look at Ziani and Casson

Kirkby (distributed through Romo) - see Atom

Osborne & Little - Fantasque and Garnier

Designers Guild - Perrea, Borgholm and Pugin

GP&J Baker - Easton and Maughan

Thanks for stopping by!

Kitchen Update!

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to change the fabric on our kitchen chairs.  Well, I've just got them back and I'm delighted!  I chose Romo Kahlo in Redcurrant:

And here are the finished chairs .........

 

That's the kitchen just about finished!

My Own Home - Conservatory

Quick one this time!  I don't have any before photos, but this is what it looks like now ......

We had Karndean put down on the floor (replacing the old sheet vinyl which had seen better days).  

The dhurrie was from OKA (now discontinued but they have a similar one here (although only in extra large!):  http://www.okadirect.com/masai-dhurrie-cotton-rug-large.aspx?vid=tfu003bld-0

I wanted some cushions for the new sofa and chair - Romo Dune had the perfect colours!  See the full range here:  http://www.romo.com/collections/plains/dune

This was finished about 2 and a half years ago and the cushions are a bit faded now (might just have to replace them with new ones!).  The furniture is the New Hampshire range, also from OKA and is still available.  

Further details are available here:

http://www.okadirect.com/new-hampshire-2-seater-outdoor-sofa-rattan.aspx?vid=xoc016gyl-0 

It's now a much more sociable space and many weekend mornings are spent drinking coffee in here before the weather's good enough to venture out into the garden for coffee!

The next project was the guest bedroom which had been crying out to be done for about 10 years ..... 

Thanks for stopping by!

My Own Home - Kitchen

As promised, here is the first of a few updates!  The first room we tackled was the kitchen, and that was prompted by a new (and relocated) boiler which left a hole in the wall - how convenient!

So, as a reminder, this is what it looked like .....

A new kitchen wasn't on the agenda at all but when we returned from Kefalonia, we were greeted with what we thought was a leaking boiler (and a drawer full of water!).  It turned out to be the hot water tank which was leaking in the airing cupboard above but as the boiler was almost 30 years old we decided to replace it and had it moved into the airing cupboard, freeing up that corner of the kitchen.

Conveniently (!) we couldn't find any cupboards to match the old ones so had to have a new kitchen!

We had to remove all the wall tiles and flooring but the rest came out in less than a day - perfect excuse to eat out!

Within a week we had a new kitchen and once it was in I could start thinking about the best bit - choosing the fabric for the blinds and the paint colour .......... 

I chose Romo Tulipa for the blinds - on seeing the pattern book with this fabric, one of our clients said "it makes your heart sing doesn't it!"

I then had to choose the colour - red or blue??

I loved the blue but just felt that the red worked better with the French Grey units. I contrast lined the blinds with Ian Sanderson Pippi Stripe in Lime (now discontinued but there will be an alternative). We do this quite often - lining curtains and blinds with a contrasting fabric rather than plain lining means you have something nice to look at from the outside too!

For the walls I chose Zoffany Mist and the wall tiles are Retro Metro which have a lovely crackle glaze (by Fired Earth). 

Zoffany Mist 

And here's the finished result ........

Of course, as we all know, a room is never really finished, 

so now I'm changing the fabric on the chairs .......

I whittled it down to 2 - Jane Churchill Gable (the zig zag fabric above) in either the red or leaf colour and Romo Kahlo in redcurrant.  In the end, I went for the Romo Kahlo - it was just slightly better with the Tulipa,  The fabric has arrived and I'm just waiting for the upholsterer to have a slot to schedule them in - watch this space!

That's all for now - the next room to benefit from a bit of love and attention was the conservatory, so that will be the subject of the next update.