All in Interior Styling
This year has certainly been like no other, and a compromised Christmas is something we’ll all have to contend with when it comes to socialising and (the lack of) house hopping this year. But this same, minimal formula need not apply to your dining table, nor the joy in celebrating the festive season.
For a while now, I’ve wanted to create my own magazine pages, curating what I believe to be an important mix of items, and showing how my love for the fashion, colours and shapes that I’m drawn to has a direct influence on my home interior choices. And I think what we see on the catwalk, guides a lot of us when it come to interior design.
This year, Christmas might look a little different and yes, we’ll need to toast it on a much smaller scale, but it’s by no means cancelled.
Our physical environments have a huge impact on our mental health and wellbeing – which is why it’s so important, now more than ever, to cultivate home environments that support us to feel happy, comfortable and secure.
Velvet is my personal fabric of choice, and it’s currently everywhere. Donning cushions, curtains, upholstery, stationary, handbags and even jewellery, the fabric that was once the preference of grandmas UK wide, has now become a designers go-to texture.
Copious amounts of flowers require the need for multiple vases and vessels to display them in. I have an obsession with vases and I’m always on the hunt for shapes, colours and textures that are a bit different, so here it is! Your next instalment of Damn Cool!
Discuss: Why not create the ‘set’ of your liking by buying separates, instead of what the buyer has pulled together for you? We buy separates for our wardrobe all the time so why not apply the same thinking when buying for our home, after all, we’re ‘dressing’ it for ourselves! So let’s add our character and individuality.
With flexible working becoming more opportune, and in a lot of cases mandatory since the Covid outbreak, we’ve had to evaluate how and where we set up our work stations each day in order to concentrate, be comfortable and most importantly, able to disconnect from it all when ‘leaving work’. So where possible, it pays to have a designated area at home that’s set up specifically for work.
So, ‘Do You Like Good Music’? I have a print in my bedroom with these opening lyrics from the track Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley, and it got me thinking about the importance of music and how what we listen to influences our design aesthetic.
The prospect of refurbishing this chair has been looming over me for so long. When furlough came along via lockdown, I promised myself that I’d use the time to finally tackle it and start ordering the paint and fabric samples that I’ve been threatening to do for years.
Collecting art, prints and generally anything that can be flaunted on your walls is an ongoing hobby for those of us who love it. I truly believe there’s no hard stop to the amount of art that you should display in your home.
‘Damn Cool’ will be a features board where you can check out the extra cool pieces that really jump out at me, the ones that I feel the need that you MUST see, and if nothing else, to impart what’s in my brain and give the magazine features editor within me an excuse to play!
With a background and upbringing in fashion and design, my interiors and styling methods are inevitably influenced by the fashion industry, particularly in terms of colour palettes and texture. I often resonate with the photography used in the fashion adverts within the front few pages of magazines, for the stunning use of colour and pattern in the clothing, and environment they’re shot in.
What is ‘good taste’ and who decides it? Generally speaking, magazines, influencers and the media inform us what’s on the catwalk, therefore what’s in, or coming to the shops so we’re fairly dictated to by trends whether we know it or not, quite simply because that’s what’s currently available to buy.
What is more satisfying than curling up in a sumptuous armchair with a hot drink and good book at the weekend, or at the end of a long day? We all have our favourite spots for these deserving moments don’t we? and the best chairs are those that hug us back and feel great to touch, as well as fabulous to look at.
