New Lorca Collection for Spring ’16

We were fortunate enough to have our lovely sales rep from Osborne & Little come into the office the other week to show us the new collections for spring 2016, and by the amount of samples we ordered you can tell we absolutely fell in love with everything! However what really struck a chord were the wonderful new Lorca collections, Aradonis and Aradonis Weaves!

There are some wonderfully bright and colourful patterns and colours being used that are sure to put a spring in your step and into your interiors.

Hanging fabric: Yolanta, back of chair: Loana, seat: Calina

The inspiration for the collection comes from the style, architecture and general aesthetics of the Eastern Mediterranean visualised in a modern, contemporary way. The collection sees Lorca’s distinctive signature colours including fuchsia, lavender, orange and turquoise mixed together with a new palette of apple, hyacinth, linen, saffron, taupe and black.

What’s so lovely about this collection is that each pattern is inspired by something specific, you can really imagine a designer’s journey through the Mediterranean and the places they visited and the things they saw. The ‘tree of life’ pattern in the hanging fabric above takes its inspiration from mosaics in a Byzantine Palace. The inspiration for the pattern, just like all the patterns in the collection has then be translated into a contemporary design with just the right combination of snappy 21^st century colours and historical and traditional nostalgia.

Hanging fabric and cushion: Aradonis Stripe, sofa and base of footstool: Calina, top of footstool: Loana.

There’s a lovely sleekness to the Aradonis Stripe design and a sense of fun in the colours that gives the fabric a light-hearted nature. The fabrics in this photograph all take inspiration from various items of clothing, the stripe from the costume of a temple dancer, the Calina design from an antique Maltese belt and the Loana from an ottoman waistcoat.

Hanging fabric: Natalia

This beautiful floral design on a mixture of viscose and silk is absolutely stunning and is a fantastic way to do glamour and florals without the scheme looking dated or tacky. The design follows suit of a brocade spotted by a designer in a Cypriot villa, and is beautifully elegant, reflecting the rays of sun amazingly.

Hanging fabric (left): Fombelle, hanging fabric (right): Palatine

These two fabrics are absolutely perfect if you’re looking for something vibrant and contemporary to revamp a room. On the left, Fombelle a lovely embroidered feather pattern that also comes in a vivid palette of colour for a really contemporary look. Palatine, the fabric on the right was influenced by rope work seen at a quayside on Syracuse, Sicily. You can really feel the energy of the sources of creativity shine through into the patterns and designs, and knowing their origins helps to paint a rather enticing picture of a rich history for your interiors.

Hanging fabric and cushion: Palestrina, sofa: Calina

The Eastern Mediterranean heritage and culture shine through in the Palestrina fabric, having acquired its name from the ancient city in Italy. It’s a spectacular combination of regal damask design with modern hues in the background and is absolutely ideal for dressing up any room and creating a little Mediterranean getaway.

The Dolenia fabric makes a rather lovely finish, the beautiful silhouettes of the leaves overlapping one another is akin of looking directly underneath a tree in full bloom and seeing the sun beam through the foliage.

Hanging fabric: Dolenia, cushion and base of footstool: Calina, top of footstool: Loana

Another simply stunning collection from Lorca to feast your eyes on, we can’t wait to use them!

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New Farrow and Ball Colours!

The wait is over and Farrow and Ball have finally released their nine new colours. The new collection ranges from dusty pastels to warm neutrals and bolder colours, some bright and some dark. The colours are designed to integrate with Farrow and Ball’s existing collection as well as stand on their own, and just as you would expect from the company the colours are rather lovely and have that same English heritage feel about them but with a contemporary twist. So without further ado here are the nine gorgeous colours in all their glory!

‘Drop Cloth’

‘Shadow White’

There are three elegant neutrals in the new collection, Drop Cloth, Shadow White and Cromarty, each with their own distinct set of shades and hues. Shadow White is a wonderful soft white and Drop Cloth its slightly darker mate. The two colours work perfectly in sync with one another and are a suitable palette for those wanting a contemporary look in their home. The colours are a modern alternative to the already existing neutrals in Farrow and Ball’s collection as they have less yellowy tones in them, but also avoid grey tones, the ‘of-the-moment’ colour, making Shadow White and Drop Cloth contemporary classics.

‘Cromarty’

Cromarty is a great colour choice if your room is in need of a neutral tone but you enjoy a subtle hint of blue as well. As the light changes throughout the day so will the colour of Cromarty giving you a quietly diverse paint colour.

The pastels in the collection have a sophisticated and muted tone about them, making each of them suitable canvas colours for a room, as they work in the same way a neutral does but with a fresh hint of additional of colour.

‘Peignoir’

Peignoir is a dusty pink full of romance, but in a way that doesn’t overload and become sickly. It carefully maintains a dusty cool ambience and avoids the fatal ‘dated’ look, allowing Peignoir to settle in the contemporary category.

‘Worsted’

Farrow and Ball have carefully curated their new collection of colours not to be completely different from their existing set but to be the perfect companions and counterparts to one another. Each new colour has been created with older colours in mind to create a wonderful balance between the old and the new. Worsted is the middle-ground shade between Purbeck Stone and Mole’s Breath, and the subtle distinction between the shades can make all the difference in your interiors.

‘Yeabridge Green’

The discovery of the Yeabridge Green has a rather sweet backstory, the colour was found at the 18^th century Georgian farmhouse when the house’s original gun cupboard was removed. Its avocado tones make the colour very ‘now’ while its backstory gives it that heritage vibe, creating a seamless balance between past and present.

The remaining three colours from the new collection are beautiful, bold colours. Vardo is a bouncy blue that has its spirit levels up in the skies. It’ll be great for giving a room that extra bit of oomph it may be lacking and rebooting a tired interior.

‘Vardo’

For a slightly deeper shade, the Inchyra Blue is glorious. It dips into many different colour families, blue, green, grey and whatever way you want to interpret it the outcome will always be a wonderful, strong colour that will make a statement if you want it to.

‘Inchyra Blue’

The final colour from the collection is a dark and moody chocolate brown, Salon Drab. It’s a beautifully rich, thick colour that is well suited for the all-four walls dark colour trend, it will create a wonderful cosy atmosphere without compromising on elegance, well suited for both heritage and contemporary properties.

‘Salon Drab’

So there you have it the nine new colours from Farrow and Ball, their timeless nature will allow them to combine with the existing colours effortlessly and we have a feeling the some of them may fast become your favourites!

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The beautiful colours of Cuba

I was talking to someone this weekend who is organising a trip to Cuba and discussing it reminded me of what an amazingly beautiful country it is. I haven’t been for a number of years but the colours, the history and the vibrancy of the people left a huge impression on me. I dug out my old photos and the memories came flooding back. I won’t be posting them all, you will be pleased to know, but here are a few of my favourites.

   

     

The town of Trinidad in central Cuba is wonderful and has a number of beautiful Spanish influence houses that I found fascinating and inspiring.

And it seems that Dachsies are cute the world over, right Boris.

OK, holiday photos away, on with the work!

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New collections from Colefax and Fowler

There is lots of lovely bold colour coming from Colefax and Fowler‘s collections at the moment which we are absolutely loving! There are four brands under the C&F umbrella and having had a good look through all the new collections recently, it was impossible to pick out just one to show you, so we are showing you a bit from them all!

Baptista Linen from Colefax and Fowler

The curtain fabric is Grimaud from Manuel Canovas

Fabulous colours from the latest Jane Churchill collection

Softer, elegant colours from Colefax and Fowler – the curtain fabric is Lucius.

More tempting fabrics from Colefax and Fowler

A fabulous combination of colours from Jane Churchill – the curtain in the background is Versus Copper, Plato Charcoal is the cushion at the front and sandwiched in the middle are Orion in pink and burnt orange.

I just love this design from Manuel Canovas called L’Envol – it is a work of art in itself! 

And finally much more contemporary fabrics from Larsen with some delicious sharp accent colours.

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New from Farrow and Ball

Farrow and Ball launched three delightful new wallpaper designs yesterday, each one in a range of their own colour combinations, and the results are stunning. The designs are inspired by French fashion designs and they seem to me to conjure up a charming taste of the past.  To celebrate the launch, we have created schemes combining the new wallpapers with paint colours, fabrics, trims and flooring. They are on display in the Farrow and Ball Cambridge showroom but if you can’t make, here is a look at our work.

The wallpaper above is the beautifully delicate Feuille and we have combined it with warmer greys and delicious bluey purple hues to create a fresh, inviting and feminine scheme. The schemes uses Ammonite, Purbeck Stone, Brassica and Charleston Gray.

This amazing Paisley wallpaper is a wonderfully traditional print that also manages to seem very modern. We have created two schemes to show how contrasting looks can be created using the same design in very different colour combinations. The scheme above uses a background colour of Railings which is a deep inky blue black with a dash of Charlotte’s Locks orange and the light touch of Dimpse and Strong White. This scheme is deep and mysterious and only works if the dark colours are in the significant majority with just a confident dash of orange and light greys.

The second scheme using the Paisley wallpaper seems reminiscent of summer tennis parties and a gin and tonic on the terrace. The background is Pavilion Blue and is combined with Green Blue, Nancy’s Blushes, Calamine and Blackened. The key with this scheme is to keep away from creams – use Pavilion Blue or Blackened on woodwork or ceilings, cream or off white seems to destroy the beauty of the delicate colours in the wallpaper.

Finally the wonderful paper Tourbillon. I think it has just a hint of Art Deco about it, but I could be wrong. Either way, I chose the divine Calamine colourway and combined it with the very grown up (and close to my heart) Brinjal in a gloss finish, plus Smoked Trout, Calamine and Raddicio.

If you would like any other details of the schemes, please let us know.

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In love with florals

Inspired by the Chelsea Flower show which opens this week, and by the glorious sunny weekend we have just enjoyed, I can’t resist bringing you some floral interior inspiration. I love the great outdoors but in truth, these florals are much more my line of country – no weeds, no wilting, no hay fever and are still in full bloom in the winter – perfect!

Patterned carpet has often had a very traditional look but this bloom strewn carpet by Sophie Conran for Axminster is gorgeous and up-to-date.

Colefax and Fowler Louise Silk

Beautiful and timeless embroidered floral silk curtains create an elegant country feel. Fabric by Colefax and Fowler.

Bedthrow and cushion by Kate Forman fabrics

I love this bedthrow from Kate Forman which adds a splash of colour and pattern to a room, and draws attention to the lovely bed

Nostell Priory wallpaper from Zoffany

We have featured this glorious wallpaper in a previous post but it is so lovely, I think it deserves another showing.

 

Sanderson Midsummer rose rug

This jolly rug adds such a burst of colour to a room that it is hard to resist and I love it in this setting with very cream walls and vintage accessories.

Floral cotton velvet cushions from Forest and Co

Finally I couldn’t write about floral interiors and not give you a cushion or three – these velvet beauties from Forest and Co will add glamour to almost any home and I am very tempted by all of them.

Do you have any favourite florals? Let us know while we are in the outdoorsy mood!

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