Easter Decor Delights

As I am still heavily embroiled in house-attempt-purchasing malarky, I haven’t felt I’ve had a huge amount to say around these parts of late. Every time I catch myself lusting after a wallpaper or admiring a pleasing shelving configuration, I’m hit with that sick-to-the-stomach feeling you get as a teenager when you spy that boy you really like and sometimes dare to dream he might actually like you too, even though you’re simultaneously pretty certain he doesn’t know you exist and suspect he already has a girlfriend anyway. Well, it’s like that. Except with floor joists and unsightly brown pebbledash. I hope either way to be put out of my misery soon so that I might share what’s going on, but for now (and for the fourth long month running) patience is the name of the game.

I digress. What I actually came onboard to say is that, if you missed my feature on decorated Easter tabletop displays in Woman’s Weeky magazine last week (of which there was a pretty high likelihood as I was so preoccupied with said joists/pebbledash I forgot, um,  to tell anyone it was out) and you’re at a loose end this Saturday night, why not try whipping up one of the following projects:

Fabric decoupage eggs, using some gorgeous Amy Butler fabric (available for £11 per metre at John Lewis)

Hold back on scoffing those there mini eggs – why not arrange them in a vase for an alternative floral centrepiece instead? You can gorge on them after, promise…

And finally, egg cup tea lights. I was actually really impressed at how easy it is to burn down a ubiquitous Ikea tea light and transport it into another vessel ready for candlelight enjoyment. This could be applied to all manner of little bowls and other quirky, molten-wax-safe vessels as well as eggshells. For the full how-to, check out the instructions on the Good to Know website.

And finally a few behind the scenes shot – big thanks to lovely Sussie Bell, the photographer who let me overtake her house for the day with my trinkets and baubles (and took these stunning snaps, of course). There’s a few more of these to be seen over on the Woman’s Weekly Facebook page of you fancy ambling over.

And yes, I did eat approximately 25 duck eggs (and approx 957 mini eggs) during the planning process of this shoot. Tough times, friends, tough times…

Next big project on the horizon is my Jubilee shoot – pinkie promise to share it before July!

The Big Chill

I think I speak for all Brits when I say I’m mighty glad that (for now, at least) the extreme chill that enveloped our fair lands for most of February seems to finally be making way for a tentative start to early Spring (cue heavy rain and plummeting temperatures for the next three weeks). Right in the midst of the chill, and also in the midst of house hunting – the main reason for my lengthy absence as much of the month was lost to findaproperty.com – myself and the boyf embarked on a weekend trip to the Welsh countryside, for a stay in beautiful Portmeirion.

Although there’s no doubt it would indeed be a most excellent place to while away the hours on a balmy summer’s day, there was something about being in essentially a tourist resort (albeit a very classy one) out of season that just feels somewhat magical. The piercing Winter’s sun glistened away over frosty surfaces and the vibrant pops of colour within the village itself contrasted beautifully with watercolour skies, all beautifully tempered by the cold seasonal light.

As well as lofty design ideas to steal for my own as-yet-non-existant garden and some rather natty little colour combos, I’ll not soon forget those beautiful, inky skies – and a Full English so immense, we were full up until tea time.

{Images – all copyright Joanna Thornhill}

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Phew – January certainly kicked off apace for me, how about you?! Several rather monumental occurances all seemed to hit within the first 48 working hours of the year. Firstly, my humble abode was featured, in glorious technicolour, in the wonderful Style at Home magazine! Heart Home readers will recognise it from the magazine’s debut issue last September, but it’s well worth a separate peek as the SatH team chose different shots, plus I was mighty flattered by their follow-on features inspired by the place – as well as a mini Get the Look, there was a spread on colourful storage tins inspired by my kitchen shelving, a feature on adding colour without decorating (perfect for fellow no-painty-allowed renters) and even a series of three DIY crafts to try using maps, as inspired by my filing cabinet which is covered in a giant oversized map to hide its corporate-ness.Even I felt inspired by me – if only there were more hours in the day for crafty fun!

For those not familiar with the magazine, do pop to the shops and get a copy – my feature will still be on sale in its Feb issue for another week or so. I was fortunate enough to do some freelance work on the first few issues (hard to believe it launched a year ago now) and it’s pretty much the only interiors mag on the UK market to fully embrace craft projects as a standalone feature rather than just an element of a decorating shoot, and is packed full of practical advice for making the most of any space.

Co-incidentally, lovely Kate Baxter from Fabric of my Life also ran an interview with me in Heart Home magazine’s blog on 4th Jan (it was originally meant to go in pre-Crimbo but ended up getting pushed back). Read it here – some very kind opening commentary from Kate, whose work in our Christmas decorating shoot for Heart Home pretty much single-handedly kick-started my current obsession with neon brights.

Here’s a few of my portfolio shots cropped into Heart Home’s favoured square format that accompanied the piece – an interesting exercise in itself to go through my work and see what did and didn’t work in a different format.

Then finally, something of a wild card:

Some time ago, I worked on a Dulux trend shoot with super-talented stylist Hannah Simmons, who created a series of inspirational trend stories set to launch in 2012. One of the trends for said shoot, Living Scrapbook, was planned to be shot slightly later and would feature a stylish desk space propped with a selection of black and white photographs lying on its surface. The art director spent some time on our shoot photographing people and places which could work on said desk, including, amongst many other things, a portrait shot of little ol’ me. Cut to over a year later, me sitting in a press briefing for Dulux’s said range of trends, and what should pop up as part of a Powerpoint slideshow?! My mug, centre stage! Something of a shock to say the least. Still, it’s nice to know my face is on-trend, particularly in light of all the recent exposure its been getting.

I mentioned several monumental occurences – so the fourth was that, about an hour after I received my copy of Style at Home with my beautiful little flat inside, I received a phone call from my landlord: he’s decided he wants to sell up and we’ve got just over three months to get out. The cruel mistress that is Lady Irony. So after a shell-shocked few days, the boyf and I decided to investigate and see if any banking types might be crazy enough to lend a couple of freelancing kids a few Big G’s mid-recession. Astoundingly, it seems that (touch wood) the answer appears to be yes! So spare time is going to be rather taken up these next few weeks/months visiting a selection of dank and dingy properties in various far-flung corners of London’s outback in the hope we can find one under budget and not too repulsive to live in! It’s very early days so far and am trying to keep my ‘look beyond the woodchip/cheap laminate/mould/smell of wet socks’ glasses firmly on, but so far I’ll just say – it’s amazing how very little a whacking great chunk of money will get you in this fine city. But I hope to be back here soon with some more positive tales and ultimately, many more positive stories of house purchases and ensuing Home Makeover Joy (is it wrong I’ve already picked out my sofa before we’ve even honed down an area we’d be happy to live in?!) Anyway I’d best be off – wouldn’t want you getting sick of me…

{Image Credits: Style at Home photography by Sarah Hogan. Party and egg shots, by Mike Daines for Essential Kitchen Bedroom Bathroom magazine. Carrot cake and chocolate cherry cupcake shots, by Max Attenborough for The Velvet Bakery. ‘Living Scrapbook’ desk shot, courtesy of Dulux

Happy New Year – and an Insight into India

Well here we are – a whole shiny new year sprawled ahead of us. It seems somewhat odd that many of us (myself included) choose to spend it mooching around the house with a hangover and hazy memories of dancing the night away to bad ’80′s music whilst we watch crap telly, counting down the minutes until we can legitimately go back to bed again and do things ‘properly’ tomorrow. But I’ve just about mustered up the energy to cobble together some of my favourite photos from my recent trip to India, which was hands-down my most inspirational, eye-opening, glorious highlight of what is now last year.

I’ve never been that keen on the idea of going to India to be honest – too noisy, bustly, chaotic and a severe lack of bland food (I don’t cope well with spice). But the opportunity to go out there for my Bestie’s wedding was simply too good to refuse, and as it turned out, these actually ended up being the things I loved most about the whole experience. In the sanitised West, where a simple request like asking for access to bleach spray in order to clean a dusty cupboard shelf at work can be refused on grounds of the Health & Safety risks (yes, this honestly did happen to me recently), the whirlwind of madness that is India, with its families of 10 hanging out of a tiny rickshaw, live power cables draped at head height and streets where life is just there, right in front of you in all its beautifully unedited glory, it all felt so wonderfully, liberatingly free. Perhaps it’s a somewhat crass viewpoint given that, I’m sure, the survival rate on those roads and streets must be significantly less rosy than in our seatbelted, security passed towns, but there was something so honest and simple about so much of what we saw I feel it’s justified to be envious of many of the lifestyle elements we bore witness to. And the spicy food? Well, let’s just say that genuinely enjoying a plate of Curried Cumin Cabbage couldn’t have surprised anyone more than me. And nowadays, you can’t keep me away from a good Rogan Josh for love nor money.

Here are a few compilations of some of the glimpses of colour, texture, people and pattern that caught my eye over there – will try and post the remainder, grouped into buildings and transport (seriously – the trucks out there are, like, totes amaze) – soon. Happy New Year!!

{All images copyright Joanna Thornhill}

Merry Christmas!

Signing off for Christmas now with a few festive snaps from around the house. As a stylist/homes journo, a huge amount of my year seems to be taken up with Christmas features and shoots, more often than not focusing on a particular festive theme. So when it comes to Real Christmas, I love nothing more than gathering up my favourite all-time decs – a mixture of family heirlooms that predate me to the selection of ‘new’ favourites, of which I always add a few extra to each year, all flung together in a somewhat kitsch explosion that inevitably seeps its way beyond the tree and on to mantlepieces, existing dead twig arrangements, kitchen cupboards, windowsills…

New to the fold this year include my fantastic flying flock reindeers and ‘Joy’ from Johnny Egg, and my freshly-beloved ceramic origami penguin from Paperchase (who’s soooo staying out on display post Crimbo). I’ve even (shhh – don’t tell the Style Police) incorporated a bit of tinsel into non-tree-based displays – but it’s actually vintage tinsel, so that makes it alright, innit.

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, thanks for reading!

{Image credits: copyright me, created in Instagram} http://instagr.am/

Walking in a Vintage Wonderland

When Heart Home magazine asked if I’d produce a festive shoot for their second issue, my first reaction was “weee, yes please thanks!” Then my second reaction was, “umm, can I have a 25th hour in the day to complete it in?” My current full-time job at another magazine sadly doesn’t leave much spare time for extra-curricular activities. Fellow styling buddies Emily Blunden and Kate Baxter also found themselves in a similar predicament. The solution? We decided, much like several soloists at the X Factor boot camp, that our best plan was to combine forces to become an uber-styling machine. And uber-style we did: taking this seasons three key festive decorating stories – Nordic Chic, Neon Brights and Vintage Pastels, we each chose our trends, then styled the b’Jesus out of them on one epic shoot with one very game (and patient!) photographer, Sarah Hogan.

I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a few behind the scenes pics from the day here, as a little insight into what goes into planning a shoot. True to form, all sneaky snaps drew to a swift halt fairly early into the proceedings when the enormity of the remaining workload kicked in, but nonetheless here goes.

Firstly, a few inspirations behind my trend. I was keen to embrace the pretty pastels that typify this look, but to ensure it didn’t feel overly cutesy I wanted to add a few quirky, whimsical twists to keep things feeling fresh. Amongst a whirlwind of ideas, I loved the notion of wrapping a teapot in ribbon and using a sweet figurine as an alternative placecard holder (tearsheets taken from: Teapot – Wilkinson; Wrapped presents – Good Homes magazine; Fireplace and Fawn – LivingEtc magazine.)

The first task on any shoot (after coffee and chats, natch) is to get all your props unpacked and organised – a task my OCD relishes, as I gleefully go about labelling bags and arranging things neatly on tabletops (until inevitably there isn’t enough table space for everything and it all gets rammed on). I never fail to get overly excited about laying everything out in all its glory, and there’s always a nervous anticipation as you see things slowly coming together.

I started with my lateral tree shot, knowing it would be a tricky Mother to set up (it ended up taking a good two hours). Following the positive reaction to my rental flat, which appeared in the debut issue of Heart Home, I was keen for this shoot to include decorating ideas suitable for small-space dwellers such as myself – a lateral tree is perfect when floor space is tight, and by stringing it up with fishing wire attached to removable 3M Command hooks, you can whip the whole thing down on the 5th of Jan without leaving a trace. By laying my decs out on the floor, I was able to work out a pattern I was happy with (much easier than trying to figure it out when you’re knee-deep in fishing wire!)

One lethal danger on a shoot is accidentally falling in love with your press loans: it was super hard to say goodbye to these amazing octopus and bird snowglobes (from Anthropologie and Liberty respectively), but when it came to Shan Annabelle Valla’s Itzy Bitzy Ditzy vases, which I’ve been hankering after since she launched them at Pulse over a year ago, there was nothing for it but to hold them ransom and purchase them post-shoot. Luckily, lovely Shan was more than happy to oblige, and they are now living happily with me and a somewhat confused boyfriend still struggling to understand why we justifiably needed more tiny little ornaments.

My table decorating shoot came together reassuringly easily – the giftwrapping shot took rather longer to prep, however. I worked out my giftbox set-up in its ‘nude’ form first, before deciding which wrapping technique to apply to which item. I also wanted the presents to balance somewhat precariously, to add an extra touch of whimsy.

Alright, that’s enough pre-amble – want to see the final shots? Um, alright then – feast your eyes, my pretties:

Decorations from left to right, starting from top:

1. Star, from a selection, Lombok
2. Alpine Frost glitter feather, £4
   Alpine reindeer, £3
   Alpine Frost jewel, £3, all House of Fraser
3. Snowflake, £17.50, Wedgewood at Liberty
4. Chandelier decoration, £4, B&Q
5. Fortnum’s Clock tree decoration, £14, Fortnum & Mason
6. Tangled Droplet decoration, £15 for set of two, Timea Sido at Seek and Adore
7. Crystal Baubles biscuit decoration, £34 per tin, Biscuiteers at Harrods
8. Alpine reindeer, £3, Linea at House of Fraser
9. Coach ornament, £4.95, Lisbeth Dahl
10. Porcelain origami star, £5, Paperchase
11. Ceramic teapot, £2, B&Q
12. Alpine Frost glitter swan, £3, House of Fraser
13. Ceramic lace print bauble, £22 for three, Abby Monroe
14. Pastel baubles, £10.95 for box, The Conran Shop
15. Crystal Baubles biscuit decoration, £34 per tin, Biscuiteers at Harrods
16. Ceramic Tangled Snowflake, £10, Timea Sido at Seek & Adore
17. Alpine Frost glitter swan, £3, House of Fraser
18. Small ribbed baubles, £9.95 for 10, Aspen & Brown
19. Ceramic lace print bauble, £xx for three, Abby Monroe
20. Crystal Baubles biscuit decoration, £34 per tin, Biscuiteers at Harrods
21. Ceramic teapot, £2, B&Q
22. Alpine Frost jewel, £3,
    Alpine Frost glitter feather, £4, both House of Fraser
23. Crochet snowflakes, £4 for 12, Paperchase
24. Glass raindrops, £5.95 for set of six, The Conran Shop
    

    On mantelpiece:

25. Distorted candlestick in grey, £29, The Conran Shop
26. Candlestick, Anthropologie
27. Cockatoo candle, £14, Rockett St George
28. Sea Story octopus ornament, £14, Anthropologie
29. Itzy Bitzy Ditzy mini porcelain vases, £14 each/£30 for three, Shan Annabelle Valla
30. Swan in blue dome, £11.95, Pink bird in dome, £19.95, both Liberty
31. Mason jar snow globe, £20,
    Candlestick, both Anthropologie

1. Tablecloth made from Aquilla fabric in pewter, £48.99 per metre, Voyage Decoration
2. Lily table runner in white, £39.99, Rockett St George
3. Flock handmade paper sparrows, from £35 each, Maxine Greer
4. Sequin scatter stars, £20 Cox & Cox
5. Porcelain origami stag, £5, and penguin, £5, Paperchase
6. Gold tie-on letters (used for place names), £7 each, Jo Heckett
7. Opera cake plate and dome, £20, Brissi at John Lewis
8. Dahlia placemats in pewter, £9.95 each, The Conran Shop
9. Blossom deep plates, £38 each, and dessert bowls, £29 each, Bodo Sperlein
10. Teapot napkin ring, £15 for four, Habitat
11. Amara napkin, £4, Twig pastry fork, £5 each, both John Lewis
12. White glitter stars (inside bowl), £4.50 for 20, Cox & Cox
13. Marvellous marzipan fruits, £9.99 per box, Hope & Greenwood
14. Eat Me cake toppers, £4.95 for ten, Bag of Tags at Etsy
15. Ania wine glass, £27 for set of four, LSA
16. Social Soiree Charming Cleo cracker, £8.25 for eight, Talking Tables

1. Teapot wrapped in Dots ribbon in pink/mint and Picot edge ribbon in pink, both £6.95 for 5m, Cotton and linen tape in turquoise, £6.60 for 5m, all VV Rouleaux at John Lewis
2. Small white dove (on spout), £7.50 for 12, Cox & Cox
3. 1″ star bows, 99p for 12, Hobbycraft
4. Other ribbons, from a selection, John Lewis
5. Handmade blue paper, £4.95 per sheet, Silver glitter paper, £2.25 per sheet, Erboristeria floral wrap, £2 per sheet, White wrap, £2 per roll, all Paperchase
6. Purple Stars washi tape (used in star design), £2.95 per roll, Papernation
7. Grey felt snowflake garland, £7.50, Cox & Cox
8. Silver toadstool, £2.95, The Conran Shop
9. White ceramic wings, £2.50, Paperchase
10. Powder ornament with glitter, £4.95, Lisbeth Dahl
11. Ice drop ornament, £20, Anthropologie
12. Flower pattern bauble, £2, Rabbit decoration, £2, both B&Q
13. Fairy lights, £10, Wilkinson

Big thanks to all the PR’s and designers who loaned the scrummy bits and bobs featured in this shoot – and for Emily and Kate’s trends, get thee over to Heart Home (p13-19) now!

{Behind the scenes images all copyright me. Final three images copyright Sarah Hogan, styled by me}

Vacations and Vintage Keys

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all stylists must love the following things:

Washi tape

Charity shops/car boots/antiques fairs/second hand stores

Rusty old vintage keys

Hydrangeas

Trinkets, baubles and general other miscellaneous nonsense a magpie might want for their nest.

Behold here a board full of said rusty vintage keys, snapped in India on my recent vacation there last month (hence my absence of late, and much more to come on this subject!) Needless to say, one of these said keys is now hanging on a door handle in my flat, along with numerous other artefacts picked up on my travels. Just wanted to pop in and share before I do my uber catch-up post in a few days – and a big wave if any of you have popped over from Heart Home magazine, where my latest Christmas styling feature has just gone live. Do come back shortly, as I’ve got some sneaky behind-the-scenes snaps of our shoot day to share too – coming soon!

{Photo copyright: Me}

Superdesign

It’s been at least five minutes since there’s been a major interiors event in London Town, so luckily one sidled up just in time to fill the gaping void. Superdesign, billing itself as a Design Art exhibition, featured specially commissioned studio pieces by both well known and emerging designers which managed to straddle the gap between form and function. This show was all about statement pieces, and showcased a pleasing mix of technology and craftsmanship, which both managed to metaphorically lie together in one super-stylish bed: think simplistic chairs embossed in intricate ethnic patterns, lights formed from flat sheets of plastic and slabs of wood and marble meticulously configured into tactile, perfect, defy-you-not-to-stroke-it shapes.

My favourite pieces (all below) included the Cinderella table by Demakersvan – the most interesting, whimsical use of marble I think I’ve ever seen, the Samurai chandelier, which beautifully combined ancient craft techniques to provide an extremely modern end product, and the vibrant Blooming Spark light, one of the few technicoloured pieces on show and constructed from neoprene, acrylics and UV paint to produce what its makers describe as “a bouquet of alien botany”. I also found the use of ‘light transform flats’ (aka light-up glowing sheeting) extremely interesting – a concept I was first introduced to earlier this year by Show & Tell Design, with their prototype Lampada flat lamp which featured on BBC2′s Britain’s Next Big Thing and went on to be stocked at Liberty’s. I suspect we’ll be seeing rather a lot more from this stock.

Ethno Eames chair, Paolo Giordano

Manta chair, Giuseppe Arbore

Samurai chandelier, Phillip Baldwin & Monica Guggisberg in collaboration with Best & Lloyd

Digit Linear by Emmanuel Babled

Floor light by Michael Anastassiades

Blooming Spark by Hsiao-Chi Tsai & Kimiya Yoshikawa

Plug light, Marcus Tremonto

Cinderella table, Demakersvan

T36 stool, Paolo Giordano

{Image credits: All copyright Joanna Thornhill}

Happy Birthday, Sir Terence!

As part of the recent London Design Festival activities, I was lucky enough to attend an evening launch at Conran’s flagship Chelsea store, to launch their new Play Zone (i.e. tech area geeky enough to please gadget-loving boyfriends yet beautiful enough to appease design-favouring ladies. Yes, I’m kinda talking about myself here – the fella’s beloved fugly black box speakers circa 1992 are WAY overdue for a style upgrade). Plus, the evening gave an opportunity to take in a sneak preview of some of the highlights of the forthcoming Superdesign exhibition, taking place later this month in London. News aside though, I have to say the store was looking stunning, in particular the new dining area downstairs – love, love, love these painted little vignettes on display, plus the inspirationally clever chalkboard dining table, designed specifically to allow customers to lay out their potential new dinner service purchases in situ before making a purchase.

Here’s a few of my favourite bits available instore now:

Leather lampshade vertical black, £595; Hornbill jug large, £225; Moshi Moshi pop phone handset, £24.99; Large cable knit thrown in orange, £145; Home Desk by Vitra, £3,515

To commemorate his 80 years, a new exhibition, Terence Conran: The Way We Live Now, opens on 16th November at the Design Museum London, looking at the impact this inspirational man has had on British interiors throughout his lifetime thus far.

{Images: in-store shots copyright Joanna Thornhill. Product shots all taken from the Conran Shop website}

LDF2011: Tom Dixon at the Dock

Following on from the success of last year’s London Design Festival event, Tom Dixon threw open his doors again last week to welcome us design-loving folk into his sanctuary, tucked away in a stunning little spot up the less salubrious end of Ladbroke Grove.

As well as giving late-night access to his shop and award-winning kitchen, the space was also opened up to some pop-up enterprises, including Print Club London (who were giving live screen printing demo’s with free, still-wet screenprints for all at the end) and the Design Museum‘s pop-up ShopShed

The Tom Dixon shop itself featured an inspired mix of pieces both large and small, showcasing the work of Mr Dixon himself plus many talented others, including scrapwood masters Piet Hein Eek (who I’ve featured before here).

Next, a pop next door into the wonderland that is Moooi HQ. Restyled as part of the LDF festivities, designer Marcel Wanders created an opulent underwater paradise, ideal to showcase his very particular design aesthetic. A long-time fan of his fantastically quirky Delft Blue vase collection, I was lucky enough to feature a couple of them in a magazine shoot last year, and have been pretty much obsessed with the brand since then. Personal favourites on show here were the 5 O’Clock floral table and chairs and Crochet footstool – each giving a nod to classic English heritage and craft, reworked in an utterly modern way. I’ll take them all, please

{Image credits: all copyright Joanna Thornhill}