The Designer Look For Less: Hay x Ikea

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We all earmark IKEA as the place to go to get cheap, 'need it right now' furniture that is basic and functional. Yet in recent years IKEA has been moving up a level - working with highly revered designers to create incredible, but still amazingly affordable furniture. After talking briefly to Kit Neale about his SPRIDD collab with IKEA last year, he highlighted that IKEA's quality control meant that his collection with the Swedish power-brand took two years in the making. It is obviously IKEA's dedication to their designs that has attracted top name designers to collaborate with them on design-led, but affordable, collections. The much publicised Tom Dixon collection DELAKTIG will make its way into stores at the beginning of next year, while super-hip French multi-brand retailer Colette are currently working with IKEA on a new partnership.

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Business Spotlight On: Sweetpea & Willow

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If you are a regular interior blog reader, you may have come across the name Sweetpea & Willow before. The owner of the furniture and accessories boutique, Jacquie, runs the award-winning Sweetpea & Willow blog 'Willow's Wardrobe,' alongside running the business with her husband Matt. Even though I'd often perused all the beautiful products Sweetpea & Willow sell online, I'd never actually visited their much talked about showroom. When Jacquie invited me down to have a proper look at all their products on display last week, I was so not prepared for what I saw when I visited!

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Clerkenwell Design Week 2017: My Best Bits Round Up!

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This week is Clerkenwell Design Week, a kind of urban festival if you will for lovers of interiors and design in general. The creative part of London that is Clerkenwell is host to CDW, which houses over 200 international brands within 7 exhibition venues, and more than 90 showrooms (generally furniture and design shops within the Clerkenwell grid).

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Get Inspiration For Your Own Home From The Interior Sets At Grand Designs Live

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This week I popped along to the Grand Designs Live exhibition at London's GIGANTIC ExCeL Convention Centre (seriously, I got lost in the building, wandering into another exhibition by mistake). Even though it would be amazing to build my own home, I'm quite happy in the already-built home I live in, so it was interiors rather than architecture that I was after at the show.

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Celebrating London Craft Week 2017: Upholstery With Shoreditch Design Rooms

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Next week (from May 3rd - 7th, 2017) is London Craft Week. Now in its third year, this annual event is all about celebrating creativity and craftsmanship, with 230 events happening over the space of the week in the city. Last week I attended one of these events, the launch party for Heal's Modern Craft Market, and instantly navigated towards the stand hosted by Shoreditch Design Rooms. Based in East London, Shoreditch Design Rooms are successful upholsterers who offer training classes to the public ranging from leisure classes (where you can work on your own piece of furniture), to accredited courses for a diploma qualification in upholstery.

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Creating Bespoke Interiors On A Budget - Being A Guest Speaker At The Ideal Home Show In London!

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Since starting this blog I've been able to do some seriously cool stuff. It has also opened up a number of opportunities for me career-wise that I would NEVER have been given without it. However, the email that dropped in my inbox on one of the last days of February really had me spluttering out my cup of tea. It was from the PR people behind the Ideal Home Show, asking me to give them a call in regards to doing a couple of presentations on the Interior Styling Stage at the event towards the end of March.

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Farrow & Ball's Key Colours For Spring 2017 & How I Would Use Them In My Home

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I know this blog is meant to be about getting a contemporary look on a budget, and Farrow & Ball tend to be considered as 'posh paint' due to its price point, but I just cannot stress enough how much of a Farrow & Ball fan I am. To me, its often a false economy buying a cheaper paint brand. For application, colour depth and range, Farrow & Ball really cannot be beaten. If you are going to spend money in one area when decorating, spend it on the paint. It's the foundation of the room and what everything else will be based around. With my Farrow & Ball fan-dom you can imagine I was excited to see what the key colours for spring 2017 were going to be for F&B. This season F&B have picked four hues - two dramatic, intense colours alongside two neutral shades.

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Review: How an Eve Sleep Mattress Actually Saved My Sanity

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For over a year, me and my husband had been in mattress hell. Our existing 10 year old mattress was a disaster (apparently you're only meant to have the same mattress for 8 years max anyway?) The springs were pushing out everywhere (no doubt not helped by a toddler who loved jumping on it multiple times a day). Obviously, it wasn't a dream to sleep on. You can see for yourself without even needing to lay down on it that the mattress had seen better days.....

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Ardmore Collection - New Wallpaper From Cole & Son

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If there is one thing I'm rather partial to, it's a jazzy wallpaper. I can't understand putting up a plain, boring, one colour wallpaper - what's the point? If I'm going to be putting up wallpaper in my home, then it has to be interesting, it has to be bright and it has to be good. When historic wallpaper company Cole & Son sent me some samples of their new 'Ardmore Collection' (launching this week at Paris Deco Off 2017) they immediately caught my eye.

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Why You Should Always Create A Mood board Before Decorating A Room

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Happy New Year! The Christmas decorations are down and rooms are looking bare. At the same time festive and sale items are being moved aside in the shops to make way for Spring Summer 2017. If you are a decorating addict like me, it's this time of year that gets me all twitchy and wanting to completely revamp the house! Less 'New Year, New Me', more 'Same Old Me, New Room'.

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Buy Bespoke Rugs To Perfectly Fit Your Space

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Cushions, throws, books, art - all these objects are used to build a room. They stop it from looking bland and sterile, give the room depth and provide that much needed cosy feel. Perhaps the most essential part of this layering in any interior is a rug. Rugs, however, can be quite hard to get right.  Too small and it looks silly and out of place. Too large then you'll most likely be catching the door on it, while most of it will be crumpled up under furniture than on show.

 

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From Sloping Shelves To Doodle Patterns - See What New Products Habitat Have In Store For Us For SS17

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Two fun facts to start with - did you know that Habitat is now part of the Sainsbury's group? Did you also know that it will now have mini stores within larger Sainsbury's supermarkets? No? Neither did I! As Habitat's products will now be more readily accessible to consumers, I was interested in what Creative Director Polly Dickens and her team had up their sleeve for Habitat SS17, so popped along to their press show at the Kings Road store this week.

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Can't DIY it Yourself? Design it instead with bespoke furniture from Homeplaneur

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You know what it's like when you have an exact image in your head of a piece of furniture or homeware that you need in your home. You scour the shops to find something just right, and sometimes you get close to perfection, but it's the wrong size, or the wrong colour. So many times i've said 'oh that's perfect, but only if it was a bit bigger', or, 'i like it, but if only it came in blue'. Obviously I try and DIY lots of stuff in my home, but there is just some stuff that i'm not capable of making! Beds, cabinets, rugs or tables being some of them! But I'm super fussy and particular, and I often want a say in all the finishing touches of my furniture. That's why when I discovered Homeplaneur, a website that enables you to envision and totally create your furniture to your specification (from the colour to the actual design), I was intrigued. An online 'Do It Yourself' approach, with the end result being Italian branded, highly crafted, fully or pre-assembled furniture delivered right to your door, it sounded such a great concept for people who know exactly what they want, but they just don't know where to find it.

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Are Metallics Still A thing? Will Tropical Return? Looking at SS17 High Street Homeware Trends With Next And Marks & Spencer

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This week I was lucky enough to attend the press shows for both Marks and Spencer and Next Home, to get a sneak-peek at their new furniture and homeware collections for Spring & Summer 2017. If you are a regular reader you'll know I love scouring the High Street for interior pieces that look designer, but come with a High Street price tag!

First up was M&S. When I saw the invite to the Marks and Spencer show I knew it was going to be good:

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Kit Neale for Ikea - A Brief Chat With The Fashion Designer On His SS17 Ltd SPRIDD Collection

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If you've got a teenager, a student to kit out before you send them off to uni, or if you are just a fan of bright and trendy prints, then Kit Neale's collaboration with Ikea (on sale next March in the UK) might just be for you. Colourful, bold, and blatantly aimed at the yoof, the 28 year old East London-based fashion designer has worked with Ikea on a limited edition collection titled SPRIDD. The result is a riot of cartoon-like prints of mushrooms, facial features, volcanoes and punctuation marks, with a real early 90's influence. These prints are spread across a range of homeware items such as mugs, plates, cushions and bedlinen, as well as t-shirts, duffel bags and even tents (a first for Ikea).

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The 3 DIY Apps You Need To Know About To Avoid Decorating Disasters

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Out of the decorating disasters that I've made in the past, there are three that have been reoccurring and incredibly frustrating. First, painting a room in a colour that ended up looking nothing like I had imagined it would in my head. Second, hanging shelves & pictures on the wonk and having to fill in the holes and start again. Lastly, wallpapering and realising that I didn't have enough paper, or I'd massively over-brought. Luckily, due to the wonder of technology, there are now a number of awesome free DIY apps available that can minimise making the mistakes I've just listed.

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I Won! All The Details of the Amara Interior Blog Awards 2016 Where I Took Home An Award!!

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If you follow my social media feeds you may well have seen that on Thursday night, at the Ham Yard Hotel in London, I won an Amara Interior Blog Award for Best DIY & Crafts Blog!

Earlier in the year Amara opened up nominations for this annual celebration of interior bloggers, and this blog got nominated for the Best DIY & Crafts Blog Award, along with around 30 other blogs. The next part was the voting stage, so I campaigned furiously to try and get into the final 5 blogs that would be shortlisted to attend the ceremony, and be assessed by the very capable judges who are at the top of their game within the interiors industry. Completely and honesty I thought I had no chance of getting shortlisted as my blog had only been going a few months back then and I was still learning.

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How To Buy Designer Interiors And Homeware For Less Than Half Price

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If I was a EuroMillions winner, my house would be kitted out in Jonathan Adler, Se Collections and Julian Chichester furniture and accessories in every room. Since i'm not a gambling person (too tight - 'money down the drain' etc) then the EuroMillions dream is definitely not happening any time soon. Instead, to obtain designer homeware and investment pieces that I love, I am always on the lookout for a sample sale.

Most top designers do a sample sale at least once a year as it gives them an opportunity to shift ex-display, discontinued, sample, excess and returned stock over the space of a few days. Expect heavily discounted items at around 80% off their recommended retail price. If someone brought a lamp that was £800 and returned it because it had a light scuff on the bottom, it could be yours for around £100.

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How To Choose The Right Paint Colour In Your Home, with Farrow & Ball Colour Consultant Joa Studholme

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I think it is always the greatest DIY dilemma - what colour should we paint the room? I know myself I 'ummm' and 'ahhh' for weeks, buying tester pot after tester pot of virtually the same colour, until I am completely confused. Then, I often pick a colour completely different to what I had in mind originally, cross my fingers and hope for the best. If there is one thing that I do know about paint, it's that Farrow & Ball are the best in the business. I know so many people who have used this paint and then just can't ever conceive of using another paint brand again. That's why when Red Magazine invited me to their Smart Women week of workshops to hear Farrow & Ball's International Colour Consultant Joa Studholme talk about how to choose the right paint colour in your home, I jumped at the chance to lap up all of Joa's expert advice.

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