Category: Paint

Pembrokeshire colour and light

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With inspiring art as well as luxurious woollen textile designs and dark wood antiques, Pembrokeshire offers interior design a unique weave of Welsh style. The longish journey to this coastal region of West Wales makes the arrival (and lack of crowds) all the sweeter. You can be assured of incredible colour and light, from textural landscapes with medieval field patterns to pretty wildflower hedgerows and colourfully painted buildings. And that’s not to mention some of the best sandy beaches in the UK …

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British coastal style 2023

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“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again” is the hauntingly evocative first line of Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca. So many authors, artists and designers have been captivated by the Cornish coast both for its magical coves and for its colour and light. Inspired by a recent trip to this part of the country, the blog pays its yearly homage to coastal decorating ideas with a tour of some of the fairy tale castles, country houses and follies that hug the British coastline.

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Bright spring colour

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Amongst all the nature-inspired greens for interiors this spring is an unfurling palette of mood-boosting colour. From global colour forecaster Pantone’s colour of the year Viva Magenta 18-1750, to refreshing citrus shades, floral pinks and sea-hued turquoise, you might find yourself inspired to do some decorating this year. But how to use this uplifting palette and where? I talk to top interior designers Penny Morrison and Kate Guinness for a feature in Saga magazine and take inspiration from new UK paint, flooring, fabric and wallpaper collections.

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Garden Room chic

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Precisely engineered box pleats, tented ceilings and trellis-inspired walls are just some of the tenets of interiors haute couture being adopted by interior designers for garden room designs. Elegant as well as poised, these chic interior design schemes are not only witty in their use of scale and of trompe l’oeil but also offer the perfect sanctuary in which to connect with nature.

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Interior design directions 2023

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A very Happy New Year to you, I hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas. Rather like the Roman god Janus, interior design style for 2023 looks both to the past and to the future for inspiration. Finding decorative ways to capture the beauty of nature in our homes continues along with antiques playing an even greater role. You can look forward to lighting ideas that don’t require electricity (could be useful!) and inspiring ways from the past on how to use colour and pattern. There are some welcome ingredients of quirky humour as well as new designs from top UK interior designers.

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Coast-to-Country interior style

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Batten down the hatches this Autumn with some cosy new interior design ideas. The season is off to a gallop with a bumper crop of new collections. There’s a wealth of botanical motifs from the hedgerow and some inspiring earth tone and spicy winter hues. Whilst foraging for interesting design stories, the blog also unearthed an irresistible new paint and wallpaper collection from Stroud-based designer Josephine Munsey.

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Coastal Grandmother Style

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It isn’t particularly usual for a coastal style interiors story to find itself at the centre of international news headlines, especially when there is so much else going on in the world. But in the Spring when I was researching Styling Box schemes for a client’s Greek Island holiday home, and writing about coastal style for the August issues of Period Living and Saga magazine, a curious ‘Coastal Grandmother Style’ story was emerging from a Tik Tok influencer in California.

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Blue and White House interiors

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Blue and white interior style is having what some might say is a long overdue renaissance. It is the smart tailored preppy design aesthetic that’s long been associated with the East Coast of America. A significant factor in this revival is the recent appointment of US interior designer Mark D Sikes by the First Lady, Jill Biden to redecorate her East Wing office at The White House. But inspiration comes too from the UK and from Singapore.

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Winter spice decor

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Occasionally, the elements for my bespoke interior Styling Box service sound more like the ingredients for a cook’s recipe or episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ than for a decorating scheme! A client’s brief to find a contemporary country scheme for an open plan living/dining room in Wiltshire recently found me doing a bit of time travelling in my research. On the design journey I found exquisite new wallpapers and fabrics whose design DNA comes from the berries of Swedish forests, to the spicy hues of English 13th Century cob houses and Renaissance Italy.

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Affordable interior design service

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After the year we have had, does your home need a bit of a refurb? Our homes have nurtured us, been our school rooms, places of work and even our gyms. And just like us, are now perhaps in need of a little care and attention. Maybe you have decided to move house and are looking for some new ideas? For whatever your stage of life, Styling Box is my affordable bespoke interior design service (in person or remotely) that provides you with a bespoke interior design scheme with fabric, wallpaper and paint samples.

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