Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i The English Home

When the world around us feels a little unsteady and in a state of constant flux, it can be reassuring to look to home comforts and to consider the way that so many things endure. The English Home has always celebrated timeless style – not design frozen in a time capsule, but rather design that has an integral beauty embedded in its roots. From furniture to fabric, these designs can be gently reinterpreted and reframed for life today, yet still retain an authentic style thumbprint. Our Classics Revisited feature (page 88) considers the pieces and prints that fulfil this promise of longevity, whilst our focus on gardens with a gently formal flair (page 134) looks at the classical influences that continue to underpin some modern garden design. Our feature on…

September is the month of harvest, but this bountiful theme works year-round. In a practical sense, a wooden vegetable store keeps freshly picked or locally sourced vegetables safely housed and organised. In the kitchen, choose plump fruits and ripe vegetable motifs to decorate tableware, table linen and kitchenalia. For town houses or more genteel schemes, the theme can be elevated from rustic to elegant with gilded wheatsheaf-themed lighting and furniture or accessories that capture a subtle seasonal mood.…

PURSUITS Stationery The joy of back-to-school stationery lingers in memories of childhood Septembers – but why let children have all the fun? Treat yourself to some new stationery: a leather-bound notebook or diary from a specialist like Smythson, Highgrove’s garden-inspired range, or pick your favourite Liberty print. In our increasingly electronic age, help keep alive the fading art of letter writing by investing in a fountain pen and personalised writing paper from a bespoke printer such as Piccolo Press, to delight the receiver with a personal hand-written missive. Luke Edward Hall’s new range (pictured, available from papier.com ) fuses classic styling with his love of bold colour and exotic influences. Debrett’s ( debretts.com ) has advice on impeccable writing etiquette, such as how to address an envelope to someone with…

Just where the lane dips down, close to a ford in the road in a peaceful village, stands a cottage known as The Old Bakery that is home to Anne and Robert Wall and their two daughters, Emma, 18, and Sophie, 16. The family moved in six years ago following a nerve-wracking sealed-bid process and are now happily ensconced in their Gloucestershire home. “The bidding was a nightmare,” says Anne, who is the course director at Cheltenham-based interior design school Absolute Academy. “But the cottage was just what we had been looking for – detached, with a south-facing garden that was filled with lovely old trees. We’d been looking for a year since returning from Hong Kong, and although the house was not quite big enough, we could see where…

It undoubtedly takes confidence to mix and match pattern – particularly on walls – however, for the brave decorator the results can inject a vibrant bohemian spirit to a home, and a style all of their own. Here, a large floral is given verve in a bright colour palette, and unexpected modernity by being teamed with a strong multi-coloured stripe. The bare floorboards and pared-back furniture choices are an essential foil to keep the scheme just the right side of exuberance in this colour/pattern clash. Wallpapers from £89 for a 10 metre roll, Masterpiece Collection, Brian Yates…

There is something so tactile and alluring about a beautiful bathroom. It can feed our fantasies and is an important stage first thing in the morning and last thing at night, so it needs to deliver. However, the selection of taps, showers and baths can seem endless, and it is easy to succumb to the vast range of hardware on offer in isolation of everything else. The real secret is to get the design right so that a bathroom looks good and delivers an experience to suit your lifestyle. Interestingly, many interior designers turn to specialist bathroom companies when working on a client’s home. This makes sense when plumbing is involved, as it needs to be thought through professionally – everything needs to work in tandem and it is useful…

To create something flavoursome with September’s seasonal fare of garlic, tomatoes, rosemary and thyme, make a selection of infused oils. Homemade oils are not safe to keep for longer than three days, but are the perfect gift to take to a dinner party as they are quick and easy to make, and can be presented in a pretty vessel. These colourful oils are taken from the book Vegetable Perfection by Mat Follas (Ryland Peters & Small, £16.99). Find the recipe and a book offer in our Journal section at theenglishhome.co.uk…

Now, as a reader of The English Home, you can benefit from special rates on home and contents cover placed through leading insurance advisers Smith Greenfield. This carefully researched insurance opportunity has been specially created for high net worth individuals and is available to homeowners whose properties are valued at over £250,000 or whose home contents is worth more than £75,000. It comes with many benefits that standard high-street policies do not offer, and readers of The English Home will receive preferential rates and access to products only available through expert independent advisers. Equally importantly, claims will be settled promptly and without fuss. Special benefits can include: • Warranty-free policies – your property is still covered even if you fail to set your alarm• The cost of alternative accommodation if your home…

Absolute Academy Tel 01242 252477 absolute-academy.com Armada Exports Tel 01242 529812 Diana Blanchard Tel 020 7722 1242 blanchard.uk.com Elisabeth James Antiques Tel 01604 862200 elisabethjamesantiques.co.uk Fox Linton Tel 020 7368 7700 foxlinton.com Fromental Tel 020 3410 2000 fromental.co.uk James Hare Silk Tel 01132 431204 james-hare.com Lewis & Wood Tel 01453 878517 lewisandwood.co.uk Mulberry Home Tel 020 7819 9592 gpjbaker.com/brands/mulberry-home/ Prestigious Textiles Tel 01274 688448 prestigious.co.uk Robert Allen Designs Tel 01494 474741 robertallendesign.co.uk Swainswick Explorers Tel 07758 515092 playingoutdoors.org Wheelwrights Design Tel 07977 079484 William Yeoward Tel 020 7349 7828 williamyeoward.com Vescom Tel 01295 273644 vescom.com…

Insights from my diary... Persuading interior designer Diana Blanchard to let us photograph her beautiful Cotswolds home (page 38). We could have spent two full days photographing the rooms and details within it. And it perfectly captures this issue’s focus on elegantly classical style for today. Looking forward to our presence at Decorex The English Home will have its own stand at the event 18-21 September, and I’ll be judging Best in British Craftsmanship once more. Filling my home with the scent of Lemon Verbena using reed diffusers from Branche d’Olive. Lusting over the delicious handblock prints from the Jean Monro collection at Turnell & Gigon which work so well in both classic and more contemporary settings.…

Create a scene of timeless elegance in the drawing room or sitting room with shapely furniture, indulgently tactile finishes, such as suede and velvet, subtle pattern in the form of embroidered cushions and a large-scale motif rug in gentle colours. A striking fire surround will anchor a layout, perhaps with statuesque, yet inviting, wing chairs at either side. Then finish the look with mood lighting to cast a warming glow.…

“I saw her coral lips to move And with her breath she did perfume the air: Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her.” William Shakespeare (1564–1616), The Taming of the Shrew Versatile, eye-catching and eminently useable, not only does coral bring a note of femininity and interest to any room but – when using stronger corals with substance – it can pack a punch whilst not being too overwhelming. It is a colour that has become increasingly evident over the past few seasons and a trend that shows no sign of waning – we are eagerly anticipating Nina Campbell’s new launches this autumn featuring this wonderful hue. Part of its allure, and success, has to be its ability to combine well with other colours; coral pinks look fantastic…

DESIGN INSIGHTS FOR AN EN SUITE “A great approach to achieve flow between a bedroom and an en-suite bathroom is to work with the walls and finishes. Using the same colour on the walls in the bedroom and the bathroom will help with the flow. This is also true of woodwork for furniture units and metal fixtures and fittings. An often overlooked element when planning a bathroom is the lighting, which is key to achieving a visual flow. Work with similar light fittings and colour-temperature lamps between the bedroom and the bathroom. Mirrors will help to enhance what natural light there may already be. When considering an en suite, it is important to think about the privacy between the two spaces. Soundproofing involves a more sectioned approach to design and…

A nip here... A tuck there... Swathes of flattering pleats or weaves and a carefully placed embellishment or two... Each piece of Aiveen Daly’s glamorous upholstery is precision-perfect couture for the home. And like haute clothing, her pieces are superlatively beautiful, and avidly sought by designers and owners of aspirational homes. Yet as Daly explains in her gentle Irish lilt “it was a long old journey to here”. Daly came to upholstery relatively late, discovering the craft after a 12-year career in the corporate world. Her business degree had seeded an underlying conviction that she ultimately wanted to run her own business. But it was only in her search for a creative outlet through a series of evening courses in textiles, embroidery and upholstery that her ‘light bulb moment’ struck.…

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Understated glamour never falls out of vogue, so indulge and invest in a few jaw-droppingly beautiful pieces to set a cosseting note in the private sanctuary of the master bedroom. Whether opting for the subtle caress of a soft cashmere throw or adding the full-blown luxury of a bespoke silk-covered four-poster bed, it is sure to sweeten dreams and induce a wonderfully peaceful slumber.…

Sir Terence Conran, 84, is a world-famous designer, retailer and restaurateur and has written over 50 books on design and interiors. He launched his design practice in 1956 and in 1964, spotting a gap in the market for simpler, clean-lined furniture and accessories, he opened the first of many Habitat stores. This was followed by The Conran Shop in 1974. Along with his retail empire, Conran owns a string of successful restaurants including Bibendum, and continues to design for Content by Terence Conran, as well as Benchmark Furniture, a company he co-owns. Conran was knighted in 1983, has five children and lives with his fourth wife, Vicki, in London and Berkshire. Can you describe your homes? Barton Court, my home in Berkshire, is a large red-brick house built in 1772.…

Of all the ways fabric for furnishings is printed today, the slowest and most challenging is block printing. Think potato printing, but much more difficult. Designs are hand-carved in relief into blocks of wood, colour is applied and each block is stamped by hand onto cotton or linen. From start to finish, the process requires a high degree of skill, is incredibly time- and labour-intensive and, when designs are complex and multi-coloured, results in a fabric which is both remarkable and indulgent. Block prints have been created in much the same way for centuries – with the first crude examples appearing in Europe in the 1400s – but it was not until the seventeenth century, when the East India Company started importing brightly coloured printed cottons from India, that block…

“I think best in a hot bath, with my head tilted back and my feet up high.” Elizabeth Jane Howard, (1923-2014), English novelist, actress and model The importance we place upon good bathroom design has evolved enormously over the past two decades. Once an uninspired pitstop for daily ablutions, the bathroom has now become an invaluable room in its own right – a space that can be transformed into an inviting sanctuary to soothe the senses and wash away the strains of the day. Today's appreciation for the importance of 'well-being' is significant in this – although, of course, not a modern idea. Harking back to the health-giving benefits the Romans saw in the concept of the communal spa, we, too, have a renewed recognition that the bathroom can offer…

Whatever the size and shape of a bathroom, there will be a shower solution to suit. Compact rooms will benefit from space-enhancing quadrant, sliding-door, recessed or corner enclosures, whilst larger schemes will work well with a walk-in wet-room style. When it comes to styling, the appeal of period charm is perennial. “After the incredible popularity of minimalist showers, we are now seeing a real move back towards simple, classic designs,” reveals Drummond Shaw, chairman of Drummonds. “Their proportions suit British houses very well and they have an ageless quality, which makes them a great investment.” ELEGANT ENCLOSURES Unless an open wet room is required, the bathroom will need a suitable shower enclosure. The standard shower door height is 2,000mm, with the main options being fixed panels – hinged or sliding…

‘‘Lighting is something that affects us all on a visceral level. Like many elements of design, when it is done well, it seems almost invisible, but when it doesn’t work or something is not quite right, the effects on both our physical and mental health can be quite profound and far-reaching. One of the things I have learned in my work as an interior designer, is that people are often reluctant to make any fundamental changes to the lighting when they start a project. However, because lighting technology has come such a long way over the last few years, it is definitely worth asking questions about how the lighting could be improved and what that might involve in terms of disruption and cost. A lot can be achieved without as…

ROSA ‘ICEBERG’ Hugely popular disease-resistant rose that is flowers prolifically. Grow in standards or as a bush. LAVANDER AUGUSTIFOLIA ‘HIDCOTE’ Although it requires full sun, lavender is well-suited to the cooler English climate. AGAPANTHUS PRAECOX Splendid globes borne on elegant stems make this a favoured plant. A rhizome, it will die back in winter but reappear in summer. TRACHELOSPERMUM JASMINOIDES Gloriously fragrant white flowers make this a star performer for trellises and arbours. Beware its milky sap when clipping. STACHYS BYZANTINA Commonly known as lamb’s ear, this works well as a bed edging, but also grows in pots, where its muted tones are appreciated. Evergreen, with flowering stems that reach 50cm. EUPHORBIA AMYGDALOIDES VAR. ROBBIAE Vibrant shots of lime green to highlight deeper shades. An evergreen perennial, it spreads to…