One Thread

Beautiful fair trade pillows from One Thread. These are made in India and come in jewel colours and silver and gold if you look through the site. One Thread's aim is to help marginalised artisan workers take their products to market in a way that is beneficial to the individuals .

Image: via BLTD

Kitchen classics - painted Ercol

As if I needed more classic chairs to consider for my kitchen area along comes the revival of Ercol style high backed chairs and armchairs to add to the mix. I already have Wishbones, Thonet and Eames on my list of possibilities. Although some people really hate seeing wooden furniture painted I am open minded on this topic and - if it means that fewer old chairs end up on the scrap heap, all the better. I think what I need to do is a comfort test for all my options as, after all, looks are not everything.

Images: Trent Bell via Desire to Inspire, Brown and Orange, Elephant & Monkey

Metafora

Look at this for a vanity and sink - its not big on storage with just one hidden drawer underneath but so glamorous, perfect for a powder room where really only a few hand towels are required. Metafora by Artelinea is Italian of course and is fashionably decked out in the Pantone Colour of the Year Mimosa Yellow. The vanity comes in black and white and you can choose the colour of the glass top.

Images: Artelinea

Designing rugs

Posting has been a bit sporadic lately as I am head down on coursework to try to get up to date for the start of term next week. One of our assignments is to design contemporary rugs for Designer Rugs ( purveyors of amazing rugs by amazing designers . . .). This is one of my entries - Ned. Its a bit tongue-in-cheek, the idea being that you think you have a big plain rug with a splash of colour in it but really you have a big Ned Kelly head on your floor. I had just done this when the first issue of Lonny came out - check out this great online magazine if you have not done so already and I saw a NYC apartment designed by Ron Marvin that would suit my Ned rug down to the ground (pardon the pun).

Images: Sheila O'Meara, Lonny

Storing cookbooks

I get so many fantastic ideas by browsing design blogs and this is one of them. I already own cookbooks that extend to well over a metre and a half on book shelves and the other thing about my books is that they are very heavy when you put them all together. While I do like shelves set into kitchen benches for books I thought this idea of using a vertical shelf in a pantry is genius. Whoever owns this pantry even has some cookbook series grouped together - very organised.

Images: via Fric and Frac, Aero Designs

Texture in pink

As I lived in London for many lovely years I am still on Habitat's mailing list and they have definitely increased their digital marketing as they are sending out lots of inspiring emails. Always into a splash of pink (I grew up with all boys and now live with all boys so I have to make some mark in the house) I spotted the Tempe throw folded on the sofa here. It's well priced and I like the colours and pixellated look which makes it quite a masculine pink throw.

Images: habitat

Keeping it real

As an aspiring interior designer I keep an eye out for creative solutions to practical decorating challenges. Out in the real world when people are decorating their homes there are always pillars and beams and columns to contend with. Here the stylists FriedaMaria have made a feature of this quite large column in a very understated way which addresses the column but doesn't overly emphasise it in the room. The wallpaper makes it look like an artwork. An old post from last year here shows another column idea.

Image: styled by FriedaMaria via Emma's design blog