Farrow & Ball releases ‘Del Boy’ wallpaper…

This new ‘Bamboo Papers’ wallpaper from Farrow & Ball is everything we’d expect from one of the world’s finest manufacturers of paint and paper. It’s beautiful, oriental, chic and delicate. Block-printed, it shimmers with metallic paint and oozes sophistication – and it’s rather expensive, at £62 a roll. But there’s something I just can’t ignore…

I’m sure I’ve seen this pattern somewhere before. According to the lovely people at Farrow & Ball, the Bamboo Papers are inspired by an iconic 19th century Japanese print, featuring bamboo as a symbol of good fortune. But I’m not so sure. Think back, all ye wise interior design experts, to the Peckham flat belonging to Del Boy Trotter in TV sitcom, Only Fools and Horses. It’s a gallimaufry of retro patterns and sickly seventies colours, and with the plastic pineapple ice cube bucket and red pub-style carpet, it’s about as far away from Farrow & Ball style-wise as it’s possible to get – but look to the left feature wall. Case closed. – Ellie

FREE retro posters to download

We have a treat for you today, to brighten up your Monday! These three lovely retro slogan posters are featured in our new August issue, and the best thing is…they’re free to download here from the Ideal Home website. Hurrah!

The August issue is packed with lovely coastal makes from our style team…check out the tablecloth project below – it’s made of four tea towels sewn together. Simple, cheap and chic!

I love these nautical plates made using transfer paper from Lazertran. This is a great way to display your favourite photos in an original way.

And how sweet are these little painted pebbles and shells? I think these would make fabulous wedding favours or place markers at a dinner party.

If you’re feeling inspired and you’d like the full instructions for all these projects, see the new August issue of Ideal Home. – Ellie

 

RAINBOW time at RICE

The new autumn/winter collection from Rice is a riot of colour, bursting with cheerful patterns, zingy bright prints and crazy combinations. Just what we need to celebrate the fact it’s nearly the weekend!

I thought I was ‘over’ my coral pink addiction, but now I’m not so sure! It works so well with the bright yellow bedstead, and the hot pink rug here. This is the kind of look I’d love to be brave enough to go for!

I really like the horse print lampshade above. Also, the 1950s-style kitchen below is so kitsch it’s cool – baby blue and candy-floss pink is always a hit with me. The images look like Barbie’s house – in a good way! HOW cute are the fridge magnets…

Following on from ‘Opens shelving = the way forward‘ earlier this week, think pink and check out the lovely shelves below. Surely cupboard doors should be BANNED!? Also, I’m loving the colour-coded crockery storage going on here. In a similar way, I like colour-coded books too…although I got into a bit of bother with the boyfriend when I colour-coded all of ours because apparently he ‘needs’ an alphabetical system because he’s ‘not visual’ and he once spent three days searching for Of Mice and Men. SIGH.

Now, I wonder how I can convince him that a blanket with little knitted cherries hanging off it is somehow a household essential…hmmmm. – Ellie

Ceramics to make you smile

These cute retro ceramics from Netherlands-based Etsy seller Ninainvorm are topping the Ideal Home wish list today. Nina produces stunning hand-shaped screen-printed ceramics, screenprints and collages, as well as some vintage ‘redecorated’ ceramics – pretty china pieces that she applies her hand-made screenprints to.

Nina is now up there with Lou Rota and friends in my ‘cutest ceramics’ brigade. And how sweet is her ‘Dear Pear’ collage? It would be a lovely piece of wall art for a child’s bedroom.

Thinking about decals on vintage ceramics…I’ve just written a feature for Ideal Home about the amazing A4/A3 sized fabric papers available from Crafty Computer Paper. The sheets go through a normal inkjet printer so you can print any digital image you like on to fabric – just wait for the ink to dry before peeling the backing off, like a sticker, and you’re left with washable, printed fabric. I saw lovely vintage-style cushions from Rosie’s Armoire at the Country Living Fair a few months back, which were made with these sheets. ANYWAY, Crafty Computer Paper also sells decal paper, designed to transfer images easily to ceramics and candles etc, so I’ve ordered some and I’m going to have a bash at updating some vintage tea plates next weekend! – Ellie

New TOAST images EXCLUSIVE

Oh, Toast, lovely Toast. Thou art the nicest of all mail order companies by far. I didn’t think you could top your Greek-fest summer images with their beautiful moody lighting, fresh seaside-y feel and various visual delights, but you’ve done it again.

I’ve just seen the new autumn/winter collection from Toast, and it’s every bit as gorgeous as we’ve come to expect. Think Scotland, think fog, think thistles, think chunky ceramics, snug tweedy textiles, knitted woollen socks and gorgeous rustic homewares. It might be June, but these lovely images instantly transport you to a chilly December afternoon…

I see yet another vintage milk bottle has sneaked into this blog…really need to sort this obsession of mine out! I LOVE the teal-green ceramics with the bright red tamarillo fruits here.

Cups on hooks and vintage books, these are a few of my favourite things. Loving the blue and white bobble hat with those blue and white vintage china plates behind, too.

Mmmm, check out the vintage wallpaper in the background of the matches shot – tasty! Lime green and dirty orange, my favourite 1960s combo. How does Toast manage to make something as simple as a few old wire coat hangers look like gorgeous utilitarian-chic treasures? We mere mortals will never know the secrets of Toast! But one thing’s for sure…these lovely pics are more like works of art than catalogue shots, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.– Ellie

Pink lemonade = DRINK ME

Today I will be mostly wanting…this cute vintage-style bottle holder from Garden Trading. Perfect for barbecues, picnics, or just to hold wine bottles and look lovely in your kitchen!

Check out the Lorina retro lemonades in this shot – every stylist’s dream prop, and just £1.91 from Waitrose. You can never have too much pink lemonade in your life. – Ellie

Milk bottles – a celebration

Putting a single bloom in a vintage milk bottle is the easiest and cheapest way to create a gorgeous floral display. I’ve always yearned for a few nice glass milk bottles, but since our milk now comes in plastic cartons from Waitrose, I thought I’d have to resort to eBay…

Luckily, my in-laws still get milk delivered, so I asked them to bring me some ‘retro’ Dairy Crest milk bottles when they came to stay at the weekend. They think I’m completely mad. But I’ve put peonies in them already and they look stunning! For simple, stylish milk bottles, check out American shop Three Potato Four:

Here are some more gorgeous milk bottles for you to feast your eyes on…this is turning in to a milk bottle appreciation post!

Clockwise from top right: Three Potato Four; bottles available on Ebay; The Traditional Flower Company; Real Simple.

I love the vintage milk bottles from Baileys too (above left) – and check out this cute milk bottle shot from a past Ideal Home issue (above right). Decanting milk is always a hassle, but it looks so lovely, it’s well worth the effort! Milk bottle tops are collectors’ items these days, too – I like the retro designs and lettering on them. How cute would these ones look in an IKEA Ribba frame for some bargain artwork?

If you’d like to buy your own vintage-style milk bottle, Dotcomgiftshop has a lovely one with a glass stopper for £16.95. Check out the huge collection on Kenneth Keith‘s website, too. There are hundreds to browse through, but I don’t think his collection is for sale sadly…

If you don’t have milk delivered, but want to display flowers in bottles, Belvoir fruit cordial bottles are perfect, too, and iced tea bottles from Holland and Barrett also look lovely. Here’s a snap I took recently in my dining room, with a peony in an old Belvoir bottle. It’s a ‘recessionista’ display! – Ellie

 

Limited edition Lisa Stickley cushions

Do I need another cushion in my life? Probably not, but these gorgeous limited edition designs from Lisa Stickley are so more-ish, I can’t resist!

Hand-made and hand-printed, these cushions are made using Lisa‘s drawings and vintage linens. I love her scribble-writing, and the ‘Party’ cushion with a list of retro party games has got to be the cutest one.

I got chatting when I visited Lisa’s shop in Clapham North recently and discovered she’s planning to open another shop soon – more details coming soon, so watch this space! – Ellie

Open shelving = the way forward

Mmmmm, check out this lovely display of vintage treasures in the studio of designer Lynsey Walters – these are her ‘collecting shelves’:

If your own shelves aren’t as gorgeous as hers yet, you can buy a limited edition, signed print of this photo from her website. I’m a huge fan of open shelves…especially in kitchens. Yeah, they get dusty. But you get to admire your most beautiful things every day, and you can constantly rearrange and adapt the display if you get bored – great for a neurotic stylist who can’t stop ‘playing house’ like me!

I’ve been drooling over blogger Yvonne Eijkenduijn’s open kitchen shelves over at Yvestown today, too. White shelving always makes colourful accessories look so fresh and pretty. – Ellie

A trip to Treacle – cupcake heaven

I’ve just interviewed Bux Bailey, founder of the lovely Treacle bakery on Columbia Road, in East London. I was getting baking tips from her for a ‘Domestic Goddess’ feature I’m writing for the October issue of Ideal Home. While we were chatting, I got a chance to check out the lovely collection of products she stocks – as well as her fabulous cupcakes of course! Check out the cute badge she gave me:

Bux sells vintage cookware and nostalgic kitchen bits and bobs, which are displayed in a charmingly quirky, laid-back manner – there’s an apron draped across a window like a curtain, and a broken 1970s TV used as a display case – everything is reused and recycled and nothing is pretentious. Among the vintage treasures for sale, I spotted glass cake stands for £12 each and a stunning Midwinter tea set. The kitsch 1950s kitchen cupboards Bux sells double up as great display cases for the shop, and she also stocks contemporary items from talented British designers which sit happily alongside the older pieces on offer. I noticed a great range of funky tea towels from Kent designer Lindsay Marsden AKA The Black Rabbit – she makes beautiful tea cosies, seed packets, prints, toys, egg cosies and cushions. 

I love her work, but The Black Rabbit logo freaks me out a bit, as it reminds me of the disturbing Watership Down cartoon I was shown as a young child – I haven’t been the same since! Bux also stocks another of my favourites – The Hungry Girls’ Cookbooks – beautiful mini recipe books from a trio of Melbourne friends – Rachel Pitts, Leah Holscher and Katherine Bird.

Elsewhere, I noticed a collection of hilariously rude greeting cards from designer David Shrigley, and some stunning ceramics by Rachel Barker:

I was relieved to hear that despite the failing economy, and the challenges small independent shops are facing, Treacle is thriving. Bux told me that cake is a ‘recession-proof product’. ‘People will always eat cake,’ she explained. ‘In fact, during hard times, people usually comfort-eat and end up eating more cake than usual!’ I suggested to Bux that perhaps some of her success is down to the current shift towards a back-to-basics, less materialistic way of life – perhaps the nostalgic charm of Treacle appeals in an era of homogenised high streets and greed gone wrong? Bux agreed: ‘Cake is one of life’s simple pleasures, and I think comfort and nostalgia is more relevant today than ever before. We keep things simple here – our milk is still delivered by the milk man, and my daughter Maya and I are going to pick elderflowers this weekend on my mum’s farm down in Kent to make some elderflower cordial for the shop.’ Bux told me she was brought up in a household where ‘Mrs Beeton’s book was like the Bible’ and she feels a lot of the information in such books is still helpful today. Stepping into Treacle is like going back in time – only ‘builder’s tea’ is served, the counter is a huge old-fashioned glass cabinet and the cupcakes wouldn’t look out of place at a 1940s tea party. I’m in love with this place! Just before I left the shop, I ordered an EAT CAKE AND CARRY ON print, which I’ve had my eye on for a while. It’ll look great in my kitchen! – Ellie

Treacle is at 110-112 Columbia Road, Shoreditch E27RG (020 7729 0538).  It’s only open on market days (weekends).