Archive for March, 2014
It really feels like spring here in London today, the perfect time for a round up of outdoor playhouse and treehouse ideas.
I really like a traditional cottage style playhouse with a thatched or tiled roof, but if you prefer go for something more modern. What about a gypsy or circus style trailer playhouse? (In Holland we call these “pipowagen”, Pipo being the name of a clown.) Another idea is to use a small vintage caravan and decorate this to your heart’s content with curtains, planters full of flowers, pretty wallpaper and paint. The ultimate hide-out play house is a treehouse. The one above is from a Dutch company I admire because they do sweet interiors as well. Here in the UK try the Blue Forest company for example. Happy playtime!
(top image: room to bloom 1. bespoke treehouse design 2. thatched cottage playhouse 3. mini pipowagen 4. tiled children’s cottage 5. poppy wallpaper air balloon – painting by joshua shaw – bottom image co-co the caravan)
No pretty pictures today I’m afraid. Instead I thought I’d show you a peek behind the scenes of a nursery refurbishment I’m currently working on. In fact, I could have called this post “behind the walls, under the floor and in the ceiling”.
We’ve arrived halfway: from a tired old room to a fresh canvas, ready to be furnished and styled. This is my favourite stage of any project. What’s been in my head, on mood boards and drawings, now starts coming to life for my clients too.
It’s easy to forget how much work goes into getting to this point though…
On this particular project, the floor boards were too damaged to be refurbished (my original plan), so a new floor had to be laid. The floor voids were emptied of old builder’s rubble and redundant pipework, then insulated to get rid of cold drafts. The ceiling had been patched up after numerous leaks, it was cracked, sagging and held together with wallpaper, so this needed to be replaced. There was odd boxed out pipework on the walls and inside the fitted cupboards, out-of-date electrics, out-of-character cornicing and a broken hearth. Oh, and did I mention damp from a crumbling chimney, exposed exterior brickwork and a rotting window?
On the upside, there was some sweet period detail to work with, such as the fireplace and fitted cupboards. I discovered a patch of seventies floral wallpaper high up in one of them, which we lacquered to preserve.
Now to work on the interior decoration. I can’t wait to show you the finished project soon! x
(images: room to bloom)
I have fallen in love with these beautiful baby blankets by Sture & Folke. Made by Karin Stenmarck, a Swedish born designer who now lives in Switzerland, the comforters are the result of her wanting to give her own two sons, Sture and Folke, the warmest and softest blankets to cuddle up in. She couldn’t find what she wanted, so she decided to make them herself. Thank goodness!
The blankets are handmade with an exquisite attention to detail – I could eat them, they’re that gorgeous, and that’s no exaggeration. In fact, the blanket above formed the design inspiration for a little girl’s nursery I am currently working on, so stay tuned!
