Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts

01 February 2014

Mood Boards and Interior Design

I've been watching The Great Interior Design Challenge on the BBC iPlayer and now feel totally inspired to paint some walls and move some furniture.

Though before rolling up my sleeves and getting out the paint and brushes, I'll use scissors and glue to create a mood board. Especially after reading this article in the Telegraph: Interiors: use a mood board to pin down the right look,  with quotes by the lovely Holly Becker from decor8, Will Taylor of Bright Bazaar and others.

I always loved creating mood boards, but haven't made one for a while. This one I made years ago for a project with Dorma. They loved it and invited me round, but I couldn't make the appointment as my exchange course was finished and by the time I came back to the UK the woman who ran the project had left the company.



Trivia: I used to live in the amazing house [top right] when I worked in Vienna.



But back to the show:

Novice interior designers have to re-design a room, to the homeowners brief, over three days. They are given a budget of £1000 and the help of a builder.


The designers are judged by Sophie Robinson and Daniel Hopwood. I like the way they back up their decisions and explain why some things work and others simply don't. This turns a contest into an insightful program. It's also a very entertaining show, where designers have to work around problems, struggle to stick to schedules and budget and confront emotional home owners with their re-designed rooms.

It's presented by architecture and design critic Tom Dyckhoff. Houses from different areas, eras and architectural styles are introduced. You learn about the history of architecture as well as picking up tips and tricks for styling your own home and getting an insight into how interior designers work. 



09 January 2014

Down from the tree and up to the attic

Most of our Christmas decorations came down today. Generally I like starting to decorate things christmasy from the 1st  December or 1st Advent, whichever comes first, and take things down on Epiphany. But this year I'm in no rush. I enjoyed Christmas in Bavaria and I enjoyed having our house all christmasy and cosy.

This year on 1st December I moved our sofa from the living room to the studio for a photo shoot for "Blogging Your Way". When I put the tree up in the living room I thought it was great to have more space and left the sofa where it was. We put a couple of small mattresses and big floor cushions down and created a lovely space for cuddles under the tree. The children have been building forts and castles and boats and will probably complain when we'll move the sofa back in tomorrow.