Display and hideaway

It never fails to amaze and delight me how wonderful kitchen cabinets or dressers look. Going right back to the old world Welsh dressers they can be used as a feature in a room, to hide things away and create wonderful displays of your favourite items. The french ivory display cabinet belongs to Sharon Osbourne who is an avid collector of french antiques.

Elegant spaces

I often think which interiors (or exteriors) I would feel comfortable in. I adore the verandah of this old Clayfield residence with the bamboo chairs!

Oh to have multiple residences with multiple rooms to experience and enjoy these surroundings!

Chippendale

Okay, so I often talk craftsmanship. If there was ever an influence that Chinese culture had on British furniture design look no further than the Chippendale style which become synonymous with English furniture in the Georgian period. All sorts of variations have appeared but there's nothing like the original.

Crackled Mirror

As I was spending a lovely Sunday morning have tea with my friend Trudy, we leafed through this month's Vogue Living and I shared with her my love of this broken, cracked mirror. She believes that it has been glued back in like a mosaic. Whatever the means the end is wonderful....

Faux bamboo

Bamboo is the material used by the Chinese for scaffolding to help them build the homes and structures for thousands of years. While bamboo is a universal natural material, I prefer to look at how the french took the bamboo theme and created fabulous furniture in faux bamboo often in cast iron and metals. Here are some beautiful chandeliers, tables and mirrors that I covet.

Linear design

Beautiful iron work and shapes are things I can never get enough of. I really love wrought iron. This air vent from an old New York apartment makes me drool.

Then there's the lovely chippendale style fabric in black and cream which I'd love to cover my outdoor setting in.

I went and bought a bedhead on eBay which looked just like this one in a beautiful rich clotted cream colour.

Then finally the Biba logo. The long since vanished London fashion superstore has the most rad design. As an homage I named my sister's dog...Biba. She of course is totally radical...refuses to conform to anything!