We wanted to be ambitious with the kitchen, so although it took us two and a half years to renovate, I started sourcing reclaimed and salvaged elements as soon as we moved in. Living in our flat and gradually collecting kitchen pieces—some of which have been stored in...
Pull up a seat, because your favourite bistro might just hold the bon ideas you need if you are designing a kitchen or looking to refresh the room. Bistros may have emerged in Paris, but to this day they carry signatures that are shared in eateries across...
Mirror - midcentury, Swedish sofa - 1880s, pendant light - 1980s. I am fond of an interior design remix, but getting it right can be tricky, so I called upon experts dealing in everything from architectural antiques to vintage, textiles and art to help master...
I found myself staying on Courage Yard this week as we moved out of our flat to renovate the kitchen. Naturally, I’ve been thinking about my first reclaimed renovation when I transformed the kitchen into a walk-in wardrobe, and strangely, remodelling the kitchen has...
From the walls to the worktop and the floor, your kitchen renovation may offer the perfect playground to use reclaimed materials. It is an ideal space to be ambitious as most of us spend a lot of time in our kitchens, and reclaimed elements have already passed the...
For the first time in a decade, the ENO are opening their archives for a special sale. This unique event arises from a need to make space for new, exciting productions on the horizon. More than a simple sale, this is a unique opportunity for enthusiasts and collectors...
‘Our lives don’t need more things, things need to be given more lives’ read a corkboard beckoning me into the exhibition by Burniture, a new collective working with furniture that is skipped, unwanted, broken, about to be burnt… I am no stranger to street-found...
Spring heralds new stories, and a group of antiques dealers that were born, branched out or set up shop in the last couple of years are set to share theirs at the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair in March. What may have seemed like a moment for antiques attracting...
Julia Roberts’ wardrobe in Pretty Woman is often referenced when 90s fashions are trending, but the interiors struck me most the last time I watched it. Although a set, the penthouse suite created for the film was in keeping with the Beaux Arts style of the Beverly...
“I didn’t really decide myself. People saw me in the street picking up umbrellas and said it was like Mary Poppins. I had the idea of Marypup because it’s funny,” says designer and eco-activist Melanie Iudica, as she recalls how the name of her upcycled rainwear brand...
Tune in. Yes, this column is mainly about how we installed a 200kg slab of English alabaster rescued from a convent in Sussex in our 2-bed flat. However, it is also about the rise of listening rooms. So what is a listening room? For me, it is a space to enjoy...
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” a friend messaged me in response to my “weekend working on the floor with my husband.” Despite distractions, including mould and moths, our renovation is moving along. We now have reclaimed terracotta roof tiles for...
My new flat is the equivalent of workout leggings. It’s comfortable and a little styling goes a long way, but I am anxious that renovating at a slow pace will be the home equivalent of a hard transition out of trousers with an elasticated waist. My current sense...
As the leaves start to fall, it’s time to feel again with a plethora of physical decorative antiques fairs in the diary. The last eighteen months have been challenging, but thanks to an unwavering business drive, digital community (and sales!) the architectural...
Ardingly Antiques & Collectors Fair showed its mettle (albeit disguised as petals )this week, as a major fair that continues to attract a strong following of dealers, designers and private buyers. It could have been the sunny start and morning light hitting the...
Had I not already left my heart in San Francisco in 2015 when I met the man I would marry seven months later, Love Street Vintage would have stolen it. Sustainable gems are dotted in many neighbourhoods, but High on a hill, Haight Street calls if you are after a...
This edit sums up my mood for the month ahead. It's that time of year when your pinkie ring should give you super powers and you can cloak your face and your body in pillows [when not showing off that you're capable of dancing in white whilst eating cranberry...
Is it me or are haircare ads stuck in the 1950s? Can the contents of one plastic bottle really deliver on all of those promises? And are we even looking for those things at the end of a good shampooing? Hair diaries of women with great locks usually involve a lotta...
I didn’t see myself squeezing into another capsule challenge so soon - having spent 6 of the coldest weeks in just 6 items of clothes for Labour Behind the Label at the start of the year - but this was too good to resist… 10 items, 10 days, easy right? Ah, but this...
Encaustic tiles The Vintage Floor Tile Company Artelli Canasto bag from Rev En Vert Organic cotton shirt & organic denim skirt both War & Drobe [If you're in London get yourself down to War & Drobe at 31 Lamb's Conduit Street from 14th - 27th May...
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There may be snow on the ground, but spring starts in March and I'm thinking about a sari. I have that bought something new feeling - when you want to wear it straight away and never be parted - but my Six Items Challenge, which continues for most of the month means I...
Two weeks into six weeks wearing the same six items of clothes, I am tongue twisting and definitely compensating with shoes. On a side note, these 1940s pigeon holes make perfect shoe storage (complete with drawn-on letters, this piece was reclaimed from the post...
Wearing a choker made of surplus sofa fabric on my sofa upholstered in surplus bus seat fabric, contemplating second life in my deadstock Persol specs from the 1980s. Choker from beautiful inside and out PETA-approved Vegan brand Noumenon Persol spectacles from Spex...
I saw the Queen yesterday (the day I wore jeans). More on that later as I didn’t have the energy to write last night. This morning my friend made me chuckle with a link to an Inc. article - Why Successful People Wear the Same Thing Every Day You see by wearing the...
I met a fashion journalist from Spain the other day and we joked that even if it means crossing the road, stopping to soak up every moment of sunshine is essential to make it through the grey months in London. Fashion week might be all about autumn winter collections,...
I recently transformed my kitchen into a walk-in wardrobe and my living room into my kitchen, so I thought this was a recipe worth sharing. My kitchen before Tiny kitchens are the norm in flats in London and although at one stage I merely used mine to reheat or "cook”...
I recently discovered that my nickname at university was the swan. Okay so I have a long neck, but my friend suggested that it was more likely to do with my perfect hair. Rest assured, I also dislike the woman with the “perfect hair” my friend described, as...
Transforming my kitchen into a walk-in wardrobe might sound crazy, but as you can see above, my windowless eighties kitchen was destined for new life. I reused bits from the old kitchen and moved it to the back of the living room to make the most of the biggest room...
Whether you're into antiques or not, Tallboy Interiors takes a new approach to old interiors that can inspire us all for the cosy season ahead. On his 18th birthday, Matt Dixon of Tallboy Interiors was given £1000 from his parents to spend as he wanted. Instead of...
Ever practical, I chose a glazed 1940s staff noticeboard reclaimed from London’s Kings Cross station from SalvoWEB to style as my kitchen cabinet. Not that I was intending to consume as many tubes of tortilla chip Pringles as the decorators, but soon only pretty...
I know I am not the only one to have jewellery boxed-up in drawers, saving it for best. The same goes for antique silverware, often passed down through family, brought out for special occasions when firstly, we remember it’s there, and secondly, we can digest more...