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Playing with fabrics and Wallpaper is part of our Workshops . Nowadays there are a huge variety of beautiful examples on the market. While this is an exciting occupation, it can become a mind boggling experience that could end up with bad choices, complicated schemes and simply too much variety. The best way to work this is to use a favourite painting or an object that inspires, have a respect for the integrity of the building you are working with, choose designs and fabrics that compliment the textures in the edifice. Allow space for everything to breath but remember we are not striving for perfection. The beauty is in the collective result of your personal vision.
Nature gives us an expansive palette for decorating our homes. Nature left to herself will always show us harmony in the way she uses her brush. In Northern Europe she paints with gentle Earthy hues. In Southern Europe she uses a drier brush with smoky colours. Then, as we travel East the colours becomes stronger, the cool blues get more primary, until we reach the East where oranges, reds and indigos wrap us in a whirl of textile and spices and colour virtually invades our being. Then on to the tropics where primary shades are shrill but quietened by the shelter of vivid green jungles and rainforests. Here she rests her palette under the shade of banana leaves until renewed, she ventures into the wide deserts of Australia where the blacks, browns and ochres camouflage the bodies of the people and the creatures from the heat of an unforgiving sun.
Living comfortably within your environment is our objective and this involves all the senses. We can’t always be close to Nature but we can keep integrity in our choices of materials . This will lift the spirit and allow a home to breath . Ceramics , Pottery, and Terracotta are three variations on an Earth theme. Nothing so forgiving than feeling old terracotta tiles under bare feet. Limewash paint, wooden floorboards, sunlight and open fires all create a feeling of wellbeing. Feel things, study their form, avoid straight lines, choose curves, imperfections, stories. Treat your home like a work of Art.
Detail. It’s all in the detail. Velvets, Linens, Embroideries, Stripes and Florals. All the aforementioned textiles can be used together to create a beautifully textured room. Layers give a richness to a room, while providing comfort, drama and a deeper dimension. All this and an added detail of a favourite painting, wallpaper or ceramic, will settle the eye and bring a treasured item into more focus. It is all Theatre. Home is our own personal theatre.
Mrs Grumpy might be in need of a bunch of flowers and a new pair of shoes! Creating stories of your life is part of the fun of interior decorating. The shoes might have been my mothers. I remember they were cleaned with a pasty white liquid, like calamine lotion, back in the day. Mrs Grumpy may have been a great aunt that came to tea and frightened the life out of me. The apple and the pear I found at a tiny marble factory somewhere in Italy. They may not be lovers, but one on its own would not be happy. Good things come in pairs.
Mixing textures can be easy if we stay away from machine reproduction and see the spirit in the hand of the craftsman. I believe all tangible well crafted items carry the energy of their maker. This is why it works to mix cultures, periods, and colour. When the Artist is at work he sees the textures and flow in his medium and materials. He knows instinctively how they work and live together in his creation. So it is when we are making a home. Creating beauty is and art form.• “The beauty of decorating a home is that it’s a journey, not a destination.” – Bunny Williams
