Author Archives: Design_Soda_Ruthie

About Design_Soda_Ruthie

I write Design Soda, a design blog with a focus on interiors. My blog aims to be an unpretentious, stimulating, fun and naturally curious delve into inspirational design and Londoncentric culture. I describe my style as boho-eclectic and am open to most design which doesn’t look too serious or composed. As a design geek with a love of vintage and upcycling, I am passionate about my home and love blogging ideas and looks that I find inspirational. Since the time when my teenage bedroom was an Aladdins cave of upcycled furniture, Cecil Beaton photography and Situationist slogans I have been interested in the way the home environment can make you feel and inspire your inner life. As a new mummy, trying to negotiate my passions with my lovely new baby's schedule can be difficult, but in my spare time you will often find me snapping the things that catch my eye in my wonderful home city London. Or, reading, upcycling, spending longer on Pinterest than I should, baking and watching old movies. I have a lifelong passion for French New Wave cinema.

Spending a Penny : Downstairs Loo Revamp

September 12, 2016

vintage-modern-bohemian-style-monochrome-and-brass-bathroom

 

As our upstairs bathroom has just been featured in a national interiors mag (slightly exciting!) I thought that today I would share some small vignettes of our downstairs loo which we did up a few months ago.Read More

Share

A Day with Farrow & Ball in Dorset

September 9, 2016

Farrow & Ball Wallpaper launch 2016, Deans Court Dorset

 

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you probably know that I LOVE colour. Colour, patterns and surface are three of the things that make me tick. Read More

Share

Margate Dreamland Revisited : Postcards by the sea

September 5, 2016

Margate Dreamland pastel vintage sherbet fairground kitsch, ferris wheel

Over the bank holiday weekend I took a lovely daytrip to the seaside town of Margate in Kent with two of my favourite people. It’s been three years since we last went and the town continues to evolve and expand beyond the ruins of desertion and downward turns. It’s still the town that Primark left, and indeed the Woolworths still sits with its 2007 shopfront unoccupied, but last time the century old amusement park Dreamland was also closed and forlorn and like much of the town shaped by a decaying glamour which I caught on my picture tour here. As more artists move down to the area, and the town continues a regeneration after the building of the Turner gallery in sympathy with its past, Margate is changing. We visited Dreamland, and although at 35 I may not be quite the target audience (best not relay the tale of three grown women atop a Ferris wheel having a decidedly regretful moment) but I have massive heart eyes for this sherbet dibdab writ large. From its sweetshop-seaside-rock colour palette to its fifties typography, the new Dreamland’s is a colour walk of kitsch and nostalgia and a perfect part of the seaside landscape of a famous kiss-me-quick town. I’m a little in love with it. So, today’s Through the Aperture post is devoted entirely to Margate Dreamland and it’s candy floss dream of kitsch. Enjoy!

Read More

Share

Sofa Choices with The Lounge Co

August 31, 2016

The Lounge Co_Poppy_George_theloungeco.com

Image: Poppy Sofa by The Lounge Co.

 

I love all seasons, but right about now I usually start dreaming pretty heavily about fall. What an incredible month of sunshine we’ve had, topped by the fair weather final bank holiday of the season as a fitting swan song to summer. And now it’s that time of year again when the school calendar starts to loom and if you’re a bit too enthusiastic like me you may even have a glint in your eye for Christmas. Certainly for many it’s a time we start to think about getting snugly, right? Hot drinks, winter walks, mooching around in doors, lounging, hot baths, comfort and dark evenings entertaining at home. Well then I think it’s probably also the perfect time to talk about sofa choices!

 

Read More

Share

How To Make a D.I.Y Spot Table cloth

August 29, 2016

 

d.i.y polka dot fabric paint monochrome table cloth spotty

 

So, I haven’t done a d.i.y post in a while but I’ve been up to quite a few things round the house in recent months so expect a possible flurry of them soon! I find these kinds of post slightly daunting as I’m terrified of patronising people. But actually I got to thinking about why I feel like this and concluded that I google ‘how to…’ all the time so this may be silly. Do you find that you get straight jacketed by an inner voice on things? Anyway, onto the post in hand. So what I wanted was a tablecloth for our summer party last weekend which had to fit a large trestle table for food (we had nearly 60 people). I wanted to find something that didn’t cost the earth or was so bold a look that it drowned out the pretty party pieces I’d decided on. I had a vague dream based on this beautiful renovation by Royal Roulotte and I kept coming back to the idea of monochrome polka dots, they seemed versatile, fun and not too girly. I wanted something a little less straight or standard than this, in my mind black confetti! This may not come as a surprise but I struggled to find monochrome confetti fabric anywhere. After a little hunt around on Google ‘how to paint polka dot fabric’ I realised that it’s enormously simple and most people just use the eraser part of a pencil to impress their circles. I was really pleased with my intentionally asymmetric rustic result so I thought I’d share it with you.

 

Read More

Share