September 9, 2016
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
September 5, 2016
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!
August 31, 2016
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!
August 29, 2016
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.
August 24, 2016
Since London Design Week last year, beautifully crafted ceramics have barely been off my radar, there seems to be a real vogue for beautiful handcrafted artisan pieces at the moment and I can’t get enough of them. I have a post in draft at present on kitchen updates for little investment and this is certainly one very pleasing way to do it – a well placed beautiful ceramic in the kitchen can detract from a multitude of sins! As I seem to have been pinning and saving ceramics for most of 2016, today I’m sharing my favourites from around the world. From the painterly to the abstract via the gold leafed and pastel here are all my favourite pretties for your perusal. Enjoy!Read More