Welcome to our world of interiors. An informative, varied and fun blog

Keep calm and carry on! What it’s like to ‘run’ the business for a week…..

Posted on May 12, 2012

This week our lovely directors Jane and Isabel went off to Marrakesh for a short break and who can blame them? 10 degrees and raining here, 38 and sunny there….

So what’s happening with the business……? Well, it seems that I get to have a go at ‘running’ it for a bit! Well, not really. The girls tied up the loose ends before they left so there’s no bills to pay, no accounts to file, no reps to meet – just clients to help should they need…

At Design college my fellow students and I always wondered what it would be like to have a small Interiors business – talking about colours, patterns and textures all day, recommending furniture and wallpaper, suppliers delivering, clients happy… la dee da.

It’s not like that!

Ever tried to do a quote for curtains while creating a 3D technical drawing of a bathroom while taking payment over the phone for wallpaper while arranging a favour for a chair delivery while making appointments while placing orders while helping one of our clients choose fabric? Good grief…… Good fun too though!

This blog will not do it justice but what I learned was this: running a small business is tough and that’s without all the admin and red tape that would normally be on the agenda. That it can also be exhilarating - helping a client to sort a problem or to choose just the right finish is a great feeling.  That being thoroughly organised is absolutely key – to be able to put your hands immediately on orders, dimensions, invoices, prices, and phone numbers underpins the efficiency and client perception of the business. My unfamiliarity with some of these things meant that at times I was like a swan – trying to look graceful and composed on the surface but paddling like mad underneath! And, finally, that I ought to accept that when things don’t quite turn out as they should to keep calm and carry on!

Afterall, they’re back on Tuesday!

 

Kate

 

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The Ivy: the art of relaxed dining

Posted on May 5, 2012

Here I am again going on about restaurants! But this time it’s not to moan about bad acoustics, food ordered that never arrives or waiters constantly brushing past my chair  – no because …. I went to the Ivy!

The Ivy has a fairly intimidating reputation of being hard to get into, full of famous people and of being very theatre oriented, a bit showy-offy and exclusive if you like.

We went last week at lunch time and I have to say that my initial impression was one of relaxed friendliness and welcome. I was instantly at ease.

This place is a curiosity to me when it comes to style. It’s interior decor is not new and updated – in fact it has probably been the same for a couple of decades now. It is pretty much ivy coloured (the seats, the carpet), the well-known stained glass leaded windows are heavy, the wood is dark. But this sombre palate accentuates the clean, crisp white table cloths, the colourful, fun artwork and collection of photos of theatre and jazz artists. It makes them, the tables and, by proxy, you the stars of the show. Clever.

The menu continues the relaxed feel. I had a Bellini to start – served in a stemless beautifully simple glass – even the cocktails are relaxed here. So, onto food: if you like you could have a hamburger or cheese on toast. If you wanted you could have lamb 3 ways or lobster – with chips. The point is that it doesn’t matter. You have what you fancy. Anything goes!

But that doesn’t mean the quality suffers. I ended up forkless after my starter. I noticed. I wondered about asking for another one. But a waiter had also noticed. A replacement arrived. Brilliant.

And so the style of the Ivy develops. It is about you and you having a nice, relaxed experience. Yes, Trigger from Only Fools and Horses was there as was Esther Rantzen but, do you know what? all you end up hoping is that they are having a nice time too.

 

 

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Porta Romana Sale

Posted on May 2, 2012

Book the day off work – its time for the annual Porta Romana Sale!

Beautiful lighting and the furniture all at sale prices

If you cannot make the sale, but would like us to purchase an item for you, please contact the office(finders fee applies)

PUBLIC  DAY

FRIDAY 15th JUNE 2012
10am-2pm

VENUE

Porta Romana Head Office,
Northbrook, Farnham,
Surrey GU10 5EU

Please contact Head Office
for further information

WWW.PORTAROMANA.CO.UK

 

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French Connection Home

Posted on April 30, 2012

I was ambling up and down the Kings Road on Saturday afternoon and the friend I was with suddenly stopped and dived into French Connection and started jumping up and down with glee. One of her clients, Ed Laurie, has been used as a model for FC and in exchange FC are promoting his new album Cathedral. All profits go to Amnesty International, so please support of you can.

Anyway whilst she was taking photos of a cardboard cut out of her client I spotted the new French Connection homewares ! Lovely! Really textural and tactile collection of ceramics, wood and textiles which creates a calming and slightly Scandinavian feel. The price point was good and they had some very nice ‘key’ ceramic pieces and intersting and quirky objects. The side tables were also lovely! Have a browse on www.frenchconnection.com or visit one of their London stores.

 

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Damien Hirst – get it?

Posted on April 28, 2012

My friend Mandy and I went to London’s Tate Modern (or ‘tat moderne’ as Grayson Perry rather amusingly refers to it) for lunch, a catch up and to see if we could finally GET Damien Hirst….

It got off to a great start: the Tate Modern members’ room is a good one – good selection of food, great views of the river and St Paul’s, good seating design and layout and a pleasant hum of arty conversation. So far so good…

So, onto Hirst. We opted for the audioguide tour: we thought we might need it. The guide featured Hirst himself explaining his creations in a Leeds mumble which you do find yourself tuned into by the end. My art is about life… but life is also about death….

OK.

As I walked around the various installations my understanding of him as a person and of his art slowly started to develop. You understand very quickly that his ambition got him known by those who need to know and that his subsequent notoriety for creating unconventional, and sometimes shocking, art installations made everything he did of interest. Take him refusing an offer of £950,000 from Charles Saatchi for a sculpture. He wanted a million just so that he could say: ‘that piece of art is worth a million quid’. You want to say ‘yuck- grotesque’ but actually you say ‘wow – cool’.

So what about the art? I wondered for a bit if it was indeed art but there we all were walking around a gallery looking at his installations and figuring out what they represented as you would any painting or sculpture. So, yes, I think it is art. At times I could not decide whether his explanations were so profound or just too simple and based upon pure bravado. In any case, what he does do is make you think. You start thinking about simple realities (what goes up must come down, nothing in life is the same), the ironies (cigarettes are glamorous but they stink and they kill you), the inevitabilites (death) and the big questions (God, angels, heaven). You very quickly sort of get into his head and you do get it (mostly).

The day after the exhibition I was still buzzing about in the Hirst zone. My daughter had blu-tacked some drawings all around her door frame. I asked her why they were not either in her bedroom or in the hallway and she explained that she hadn’t been able to decide and that she thought they looked nice here. And I thought – Damien would love that: life is like that sometimes, he would say, you just can’t decide between the conventional choices and so you end up creating a new, different, alternative way….. cool!

 

 

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Considering Wood Flooring? Guest blog by Wood and Beyond

Posted on April 23, 2012

Wood flooring can uplift the look of almost any room and look visually stunning when matched to the interior décor. Shopping for wood flooring however can be quite confusing with many industry terms and options to negotiate. This guide aims to simplify these options and make the whole experience much easier..

Type of wood flooring:There are two types of wood flooring – Solid and Engineered. When fitted they both look the same. However, while Solid wood is made from completely natural wood and will suit most areas with the exception of damp or wet conditions Engineered wood is only made from natural wood on the top. The core is made from syntactic materials, which makes the floor better suited in wet or damp conditions (with a suitable finish). Solid wood flooring is expected to last up to 100 years, however Engineered wood will never rival this service life. And the decision to fit one or the other should take this into account.

Grade of wood flooring:Both types are available in different grades. Grade  is not an indication of quality but rather  an indication of how refined the wood is. It makes no difference to  durability. .  There are four common grades and the better the grade the fewercolour variations and knots will appear within each board. Your decision as to the grade is based on your desired style and budget constrains. The four grades are:

Prime grade – The highest grade with minimal colour variations between planks and very few knots if any

Select grade – Also considered a premium grade, colour variations between the planks will remain minimal, however bigger knots are likely.

Natural grade – Each natural plank will display knots of various sizes and colour variations between the planks are very likely

Rustic grade – Also referred to as ‘country style grade’, therustic board has the most character of the four. It will  display heavy grain markings, figuring and frequent knots.

Finish of wood flooring:The last consideration is the finish. Woodflooring  is coated in a thin layer that has two important roles: to  protect the wood from wear and tear and to , colour-match the floor to suit a particular interior scheme.

Protective role – The most common is UV lacquered, a coating that makes the floor waterproof and is therefore used over engineered wood flooring in potentially damp areas such as the kitchen. Another popular option is oil which  helps hide small imperfections caused by wear and tear..

Decorative role – Using special paints, wood flooring companies can colour wood to almost any shade from deep red to almost white.

We hope this article has helped your decision process. If you have any questions, please leave your comments below.

Article for Isabel Ballardie Interiors blog by Wood and Beyond wood flooring company that offers a wide range of solid wood flooring as well as engineered wood flooring for commercial and residential properties.

 

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V&A celebrates Great British Design

Posted on April 14, 2012

The first major exhibition that celebrates post-war British art and design began at the V&A this month. This is a celebration of buildings, objects, and ideas by artists and designers born, trained or based in Britain. It is the museum’s contribution to celebrating Britain in 2012 the year of the Jubilee and the year in which we host the olympics for the first time since 1948.

So, to go or not to go?

I’ve scanned the V&A website and I have to say that initially I wasn’t keen. Firstly, why would I revisit all of those things that remind me of being a child in the 70s? The clunky and ugly Brownie Vecta Camera and the Trimphone in all it’s drudgy colours. Secondly, perhaps all of us are already starting to get a little tired of the kitsch Union Jacks and Queens head motifs that seem to be adorning everything everywhere we go – one can have too much Britain!

But, get beyond that and perhaps there really is a celebration to be had? Genuinely amazing results in the fields of architecture, fashion, furniture design and art. The Robin Day Polyside chair that is (or copies of it are) probably in most village and school halls across the land – a fantastic example of lasting, practical, timeless design. This together with photos and plans of the stunning Kings Cross Station regeneration design (featured on the V&A website) are but 2 examples of what is on show.

Western concourse at Kings Cross

Maybe, though, the most interesting thing that this exhibition promises to deliver is the manifestation of the subversive side of British culture that started in the 1960s and 70s and how that manages to sit along side tradition and monarchy and achievement. The Johnnie Rotten t-shirt, the flags, the kitsch, even the trimphone - I think I am going to go!

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The ACHICA magazine arrives

Posted on April 3, 2012

I was intrigued when the new Achica magazine shot through my post box one cloudy Tuesday morning. I have been watching the rise of Achica, not only through mutterings from our clients, but also in my ever vigilant web watch. Plus they now advertise on the TV as well.

I recently wrote a blog about Made.com and Achica is another one to watch. I obviously watch it for different reasons to the consumer, it is yet another internet threat to interior designers and another way for clients to ‘find a better price on the internet’!

The magazine though was a little disappointing. It did have a few room sets, but I didn’t feel these were particularly inspirational. More ideas highlighting how and where you could use their products mixed with interior design ideas would have made more interesting reading. The second half of the magazine did feel like they just needed to find content to fill the pages, recipes and gardening ideas!?

I did find the biog of the two owners very interesting. Neither have a background in interiors, but have an extensive knowledge of how to sell over the internet.The growth of having a virtual shop front mixed with direct marketing is a very powerful strategy.

To become a member of Achica, log onto www.achica.com and register your interest. You will then receive regular emails with current offers, similar to Groupon, and your free Achica magazine!

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Wowed by Hockney and art on the iPad

Posted on March 31, 2012

If you haven’t been to see Hockney at the Royal Academy yet then go! His ‘A Bigger Picture’ exhibition is not just about scale, it is also about using challenging combinations of colour and about pioneering the use of technology to produce amazing art.

He explores, as Monet did, the effect of light and of seasons on the same subject. Where Monet did the Houses of Parliament and the waterlilies Hockney has explored the beautiful undulating, tree-lined landscapes of Yorkshire. The colours he uses are stunning and used to fantastic effect. The bright orange, violet, green and turquoise hues of Summer contrast dramatically with the muted, hazy tones for Autumn.

I paint but I rarely paint from memory. And this was another lesson I took from this exhibition – that you can produce fantastic images from what is contained within your memory and imagination. Taking this to it’s extreme there is one painting in the exhibition that Hockney produced after taking a journey to Switzerland in the back of a transit van. He paints the landscape in terms of how he felt it to be from his windowless perspective: jagged, black, endless. Brilliant.

Some of the installations are truly massive – hence ‘a bigger picture’. He uses a grid system to design these enormous paintings which enables him to work on a piece at a time only joining the full image together on his computer and then in the exhibition. Such vastness is designed to make the viewer feel part of the scene – and it works!

Perhaps the crowning glory of this exhibition is Hockney’s use of the iPad to produce art. His oils are amazing, his experiment with watercolours commendable but he is without doubt the pioneer of the iPad as the new print medium. The vast majority of the iPad prints were utterly convincing. A couple looked like the children had added a few scribbles but I entered the room a complete sceptic and left convinced that you do indeed need to have the same talent to produce a painting in oil as you do to produce a good iPad image – thank goodness. And it wasn’t just me who was amazed – the audible gasps from my fellow exhibition goers when they saw his iPad images of Yosemite convince me of that.

I bought the book (see image) carried it all the way back to Surrey with me and it is now sitting proudly on my lounge coffee table at home! And I am definitely going to be looking at it. A lot!

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Are you using the Design Club at Chelsea Harbour?

Posted on March 29, 2012

Isabel and I visited Chelsea Harbour Design Centre on Monday. A beautiful sunny Monday morning, until we got stuck in traffic on the Kings Road, but this is envitable – London equals traffic!

Anyway we arrived and first stop was the coffee shop! I love to sit in the Harbour and soak up the atmosphere, but I did actually have lots of paperwork to get through. Anyway I’m on my laptop and the battery light starts to flash, I’m scouting around trying to plug in before everything fails……………..  no where to plug in! The leading design centre of the world!

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as in my search to plug my laptop in and continue my work, I discovered the Design Club. Awesome! Situated on the third floor, south dome is a small and exclusive ‘private members club for like-minded people in the design and creative industries’. And somewhere to plug in ones laptop!

The Design Club offers PC stations and Wi-Fi, a meeting area (which is available to hire), an extensive library, a selection  of seating areas and lunch and refreshments. Designed by Rabih Hage, the Design Club creates a welcoming ambience with subtle lighting and a sleek interior.

What’s really good about the Design Club is you can either join as a member (membership starts at £295 + vat, less for BIID members) or daily membership at £20 per day (24hrs notice recommended). I am certainly going to be frequenting the Design Club more often!

By Jane Munk

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