Friday 6 February 2015

Lottie's Interiors and Paint by Conran

There are few names more synonymous with British design than Conran.

Sir Terence Conran is one of the world’s best known designers, restaurateurs and retailers. He made modern design accessible to many when he opened the first Habitat shop in Chelsea in 1964.

Today he heads up Conran and Partners, an architecture and design studio as well as owning shops, restaurants and hotels across the globe.

One of my most memorable experiences is of a trip to London in the early ‘90’s and marvelling at the flagship Conran Shop which opened in 1987 in the historic Michelin House on Fulham Road. I think I spent most of the afternoon in there before eating in Bibendum, one of the few times I have eaten in a ‘proper posh’ restaurant! Still today, no trip to London for me is complete without a visit to Peter Jones, Divertimenti on Brompton Road and the Conran Shop.

The Conran flare for design didn’t stop there, with the Conran children following in their father's footsteps. Jasper (fashion and design), Sebastian (design), Tom (restaurateur) and Sophie (cars, design and pies!)

So, you can imagine my excitement when I was approached by Paint by Conran asking if I had any projects with which they could be of assistance.
 
 
It just so happened that I had met a family living in the village we had moved in to who were in the process of renovating their beautiful Georgian farmhouse nestled in the centre of the village. Sarah asked me if I would help her transform their dining room in time for them to use it at Christmas. The perfect opportunity to look at Conran paints.
 
 

 A little bit about Paint by Conran
Paint by Conran is the culmination of 2 ½ years’ work and is a dedicated paint range developed in conjunction with The Conran Partnership and Sir Terence Conran. The range currently has 96 colours split into 5 collections, for ease of colour matching, as illustrated by the 5 images above and draws inspiration from the glorious British countryside. Paint by Conran has been created in partnership with Master Paintmakers who, as part of an international paint group, have been making paints for 120 years.
"I have always been passionate about colour because it adds flavour to life and can have a profoundly positive impact on our mood. (Sir Terence Conran)
The brief was to create a country look and not stray too much away from that but with an injection of colour to add depth and interest. Sarah had already chosen curtain fabric, the delicious Voyage ‘Hedgerow’ fabric. We set about creating a mini mood board which, to be honest, was not too difficult as when we opened up the Conran paint chart and set it against the fabric, the colour we selected pretty much jumped off the page like it was meant to be!
 
 
We picked out a colour in the fabric and matched it to Midnight Thyme from the Highland collection. As this is a deep, fairly rich colour, we then selected Pastures New from the Harvest collection to work alongside this.
And here’s the result.
 
Before.....
 
 
 
And after....
 
 
 
I’m now trying to decide which colours and where I can introduce some Conran colour in to my own home!

For more information and to visit the website, click on www.paintbyconran.com
 


Tuesday 3 February 2015

Snow Designs and Interiors, Stamford.


 
Husband and I took a little trip to the picturesque Lincolnshire town of Stamford yesterday.
 
A couple of Stamford factoids.....
 
Stamford was the first town in the country to create a conservation area in 1967 and as a result has retained a rich architectural heritage. Stamford provided the backdrop for television costume dramas such as Middlemarch and the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice and it regularly features as a finalist in the Sunday Times list of the best places to live!
 
 
 
As well as being generally  a pleasant place to have a wander and a spot of lunch, Stamford also boasts a number of lovely interiors shops and Snow Designs is one well worth checking out.
 
 
 
 
Snow Designs and Interiors offers a veritable feast over four floors of interesting and unique products all sourced from independent British designers.
 
I've fallen in love with this place! It's crammed full of things I could buy. Lighting, furniture, prints, ceramics, mirrors, decorative bits and pieces and more. The shop frontage is really promising and inviting and stepping through the door just delivers on that promise.
 
Rather than pick out individual items (I would have struggled to narrow it down) I've just included a number of in store shots and would just urge you to pay Snow a visit if you are any where near by. Visit their Facebook page or take a look on the website.
 
Snow Designs and Interiors, 32 Mary's Street, Stamford. www.snowdesignsandinteriors.com