Along with many other local businesses & traders, I was so looking forward to exhibiting at Moreton Show again last September. Sadly, due to the persistent rain throughout the summer, the showground was already saturated before the final downpours during the week before. Reluctantly, the committee cancelled it at the final hour!

However this year the Show goes on – Saturday 5^th September is the date to put in your diaries & come & join me for a Pimms! Its great seeing so many of my clients – past & present & new faces too!

How we transformed a room 2

April/May 2008

We were asked to design a scheme for the master bedroom for the Duke of Cumberland, Clifton near Banbury. The brief given was to create a room that evoked ‘smart stylish country’ & given the lovely room height, this should be utilised.

We soon decided that bed drapes in the form of a ‘coronet’ over the bed would work admirably. With the room’s westerly aspect, although benefiting from the evening light, warmth & texture should be included for the time when the room is used in the mornings & daytime.

A warm French blue/ ivory & dark cream palette was chosen, featuring a smart cotton check from Pierre Frey for the internal bed drapes & Isle Mill’s ivory pure wool sateen for the main bed curtains set against a backdrop of Sanderson’s Pillemont Toile wallpaper. This reaches high up into the eaves & also on the mezzanine wall overlooking the bed. The fantastic weight & drape quality of the sateen wool is superb, a fabric we love using. On the adjacent wall which includes the window, we used Sanderson’s fabric design of Pillemont Toile against cream walls. We heightened this window treatment to give the same height as the bed drapes by taking the pelmet further up the eaves walls. Deep pelmets were made for the window & bed drapes, trimmed with the little French check & dark blue tuck banding. The window was fitted with a semi-sheer voile roller blind. Coordinating bullion tiebacks were used on the curtains.

The bed was dressed with a kick pleat valance using a darker cream wool, again from Isle Mill, a quilted throw using G P & J Baker’s Venetian Damask & upholstered bed headboard in Nobilis’ Easy heavy weave. The room was finished off with a chair upholstered in Baker’s Auvergne.

Crisp white bed linen, a selection of cushions, the bedside tables repainted & new glass tops with new lamps complete the story to absolutely everyone’s huge approval! As with all commissions, this was a pleasure to work on & all delivered on time!

Latest Fabrics - Parkertex

Six superb collections from Parkertex offering a hugely versatile series of stylish and easy to use prints and weaves.

Charming embroidered silks in pretty colours, softly glazed, crewed worked and plain liners tactile wovens and glowing velvets are joined by a range of inspirational signature prints in fresh, contemporary colours as well as more traditional, intensely coloured florals. All of these distinctive designs work in perfect harmony with previous Parketex Collections.

MARIINSKY
An extremely pretty collection of embroidered and plain silks in delectable colours complemented by a group of bold, open stripes.

LEAVES AND POPPIES
Vibrant contemporary prints of large and small scale poppies in lively, fresh colours are joined by two beautifully stylised leaf designs in softer neutral shades.

TEXTURES II
A rich diversity of easy to use plains, lustrous velvets and cleverly constructed weaves with great textural interest are designed to relate perfectly to other Parkertex collections.

WOODBURY
Rustic prints and weaves in a softly faded antique pallet are enhanced by the addition of a wonderful hand stitched patchwork.

MEDLEY
An electric range of relaxed, appealing designs including robust checks and stripes, textural plains and classy decorative weaves.

LINENS
A classic collection of beautiful quilted, crewel worked and softly glazed linens. An extremely versatile colour palette ranges from muted neutrals to bright, sparkling colours.

This room in an 18th century farmhouse had been almost taken down to the bare bones, with the floor refurbished & original old floor boards made good. The original fireplace in Portland stone style remained. Our brief was to create a warm sunny room around the already chosen wall paint with floral curtains as the main design, to then dictate plain & semi-plain fabrics for the new & recovered sofas & cushions. We only needed to look at one fabric for the curtains.

A beautiful embroidered brocade called Margeaux from Voyage with a slightly rucked, creased effect to it that makes it look gracefully old. The corals, greens & golds in the design came in well with the yellow to match the wall paint ‘Yellow Ground’ from Farrow & Ball. We used an aged looking brass reeded pole with ribbed ball finials on the rear window & a gathered pelmet on the large front bay window following the full length contours. Both the pelmets & curtains were made with interlining. The tassel fringe & braid trimmings were from Titley & Marr’s Italian Siola Alois range. The two new sofas – a 3 seater & a 2 1/2 seater were ‘Keats’ from Westcote Design covered in Linwood’s weave ‘Kendall’ with a small sprig motif in a light olive/gold . The existing sofa was recovered by Westcote Design in Linwood’s trellis design ‘Montrose’ in light gold.

Cushions brought colours together with Robert Allen’s minute green/cream check ‘Zara’ sage, Lee Jofa’s ‘Silbury’ Chenille, a richly coloured chenille in spice/corals & a couple of cushions in the main curtain fabric trimmed in cord to match the curtain trims. We think you will agree that this has created a comfortable warm homely atmosphere, whatever the weather! Our customers were delighted with the results.

This is what the rooms looked like before :

and here is what it looks like now :

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