• Posts Tagged ‘ellie tennant’

    GOODBYE and HELLO!

    by  • Tuesday, November 8, 2011 • News • 5 Comments

    Well, folks, the time has come for me to say goodbye. I’ve loved blogging for Ideal Home’s HomeShoppingSpy, but I’m off to pastures new. I leave you in the very capable hands of the lovely new HomeShoppingSpy, Alice Humphrys – Deputy Interiors Editor at Ideal Home and a shopping expert! She’ll be keeping you up-to-date on all the latest buys and trends. Thank you all so much for your support, comments and tweets these past few years – it’s been an absolute pleasure to spy for you! – Ellie Tennant x

    Letter press hello card | present and correct | bespoke stationery | unusual stationery | homeshoppingspy | alice humphrys

    Hello! I’m Alice, your new HomeShoppingSpy blogger and I can’t wait to get started; especially at this time of year when the joys of Autumn are in full swing, festive fever is breaking out and here at Ideal Home HQ we’re previewing and planning for SS12. I feel giddy with the delightful, seasonal mix! Looking forward to blogging, spying and marvelling with you over all things lovely for the home. Oh and the letterpress ‘Hello’ card was brought to you by one of my favourite on-line stationery shops, Present and Correct. A lunch-break browse on their website helps sooth my mild obsession with paper objects.  - Alice Humphrys

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    Squint + London Transport Museum = SOFA JOY

    by  • Friday, September 2, 2011 • Decorating and interiors, Lovely websites, News, Stylish shopping • 3 Comments

    Ah, moquette. The hard-wearing, patterned, furry fabric that the London Underground train seats are upholstered in. (I once went to a great lecture about the history of moquette and the various designs, but there were some rather gruesome details about the bed bug problem on various tube lines and I haven’t sat down since without a quick inspection first…) The London Transport Museum design team has already covered various objects with this practical retro stuff – pouffes, headboards, cushions, even handbags – and now, they’ve joined forces with those clever upholsterers at Shoreditch studio Squint to create  a collection of limited-edition moquette patchwork sofas, which will be unveiled during the London Design Festival at Tent London:

    If you visit Tent, you could win a stylish moquette armchair…and the rest of the collection will be available from the London Transport Museum’s online shop from the end of September and their bricks-and-mortar Covent Garden museum shop. - Ellie

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    Ferm Living AW11

    by  • Friday, August 26, 2011 • Decorating and interiors, Lovely websites, News, Stylish shopping • 3 Comments

    They’re a chilled out bunch, the Danes at Ferm Living. Not only do they close their offices for the entire month of August so they can all hang out beside the sea (how civilised), they also release their Autumn/Winter collections at the very last minute. Just to keep us all guessing. The new collection is finally out today – and it’s certainly worth the wait…

    There’s new ‘Happy Harlequin’ kids’ wallpaper – tiny diamonds in a fresh AW11 Ferm palette of pretty pastel pink, tangerine and navy blue – and fun house-shaped ‘Village’ cushions that would look at home in a children’s room or on your sofa. Of course, there are plenty of new wall stickers to admire, including this cute rain cloud design…

    …and the new accessories are a joy to behold…

    1. Wooden cones. A bit like pine trees, they’d look cool on a window sill or mantelpiece; 2. Cork tablemats with funky geometric patterns. Yum; 3. Weird but cool diamond pouffes, with eight facets and a practically edible colour combo of mustard yellow, dark brown, navy blue, grey and tangerine; 4. Cute wooden candle holders; 5. The afore-mentioned ‘Village’ of cushions; 6. Awesome wooden wall lamps shaped like camper vans, trees and Bambi.

    I love the new ‘Candleholder String’ with chunky wooden beads on a leather thread – it looks like a strand of DNA and you can move them around to change the order of the spheres or tie the string in a circle to get a different look. Very cool. I also like the ‘Wine Bottle’ candle holders, which would look fabulous lined up in a row down the middle of a dining table. There are even wooden bead Christmas tree decorations to admire. Check out the Ferm Living Issuu catalogue and their lovely blog for more information. Apparently, in order to find inspiration for this collection, Ferm took themselves, their designs and their house “…in to the Wild Woods, then climbed the trees, danced in the rain, laughed and felt like a bunch of happy campers.” They’ve definitely got the right idea, these Danes. – Ellie

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