Seasons in Colour

You: a new blogger who came across these two words for the first time: "blog awards". Suddenly you brain goes on overdrive. You think "why not me?". After a while negativity starts settling in. "My blog is not pretty enough". "I don't have a logo". "I've only been writing for a few months". Recognise yourself in these thoughts? Me: a blogger who's been though all this and came out on the other side smiling. Not the first time, mind you. So let me tell you a story. There was o

One thing we understand well here at Seasons in Colour is that consumers like CHANGE. And with every design show that takes place, we get closer to our interior design and styling aspirations. This week saw Europe's finest Interiors brands set up their stands in fashion capital of the world, Milan, (I know France had Coco darling, but still, no one does textiles and leather goods like the Italians, and that's a fact!). The Salone del Mobile is the equivalent of France's Maiso

“My team spend a lot of time here, working up ideas that will be in the pages of the magazine in a few months’ time,” says the editor of Homes & Gardens, Deborah Barker. She is talking about Design Centre at Chelsea Harbour (DCCH) of course, the ultimate interior design destination for trade and public. DCCH is home to a number of well established and new brands in fabrics, paint, lighting, furniture as well as for interior design studios like TH2Designs that are set to domin

While my vote is precious to me and I follow politics closely, I rarely like to express an opinion on this blog which is after all meant to be only about interiors. But given the unprecedented turn up at the Womens March in London on the 21st Jan 2017, I thought I needed to capture the moment in a post with my favourite tweets. Enjoy the photos. #events

When it comes to Public Relations, there's a new kid in town: LET'S BE PR! Launched by Laura Hepburn (nee Baldry) in 2016, LET'S BE PR provides creative PR and communications consultancy for interiors and lifestyle clients. I have known Laura for some time now, having first been approached in 2015 to help with the launch of A Splash of Colour - and you can read about that here. Maybe it was a light bulb idea that got Laura into PR. Whatever it was though, her client-first att

Last Thursday, this blog got a massive award. I still cannot quite believe this and I am not lying when I say that I did not expect it. I made my way with dear husband to the Ham Yard Hotel in London for the presentation of the Amara Interior Blog Awards and - spoiler alert - walked away with one! Ask my husband about it and he can confirm that as we were taking our seats in the theatre of the superbly designed Ham Yard, I was still asking him "do you think I have a chance in

You have exactly two days to visit The Other Art Fair, the UK's leading artist fair to discover and buy art directly from the very best emerging artistic talent. Supported by Saatchi Art, it returns to East London's iconic Old Truman Brewery for a 14th edition, presenting a variety of hand picked works that spans all mediums, by 130 contemporary artists chosen by a committee of art industry experts. WHEN : 6-9 October 2016 WHERE: OLD TRUMAN BREWERY HANBURY STREET LONDON E1 6Q

Really pleased to read that LivingEtc is teaming up with KLC School of Design to launch a free - yes, you read that correctly, FREE - 4 week online design course. Trust me, these offers don't come often! And even though I am already registered with KLC on an interior design course, I plan on taking on this learning opportunity as well. You can enrol now through FUTURE LEARN (read on for the course curriculum and to enrol). THE POWER OF COLOUR Colour is all around us but how c

The London real estate market is arguably one of the most expensive in the world, even with top London estate agent Savills predicting that the central London house prices will fall by 9% by the end of 2017, followed by two years of flat prices. Still, with central London 3-bedroom flats in excess of £700,000 in some areas, and foreign investment from clients with some mega-bucks, it is only natural that high end products were going to be needed to dress all these properties

The entrance to any interiors show is a key space to attract imagination and prepare visitors for what they're likely to see during the show. This year, with the theme of the show being the roots of design, DECOREX asked world re-knowned furniture designer and interior designer Tim Gosling to curate a collection of chairs that represent the best of British craftsmanship through time. With a number of chairs on loan from the Victoria and Albert museum, the collection was an in

Every great company has a great story behind how it all started. For Plain English, the joinery company started by Katie Fontana and Tony Niblock in 1992, it was a matter of building a Suffolk longhouse for which Katie designed the kitchen cupboards after she was unable to find something that would properly fit her appliances. The kitchen appeared in Homes & Gardens and readers went crazy for it. Said kitchen was turned into a showroom and cupboard selling begun. Plain, no? W

Today after work, and with a brief stop at Milli Millu, I headed with my friend Mandy to Victoria House, a stone's throw from Holborn tube to visit the much anticipated Sample Sale. Yes, yes, I know, you have heard of sample sales before and fair enough London is not short of sample sales. But a sample sale for Interior Design/furniture/lighting/decor ? To compare with a fashion sample sale you will find top names like the ultra modern and sleek Prada of Interiors (Tom Dixon)

Visiting a home show is a must if you are an interiors blogger. You need to be in front of all product launches and where possible, meet the makers! I knew I was in for a treat this week with Top Drawer London. There were great brands to see as well as emerging talent such as Marta Bordes who won the 2016 Bursary by Confessions of a Design Geek and whose prize included a stand in the show. Marta brought along her Satellite collection (below) which looked uber cool! Nordic chi

Since 1984 Top Drawer has been synonymous with top quality products and innovative design. A unique show that brings the best of Home, gift, fashion and Craft for over 3 decades. With British as well as leading international creative retailers and brands, this is one event that needs to be on every interior stylist's calendar. The Spring 2016 edition sees the event’s latest evolution, with four themes as above as well as the introduction of the Food Emporium to cement this as

12 months ago, more or less, I started blogging through Seasons in Colour. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't start earlier. Like, 5-6 years earlier. Damn. But still, I cannot complain, it's been a great first year and I got more out of it than I expected. Basically, I stayed sane. I started with an idea of covering interiors, lifestyle and fashion, but soon understood that my personal time was waaaaay too limited to cover it all. It would be mediocre and doomed. So, I changed t

Back in September I was going through my weekly scanning of Kickstarter in search of interesting design that I might like for my home. That's when I bumped into Daniel Heath's campaign, which you can read about here. Daniel is an independent wallpaper, textile and surface designer renowned for his illustrative and engaging designs like HIGH WIRE shown below. I was really interested in the campaign as I really enjoyed the video that Daniel made which I found inspiring. So I po

Goodbye summer, hello autumn! It's cold and foggy but I absolutely love it (apart from a cold that I am carrying). It's time to change the fabrics around the sofa and on beds, with wooly throws and heavier duvets. The fireplace has not been lit as yet, but even for the coziness it creates, I am inclined to give it a go tonight. Another week drew to an end as well and we are getting closer to the blogging highlight of this year! The AMARA Interior Blog Awards. You know AMARA t

Last night I made my way down some very familiar streets from Sloane Square to Chelsea Wharf to attend a design seminar hosted by Sofa.com. As my taxi was caught in a jam, just before Albert Bridge, I was suddenly a little nostalgic of the days when - on maternity leave - I would push my red Bugaboo along the Thames from the Victorian houses in Sands End, past Chelsea Harbour, all the way to Battersea Park and back (with a tiny stop at Le Pain Quotidienne for bread and spread

Design Junction comes to an end tomorrow, so this is an opportunity to share the highlights of my visit on Friday and introduce you to some great shops and emerging designers so hopefully you will be inspired to pop over for some last minute shopping and inspiration! The show is a 5 minute walk from Holborn station towards Bloomsbury Square in central London so no excuses for not visiting. It hosts some 180 brands. Victoria House was my first stop and once I got my ticket wri

Another great KICSTARTER campaign, this time by award winning, independent wallpaper, textile and surface designer renowned for his illustrative and engaging designs, DANIEL HEATH. Based in Walthamstow in the heart of East London, the designer - maker has long held an interest in craftsmanship and sustainable design through up-cycling and re- appropriation of authentic heritage materials. Trained in the traditional process of silk-screen printing at the Royal College of Art,