Framing fabric or wallpaper is a great way of introducing pattern and spending a fraction of what it would cost for curtains or upholstery. It also gives you the flexibility if you are someone who likes to change things around!
These beautiful wall panels are actually table runners.
Framed fabric in bambooFrame a piece of wallpaper – Kit KempFramed Fabric – Kit Kemp
The above bright and bold are eye-catching and give a curated feel.
Framed botanical wallpaper in nicheFramed botanical wallpaper as backdrop for barFramed blue jungle paper lightens the wall
Below, you may not want to paper the whole wall but creating a panel by papering the wall and adding a wooden beading could work.
Papered wall with frameFramed Scarf and Textile
St. Frank
Whether you want to frame a favourite scarf or throw, or to create a panel from wallpaper you can always find ways to create your own unique space. Go large and go bold! I hope I have inspired you to think of fabric and wallpaper as art!
Luxurious, decadent and very tactile. Dating from the middle ages and once the preserve of the elite for robes of high office, velvet has long been used in fashion and luxurious interior design projects. I started seeing a lot of velvet at the trade shows in 2016, once the reserve of bedrooms and boudoirs velvet is now coming through in living rooms and kitchens. I think this trend is here to stay, so if you haven’t already succumbed, now would be a good time to add some velvet to your interiors this winter.
A quick fix would be to add a footstool and cushions.
source unknown
What actually is velvet? Simply put, weaving two thickness of material at the same time, the fabric is then cut apart to reveal the pile. There are about 16 different ways to make velvet but the most common are:
Plain, a combination of cotton and silk, has a stiffer handle and used a lot in upholstery. Many plains now, instead of silk, contain a mix of rayon or polyester and this makes them more durable and economic.
Devoré is when an acid is used to burn a pattern into it.
Pile-on-pile, a particularly luxurious type of velvet woven with piles of differing heights to create a pattern.
Hammered, this type is extremely lustrous, appears dappled, and somewhat crushed.
Hammered velvet chairs really makes this room by adding a soft tactile texture in an otherwise very bland room.
source Pinterest
Pile on pile and devore fabrics are great especially when tone on tone.
source William Yeoward
A great decorators trick is to add a pop of orange velvet into a cool colour scheme – there is something about plain orange velvet!!
source unknown
Here at Jacober Interiors we use special extreme stain resistant velvets for dining and kitchen chairs. You can literally pour nail varnish remover on it and not damage it!
If you have a darker room the jewel tones create drama and entice you to curl up in winter – if you have the nerve to pull this off it is so worth it.
source unknown
A step further and you can find fabulous printed velvets. This is bold and truly a statement piece!
source Colefax & Fowler
A softer style here, traditionally shaped upholstery with velvet inspired by ancient weaves
source Colefax & Fowler
Even if you don’t want to be too crazy, mixing velvet with woven fabrics is another decorator’s trick give a bespoke look. This is often done with nice shaped chairs, making an element in your scheme look unique.
source A Rum Fellow
source William Yeoward
Or you can go for all out glamour and create a boudoir feel
If you just fancy some seasonal changes every online retailer and dept store has pre-made curtains, throws and pillows galore in fabulous velvets just waiting to be loved.
The big reveal at last. After our mammoth renovation project and new garden installation it is time to share! The interiors are being finished in the next few weeks so in the meantime here is what we did… all photos by me on the iPhone!
My plan – Firstly look at what you need and want. These are two separate things!
What was it we needed? – Shade because it is SW facing. Space, I wanted to open the garden to its full potential, and use it to extend the feeling of space in the house. We have a long narrow living room 10m x 4m and the garden runs the length of the living room. With many full length windows I wanted to extend the feeling of the house
What was wanted? – I wanted a space for dining with family and friends and sitting quietly to admire the plants and relax. The shape was a rectangle so the space immediately by the house was laid to paving and since I did not want a lost space and I wanted to add charm. I designed a stepping stone walkway around the outside of the sitting area, to see the plants and a bench to sit on and give the garden more depth since this happens when you create an area to draw your eye through.
Gardens not only add a great deal of charm to a house they are also a good investment!
Reflect your interior especially if like me you want to increase the feeling of your interior space. I wanted a calm restful mood, casual to reflect the style of the interior. Luckily we have a forest as the backdrop to give instant greenery, on a new build landscape you need to work much harder to achieve this. Connecting your garden to the surrounds and blur the lines is also a good way to give the impression your garden is bigger. We have sloping areas that connect with the forest beyond and I wanted water to connect to the lake we see. It is not exactly infinity style but nevertheless still works. The sound of slowly moving water also creates a calm mood.
Lake of Zurich from our house in Erlenbach
I gave the gardener a mood board showing the plants and style of planting I wanted. I gave him a plant list based on the orientation to the sun and shade given by the structures around. Some plants had to thrive in full sun and others needed shade. This was a simple scheme. You can find everything you need on Pinterest. If you are making new beds as we did we could choose any soil we needed so that gave more freedom. You need to know if you have chalk or clay soil and once that is done you can choose. By comparison to our garden in London, which is sheltered and not too cold in winter I had a few compromises to make!!
I sourced the stones locally, it was about -10 degrees that February day!! I wanted grey with some warm tones.
Designer Tip: always consider the surrounds of your home – the Vernacular – otherwise your garden will look out of place and faux. When you have cold long winters warm coloured Mediterranean stones look quite out of place so I sourced landscaping granite locally. The seasons are reflected in the planting with some evergreens for structure when winter comes and all plants are cut back and sleeping under the snow. Unless you live in a permanently warm climate you really need to consider how things will look throughout your seasons and plan to have something happening in each.
How I maximised space:
cutting back old shrubs and pushing the garden further towards borderlines
re-planting around the edges of the property with plants that takes less space but create screening.
I moved the steps to the lower pond garden and gained a large patio area
created zones and planting that made the area feel larger
So without further ado, even though its a brand new garden with fairly young plants, this is what it looks like now! Starting small….
KITCHEN GARDEN – NE FACING
BEFORE: was an overgrown area only to store our bins.AFTER: a larger, looking lighter area to grow herbs and teas and sit in the shade on hot sunny afternoons. All pots are terracotta and the flowers (hydrangea/geranium/hosta) are all white. This pops in the shade. In my mind I think I may add some raised vegetable beds then I remind myself to be serious!!
LIVING ROOM GARDEN SW FACING:
BEFORE: Shady grassy area not really used much. Large copper beech had grown too large for the garden and was touching the roof. It’s big plus was shade. This garden was a legacy of past owners. There was no form/structure, no contesting textures to add interest, and a lack of colour. It all had to go!
So we removed everything …..BEFORE: We moved the existing stairway down to pond garden across the garden to make more space. AFTER: a much more open interesting space…. don’t you think?
Design is about form/structure. This was achieved with the paving/gravel areas, creating a stepping stone pathway and fencing area around. The flower beds had 5 plants repeated this makes things more calm. Contrasting hard and soft.
Below in the Living room garden shade lost by the removal of the tree is given now by large awnings which span 40m2 fully extended.
Decked Terrace outside Kitchen/Diner: S/SW
We took away the steps down to this terrace, and raised all on decking to create a larger space.
A focal point in the garden is the stone water feature, it really anchors the area. The swiss grey granite has warmer tones which blend well with the gravel and wooden elements making things softer/warmer and less hard landscaped. I selected plants that grow tall and that sway, you can look through them and this makes the garden feel deeper by making you eye look through something… Being a new garden it will take a few seasons to grow up into itself, but the Verbena bonariensis (Purpletop vervain) carried the garden this summer whilst the rose bushes and lavenders and grasses grew. Over the summer the garden was full of hummingbirds, dragonflies, bees and butterflies. They definitely approved of the choice of planting! We do not use any chemicals in the garden so perhaps that is why we were so well visited.
Above – Pleached trees around and behind bench. They are grown on a large trellis and trimmed to be flat. You gain screening without losing space. They are also great windbreakers and are very popular in the Netherlands which are quite flat and windy. Having the bench in the corner lengthens the space, and gives a reason to walk around the stepping stones. All of the space is used.
A few months earlier: we used recycled granite blocks to extent towards the street and create something that looked like it has been here a while. Recycled materials can work our more cost effective if you don’t mind the limited supply and randomness.
To screening the street and neighbours opposite instead of the standard laurel I planted a slow growing and dense Prunus Lucitanica (Portugese Laural) hedging. This does the same job taking less space. Topped off by pleached Evergreen Photina (Red Robin) to screen above. This is more interesting that just a larger laurel, both evergreen with red stem interest in winter/spring. I carried the Photina around the garden where I needed screening about the fence. In a couple of years this will be dense and we will remove the bamboo frames.
You can see how the recycled granite was blended into the rockery. The stones create a soft fall towards the street with swaying grasses to soften the look and evergreen Japanese Ilex (a great alternative to Buxus Sempervirens (Box) which needs chemicals to combat moth blight) to give some interest in winter. These will grow larger in time. These stones were a mix of all the colours at the stone yard blending cool and warm – they will also look good in the snow!
As mentioned I repositioned the steps to our pond garden. This is the view from below. I reused all of the existing granite blocks and added a few more recycled ones and new granite steps. I designed minimal handrails to match the rest of the railings. We only needed to add an new wood deck at the pond and a few flower beds in the lower garden to link the two gardens and it all worked out as if it had been designed like that from the beginning! The area behind the pond (not really seen) sloping down to the forest will be a project for next year!
Before: A granite cobbled area and large laurel hedge taking up a lot of space in the garden. There was an evergreen sloping garden which was not very interesting. After: By setting the garden more to the right it opened up the house and made it more welcoming. The front stone garden was continued around to the front door. The block paving remained. We added a new porch area with new doors to balance the house. A new doorstep, mailbox and little pathway into the garden was added. Hope you’ve enjoyed a sneak peek at what I did!
If you want more design advice regarding gardens check out my blog on The RHS Chelsea flower showhere
Getting the entrance to your home just right, gives you not only a lovely feeling when you get home, it keeps you less stressed by being organised and it is always a great way to welcome visitors and perhaps show off a little!
Whether you have a small spot by the front door in an open plan living area, or a large entrance hallway – getting the basics right means any space can work for you. Before deciding on the cosmetics, get the practicalities fixed. Depending on your available space try to add as many of these as you can….
For Project Weinberg the entryway was too small for the house. A family home requires quite a lot of organising to run smoothly and a few changes were required.
The entryway was extended forward in line with the garage – planning restrictions prevented a larger extension, if you have the space then a larger area would have been better but I found another space further inside for coats so the area became big enough for what I needed.
I look forward to showing the proper ‘After’ in a couple of months…
Outdoor flooring inside is a great twist of the unexpected… I wanted an outside-in feel for the entryway and found some good inspiration in the images below.
The wood panels and brick floor are a lovely contrast with the antique console and buffet. Don’t be afraid to mix woods…
Above: If I was living in a warm climate I would love an entryway like this… but all the glass and a Swiss climate would not work so well! This works with an elegant rustic limestone and a rusted garden console.
Below – you don’t need to reserve stone for the floor.
source: pinterest
Below a cosy cottage feel with tongue and groove panelling, the light grey is the perfect contrast to antique brick.
Table or shelf
source: pinterest
source: pinterest
I love the use of outdoor lights inside a hallway…
Limewood Hotel UK: photoby me
Purpose build coat storage/seating can be useful for smaller spaces…
Even the tightest spots can accommodate all you need….
source: pinterest
I look forward to showing you how I have incorporated these elements into Project Weinberg Entryway soon… make sure you subscribe I’ll keep you posted!
The Chelsea Flower show starts today. Those who have followed the blog a while you will know that I am as passionate about the exterior as I am about the interior. Every visitor who goes to Chelsea wants to take away a bit of Chelsea magic and recreate some element in their own gardens. Taking 3 of my favourites from this year I will show you how to do just that.
Before that, for those unfamiliar, I feel that you need a little bit of background information to realise what we are dealing with here! The Chelsea Flower Show is no ordinary garden show – attended by visitors from all over the world for 5 days every May, many regard it as the best there is.
The atmosphere there is quite extraordinary and you feel as if you are walking in a paradise on earth! There is a gravitas in the air, this could be because its origins are steeped in history; in 1307 the current site belonged to the Knights Templar and was used to grow their roses referred to by Shakespeare himself in Henry VI Part.
The show as we know it today started out as The Great Spring Show, in the 1800s in west London. Due to transportation problems and low visitor numbers the show moved into central London, and found a permanent home in the Grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea in 1912 – just a 5 minute walk from Sloane Square and overlooking the Thames. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has been organising the show since 1905. A bit of Royal patronage never goes amiss and since 1954 Queen Elizabeth II (or I if you are Scottish!) has attended all but 5 shows. At the beginning of her reign the show symbolised an optimism after the great wars and has gone from strength to strength ever since.
1954 – The Queen visiting Chelsea Flower Show photo credit: Reuters2017 – The Queen visiting Chelsea Flower Show
Today the show comprises of various show gardens designed and built by the most prominent, established and new up-coming garden architects. There are tented pavilions housing the most spectacular specimens of flowers and plants. Cultivators spend the whole year nurturing the plants to be in perfect condition for judging at Chelsea. You can buy seeds and get advice from the very best. There are also sellers of all the quality garden accessories money can buy…..
To keep the standard so high, the RHS give awards to the very best and these are highly coveted. Many a famous career has been built on a Chelsea Gold Medal! There is a stiff judging process before the show officially opens. The Best in Show is announced a few days in. Gardens are judged on; how the brief was executed, the overall design with choice of plants and arrangement amongst other things.
Again this year the trend is towards the natural garden, with a keen eye on preservation of water and natural habitats.
Show Garden Gold Winner – The Royal Bank of Canada Garden designed by Charlotte Harris and built by Landscape Associates
Royal Bank of Canada – Reflecting Canadian protected boreal forest. Gold Winner
Burnt larch path and copper lined canopy with angular paving formed from slices of glacial granite boulders. This is to emulate the primitive wooden shelters and ice that formed the backdrop for early hunters and travellers. The damp woodland reflects the fact that 25% of the world’s unfrozen water is found in Canada.
The Royal Bank of Canada Garden
How simple and timeless is this garden, a look that can be recreated in a smallish town garden too!
Royal Bank of Canada Garden
For gardening buffs here is a list of plants used:
Planting keyGold winning garden from The Royal Bank of Canada – Plant list
How to recreate this look
Use random sized pavers in a natural pattern and run decking paths into them at an angle.
Don’t lay out items symmetrically, use asymmetric paths and planting.
By treating the timber with a fired method it is more hardwearing and impervious to pests or fire. Alternatively you could use a blackened wood stain.
Small ponds in natural formations with rocks breaking the surface.
Step the height of your planting up the further you go from the paths or patio area.
Simple gravel paths.
Artisan Garden Gold Winner – Gosho No Niwa No Wall, No War designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara Built by Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratoray Co Ltd Sponsored by G-Lion
This garden is a tribute to the Kyoto residence of Japanese Emperors. A garden that could never be attacked, therefore peaceful and without moat or walls.
The modern copper structure stands on stilts in the shallow pond.
Gosho No Niwa No Wall, No War Garden – Gold Winner
This perfectly curated Japanese water garden where rock pools with moss encrusted rocks are filled from a soft waterfall and surrounded by acers, bonsai conifers, sedum and iris.
Gosho No Niwa No Wall, No War Garden – gold winnerGosho No Niwa No Wall, No War Garden – Gold Winner
Modern glass steps allow you to see the rock pool below and create a bridge from old to new. A mini garden is planted in a Japanese lantern base.
Gosho No Niwa No Wall, No War Garden – gold winner
The amazing colour combination comes from the bright acer leaves, against the weathered copper.
How to recreate this look
Use a variety of acers, vibrant lime greens and dark oranges.
Keep the shapes trimmed so that they form umbrellas.
Conifer trees can be trained into bonsai shapes.
Mini gardens can be created in containers or as borders.
Having a shallow water garden and placing an open garden structure over it.
Stepping stones or a glass and metal step if budget allows.
This garden works best in a shady spot and ideally build a stone garden wall with moss in the gaps if you can’t stretch to a waterfall.
Use moss and sedum to cover rocks.
A few Japanese lanterns would also not go amiss!
Feel Good Garden – The Jo Whiley Scent Garden designed by Tamara Bridge & Kate Savill built by Bespoke Outdoor Spaces
Lastly, gardens are not just about looks, smell is just as important. Jo Wiley (BBC Radio Presenter) and Jo Malone (scent lady extraordinare) have joined forces. Emotions evoked by scent, sent in from the public are cast into the concrete seating/wall structure.
The Jo Whiley Scent Garden (background shot of Royal Hospital Chelsea)
Astrantias beneath this amazing field maple is just as it would be in a woodland. Nature reconstructed.
The Jo Whiley Scent Garden
The concrete structure and box balls are a perfect form to root the multi level planting. Aliums contrast well with the father ferns.
The Jo Whiley scent garden
This round organic water feature is underplanted with Alchemilla mollis and Thymus serpyllum.
How to recreate this look
Use a restrained colour palette to allow you to have much variety of shapes and heights.
Use box or taxus balls to give structure to the planting around and the built elements.
Curved concrete elements create an enclosed cocoon feeling and provide raised gardens with seating. If budget is a restraint use wood fencing cut into curves and wash it with a grey stain.
Rounded raised pools like giant bird baths reflect the light and bring a coolness to the warm air be sure to plant around to softened into the landscape.
Don’t forget to choose plants with amazing scents along pathways and near seating.
Hello everyone, apologies for not posting in a while, its been busy here at Jacober Interiors, organising the new roof and windows for project Weinberg.
Firstly a sneak peak at the start of the building! For this project, I designed a new roof because I needed more bedroom space and due to planning restrictions the only way was up! I managed to add floorspace under the new roof for a bedroom, bathroom and dressing room. The space amounts to about 60m2 and with clever arranging around the 45 degree pitches something special can be created!
This pile of wood will become our roof and top floor. The pine wood comes from Switzerland and Southern Germany, in an effort to keep the build as eco as possible I wanted to source locally.
By prefabricating a wooden structure off-site it can be craned in and finished in 5 days
Wood to be used for construction
For want of a better expression, the construction is made like a sandwich pine wood, 3 layers bonded together, being the ‘bread’ and filling between a glass fibre insulation. The interior of house facing side of the sandwich has plasterboard attached on the inside ready to decorate when each section is slotted together on site.
The glass fibre is made from natural quartz melted and spun into glass wool, which is fire and pest proof and keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Swiss made of course! This is also an eco product because it lasts such a long time and this outweighs the production process.
Natural quartz sand is melted and spun into glass fibre insulation.
The CAD shows the overview, then each section is cut by machine.
Pink shows internal wallsCAD of new roof structure
Below is a sliding door from hallway into bathroom. All the electrics are pre-planned and tubes inserted into the walls ready for wires to be run through them later.
Roof structure – section from hallway to bedroom
This section shows the bedroom wall with a section cut away to accommodate the chimney from the fireplace two floors below.
internal wall section with cut out for chimney
Herr Buhlmann explaining to me how he builds… in business since 1990 I got a feeling that he knew his chickens!
Next to be produced as I left is the open doorway into the dressing room
I have chosen a concrete roof tile which is very hardwearing for the worst winter Switzerland could throw at us. I have been told that this type of roof is maintenance free for 50 years! It is a system where the tiles hang onto and clip into each other making them very sturdy. I think that this Slate Grey Ral colour might just be perfect for the outside of the window frames, which will be in a maintenance free metal. Before I go I want to leave you with some of the inspiration I have used to design my bathroom and bedroom roof space….
There is a new trend towards a more eclectic bathroom, there is so much choice nowadays and it is a good way to put a unique stamp on your home. Firstly – nothing matchy-matchy. Eclectic is when you mix up different thing together to create a unique mix and style. Whilst it is tempting to just visit the bathroom store and select a matching “suite” that is the first rule you have to break! You want something quite timeless but interesting, maybe even unexpected.
Secondly, the toilet has to be simple and almost disappear in my opinion, wall hung with a concealed cistern if possible and white. Taking the vanity as the central focus, marble and wood or the up-cycling of existing furniture pieces creates a unique centre piece for the bathroom.
Tiles can be combined in different ways can add pops of colour and pattern to make a space stand out from the crowd. Even plain white budget tiles in an interesting shape, or laid in a different pattern can be just enough. Grout need not be only white or taps chrome… Read on and think out of the box…..
marble and stone
Natural stone and marble always give a luxury timeless look – this solid marble basin is on brass legs and gives a traditional idea a modern look.
These are made with coloured clay by hand using traditional moulds to form the pattern. Traditionally from Morocco they are now a offered by many companies. Using the bold pattern they offer you can make a small space really special and keeping to a simple colour palette you can mix and match.
Any console table can be converted into a bathroom unit. You can even use a wide shelf so whatever your budget, you can create something eclectic and not boring off the shelf thingy.
The finishing touches to even the most simple bathroom can make a bold statement. Just straying out of the chrome zone gives the room a little unexpected boost.
Brushed gold from Kohler.comBrass yen tap from Watermark with magnetic Carrara tapsImage source
So you can see not all bathrooms are created equal. Pinterest has a great source for ideas and inspirations and I hope that your next bathroom renovation however small can have a lot of oomph!
Anthropologie chose Patina Farm as one of the locations for their Spring Summer Furniture Collection.
My favourite house on the planet, Patina Farm has teamed up with my favourite lifestyle store on the planet, Anthropologie so, for me, this is literally a match made in heaven!
Patina Farm by Giannetti Home
I love Patina Farm (a new build) because of the wonderful authentic architectural elements and materials used, antique roof tiles, limestone and oak floors and pale blue-grey metal windows. The interior is light-filled is a wonderful mix of tradition with a modern layer of comfort…. it helps that the vistas are amazing and the house was sited to take full advantage of the wonderful gardens which now envelop it…..
new furniture range from Anthropologie Image: source
The lovely Brook Giannetti who designed and lives in this paradise, built by her family company Giannetti Home shared the collaboration with Anthropologie on her blog and I just had to share with you these fabulous images……
The house is normally furnished with an eclectic mix French and Swedish antiques with soft linen colours, which I love. It is a strange sensation to see it kitted out with the new Anthropologie range, surreal but at the same time awesome!
Laid back living with palms and prints Image: source here
glam boho chic – above, palms and prints with strong colours and texture. Earthy natural elements contrast so well with the brass accents, below the brass detail of the coffee and side table which I love….
Texture is a big trend for this year – the stylists at Anthropologie show us a masterclass in layering texture – image below. This look is a white Moroccan style
I am off to see what I can have Anthropologie deliver to Switzerland – until they open a shop here! Begging letter in the post! Please come to Switzerland!!!