Charleston, the house not the dance

It would be remiss of me not to feature Charleston House at some point as its influences on modern interior decoration were groundbreaking.  Home to artists and country retreat to the Bloomsbury set, this quintessentially British country farmhouse was transformed by its owners by their unique use of paint and surface decoration, so to me, this house embodies all that I love and strive for.

As photos are not allowed in the house and I always use my own on this blog, I can only show you the ones I took outside and through the windows (which was a bit cheeky I know), and when I go into more detail about my "Painters In Residence" term for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I will doubtlessly give examples and refer to the interior decoration at Charleston.

The gardens are very wild and painterly, nothing formal here for these bohemian artists, colour and texture are foremost in the planting.

Statues and busts are everywhere, and placed so that their presence makes sense with the overall aesthetic.

It made me very happy to think that such acclaimed and renown artists as these also painted their own walls and tables, it gives some validity to interior decoration, often seen as something separate from art.  
Heres a cheeky peak in a window, one of the many sitting rooms. 

 You can just catch a glimpse of a sponged stencil wall decoration to the right of the fireplace.  

I have long since held that view that if something is handmade it ought to look handmade, I revel in the imperfections and individuality they bring. So for me a house where the paint on the walls is patchy and you can see the brush strokes is heavenly. One of the reasons I first fell in love with Chalk Paint on walls is that it can, if required,  look a bit patchy, you can see brush strokes and it has a thickness and depth that normal wall emulsion lacks.  Of course, it depends on how you apply it, and thats also its strength, that because the paint is an artistic decorative paint you can manipulate it to suit your needs.  

Through the riot of garish dahlias you can peak the artists studio.

Pink and grey are very prevalent in the colour palette of artist Vanessa Bell.

This is Vanessa's bedroom, with the portrait of her son who was killed in the war. Its very plain compared to the other rooms in the house. Several rooms have walls of black/dark grey with stencilled patterns and gold framed paintings.  The works of art here collected from their contemporaries like Picasso and Matisse, nestle amongst the handpainted beds, screens, tables, trunks, bookcases and doors. The lines aren't perfectly straight, the finish is patchy ad swirly, and most of all, the colours are brave yet subtle all at the same time. 

The interior of the house has a lot of stencilled walls, which if you know my style you will understand why I love it so much. The colour palette is very similar to that of Annie Sloans paint collection and when I asked what paints were used on the wall of the house I was told "whatever paint they had to hand, with chalk in it possibly", how funny. 

I have lots of looks I now want to emulate, the black walls with red corners (never seen that before), the runny watery wash, more stencils (of course), and more unusual colour combinations.  Charleston house I haven't finished with you yet.

(Charleston is in East Sussex near Lewes). 

Summer hits Sweden

 Many apologies for the lack of blog posts, I am now well underway as "painter in residence" for the company Annie Sloan who makes Chalk Paint and have been incorporating that into my styling and photography.

My second trip to Sweden in as many months was to finish the photos for the Van Asch and BVN Designs catalogues.  Primarily the front cover shot which was many days in the planning and took place a few hours drive from Stockholm at a private castle.

The furniture above is made by the lovely Isabel of BVN Designs and she has just opened her own shop in the quaint and pretty seaside town of Vaxholm.  We had a lovely day out there as it is packed full of antique and interiors shops, lovely cafes by the waterside too.

Another regular stop off for me is to visit my god-daughters grandparents in the countryside at Tjulsta.  Gunilla has such excellent taste and so many lovely old things which have been handed down through the family, here are some snippets of her old farmhouse.

Now Im back in the UK I need to crack on with the piles of furniture waiting to be painted to finish my time as "painter in residence" and then my final projects will be launched on their website in September. Heres a sneak preview of one of the new designs from Van Asch. UK buyers should be aware that Van Asch will be launching in the UK at Septembers Top Drawer in Olympia. 

Some of my original photographs should be also making their way onto some cushions, more about that later. I hope you are all having a lovely summer, whether you like the heat or not, see you back here in a few weeks.  

Swedish summer shoot - part 1

This last week has been crammed full of wonderful work and play in and around Stockholm in Sweden.  Primarily a trip to see friends and start on this seasons Van Asch photographs. 
The trip did of course, have to include some shopping and, what I call, research !

Some of you may know already that I have the great privilege of being asked by the paint maker Annie Sloan to be a "painter in residence" whereby I use her trade marked chalk paint in my styling.  The above photo features Antoinette paint and some details of the photo shoot for Van Asch and BVN Design. These two Swedish based companies have joined forces to expand their collections, Van Asch now producing fabrics and BVN using these on the furniture. UK shops should be prepared for the Swedish invasion as they will be launching in the UK later this year, I will keep you posted about that.

Shopping wise, well, we squeezed in what we could. A car boot fair was brilliant, although the weather was so hot! I found some beautiful candle sticks and a crochet throw, which will end up as props at some point. Then at the opposite end of the spectrum, we hit the old town in Stockholm, lovely winding cobbled streets with beautiful stores like Indiska and Godrum Sjoden.  These Swedish stores in particular are really embracing colourful influences from India and Eastern Europe. 

Gudrun Sjoden

Dala Horse Museum

the old town

lighting store windows

displays outside stylish shops

Indiska

Indiska

Indian cafe in the basement of Indiska

A couple of charity shops were raided for props, I saw the chair above in one and would have loved to have brought it home.

This little shop in Solentuna is now the latest Annie Sloan paint stockist and they are also stocking Van Asch cushions and bags.  The lovely lady is currently in Oxford at Chalk Paint HQ and will be setting up a facebook page on her return. Previously her parents gift shop she is in the process of revamping and re-stocking. 

Part II of the photo shoot will continue in July with some outdoor shots and new designs hot off the press.

In the meantime, Im working on some interior styling using Annie Sloan paints and also maybe photographing some more rock musicians. Who says my life isn't varied ! Lastly just before I sign off, I love this photo I took of my god-daughter so much I wanted to include it.  Vie ses snart!

Vintage Van Asch in the Vale

Life is pretty hectic which unfortunately impacts on blog posts, so anyway, for those of you kind enough to check me out here is a quick update of whats been happening here at Vale HQ.

Well, Im off to Sweden for a week to photograph the next Van Asch catalogue. This will be featuring the ever expanding collection from the extraordinarily talented Rachel who now has fabric for sale which is being used on beautiful Victorian style furniture and more.  So we will be taking her wares around to some gorgeous locations and styling up mood shots using our accompanying colour palette supplied by Annie Sloan Chalk Paints. 

This little jaunt does however mean that I will miss my favourite Vintage fair in Milton Keynes.  So if you can make it in my absence then please please go and say hi to my friends there. 
The fair is in the centre MK outside John Lewis on the weekend of 7th and 8th June.  

Heres some photos from previous fairs to wet your appetite.

Here in The Vale I have been Urban Exploring again but my exploring seems to concentrate on the same place, which I know kinda defeats the object, but hey !  I took my lovely friend there with her new camera so she could take some cool shots. I also found and noticed things I hadn't seen before and always impressed with the new graffiti that has appeared. 

We also visited the Hellfire Caves where Sir Frances Dashwood would meet with his cronies to practice the dark arts. The chalk caves are dug deep into the hillside and under a church. 

You can find the caves website here for more information on the history and location.

See you all on my return with lots of photos of Sweden I hope. 
Until then ...