It’s been way too long since I’ve shared a gorgeous Swedish home, and while I have a list of spaces I need to share – look out for a fantastic Edinburgh Airbnb coming up – I just wanted to start with this super-styled Stockholm apartment. Why? Well, because Edinburgh is really feeling like winter now. It’s cold and it’s grey and I’m missing daylight. And this light-filled apartment is reminding me that winter won’t last forever. Anyone else need cheering up today?
Designer, author and photographer Claire Lloyd is passionate about light – as she writes on her website, ‘Light makes my spirit soar’ – and this is evident in Claire’s approach to each interior project, from her light-filled Greek island home, which was the subject of her 2012 book entitled My Greek Island Home, to this minimal mews house in London’s Notting Hill which Claire redesigned completely (she has since sold the property), photographed here by Nathalie Priem. From her early career working in art direction for magazines including Australian Vogue, to more recent work as an author of two books – her first, Sensual Living, was published in 1998 – Australian-born Claire’s eye for simplicity and refined detailing has resulted in interiors with a beautifully understated and quiet aesthetic.
If you’ve been following here for a while you’ll know that I’m a big fan of Farrow & Ball’s beautiful colour palette, and also, more recently, of their wallpaper collections. Last year, I featured the wallpaper collection for AW16, and I must admit that I’ve been hankering to use the gorgeously simple Art Deco-inspired Arcade print ever since, particularly in the 5307 colourway.
Farrow & Ball have recently launched the AW17 collection of wallpapers, and have taken inspiration from the current trends of texture, maximalism and a return to nature. The new collection features three contemporary floral wallpapers – think florals that are fluid and expressive, where each wallpaper has a tactile, almost three dimensional finish that’s been achieved by printing paint on paper.
Set in a four acre plot of farmland on the edge of North Berwick in East Lothian, Williamstone Farm Steadings might appear traditional from the outside with the combination of rustic stone walls and red pantile roofs, but once inside these grade B listed buildings – The Barn, The Byre and The Bothy – you can expect pared back and contemporary living spaces. Think flowing open plan interiors with wide plank Kährs oak flooring (and underfloor heating) and RAIS woodburning stoves, and with sleek Poggenpohl kitchens and bathrooms featuring fittings by Duravit and Porcelanosa. Think gorgeously mellow colour palettes by Farrow & Ball that shift in the ever-changing light from the large windows punched into the old stonework, and exposed roof beams with vintage style lighting. Each of the three properties has its own character and style, yet each shares the same aesthetic language of quiet and understated elegance.
“Geometric patterns can be bold and playful creating a fun update to a room that’s neither masculine or feminine,” Jenny Wingfield reflects. “But they can also be very restful; elegantly simple geometric forms and repeating lines have a rhythm that it is satisfying and soothing to the eye.”
Jenny is the Creative Director of Flock, a London-based design company that works with an eclectic mix of artists, designers and recent graduates to create a bold and beautiful collection of textiles – and now also wallcoverings – for interiors. When I came across Flock I was immediately drawn by the dynamic aesthetic of these designs and also by the ethos behind the company. As it says on the website: ‘Flock aims to create a unique pathway for new designers and represents some of the UK’s most exciting emerging British talent.’
Grange Hall is one of those buildings that I wouldn’t be able to walk past without pausing to take a photo – there’s just something about this façade with its weathered, rustic-looking brickwork that I can’t resist. The original West Hackney Parochial School in Stoke Newington in London’s N16 was built in 1857 as two large halls that housed the girls’ wing to the west and the boys’ wing to the east. The building was later used as a church hall, a social hall and a snooker hall, and more recently its name was changed to Grange Hall and it was used as a warehouse for electrical fittings and rare transistors.
Hello and welcome to Copperline. My name is Fiona Reid and this is my blog about coastal living in Scotland.