TREND: It’s all there in black and white

Illustration, Marina Kharkover

SEEMS WE’RE INCREASINGLY unafraid of using black for not just children’s clothing, but children’s rooms too. And it makes sense. Black & white is a perfect backdrop for any colour accents you wish to layer on top. And the monochrome palette will take a child from baby to teen.

“It’s funny to notice, often without realising it, that you get influenced by adult fashion and interiors when designing a collection,” says Esther Schuivens, toy designer, who has recently added black and white, and a complete so-dark-it’s-almost-black denim collection to her Esthex range of soft toys. It’s a brave but delicious move (see Louis bear below). Our other current b&w favourites are:

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1. Skandivis’s photographic black and white Animal Bedlinen (there are cushions too) for children. Moose, £89 from Skandivis. Read the rest of this article

Posted 30 March 2011 in Decor

WALLPAPER - the new neutrals

THERE’S A WHOLE smorgasbord of monochrome, limited palette, dark smokey blue and grey on white wallpapers out there, and all are guaranteed to inject some lively illustration / graphics / eyes-to-the-wall innovative pattern to your home / child’s room, without completely dominating the interior scheme.

Kind of like neutrals without really being neutral at all. Here are our current favourites:

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1. Zebras in blue/grey by Turner Pocock Cazalet, £60 plus VAT from Turner Pocock Cazalet. Also seen above. Read the rest of this article

Posted 27 March 2011 in Decor

THE BOOKEND: Susan Bradley

HAVING TRAWLED the bookend market for something new and thrilling in recent years - to add to our resident collection of James The Bookend, and ENO’s bookstops - we were delighted to stumble across young Brit designer Susan Bradley’s icon collection.

These powder coated metal laser-cutouts of icons of international transport and architecture are made in the UK and are irresistible. Our only dilemma is which to choose. Eiffel Tower? London Black Cab? Statue of Liberty? La Sagrada Familia? Best let the kids decide…

*Icon bookends, £18, from Utility Design, www.utilitydesign.co.uk and direct from Susan Bradley, www.susanbradley.co.uk

Posted 18 January 2011 in Design + Decoration, Products

COLOUR: spring/summer palette

By Jenny Dalton

TRYING TO gravitate my son towards ‘proper’ reading books has hit a rut. “There aren’t any coloured pages!” he laments.

He’s got a point. Particularly as I’ve tended towards finding the most vibrant, colour-saturated picture books for the first five years of his life (our current favourites are by Tim Hopgood, by the way, who also seems a bit of a colour fanatic).

Colours like these: which hail from the new Spring / Summer paint palette by Homebase. Part of their own 100% British-made brand called Home of Colour, wouldn’t the first row make a great inspirational palette for a boy’s room, and the second for a girl’s?

*Home of Colour matt emulsion, £5.93 for 2.5L, Homebase, www.homebase.co.uk. Colours from top left to right: Mountain Rain, Iced Lime, Coral, Marine Blue, Ballet, Plum. Bottom: Raspberry Coulis, Azure, Slate Grey, Fresh Lime, Dusky Plum, Chocolat.

Posted 7 January 2011 in Decor, Design + Decoration

FOCUS: Barneby Gates wallpaper

THERE were some superlative wallpaper collections released in 2010 - more of which shortly - but one of our favourites is Barneby Gates.

Set up by ex-Vogue living editor Vanessa Barneby and her creative partner Alice Gates, their joint collection of UK-produced (in a traditional factory in the Midlands) papers depicts a modern take on classical themes - decaying stars that appear to be hand printed onto faded backgrounds; textural bug and butterflies where the bugs are almost invisible unless you get up close; a robin flitting between metalicised branches.

In fact the textures of the papers have to be seen by the naked eye to be appreciated - the result of a mechanised block surface printing process that uses thick paint to mimic the hand-painted touch. As for the prints? All of the above are perfect for children: particularly fitting for this time of year is the All Star [pictured] - available in gunmetal or candy colourways. Which would you choose?

£65 a 10 metre roll; www.barnebygates.com

Posted 21 December 2010 in Decor