14/07/2009 by admin.

It’s that time of the month again. Not the time where snap at my hubby for no reason and generally keel over in pain unless given chocolate on a drip. No, it’s the time of new magazines!

After my last trip to college, I found that I had been buying irrelevant, inappropriate and sometimes downright dirty magazines…like Ideal Home for example. It seems that the college theory is that if a trend is featured in one of these so called ‘lowly’ publications, it’s already on it’s way out.

As a previous ‘consumer’ buying every interior design magazine under the sun was a perfectly acceptable habit, especially since I preferred this to buying clothes and shoes (much to the hubby’s confusion). Now I have to extract myself from consumerdom and start thinking like a designer.

I’ve remedied this somewhat buying subscribing myself to professional (expensive…) mags such as idfx and the like. I have to say that the products featured in them are infinitely more exciting than my old mags’ offerings but also, unsurprisingly, more expensive.

As I’m not even halfway through my course yet, I haven’t decided what kind if designer I want to be. Are all interior designers high-end? Some would argue that that is the whole point. Hiring a designer us seen as an expensive luxury, a business necessity a bage to show off how much dosh you’ve got. I’m leaning towards the more accessible end of the market. The people who, like me, buy all the magazines but never actually have any time to put the ideas into action. The people who want to go ‘eco’ but don’t know where to start. The people who haven’t really got a lot to spend but want to feel as if they’re living in a home and not just a house where they eat and sleep every night. Am I wrong for wanting to do this? Should I end up designing for both ends of the Market and everything inbetween? Think like Kelly Hoppen who has a raft of celebrity designs under her belt to go with her shiny MBE (congrats!) but has also designed a range of homewares for BHS.

If you’ve got any thoughts on this let me know and comment below.

Anyway, rant over!

Carrying on with the theme of accessible (bargain) design, the Next Sale starts on Saturday. Or at least I think it does, as I’ve received a VIP sale preview invitation that ends on Friday! For those of you who like mirrored furniture btu think it’s a little too pricey, you’ll be pleased to know that the Vienna Standard Chest is half price at £175 (down from £350).

They also appear to have halved the price of some of their glossy items such as the Opus White Gloss Sideboard, again now at £175. But the most notable discount appears in their wallpaper section with this beautiful metallic damask now only £7 (down from £18).

With all these bargains available, I can see my Next account taking a large hit very soon!

I have been quite active on the old Twitter of late, so if you haven’t already signed up, please do and follow me (peacheydesign) for a daily helping a rants and finds!

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08/06/2009 by admin.

In the past few weeks I’ve been spending, shall we say, a little too much time on eBay. It started off quite innocently, selling a few unwanted bits, a broken laptop, a lovely netbook that I wanted to keep if it wasn’t for my college’s daft requirements…the list goes on.

For whatever reason, someone thought that the broken laptop was worth nearly £200! I could have withdrawn the money from Paypal into my normal account but decided to redesign my lounge instead. 

The hubby is somewhat suspicious, so I’ve had to treat him like a client and make up a furniture/sample board for him to see what he thinks.

Ok, so I didn’t spend a great deal of time cutting out mountboard and doing a Powerpoint, but I think you get the general idea. And so did he. He was slightly concerned by the fuschia cushion in the corner, but I explained that I only really wanted the aubergine one, honest.

The wonderfully easy to use moodboard creator is found on MyDeco, a fabulous website which brings together the widest possible range of products from high street stores to niche retailers,thousands of inspiring looks to fit your budget, expert designers on hand for advice, and simple 3D tools to help you plan your room before you even open a tin of paint. You can also join their community to share ideas, swap decorating tips and show off your designs. It’s everything you need to buy with confidence. Join up for free now and add me as a friend. Go on you know you want to…

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26/05/2009 by admin.

Spent a lovely day out yesterday with an old friend of mine. We intended to shop until we dropped at the newish Westfield Centre in London. I was on the search for a few treats, to get over the pain in my wrist (carrying shopping bags probably didn’t help) and generally have a wander.

Firstly, I have to say, Westfield is really not that great! The building is impressive (as is the newly updated Shepherd’s Bush tube station) but that’s where it ends.

Apart from a few tiny boutiques, the centre is very ‘high street’. This is not a bad thing, but considering the size of the shops, you’d be better off goingto Oxford Street where you’d get far more choice. The Topshop was tiny, Zara was scary (looked more like Primark with clothes strewn everywhere), and we didn’t even bother going to ‘The Village’ (high-end designer bit) when we found out that most of the shops sold accessories instead of clothes!

Biggest disappointment of the day was the Dwell shop. Whoever designed the interior of that shop needs a serious talking to, or possibly just be shot! (Sorry, but blog are all about opinion, please don’t judge me) I love Dwell’s affordably priced furniture, and woudl probably still buy it through the catalogue or website, but if that shop had been my first taste of Dwell, I would have run screaming…

I’d l0ve to show you pictures, but I didn’t take any in fear that my camera lense would break in shock! The interior is ridicuously dark, which in turn does not help show off their dark furniture (of which there is a lot). The layout is very cluttered, there’s way too much on the ground floor to try and take any one piece in. I couldn’t bring myself to go upstairs, but I suspect the story continues in a similar vain.

Good points:

• Staff are lovely
• Furniture is still lovely

So, if you happen to be popping over to Westfield, have a look at Dwell and then tell me if I’m overreacting.

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