katy – Page 54 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 9th October 2015

The Shopkeeper’s Home

One of the most common questions I get asked is where do I find interiors inspiration and my answer is always the same: real homes, styled interiors and shops. Last winter I visited a homewares shop that I had admired on social media for a while and I found it so inspiring that I came home and completely restyled my whole kitchen that same evening! There are so many ideas to take away from beautifully styled shops that can translate to a home; a constant source of great inspiration.

When I found out about lovely Caroline Rowland‘s first book, I knew immediately that I was in for a treat. Along with a whole host of interesting lifestyle shop interiors, The Shopkeeper’s Home also gives us a peek into the real homes of their owners – being the nosiest person in the world and loving nothing more than a good house tour, it doesn’t get better than this. Except it does, because Caroline also pulls together practical ideas that we can all take away from some of the beautiful lifestyle stores featured in the book.

I’m thrilled to be part of The Shopkeeper’s Home blog tour this week (see Holly’s post here, Yvonne’s post here and Jeska’s post here) because I know you will enjoy perusing this book as much as I have; there is so much to look at and so many wonderful details to discover. I immediately honed in on The Hambledon, which is the most gorgeous shop in Winchester. I have long cooed over the perfect styling of the shop (featured on the front cover of the book) and how they use the beautiful building as the stunning backdrop for their much coveted stock. The simplicity of the shop’s interior and styling really appeals to me and even their shelving has provided inspiration for my own plans to install open shelving in my kitchen. I was very excited to discover more about the owner of The Hambledon, Victoria Suffield, and take a look inside her home, which is perfectly curated. Caroline also explores the connection between the shopkeepers’ personal and professional spaces, which is really interesting.

The Shopkeeper's Home by Caroline Rowland | Apartment Apothecary

Home of Victoria Suffield, owner of The Hambledon.

So, if you want practical tips taken from beautiful lifestyle shops on how to use lighting, displays, colour and textiles as well as finding out more about the shopkeeper at work and at home, this is the perfect book for you. It is also a great directory for amazing shops to visit and I know that many are going on my list of places to go. Congratulations, Caroline – I loved every page!

Katy x

The Shopkeeper’s Home by Caroline Rowland, published by Jacqui Small.

P.S. Watch out for more sneak peeks of the book on the blog tour…

katy 7th October 2015

Bringing colour into your home

As you may have noticed, I am quite keen on white. My whole flat is painted in Dulux Brilliant White and I love it that way; it’s the perfect colour to bounce the light around the flat and it feels fresh, contemporary and complements everything and anything. Honestly, I’ve always been a bit too scared to add colour to the walls as there are no features, cracks or rough plaster to absorb the colour because it is a newly built flat so I worry it will look too stark. I know that as soon as I own a period property I will definitely use more colour; I already know exactly which ones I will use!

However, I often get a craving to experiment with colour and I have realised that a really good way to bring it into my home, whilst maintaining a white canvas, is to paint pieces of furniture. This is also an ideal way for renters to add colour to their home if their landlords won’t allow them to paint their walls.

Now, there was a time when the craze to paint every single piece of furniture that came through the door was strong: chairs, tables, bedside tables or sideboards. Personally, I think too many painted pieces of furniture can be a bit of overkill. Instead, I really love the idea of picking one main piece of furniture per room and painting it a colour of your choice. This can add the burst of colour you can lack in a white room and if you ever get bored it is so easy to change.

Here are some fabulous examples of using a painted piece of furniture to bring colour into a home…

Image via: BoligLiv

Image via: Yvestown

Image via: Decor8

You can choose a bold, bright colour for a large piece of furniture that really draws attention like the turquoise, pink and yellow cupboards above. Alternatively, you can choose something more subtle and subdued like the pale pink cupboard below or use glances of colour with pastel coloured dining chairs.

Image via: Sanna Fischers blogg

Image via: Yvestown

Image via: Apartment Therapy

My home office is completely white: walls, floor, desk, sideboard, drawers and chair. I have decided to take my own advice and inject a bit of colour by painting a set of drawers using the Dulux Visualizer App – it’s free and you can download it on iTunes or Google Play. I will be back tomorrow to show you the results!

Katy x

katy 5th October 2015

Our vintage jumble sale

It’s 10am and I am still very much in my pyjamas, totally exhausted after our Vintage Jumble Sale yesterday. It was so wonderfully busy and buzzy and we loved meeting everyone – such a fun day, set in the most perfect village (I’m totally moving there) and with a gorgeous vintage tea prepared for us by Petal & Feast. Thank you so, so much to everyone who came, bought, drank tea, ate cake and said hello. I desperately tried to take some photos to capture the lovely day but it was too busy most of the time so here are a few (bad) snaps, mostly taken whilst we were setting up, just to give you a taste…

It was quite amazing how within an hour King Edward Hall (the perfect village hall and the stewards were so helpful and accommodating) was full to brim with so many gorgeous vintage homewares and jumble. All of our lovely sellers had so much amazing stuff – I’m almost in disbelief that I managed not to buy anything. I popped round to all the stalls a couple of times when I got a chance and kept on stopping and biting my lip and stuffing my hands firmly in my pockets. So much temptation (I’m totally regretting not having bought a jug from Michelle’s stall, wire baskets from Laura’s stall, some very cute French jars from Amalia’s stall and another jug from Jeska’s stall!).

Petal & Feast did the most incredible job of putting on the most wondrous vintage tea for everybody and it all looked so beautiful! Total vintage heaven and many happy cake eaters.

And, of course, there had to be some sort of floral faffery and Instagram larks going on at a blogger event…

Lastly, a massive thanks to our brilliant sellers who were all so wonderful: Laura, Amalia, Eva, Michelle, Hannah Jessica, Tori, Emily, Bianca, Renie, Eloise and Zoe.

I managed to sell soooo much stuff; I arrived home with just a tea cup and jug left over and a teeny tiny pile for the charity shop and my flat already feels better for it. Hurrah for #BloggersVintageJumble!

Katy x

P.S. Thank you to Dean for being on the door for us and collecting a £1 entry fee that we are going to send off to Save the Children.

P.P.S. It’s now 11am and I am still in my pyjamas and have no plans on getting out of them. Who knew running a stall could be so exhausting?!

katy 2nd October 2015

Postcards from Wales and The Cotswolds

I don’t normally share photos of us out and about but we managed to capture a couple of days of sunshine and joy so I couldn’t help myself. Although, if you’re not keen on the outdoors or dogs, this probably isn’t the post for you – no offence taken 😉

So, on our recent trip to Wales we woke up on the Saturday morning and the beautiful kitchen was completely bathed in sun so we asked Dorian, who owns The Welsh House, which beach he would recommend for the day. He immediately suggested Barafundle Bay so we jumped in the car and an hour later there we were, coats abandoned in the car in favour of bare feet and t-shirts. It’s a National Trust sight and there are two beaches that you can walk to from Stackpole Quay, as well as a sweet tea room and garden (Barafundle Bay is the first and it is only about fifteen minutes walk from where you can park your car and then there is another larger beach if you carry on walking or you can drive to it).

The blue sky, bright, clean water and soft, fine sand were all heavenly and it could not have been more perfect – other than Otto drinking so much sea water that he vomited all over the floor of the tea room on the way home!

On our way down to Wales we decided to break the journey in half and stay at a dog friendly B&B for the night in Didmarton, in The Cotswolds. We had been here before a couple of years ago when we stayed at The Folly and it was then that we discovered the most amazing walk from the gatehouse in Didmarton down a three mile long avenue towards Badminton House. It was even better at this time of year with the sun shining and the grass long and green. We seem to always think in terms of finding the best dog walks these days and it doesn’t get much better than this. Total and complete freedom and so much joy. I think I’ll always remember this moment in time.

Happy weekend!

Katy x

katy 1st October 2015

Styling the Seasons – October 2015

When we arrived at The Welsh House last weekend, we were welcomed in by the most beautiful evening light that streamed through the beautiful windows in the cottage. I took the picture below pretty much as soon as I stepped foot through the door.

Over the long weekend we had all the time in the world with no phones, laptops or TV so we spent a lot of time outside with Otto and I took full advantage of the nature that surrounded us. Being able to pick flowers and foliage to fill vases in the house is such a novelty to me and even though we take Otto to the park every day I am far too scared to pick anything from there – I had nightmares about being chased down by the police last May when I dared to pick some Cow Parsley.

I also took along a little craft project to do whilst I was there and I did it without photographing it or worrying about how to style it for the blog, drinking tea and listening to music. Blissful, I tell you.

Styling the Seasons - October | Golden Retriever | Basket of flowers

My trusty helper, Otto, collecting flowers, brambles and foliage to fill vases at Bryncyn cottage.

Anyhoo, as the weekend went on that windowsill that I photographed when we arrived started to fill up with things I had collected from outside and crafty bits and bobs. I decided to photograph it (rather badly I’m afraid – I’m only used to photographing things against white walls!) for October’s Styling the Seasons because it sums up how I feel about this month rather well. For me, October is the true start of Autumn as the leaves start to fall. I’ve always been keenly aware of nature during Autumn probably because a lot of it falls to the ground, ready to be inspected. I have such fond childhood memories of collecting conkers and throwing Sycamore seeds into the air to make helicopters. The light starts to fade and the dark evenings arrive and more time is spent at home nesting, crafting, making, cooking (although, to be fair, I seem to spend all year round doing those things). I love nothing more than a rainy Autumnal afternoon spent crafting at home.

Styling the Seasons - October | At The Welsh House | Windowsill | Vintage spindles | Basket of flowers

Vintage spindles and basket at The Welsh House.

Styling the Seasons - October | Vintage spindles | Windowsill | Shutters

I can not wait to begin Autumnal crafts this season.

Charlotte and I would love for you to join us this month and style a surface in your home to show what this month means to you. Blog about it or post a picture on your favourite social media platform and tag us in so we can see.

Also, we hope to see lots of you at our vintage jumble and prop sale this Sunday October 4th – hopefully, you can pick up lots of bits to style up your October surface!

Katy x