Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från Homes & Gardens

As I sit down to write this month’s letter, raindrops are sliding down my skylight from the last downpour. It’s a cliche to talk about the weather, I know, but this year it has felt more unpredictable than most – the weather app on my phone has never seen so much action. But, as my ever-the-optimist mother-in-law reminds me, ‘it’s good for the garden’. The overall theme for this issue is about finding your sunshine, because if you can’t find it outside then creating a joyful warmth indoors can bring just as much happiness; through colour, pattern and a splash of creativity. And our cover story (It’s Warm Inside, page 70) demonstrates exactly that. For her own home, interior designer Stephanie Barba Mendoza created a sunny haven with a rich…

A TRUE GEM Inspired by traditional textiles of Central Asia, this Lhassa embroidered linen fabric dazzles with its contrasting colours and vivid texture. One of the beautiful designs from Pierre Frey’s Soleil Levant collection which pays homage to Asian art and craftsmanship, the design would make for striking drapes or a decorative wall hanging behind a bed. Lhassa fabric in Carmin, £396m and central fabric panel in Shinto in Yuzu, £322m, Pierre Frey PASSION FOR PAISLEY Paisley is characterised by its teardrop motifs, thought to derive from the Persian ‘buto’ symbol. This season, de Le Cuona presents a fresh take on the iconic pattern with its exquisite Elizabeth Paisley. The fabric combines 10 shades of delicate wool yarn and fine cotton to achieve exceptional depth and movement. Elizabeth Paisley fabric…

THE entranceway is your first experience of a home, so you want it to set the right tone. It needs to be welcoming, but also because it is quite literally the artery of the house, it has to connect with all the rooms it leads to. ■ I put a lot of thought into the design of the hallway from the very start of a project. You’ve got to get the flow feeling right, the views, and how it marries into the adjacent spaces. It’s like moving pieces around on a chessboard until you’ve got everything just where you want it. ■ There are lots of design challenges with hallways. In many city houses, hallways are narrow, tend to be quite dark and can often lack architectural features. So, it…

I STARTED my business in 2017 when I was in my mid-20s, shortly after I had been awarded the RHS Young Designer of the Year. It’s been busy ever since, but this year was my first time showing at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, so it was a huge honour to be awarded the Best Show Garden prize. I’ve lived in the UK for over 15 years, mostly in London, but my childhood was spent in the countryside in Lithuania. I have wonderful memories of wild flower meadows, making tea on a campfire brewed from freshly gathered leaves and watering the tomato plants in the greenhouse. Childhood memories are important to my work. My favourite gardens are those infused with ideas about the past and connections that evoke an emotional…

NEW DESTINATION Norfolk-based Naked Kitchens has opened its first London showroom and design centre in the heart of west London and it’s well worth a visit. Showcasing eight bespoke kitchen collections within 3,000sq ft, grab the opportunity to touch and admire the quality craftsmanship on offer. The Elmham kitchen, shown here, is the central feature of this new space and reveals the company’s newest colourway, First Flight, which is a dreamy mid-tone blue. Naked Kitchens, 10 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2SL. WOODLAND FRIENDS Meet Ca’ Pietra’s incoming artist in residence, Maria Yiannikkou, whose charming Forest Findings collection features whimsical flora and fauna block-printed lino-style onto a simple white ceramic wall tile. The nine colourful designs include a leaping vixen, jumping hare and wild saplings, priced at £25 per 13x13cm tile.…

1 CLOSE CALL The honey-yellow walls are matched to the hand-dipped wall tiles for a subtle material transition. ‘The handmade tiles have some colour variation, which makes matching a little easier,’ says Tom Bartlett, founder, Waldo Works. ‘Although close, the floor tiles aren’t truly the same colour, but when materials are on different planes, it’s less important to get a perfect match – the corner shadows will help disguise inconsistencies.’ Walls in Pale Hound estate emulsion, £57.50 for 2.5ltr, Farrow & Ball. The Tamar bath, from £5,388, Drummonds. Project by Waldo Works. 2 A SHADE ABOVE Bring the ceiling into the same colour palette for an enveloping effect. ‘We often create decorative ceilings, here we chose an animal/botanical wallpaper in a Midnight colourway that continues the vibrant blue paintwork and…

ENGLISH SUMMER Colefax and Fowler’s latest collection is quintessentially English. Notable pieces include Hayden (used here for the window treatment in the Gold colourway), £74m, a printed squiggle based on 19th-century coral patterns, and Langham Check (shown in Forest and Yellow), £108m. This classic cotton weave from the Colefax archive was originally inspired by an antique textile fragment. ON DISPLAY Nina Campbell, a doyenne of the interiors world, has wowed us with her new Alfred cabinet, priced at £5,823. Featuring bamboo detailing and a pagoda-style top, it includes open shelves making it ideal for displaying treasured china or glassware. The useful lower cupboard has a shelf for additional storage and the interior paint finish can be customised in your choice of colour. NEAT SEAT The Isabel round ottoman by Charles…

‘Lavanda, which I created with Graphenstone, is a warm lavender with a hint of grey. I have been coveting this colour as I find it relaxing. I love it with green; it works with silvery eucalyptus as well as olive greens. Here I’ve used it on the ceiling and paired it with coordinating lavanda and green tiles. It sits well with yellow, navy, dark chocolate and cream. If you are bold, terracotta or burgundy also looks great.’ KATE WATSON-SMYTH, author and founder of madaboutthehouse.com 1. ‘We painted this dining room in Tyrian by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint. It evokes a feeling of cosiness and quiet glamour without being garish – perfect for a dining room. It is definitely a colour you can be bold with.’ HENRY PRIDEAUX, founder, Henry Prideaux…

A ALTERNATIVE FLOORING Dedicated to pushing boundaries in eco flooring design, Alternative Flooring has been working with sustainable natural materials as well as faux fibres since the 1990s. An expert in fine wool, sisal, coir, seagrass, jute and faux materials from around the world, the brand champions natural beauty and variety in carpets (as well as rugs and runners), and has worked on collections with designers such as Margo Selby, Ashley Hicks and Ella Doran. alternativeflooring.com AMTICO Designing and manufacturing luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) since 1964, Amitco offers timber, stone and abstract styles, all available with options for creative laying patterns, borders and intricate motifs. Its floors undergo 57 tests and checks before they leave the factory and the brand is known for its generous warranties – some of the…

IN GOOD ORDER Whether used for storing vacuum cleaners or coats, the space below a staircase can prove invaluable in any home. Bear in mind, in order to hang anything, the cupboards will need a depth of 58cm (most stairs are wider). Dividing the space into three or four cupboards rather than one large one will avoid the problem of things getting lost in the back. This was the route taken in the former London home of the founders of textile and rug design studio A Rum Fellow. The window stair partition ensures the stairs and hall benefit from more light. ‘The colours were inspired by the beautifully vibrant and warm hues of the buildings in Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala,’ says co-founder Dylan O’Shea. SUCCESSFUL RUN A runner…

Bringing personality to a bland, dated 1990s apartment in the centre of Singapore was quite the challenge for interior designer Elizabeth Hay. ‘The clients bought this apartment wanting to create a home for them and their three children,’ says Elizabeth. The project was a full renovation as the apartment hadn’t been touched since the block was built. Opening the space up and injecting light into the kitchen was a prerequisite. ‘Sometimes with these apartments, the kitchen feels like an afterthought – it was in the middle of the house with no windows and a tiny galley kitchen, so it was a priority,’ says Elizabeth who concentrated on reconfiguring the layout. ‘We gutted the apartment and took down walls, opening up smaller, darker rooms to make spaces more usable.’ Sliding glazed…

CURVE APPEAL Free-standing kitchens are having a moment. Double down by working this freestyle hit in chic stainless steel. The easy-going appeal of unfitted pieces will help tune out steel’s commercial connotations, making for a more relaxed fit, especially within older homes. Here, the 1950s-inspired rounded aesthetics of Abimis’ Ego free-standing kitchen softens the crispness of machined metal. Made of AISI 304 stainless steel, which is resistant to corrosion and temperatures up to 500C, Ego is internally reinforced with aluminium honeycomb panels for strength, lightness and silent closing. Adding a teak-topped vintage bench and polished concrete flooring completes the liveable atmosphere in this rural home. CLEAR THE AIR If you’re aiming for impact, an outsized metal extractor with commercial kudos will bring it home. ‘Large stainless-steel hoods make a dramatic…

INVITING WARMTH Claire Sá’s design approach for bathing spaces balances comfort with the essentials Claire Sá is director of architecture practice and interior design studio De Rosee Sa, based in London and Lisbon, known for its holistic and balanced approach. ‘You start the day in the bathroom, so it is crucial that it feels inviting,’ says Claire. ‘Often, we run the timber floor of the bedroom into the bathroom to evoke the notion that it is an extension of the space.’ She also likes to include an armchair or bench as somewhere to sit and read while the bath fills, soft furnishings such as fabric lampshades and warmer finishes liked aged brass. ‘They all help to contribute to a liveable, welcoming room,’ she notes.…

ITALY’S Renaissance capital, Florence, has held a place in my heart since my early 20s when I used to visit here on a near-weekly basis. Over the years, the many friendships I cultivated there solidified my love for the place. Eventually, I married a Florentine – my husband Giovanni – and officially cemented my tie to this wonderful city. ■ Palazzo Guadagni (above left) in Piazza Santo Spirito is a lovely hotel with a roof terrace overlooking the square – which also happens to be the best place to go out for aperitivi, as it has great bars. If you’re looking for somewhere grand and totally spoiling to stay, head to Palazzo Niccolini al Duomo (above right), whose bedrooms are adorned with frescos and whose terraces have trees to breakfast…

FOR Colombian designer and craft enthusiast Lucia Echavarría, evolving her accessories label to include furniture and homeware was the ideal opportunity to explore making techniques on a somewhat more considerable scale. ‘I think furniture provides a much larger canvas in terms of the number of crafts and the possibilities in which to use them,’ explains Lucia. While her fashion brand Magnetic Midnight is known for exquisitely intricate bags, headpieces, accessories and jewellery, her interiors offshoot, Magnetic Midnight Maison, runs the spectrum from trays and cushions to chairs and tables, all made with the same meticulous manufacturing techniques – plus a few more for good measure. ‘I work with more than 80 artisans across many regions of Colombia who specialise in over a dozen distinct craft techniques and many different materials,’…

MERIDA, the capital city of the Yucatán Peninsula, was once said to house more millionaires than any other city thanks to the abundance of the sought-after agave plant henequen – a fibrous plant used to create strong rope, twine and sacks. At the turn of the 20th century, the region’s wealth boomed when the price of henequen reached an all-time high. But it was long before this that the roots of the mesmerising Mexican landscape were established. The isolated region on the eastern tip of the country was once home to the ancient Maya civilisation. Engineering masters, the Maya created magnificent grand buildings and pyramid-like temples against the odds – the rocky and infertile ground is notoriously difficult to build on. The landscape of Yucatán today tells the story of…

MINNIE KEMP ON TERENCE MALULEKE ‘Terence’s large painted canvases have a visceral energy that makes you feel like the subjects are just going to explode out from them. One of Firmdale’s most recent acquisitions – and the last piece we hung at the Warren Street Hotel before opening – was a dynamic work by Terence that portrayed powerful, muscular legs adorned with sandals. I loved the colour and the movement of the piece, and the dramatic sense of arrival it creates.’ Johannesburg-based artist Terence is a modern master of figurative painting, who utilises an interesting flattened perspective in his imposing artworks. The painter engages his viewers with bold compositions that brim with allegory and all have a story or two to tell. The artist is represented by Southern Guild gallery.…

LIKE in that old Calgon bath powder advert, I’m always dreaming of where to travel next. Perhaps you remember it too, the tag line was ‘Calgon, take me away’. The scene was simple. A woman, tub filled with lots and lots of bubbles. But in that moment, when she closed her eyes, she could have been anywhere. Where to next? What’s your fancy? After emerging from the snow and freezing temperatures here in New York, all I can think of is balmy nights, palm trees and a swaying hammock. One thing for certain is, I will not be found on a camping trip. Just the idea of sleeping outside in a sleeping bag with bugs and no traditional plumbing is scary for me. Lions, tigers, bears… oh my! Old issues…

Fashion designer and Swinging Sixties icon Mary Quant once said, ‘Good taste is death; vulgarity is life.’ Mary Kitchen, the owner of this extraordinary house, might well agree with her. The television presenter, model and philanthropist has little time for the tasteful properties that ripple across the hills of her Los Angeles neighbourhood. Mary’s new house had to shout ‘full-on fun’ rather than whisper ‘discreet good taste’, and interior designer Jamie Bush willingly obliged, when invited to join her in its daringly different renovation. Mary and her husband, Jonathan Orszag, bought the house from rock vocalist Adam Levine and his wife, Behati Prinsloo Levine, who had moved on mid-way through renovations, leaving it stripped almost to its bones. Built in 1966 by noted architect, Caspar Ehmcke, the French Regency-style mansion…

1 URBAN OASIS Garden design by Tawatchai Sakdikul and Ploytabtim Suksang of GingGaanBai In the heart and heat of space-tight Bangkok, the designers ‘claim unused space around an urban dwelling to create a minimalist, modern garden. It’s light and spacious, with tall, feathered Southeast Asian trees, Chum Saeng and Java palms, strategically placed for dappled shade. The green softscaping and white, reflective hardscaping dispel heat and help define the stylistically balanced, well-arranged space, providing spaces where Bangkokians can unwind and recharge. The water that flows through the garden is not only cooling and relaxing, it also resembles the Chao Phraya River, the main river that flows through Bangkok and is a symbol of the city.’ 2 SECRET GARDEN Garden design by Tom Stuart-Smith Le Jardin Secret hides within one of…

ELEGANT EVOLUTION Henriette von Stockhausen of VSP Interiors uses antiques and textiles to create layers of interest in her designs Deft in combining modern and traditional styles to create a new take on classic country house design, Henriette von Stockhausen believes in adding fabrics, lighting and comfort to create a welcoming space. ‘Make sure that the room is practical and designed to suit your lifestyle, but also treat a kitchen like any other room, adding pictures, soft furnishings and antique pieces to create a softer and evolved look,’ she says. ‘I like to add colour and pattern with wallpaper, use an antique vase lamp with a lovely soft shade on the worktop and might bring in a country dresser to break up lines of fitted cabinets.’…

PIZZA WITH PEACHES, STRACCIATELLA, ROCKET & PROSCIUTTO MAKES 1 PIZZA Schiacciata dough – see Sarah’s new book, Fruitful, for her recipe Olive oilred onion, very thinly slicedPinch of chilli flakes1 juicy, ripe peach, blanched and peeled80g stracciatella, burrata or fresh mozzarellaHandful of rocket½ tsp red wine vinegar4-5 slices of prosciuttoShaved Parmesan (optional)SaltHoney, to serve (optional) ■ Make the dough the day before and place in the refrigerator overnight. The following day, remove the dough and place on a clean work surface. Shape it into a ball, lightly dusting with flour if the dough feels sticky. Put it into a bowl, cover it with a tea towel and allow it to rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes. Oil a large baking tray or flour a pizza paddle. ■ Preheat…

1. If I am having guests over for dinner, I always lower any overhead lighting as it is too harsh. But then, to add some ambience, I will use candles or the LED Pina Pro Lamp from Lumens for a flattering light. 2. For years I have used faux fur WallyBed dog beds in my own home and my design projects. They’re handsome, easy to clean and approved and thoroughly tested by my rescue terriers Annabelle and Bebe. 3. The one thing I always have on is a twisted gold bangle that my husband bought for me in Capri. It has even inspired details for furniture I’ve designed. 4. There’s something about looking at passion flowers that is almost a spiritual experience. They are a climbing vine, and we train…