Nicolette Le Pelley is co-founder of the online sourcebook The House Directory which features more than 3,700 companies covering all aspects of interior and garden design and decoration. A recent initiative, The House Mag, brings you clever design ideas and suggestions on how to achieve them along with her thoughts of Decorex 2012.
Decorex Review …
Decorex never disappoints. As always, the UK’s leading trade-only fair for the decorating world presented a visual feast (see the daily highlights in our Blog, www.thehousemag.com. But some of the best rewards awaited the intrepid visitor who took time to check out the myriad specialist services on offer – some of which we’ve set out below. With so much on offer, interior design has never been so much fun!
This giant ‘paint chart’ on Alternative Flooring’s stand attracted lots of attention. It marked the launch of their ‘Colourscapes’ – a simple but brilliantly useful idea: a handy guide to all their flooring in a clever little concertina format. One side for wools and the other for natural fibre flooring, with tones from light to dark naturals and finishing with the colours. An accompanying chart, Borderlines, shows their great borders: cotton, linen, faux and real leather. But go to their website www.alternativeflooring.com for their really user-friendly ‘Make Me a Rug’ tool in four easy steps.
In a new collaboration with Christopher Dezille, of leading architectural interior design company Honky, The New England Shutter Company has come up with a new ‘Soft Touch’ finish for their Soho shutters. It’s a tactile, non-reflective finish that feels like soft rubber, and it comes in five colours. These miniature baths on Drummonds’ stand at Decorex show off Sophie Conran’s fabulous range of paint colours which can be used on their cast iron baths. There are 12 shades (‘Pistachio Ice’ and ‘Mrs Peacock’ among them) – all in a gloss finish for low-maintenance. Drummonds’ baths can also be painted to order in literally any design.
Grange has designed a new web tool called ‘My Grange’ which lets you customise the finishes and degrees of antiquing on its handmade furniture. It also has 3D and zoom functions so you can inspect the details of any piece before you buy. It’s only available in their showrooms for now (but coming to their website soon).
Prêt à Vivre have launched their Mood Board Boxes to help their customers put together a complete decorating scheme. There are eight different ones to choose from, and they include paint, wallpaper and fabric samples. £5 each. Penny Morrison and Carolina Irving were sharing a stand. They have collaborated on a collection of cushions using one-off vintage fabrics. I love this combination of antique linen and Balkan embroidery. Visit them at their new showroom at Redloh House Fabrics, The Gas Works, 2 Michael Road, London SW6.
Nicolette Le Pelley, The House Directory www.thehousedirectory.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7221 6600 Email: [email protected]
