Before and After- A Tropical Garden Room Retreat
10 May 2018
I’m so excited to finally be able to reveal my tropical garden room retreat – nearly finished, at last! This is my garden room (as I call it) and also Isaac (my grandson’s) playroom. In its previous life, it was an homage to vintage as a result of a collection of old furniture that didn’t fit anywhere else. For the garden room’s revamp, I knew I wanted a lush, warm, embracing feel, and to bring the outside in, so I had the amazingly comfy sofa reupholstered in a gorgeous dark green velvet as the starting point. And then I fell seriously in love with this ‘Palm Jungle Wallpaper’ by Cole & Son – isn’t it fabulous? I haven’t put any pictures or wall art up as I love the wallpaper so much I don’t want detract from it, and quite like the simplicity. You know you’re a maximalist when you class heavily patterned wallpaper as ‘simplicity’.
The majority of the furniture is original to the room (apart from the Raspberry Velvet Pouf and the Mongolian Fur Chair), but I repainted the large old dresser and a side table in ‘Mallard’ by Dulux Heritage. What do you think to the armchair recovered in a striking patterned velvet by Designers Guild? I debated about this for a few weeks but…
We all love and need a little design inspiration from time to time, am I right? Whether it’s flicking through glossy mags or spending hours on Pinterest or Instagram. Well, let us introduce you to a new inspiration source, which is launching on Friday 5th May: 4 Magazine. Founded by multi-award winning interior design blogger and editor, Victoria Jackson. Not only is Victoria a very talented lady, she’s also incredibly lovely and very funny. We were lucky enough to meet her at the Interior Blog Awards, where both of our blogs won! Victoria shares with us how she developed her blog, Apartment Number 4 and put her editorial skills to good use to create her own online publication. Find out the beauty of 4 Magazine and why it stands out from other interior design magazines out there… we promise you won’t be disappointed!
Tell us about yourself and your background.
Hey guys! Well first of all, thank you so much for having me here on Audenza. Where do I start? I founded multi-award winning interior design blog, Apartment Number 4 back in 2009. For the last 9 years I’ve been running the blog as a hobby alongside my full-time career as the editor of a menswear magazine. In March of this year, I was thrown head first into the world of freelance and decided I wanted to turn Apartment Number 4 into much more than a blog…
We have something very special for you today, and as you may have noticed, our ‘Fabulous and Fearless Women’ post is a little different this month…
This year marks a pivotal moment in history and one that proved rather fitting for our Fabulous and Fearless feature- 100 years since women were first given the right to vote. As part of this milestone, Bolton, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester and Nottingham were named ‘Centenary Cities’ by the government to help celebrate, promote and educate people about this momentous period. We’ve taken a closer look at some of these cities and their pioneering women who helped shape history and made votes for women possible. We have a lot to thank them for ladies!
In today’s house tour we’re heading to the beautiful Scandinavian country of Norway to take a nosey around Simone Isaksen’s colourful apartment. If you’re looking to add a little vibrancy to your décor, whether it be a home or apartment, then this house tour is certainly a perfect source for inspiration. We just love the way that Simone makes colour feel calm and serene as opposed to loud and overpowering. She also shares how it was possible to move from a house into an apartment without having to compromise too much on space or style.
We’re very excited to announce that we have been nominated in The UK Interior Awards for ‘Best Independent Store’. But we need your help! The first round is based on voting, so if you love what we do, we’d be incredibly grateful if you voted for us.
We’ve got something a little different for you today. A recent interior design graduate, Catt Murray has designed three stunning, but each varying, room schemes for us, to give you a feel for some of the looks you can create using our products. All 3 room schemes are very different, which highlights how our products can be used in so many different styles of décor. We hope you love them as much as we do!
The Femme Fatale
We love monochrome, we love pink, and we love gold, so what’s not to love when you combine all three for a deliciously luxe femme fatale room scheme. The monochrome Jaspe Stripe wallpaper by Cole & Son is a classic colour combo that shouts elegance, but for a decidedly feminine twist liven it up with a good strong dash of pink. Paintwork such as doors and skirting boards are in a soft pink with accessories and furniture in a mix of monochrome, pink and gold. The accents of gold create the luxe look and, as always…
The Secret to Fabulous Interior Style
6 Apr 2018
What is the secret to fabulous interior style? Well, we all want to know the answer to that one, don’t we? Obviously us girls here at Audenza (well 2 girls and 1 mature lady) have our own opinion, but we thought we would put the question out there to some stylish interior journalists, bloggers and designers to see what they thought and what words of wisdom they could impart. So, read on to find out what the ultimate secret to fabulous interior style is!
Leaving a highly successful career to go it on your own is a bold decision in its own right. That was the choice made by our next Fabulous and Fearless Woman, Clare Muscutt. We spoke to her to find out how she kick started her career in management at the age of 23, went on to become an innovator in the customer experience (CX) space for some of the UKs largest brands, was the first woman to win UK Professional of the Year and most recently was Head of Customer Experience for the UK’s second largest retailer, Sainsbury’s. We talked to her about the obstacles she faced and how her wealth of experience prepared Clare to set up her own business venture, CMXperience. This lady is an absolute force to be reckoned with and we’re so pleased to be sharing her inspiring journey with you.
Top 10 Cool Homewares Under £50
23 Mar 2018
We all like to refresh our home from time to time, transforming our décor with the latest must-have accessories. And although exciting, it’s easy to get carried away and can become a little expensive. So that said, whether you’re looking to update a particular room or add a few extra details, we’ve put together a variety of our top 10 cool homewares (including our own personal favourites) for under £50.
And as it’s spring, (although it doesn’t quite feel like it yet) what better time to give your home some TLC?
There’s a lot of bloggers out there posting DIY and craft posts, but most of them (if we’re being completely honest), leave us feeling a little less than inspired. That said, there’s a few blogs who are our go-to when we’re looking for a seriously cool DIY idea for our homes. And sometimes, you just happen upon an idea which totally inspires you and makes you want to source the materials and begin making it immediately. These 5 ideas are just that. And each one is such a cool idea (in our opinion) it could totally transform the room you put it into.
