Category Archives: something for the weekend

weekend colour inspiration – grey and mustard yellow colour scheme

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There are a few pairs of colours that are just perfect together. Dark grey and mustard yellow in a colour scheme is one of those parings - demonstrated beautifully by this image we spotted on Pinterest.

This has to be one of our favourite images at the moment. The dark grey wall has a great depth and almost warmth, making it the perfect foil for the rest of the pieces. Textural interest is brought into the mix with the varieties of timber, in pale to deep and the grey is able to hold all the colours together in a harmonious way.

But the true stars of the shot are the dark grey and the mustard yellow. They are just a perfect pairing.

Highlighted with a little pop of pink and turquoise blues, in essence you have got an almost 50′s inspired colour scheme, but interpreted in a very modern way. The Hare print brings all the colours together and ties each piece neatly into one.

A wonderful eclectic interior design image - and one of our all time favourite colour scheme images featured here on weekend colour inspiration.

Yet another colour scheme that shows just why dark grey is one of our favourite colours.

(image by Armille Habib for Fenton and Fenton Rugs)

Monday musings – the Artists Open Houses, Brighton

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Each May, our home town of Brighton is put into overdrive with the Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe and the Artists Open Houses, running all month. Even though Brighton is already an incredibly creative city, you literally cannot move for pop up theatre, comedy, exciting new venues and wonderful performances. It is as exhausting as it is exciting. And as official reviewers this year for the excellent EggMag, we are enjoying it even more.

However, there is one element to May that is a real joy and we look forward to each year – the Artists Open Houses.

Springing up through the various art collectives that scatter the city, they are all brought together under the Open House banner for the month  arranged neatly into trails in most of the major areas of Brighton.

Using the brilliantly produced (and free) Artists Open House brochure or mobile app, you can discover areas of Brighton which you perhaps had never visited – peeking into the homes of the artists themselves, purchasing a cup of tea and home made cake and having a chat with the people who actually created the art, design and craft.

And this is the real bonus to the Artists Open Houses. Not only do you find wonderful pieces which span the realms of fine art, illustration, photography, jewellery and design collected together beautifully, you will probably get the chance to chat to the maker themselves.

So much of the creative process is a personal thing – particularly with solo artists and designer/ makers  so having the ability to talk through the reasoning to a piece, their inspiration or even whether they could do you the same item but perhaps in grey is priceless. In an age of the mass produced, the personality that is poured into art, design and craft is something that we have tended to lose – it is this great collective that allows us to reconnect.

It does feel as though these wonderful artists, designers and makers have been hidden away in their studios across Brighton, all working independently and the Open Houses is where we all get to discover them, so get out there.

Find a piece, talk to the maker and treasure it.

We will be posting some of our favourite makers here on the Ecospot, so keep your eyes peeled for a variety of both art, design and craft suitable for the eclectic interior.

see the Artists Open Houses website for details on all the locations across Brighton.

Weekend Colour Inspiration – the beautiful depth of black

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We are huge fans of grey here in the claire potter design studio – and all greys, from the pale chinchilla fur greys to the deepest and darkest of greys which are edging on black. Actually, it is these deeper greys which we love the most, but what about black itself? Has black shaken the 80′s throwback status that it once had?

Well, going by this stunning image we found via The Minimalist, black could be the way to create a deep, strong yet calm room.

The Minimalist x Real Living mag March 2013-3

The amount of black used here is quite incredible, but that is exactly why the design works. Interest is introduced with the black being represented in different ways – the soft matt wooden panelling on the wall, the high gloss of the fridge and the delicacy and intricacy of the illustration on the wall.

Even though black is usually thought of as being flat, this image is anything but flat.

But the reason why is quite simple  When creating any minimal interior, it is very important to maximise the textures of the surfaces so any blandness is banished, both visually and texturally. Light falls differently over different textures so flatness is eliminated.

Also, using such a rich and deep colour such as black, otherwise neutrals such as these pieces of wooden accessories and the table are given a ‘pop’ that they would not get in another scheme.

This is a brave colour scheme, but if you are able to give it a chance, black could just be the colour for you.

(image via The Minimalist)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – colour on the edges…

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This week for weekend colour inspiration we are looking at a very easy and quick way to transform a room, which we spotted over at Pinterest and illustrates the fact that you do not have to colour a whole space. Colour can live on the edges…

colour on the edge

As you can see from the image  the majority of the space is very clean and white, with lots of great textures, which begin to provide interest. The inclusion of the painting brings a nice pop of orange, which could bring too much of a contrast to the area, was it not for the colour on the door.

But coloured doors are nothing unusual, despite this being quite a brave shade.

We really loved the inclusion of the coloured edge of the door.

Plus, if you did not want to paint a whole door a completely different colour, you could use this technique to get a bit of interest into the space. Just painting the edges of the door gives you the option of closing the door and removing the colour, or leaving it ajar to link spaces together.

And if this was still a bit too permanent for you, there is another way to get a very similar effect for very little investment in time and money.

Washi tape originated in Japan as a decorative, coloured and/or patterned tape for crafts and packaging and is very similar to masking tape. It is now widely available online in a variety of block colours and patterns, which would be suitable for any scheme.

2 pack MT Washi Tape - Tsugihaghi C x D

Ensure that your door edges are clean, dry and as smooth as possible, then just add your tape. If you want the edge to stay long tern, you will have to paint over the tape with clear varnish or watered down pva glue, but test it to see that the colours of the washi tape do not ‘run’.

Or, use it to get a bit of temporary interest into a space.

(images via washi tapes and house to home)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – cautious colour

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We know that the use of colour is a very, very personal thing. We adore the colour grey and have fleeting love affairs with loads of other colours, depending on our clients needs, seasons and even the levels of light in a room. But there are ways of including colour into your spaces, even if you do want to be a little cautious.

Which is why, for this week we are looking at one way to get colour into your space, completely hassle free. Quick and cheap to do. Quick and cheap to change. Perfect.

We have used a very similar system in a gallery refurbishment we completed for a client who wanted to have a quick rolling display of photographs, without having to rehang everything. This great example we found on Pinterest, but comes from Young House Love.

Ledge for cards and postcards

First, decide the length of your display (using a piece of furniture as a guide is always good) and purchase timber battens to suit. They do not have to be too beefy in section if you are only displaying lightweight pieces.

 

If you can, use a router to cut a shallot slit in the batten around two thirds across the top surface. This is not essential, but it does help to locate the postcards safely.

Screw the battens to your chosen section of wall (with spacing between to suit your pictures), fill the screw holes, rub back when dry, then paint the same colour as your wall.

Then, choose your images.

And when you get bored of them, pack them away and put different ones up. An easy route for those a little cautious of colour.

(image via Young House Love)

Weekend colour inspiration – a message with Red Nose Red

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As we are sure you are aware, today is Red Nose Day or Comic Relief here in the UK – a fantastic charity which does truly inspirational work across the globe with funds raised from donations.

So, for today’s Weekend Colour inspiration, could there be any colour apart from red?

Therefore we have picked one piece to fire you up. Here is a great inspirational red image from our Pinterest boards to get you going this week…

Could you change the world

So this weeks key message? Be a bit crazy and do something great. You could just change the world in the process…

(image via associated link)

weekend colour inspiration – raven tones colour scheme

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This week on Weekend Colour Inspiration we are revisiting a scheme from last July which was hugely popular and has actually informed part of a colour scheme we are working on at the moment, so we thought we’d pop back for a bit…

July 2012…

This series of blogs, published each Friday takes a colour palette from Design Seeds as inspiration for a colour scheme for an interior – with us picking some key accessories to suit your newly painted room. Get decorating this weekend with help from our Weekend Colour Inspiration mood board.

This weeks Weekend Colour Inspiration board comes in the form of some Raven Tones:

Not only is this a fantastic picture, it is also a lovely, lush and rich colour scheme. Quite dark and moody and just a little bit gothic – we are taking this into a living space today.

It it bold, but we would take that throaty red straight onto the walls – it has got enough pink in it to not get too bloody, but it would create a lovely warm and enclosing snug style space. If this is just a little too bold for you, one wall could be picked out in this colour, with the pale greys used on the surrounding walls. Good focus walls would be the fireplace wall (if you have one) or the wall directly behind a sofa – add a great piece of dark and moody art on the wall to make it really interesting.

So, here are our picks of lovely, eco friendly, recycled and reclaimed bits and bobs to produce and interior based on the lovely raven colour scheme above.

First up – the sofa. We would hunt down a secondhand, slightly battered, black chesterfield sofa from a secondhand store, auction house or Ebay.

Sitting this with the red walls really starts to make a bit of a statement.

 

 

 

These lovely vintage styled cushions from RE bring a bit of sparkle to the room, but still retain the darkness we are looking for.

 

 

 

 

And to get some of the red in, we would chose this lovely Hare cushion by Helen Mcallister we found on Folksy.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting some silver in there – how about these great, fairtrade metal picture frames? Get a stack and arrange them on the wall in a random pattern.

 

 

 

 

A throw is an essential item for the sofa and this lovely fairtrade recycled wool throw fits the grey bill nicely – only £49 from EcoCentric

 

 

 

 

If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace in the room, you need a log basket. Alternatively, you could still use one of these great recycled rubber tyre baskets and fill it with newspapers and books. Perfect.

 

 

 

 

Alternatively, you could go for this very dark trunk, which is made from recycled tyres by Tread. Sized at a great 100cm x 50cm, it would make the perfect coffee table.

 

 

 

We spotted this vintage Indian clock on Etsy – it does not work, but for those who want a project…we’ll race you as it’s current owner lives in Brighton!

 

 

 

A bit of movement never goes down badly and this beautiful Swallow mobile from Nigel’s Eco Store picks up both the black and red perfectly. Position it near a window so it catches a little breeze.

 

 

 

Need a bit of art? How about these great vintage inspired prints by British artist You Mother Punker on Folksy.

 

 

Just so it doesn’t get too dark and serious, how about these sugar skull cushions from Suzi on Etsy? A bargain at only £15 or so each.

 

 

 

 

And lastly, you need a fantastic light. They do not come much better than this awesome Steampunk, handmade vintage, adjustable light from Historic Lighting. Choose a nice grey /silver fabric cable to fit into the colour scheme. We love it.

 

 

 

(images via associated links)

 

Wine barrel architecture glamping

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Glamping, or to give the activity its full name, ‘glamorous camping’ was quite a feature of many holidays in 2012. From yurts to tents with chandeliers there was a huge range of holidays, both here in the UK and further afield which offered the taste of the outdoors with the luxury and comforts of the indoors.

But many of these glamping structures were temporary in nature – pitched at specific events or locations then struck later, only to reappear somewhere else the next week. Architecture, glamping style was rather transient.

There is a lot to be said for inhabiting a small structure, in a beautiful landscape, so it is no wonder that glamping structures are becoming more unusual and more permanent, just like these wonderful cabins made from old wine barrels.

Featuring a double bed and even a tiny bathroom, the cabins, which are named after the wines which used to be housed in them look out over the local vineyards and the lush Black Forest in Sasbachwalden, Germany.

Given the fact that these lovely little cabins are so unusual, in such a beautiful location, it does come as quite a surprise that they only cost around 150 euros each per night, which includes a hamper of local food goodies.

These structures are a great example of how locally available materials can be re-purposed for other means, if you use a bit of imagination and take a lot of care.

Visit Schlafen im Weinfass for more information.

(images via inhabitat)

Weekend colour inspiration – a red colour scheme for National Heart month

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It is the first of February and in the UK, the start of the British Heart Foundation’s fundraising National Heart month, so this week on Weekend Colour inspiration we are temporarily ditching the usual colour scheme format and instead featuring a whole raft of lovely red accessories instead.

And, we are ‘Rocking up in Red’ at the studio today, donating money to the BHF as we wear our very best red colour scheme outfits - mine being a vintage 40′s dress and a pair of red lace up wellies.

So, what is our current pick of red, ethical accessories for the home?

 Will You Still Love Me? - Red Print – £49.99 from Ecocentric

Coron Lamp Shade - Red

Coron Felt Lampshade £26.09 from Ecocentric

   Vintage educational poster - The Rose Aphid

Rose Aphid print £35 from Critical Reclaim

Red Houses Bolster cushion cover

red vintage Conran fabric cushion £18 from Thirtyfive flowers

  Clock - Driftwood "Eight" Wall Clock

reclaimed timber clock £29.99 from Reclaimed Time

red cafe chairs from reclamation specialists Elemental

   Image of BRIGHT RED | fabric lighting flex cable | TWIST

bright red fabric cable flex £3.75 per m Historic Lighting 

So, why not add a bit of red into your home colour scheme this month – just one small addition can really brighten up a space.

And don’t forget to donate to the British Heart Foundation as you are rocking your red…

(images via associated links)

Weekend colour inspiration – artichoke bathroom colour scheme

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This week on Weekend colour inspiration we are continuing our love affair with the Sherwin-Williams colour scheme selection app ‘Chip-it’, which lets you sample an uploaded image and provides you with a series of picked colour codes.

We posted this image a couple of weeks ago, and it is definitely one of our favourite palettes at the moment. A nice, cool, natural colour scheme in greens and blues.

We think this colour scheme would fit very nicely into a bathroom, so we are picking a few key items to begin building an eclectic based, watery project.

Gloss White Brickbond Tile

Pales and whites would be great as the basis for most of the tiles as it helps to reflect the light around the space and gives a relatively neutral base to start, so we would use a lot of these mosaic tiles.

Nyasa GW-NYSMOSBBT Tumbled Earth Mixed Brickbond Mosaic 24x48mm

But these glass tiles would be perfect to pick up the greens and blues – we would use these in the shower area to define the space and the brick bonding is one of our favourites.

 A nice moody slate floor would be fantastic in this colour scheme - look for reclaimed slate which has great texture and history, as well as being environmentally aware.

Keeping with the moody - these fair trade cotton towels from Gossypium in dark grey / black would be very nice indeed.

Darkness in a bathroom also helps to create a bit of a luxury spa feel too.

Reclaimed corner cut basins, available at Brunswick House & Bermondsey,

 The squareness of the tiles we would tie in with the sanitaryware – choosing reclaimed pieces just like this lovely Victorian example  currently on sale at reclamation yard, LASSCO in London.

A vintage medical trolley,

And just because we love a bit of medical reclamation  how about this vintage 1930′s hospital stand for your toiletries? Get this one, or similar from LASSCO.

Beautiful, colour scheme and lovely pieces to start a new project from old stuff.

(images via links)