Showing Off

Every year its the same, my annual pilgrimage to the Ideal Home Show starts with my forage through the Jan and Feb editions of Ideal Home for my ‘golden’ subscriber free ticket!  Then the usual prep commences, packing a couple of bags for life, full phone and camera battery and most importantly an empty belly to stuff full of food from the Eat and Drink festival (which is conveniently connected to the interiors fair).

 Tavia and I always attend the Manchester show in June together, its an institution, with only pain of death as an excuse to miss this once a year fanfare.  The London show however is my warm up.  With southern roots it’s my duty come rain or shine to make the trek to London Olympia and preview the trends, scoping out all the best bargains for our main trip in June.

The best tactic for tackling the show is walking round once soaking it in, the maps are free so I make use of mine circling favoured brands and stalls.  I always end up coming back later so I don’t get weighed down with goodies before it’s time to leave!  Paced to saviour…

This year my main goal was inspiration, I’m saving my pennies for my upcoming trip to New York so I can’t make any rash purchases no matter how pretty the cushion or how much of a ‘bargain’ that £400 chair is.  Luckily inspiration is free and was a plenty!

I saw a lot of pastels mixed with bright colour pops – wish I’d brought my sunglasses!  Light to medium oaks featured heavily with gold and brass holding up the metallic trend.  Don’t worry concrete lovers, there were big indications that our favourite man-made material is still very much alive and well.  There were a few grey fabric chairs that caught my eye too mostly because they were matte over velvet suggesting trends are moving forward!  The geo-scandi vibes are here to stay too… all good news!

 

I saw a lot of stalls and themes ‘bringing the outside in’… this is basically the act of using garden furniture typically found outside in bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens.  The stunning botanical bedroom room set was my highlight of the show, it basically encapsulates the modern day sleeping beauty.  From terrarium bedside tables, geometric gold accessories to a trellis headboard threaded with ivy, swoon.

 

This year more than ever, I’ve seen micro work spaces!  These cute little corners of rooms have been transformed into desk spaces.  The nook is alive and real and I couldn’t be happier!

Design floors have always been on trend but this years most featured floor was the 3D triangle effect, I’m not falling in love but it does look gorgeous.

All in all my trip was a complete success but I didn’t quite manage to resist not buying anything.  I topped up my pinup girl coaster collection with these two gorgeous new designs.

At £1 each it was only a little treat and didn’t make a dent in the NYC fund!  I also found a top secret bargain buy for Tavia.  We are keeping this one under wraps for now but it will be featured in an upcoming article on Tavia’s botanical bathroom so watch this space!