Budding trends

With the onset of Spring and the first Spring buds in sight, current interior trends have taken inspiration from nature. There's currently a huge selection of floral designs available on the high street and these are the perfect 'pick me up' for banishing those winter blues.

If you're not convinced by floral accessories, why not go for the real thing and cheer up any room with an indulgent bouquet of flowers in a simple vase.

1. Daborn armchair, Habitat £480 2. Silhouette Rug, The Rug Company
 3. Wedgewood Cuckoo teacup & saucer, £32.50 4.  Charlottenberg Chartreuse
cushion, Designers Guild £70 5. Mariedal Peony cushion, Designers Guild £65

Inspired by...

Although I find Spring is generally a time of inspiration and of looking forward to brighter times, I have lately been joining many other stylists in looking backwards to the past for style influences. I consider myself very lucky to have spent several years living in a georgian flat in the World Heritage city of Bath, with its dramatic full-length sash windows, elegant wrought iron balconies and a beautiful Art Deco marble fire place. 

Embracing the Georgian style does not, however, mean that you need to turn your home into a museum and have National Trust members trampling through your front room! There are still many design elements from this period filtering through into current design trends and, as with any style, you can adapt and translate to suit your own style/home.

The Georgian style (1714-1837) spans a century under the reign of three Georges and is often divided into the Palladian, early and late Georgian periods. As the century progressed, the style became lighter in terms of colours and decoration and eventually became known as the Regency style.

Georgians developed an interest in fashion and interiors as print books containing designs and architectural models were becoming available to the public for the first time. In terms of colour, early Georgian colour schemes include burgundy, sage green and blue grey but, as the style developed, they became lighter and included pea green, sky or Wedgwood blue, soft grey, dusky pink and a flat white or stone. Many of today's leading paint manufacturers such as Farrow & Ball now produce historic colours directly inspired from the past.

Graham & Green are currently working the Georgian trend 

with beautiful results. Black Fayence book case £1,250,

Porthole convex mirror, £75 and Classic Print, £35

 The image above shows a recent Georgian inspired makeover using current buys from the high street, including the dramatic ‘Off-Black’ wall colour from Farrow & Ball and wood materials from any good DIY or timber merchants.