abigail ahern

I was in London yesterday, whiling away the time whilst my eldest daughter was singing in a concert. Heading to the Tottenham Court Road, I visited Heals, a fantastic furniture emporium which I have not been to for at least a decade. A lifetime ago when I lived in London and was furnishing my first apartment,, it was THE place to get your cool, edgy statement pieces. Happily, it is still just as cutting edge in design as I remember.

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The first thing I saw on entering was Abigail Ahern‘s flower shop. These are the most realistic blooms and plants I have even seen. The cactus’ especially intrigued my youngest daughter who was with me. She could not believe they were not real and kept stroking them, with no spines and spikes to hurt her little hands.

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You can order these on-line if you cannot get to London from her on-line shop, and I guarantee they are worth getting. They are amazing, and you would probably end up watering them by mistake.

We then headed into the shop where I was assailed by the most beautiful lights, they are like huge teardrops in hand blown glass.

There are well priced selection of wall lights.

Then on to the scented candles to smell some delicious scents, and where the Tom Dixon candles are sublime, if not unbelievably pricey. 543205 Every item is chosen carefully to represent the best in design in Heals. This new cinema chair is very sweet too…

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And I feel that the Pinner bed would look great in my spare room. Like a modernist colonial upgrade.

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This is tableware called ‘Ink’. Each blue and white motif evokes classic Delftware porcelain and 1950s Midwinter ceramics.

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I recommend a visit to anyone who loves interiors when in London. And if not, the website is well designed and ships internationally. A final swoon over Abigail Ahern flowers designed into a huge hanging beast of beauty….

As I have been cooking, eating, drinking… and then cooking, eating and drinking some more over the last week, I have not had much time for any interiors dabbling. Not that it is a bad thing, in fact it made me sit back and look at the house with a visitors eye. I saw things I liked, and some things that could be improved. Therefore I have decided that this coming year the following things must be done, (and it will be interesting to look back and see if I actually made them happen in 12 months time via the blog).

1. Get on with the kitchen extension

I have had plans drawn to create a huge new kitchen from a tatty old outside decking area and to tweak existing rooms into a new laundry, wet room and study. The plans have been sent to the council for approval, and already have been sent back with a query and a demand that the planning gets upgraded to a more expensive version, (for their benefit not mine)! I am going over permitted development scales, so have to pay far more money for my extra 1.5 metres that I would like.

So I need the plans tweaked, a hefty fee attached and then hopefully I will get the go-ahead in 6-8 weeks time. If this happen, then realistically the build will not start until at least Easter. I have learnt to be really patient on this whole plan, and am a bit ‘Que Sera, Sera’ about it. Until I am actually standing in the new kitchen I am refusing to believe it will finally happen.

This is how I want it to be; rough luxe, industrial, mega-high ceilings and light.