Vintage Blooms

Want to create a vintage feel for your big day, or for a little corner at home?  I shall be hosting a workshop with We Make London called Vintage Blooms and Buttonholes at The Oak Studio in Hampstead on Wednesday 6th July, 2.30 - 4.30pm.

I'll be demonstrating how to create a vintage style arrangement using some of the new vintage roses in teacups and teapots, which as well as looking fab on your kitchen or dressing table, would make great budget wedding table centres.

I will also be covering how to make a buttonhole fit for the occasion of your choice or just for lolling around in elegant splendour.  You can book online here.  Please do come along and join in the fun.

I don't know about you but I love vintage - be it fashion, furniture or flowers.  And I'm not alone, the trend for vintage has definitely gained momentum over the last few years.

In the shop we have seen more enquiries for vintage themed weddings. Brides seem to be moving away from formal handties of head to head roses and favouring a more wild, english country garden feel for their flowers, and incorporating vintage tea sets and cake stands, accessories like birdcages and books, and elegant vintage or vintage inspired dresses.

Beautiful blousey David Austen roses and dusky antique tones epitomise the vintage look, but with roses available in so many shades and shapes, combined with different blooms and foliage, there are endless ways to create a vintage feel.  

Vintage Tins

Playing around with ideas for quirky containers to arrange flowers in, I dug out some old english food tins I'd stashed away for safe keeping. Knew they'd come in handy some time! 

Peaches & Cream

We have more beautiful Roses in the shop this week.  Continuing my love affair with the Rose, I was absolutely smitten when this new variety arrived.  It is the softest shade of peach, with hints of green in the outer guard petals. I like using it in bouquets with limey green Viburnum and berries, or rich russety   Hypericum, Lilies or Alstromeria to add depth and warmth.    

Peach Avalanche shares the same gorgeous fullness as its sisters Avalanche (the original - creamy white with hints of green) and Sweet Avalanche (softest blush pink), and has the most wondrous spirals that make me want to just sit and contemplate them in dreamy reverie. Ahh I'm such a romantic!

Below is another rose which is great for weddings. Artemis is a creamy, buttery shade that works really with lots of different combinations. With ivory, buttercream, or dresses with a hint of gold, with lemons, blues, creams, to add warmth, with stronger golden honey shades. It has a neat medium sized head, so is a great size for buttonholes too. An unassuming little rose, that shouldn't be overlooked.

Village Fete - Wedding Flowers

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending a Village Fete themed wedding in the beautiful village of Duncton in West Sussex.

I was honoured to be asked to arrange the flowers and in keeping with the informal theme I filled jam jars with sweet peas, cornflowers, love in the mist, astrantia, stocks and ranunculus.

To complement the hand made bunting strung around the venue, I used the same fabric as a centrepiece, wrapped some around jars, and ever resourceful, used scraps to make mini bunting for others.

The bouquets were a mixture of Sweet Avalanche and a new rose to me, Miss Piggy which is a vibrant pink with an orange hue that perfectly matched the Bridesmaids dresses. These were all set off with Hydrangea, Ranunculus and Astrantia, and wrapped in bowed Aspidistra leaves.

The happy couple, with the groom rather taken with a Bridesmaids bouquet! (For some reason this brings to mind Blackadder's Baldrick in a dress - think it could be the beard!!)

After a beautiful ceremony set against the backdrop of the South Downs, the wedding party were treated to maypole dancing, croquet on the lawn, a cocount shy, and a tombola before feasting on cup cakes and french fancies. A perfect afternoon and a perfect couple.

Mid Century Design and the 1950's Living Room

This year is the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain. Over the next four months the Southbank Centre is hosting a whole series of events to commemorate the festival and celebrate British culture.

As part of the activities Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway put together a Museum of 1951 in the Royal Festival Hall and commissioned BBC Homes and Antiques Interiors Stylist Kiera Buckley-Jones to create a Fifties room set as part of the exhibition. I was asked along to assist and jumped at the chance because I'm a big fan of fifties fashion and furniture.

Below are some pics of the room we created, which features fabulous iconic Mid Century Design including a swoonsome Ercol sofa and nest of tables, vibrant Lucienne Day and Sanderson printed fabrics, and an Ernest Race armchair.

(last 3 images by Sean Myers for BBC Homes and Antiques)
Mid Century Design is highly sought after at the moment and this exhibition provides not only inspiration for those looking to incorporate some elements of the Fifties style into their homes, but is also a good starting point for researching the social changes and technological advances that brought about a revolution in design.

For more details of the items sourced for the room set, and better pics follow this link www.homesandantiques.com

The exhibition runs all summer and is free to boot, so do make a point of getting yourself down to the Southbank Centre. Visit the website for a full list of all the events taking place as part of the Festival of Britain. (Personally I am looking forward to all the Vintage happenings, Ray Davies Meltdown and a whole weekend of events curated by the marvelous Stewart Lee)