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)

Brunch bunch

It was such a lovely day today and having no particular agenda for the day, I decided to take breakfast (well brunch by the time I get up and about) out on the terrace.

It was a good excuse to use this pretty egg cup I found at a local charity sale. Sue Ryder sale days are legendary in this area and over the years I have found many treasures there. You need to arrive early but there's always many a bargain to be had. On this occasion I went home with a few earthenware bottles for shoots, and some vintage haberdashery. Next time I'm on the lookout for props for a dining room shoot.

Flickr Fave

changeable table herbarium, a photo by pilli pilli on Flickr.

Sunny spring flowers and they just happen to be Ranunculus. And don't you know I just happen to have a major crush on Ranunculus. So sweet!

Vintage - A rose by any other name

Another contender for my favourite flower, or my favourite rose at least, is this beautiful rose called Amnesia. Its dusky antique pink is such a perfect colour for vintage style weddings. It works really well with the antique laces, and bridesmaid dresses in mocha and chocolate that have been popular with some of our brides at Ashley Blooms.

Sweet Avalanche, above, is also a personal favourite. Its a beautiful large headed rose, with a lovely shape and delicate blush pink hue. This shot doesn't really capture just how lovely they are so will try to get a better snap on here sometime soon.

And lastly Blue Curiosa. This large headed rose has blue tones that would work really well with purples. It opens quite quickly, with centres reminiscent of garden roses and not dissimilar to the David Austin roses that have been so popular over the last few years.

Before becoming a florist I wasn't really struck on roses, but nowadays I love them more and more, with waxflower, eucalyptus, hydrangea or just on their own.

Spring blooms and blossoms

Spring has definitely sprung, and new signs of life are springing up everywhere. I went for a walk along the river at Sonning and snapped some lovely blossom.

We have had Hyacinths in the shop at work for a while, their heady scent just reeks of spring.

I snapped these snowdrops whilst visiting friends in the Peak district. They are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Must be like being on holiday every day.

Picnic lunch alfresco

Now that the weather is picking up I am looking forward to lunching alfresco. On a sunny day it really is one of life's little pleasures to take time out from busy routines and snaffle a few home made sarnies sprawled out on the grass.

If the sun shines for long enough I might even risk a little dip in the water! These shots were from a BBC Homes and Antiques shoot by the riverside in Henley with Charis White. I styled the hamper and braved the cold (it wasn't as warm as it looks) to pose in the last shot!

Pretty potting shed

I'm longing for a garden of my own. If I had a little potting shed as pretty as this I could happily while away many an afternoon nurturing seedlings, and pootling about. This gorgeous garden house, styled by Charis White for BBC Homes & Antiques, is far too lovely to be called a shed. Bedecked with breezy swallow print curtains using Up in the Air from Vanessa Arbuthnott's Sky collection.  The chest of drawers was covered in fabric too by local company, Kitsch-en-sync. Purty!

Bright and breezy

I'm so glad the mornings are getting lighter. Its wonderful to wake up to bright sunny rays streaming through the windows. Have decided I am definitely not a winter person.

You couldn't fail to wake up in a good mood with this perky decor though, shot with Katrin Cargill for Homes and Gardens last year. The stripey papered ceiling and bed canopies give a real quirky spin to classic reds and whites.

Love letters

I have developed a bit of a thing for post boxes lately. Like red london buses, and old phone boxes they seem seem so quaint and make me all nostalgic for times gone by. Some of these boxes still take pride of place in neat village greens while others are swamped in the undergrowth and look rather sad and neglected.

Upstairs downstairs

How beautiful is this staircase? I love spiral shapes whether they're natural or man made and often find myself doodling spirals.

This is a fabulous floor isn't it? Both gorgeous features were discovered on a trip to Greenwich for a shoot at the National Maritime Museum.

The Linen Works shoot at a Suffolk Longhouse

This week I've been over in Suffolk working on a shoot with stylist Abi Bourra and Photographer Sean Myers for The Linen Works. The Location was utterly charming, full of cute nooks and crannies. As well as the main house there were lots of little outhouses to explore. See more pics of this and other location houses here: Oak Management. When the work was all over I could have happily stayed put.