Ideal Home Show 2014

Thanks to complimentary ticket for the opening weekend of Ideal Home Show 2014, on Friday around lunch time, we were sitting in the train feeling excited and heading to the biggest home show located in Earls Court in London, where we were absorbing the atmosphere and visual information till sun went down. And now I can bring you fresh design news from my favourite two categories: interiors and garden. 

Let's start with the first stand we were attracted by:

Loftcat Home is furniture and home accessory boutique offering not only dining, bedroom and living room furniture but also rustic garden furniture and garden accessories. 

We were wowed by Singer coffee table and beautiful massive dining table, where the touch of polished surface and variety of wood patterns impressed us.

We also enjoyed stands of recreated room designs with a keen eye for detail. It's amazing how much thought designers have put into decoration of individual stands: the placement of small things like slippers under the bed, soap on the sink or kitchen towel hanged from stove handle. 

There were lots of suppliers presenting their products of different range and variety, from modern and luxurious sofas from Oliver Matthews, through amazing outdoor garden buildings from Breeze House (who attended also last year Ideal Home Show), to retro homeware or vintage interior accessories from East2Eden (which we loved the most. It was probably the most popular stand, its business didn't allow us to take any usable or presentable photos). 

From so many suppliers to chose from, we decided to lure you with Woolmark Interiors furniture design. The combination of leather and wool upholstery to recreated vintage style with breath of originality takes you back to old times when men were sitting in armchairs, drinking scotch on rocks and smoking large cigars. Beautiful!

When we finally found our way around and got familiarised with our surrounding full of stands, sellers and buyers, we found a minute to sit down, take a breath, absorb the atmosphere and to realise how huge the place actually is. It's amazing that organisers have had built several real houses in to showcase very different designs appealing to home owners of all age and taste categories. There was a main 'neighbourhood' The Prince's Crescent, which was showcasing three houses with 3 different interior schemes. 
The First house we visited carried name The Baillie-Scott Home. The aim of the design was to turn average family house into a unique space without compromising on practicality and needs of a family. If I can be honest, this house was least appealing to my eyes. There were too many colours, patterns, wallpapers, too much of everything and surprisingly, the overall design seemed to be boring. In conclusion, I wasn't well-impressed by the interior but I was actually able to find some uplifting points, such as some pieces of furniture (cupboard in dining room and one of the bedrooms), table lamps (not the pink shade) and the study room, my favourite room in the house and the only room with some continuity, colour balance and attractive simple design with only one eccentric accessory.

The second house on our list was The Family Home, four-bedroom house with high ceilings, big windows, with inviting interior created by using natural materials. The design was definitely more attractive since there weren't too colourful wallpapers screaming at you from the walls. Designers invested into natural, down-to-earth colours, such as duck egg blue, warm grey, beige or just a spoon of red to make it alive. It felt really homey and cozy and I could imagine a family actually living there; therefore, I'm definitely saving the supplier list of this one for one of my designs. 

One of my favourite houses was the last one of The Prince's Crescent, The Cottage. It really gave you the feeling that you're somewhere in the woods, relaxing by a crackling fire and drinking red wine. Unfortunately, the light inside was too dim and there were too many people, so I couldn't take as many picture as I'd wish. I can only recommend to go to see it yourself.

The last house on our list was the Multi-Generation Home styled by HouseBeautiful. The house was proof of well-balanced cooperation of traditional and modern design under one roof. You could see the hard work and the thorough thought behind the design. I loved almost everything about it. There was also variety of colours but it was rather concentrated on the rule '3 is enough for one room' and those 3 were well chosen and they played together wonderfully. 

The three houses brought to us by The Prince's Crescent were not the only built-in installations at the show, the originality of large installations was emphasised by an extraordinary tree home, designed by multi-awarded world leading luxury tree house and eco-home builders, Blue Forest Luxury Treehouses, in collaboration with John Lewis and Quiet Mark. 
The fully sound-proof tree house is made of Acoustiblock, which is made from 80% organic and recycled materials and offers sound insulation, and the interior is furnished with latest pieces from John Lewis. If you would like to see it/hear it in person, go to Ideal Home show that runs till 30th of March because then the installation will be donated and transported to the Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice.

As I mentioned on the beginning of the post, I promised you news not only from interiors but also about garden design. And the show again fulfilled our expectations in this category and hasn't disappointed us at all. This year was follow-up of annual competition between young green talents of 6 leading colleges. Each college had to follow guidelines based on organic and sustainable principles set by the Prince's Foundation. Every visitor received a token to participate in voting for favourite and the most original garden design. 
We gave our votes to Capel Manor College because of their simple but impressive design with an inner oasis representation in background.

The design is based on geometric shapes and has been created to provide a stimulating and revitalizing retreat away from the demands of urban life.

The garden is based on the rejuvenation of the neglected ruins of Victorian pub, therefore the usage of recycled materials such as old bar or piano.

The theme of the garden is 'opposite attracts', therefore they've split the garden in two shapes: one side is predominately squares and the other is circles.

That's all from my contribution to this year Ideal Home Show. There is still much more to see; therefore, I highly recommend to invest your money into buying tickets and to attend this excellent show which has a lot to offer.