Anything goes
Forget fickle fashions and the latest must-have interiors – this is about you, and your imagination. Indeed, the only rule of home decorating, according to the stylist Selina Lake, is that ‘anything goes’.
Left: filling brightly patterned vases with fresh flowers creates a strong impact. Riight: the chairs were salvaged from a skip and reupholstered in blue leather
Her new book, Bazaar Style, is about rummaging around in secondhand shops, attics and antique stores – and then putting pieces together irrespective of where, or when, they came from. Collectables from the Moroccan souk are combined with French fabrics and vintage English furniture. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t appear in last week’s interiors glossies, only that they have soul, colour and charm – and that together they create a room that reflects your own, individual character.
It’s certainly an antidote to the usual flat-pack furnished home. But it does take time – as the book makes clear, ‘the bazaar look cannot be bought on one shopping trip. It grows organically over the years, with finds gathered from diverse sources.’
Left: the beautiful fine china teapot and cup are used to store sparkling jewellery. Top right: you can’t beat a roll-top bath for glamour – its olive-green undersides highlight the colour in the rug, mirror frame and floorboards. Below right: this lovely old drawer unit is from a junk shop in Norfolk. It has hooks to hang toiletries out of the way and lots of storage space. On top, old perfume bottles and floral pictures enhance the bathroom’s decoration
Not that it matters. After all, these are not the kind of furnishings that go out of fashion. They are effortlessly stylish and timelessly beautiful. Nor must you spend a fortune. You can hunt for bargains on eBay, in flea markets and car-boot sales. Battered old objects can be touched up, shabby fabrics stitched together. In fact, it all adds to their character. These are ‘pieces that have lived long or travelled far’. They come with ‘personality built in’.
But the book is more than just a whimsical manifesto – it works as a practical guide, too, explaining how bazaar style can be employed across the house to make a dazzling, wonderfully atmospheric home.
Left: this airy living space in an Amsterdam house has a North African feel, with floor cushions and tables from Morocco. Right: wooden garden furniture is given a bazaar feel with bright throws from India and chunky cushions in stripy fabrics
Bazaar Style: Decorating With Market And Vintage Finds, by Selina Lake and Joanna Simmons, with photography by Debi Treloar (Ryland, Peters & Small, £14.99). Readers of The Lady can buy a copy for £12.99 (including UK P&P). Call 01256- 302699, quoting reference GLR 7ZJ.
Left: filling brightly patterned vases with fresh flowers creates a strong impact. Riight: the chairs were salvaged from a skip and reupholstered in blue leatherHer new book, Bazaar Style, is about rummaging around in secondhand shops, attics and antique stores – and then putting pieces together irrespective of where, or when, they came from. Collectables from the Moroccan souk are combined with French fabrics and vintage English furniture. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t appear in last week’s interiors glossies, only that they have soul, colour and charm – and that together they create a room that reflects your own, individual character.
It’s certainly an antidote to the usual flat-pack furnished home. But it does take time – as the book makes clear, ‘the bazaar look cannot be bought on one shopping trip. It grows organically over the years, with finds gathered from diverse sources.’
Left: the beautiful fine china teapot and cup are used to store sparkling jewellery. Top right: you can’t beat a roll-top bath for glamour – its olive-green undersides highlight the colour in the rug, mirror frame and floorboards. Below right: this lovely old drawer unit is from a junk shop in Norfolk. It has hooks to hang toiletries out of the way and lots of storage space. On top, old perfume bottles and floral pictures enhance the bathroom’s decorationNot that it matters. After all, these are not the kind of furnishings that go out of fashion. They are effortlessly stylish and timelessly beautiful. Nor must you spend a fortune. You can hunt for bargains on eBay, in flea markets and car-boot sales. Battered old objects can be touched up, shabby fabrics stitched together. In fact, it all adds to their character. These are ‘pieces that have lived long or travelled far’. They come with ‘personality built in’.
But the book is more than just a whimsical manifesto – it works as a practical guide, too, explaining how bazaar style can be employed across the house to make a dazzling, wonderfully atmospheric home.
Left: this airy living space in an Amsterdam house has a North African feel, with floor cushions and tables from Morocco. Right: wooden garden furniture is given a bazaar feel with bright throws from India and chunky cushions in stripy fabrics Bazaar Style: Decorating With Market And Vintage Finds, by Selina Lake and Joanna Simmons, with photography by Debi Treloar (Ryland, Peters & Small, £14.99). Readers of The Lady can buy a copy for £12.99 (including UK P&P). Call 01256- 302699, quoting reference GLR 7ZJ.