The walk to and from the park is infinitely fascinating for me - I just love peering into all those tiny front gardens. Pink Agapanthus caught my eye - they are a staple in South African gardens, but I’ve only ever seen them in blue or white. Loved this pink morning glory growing on a fence too.

On our way to Bishops Park we pass the local tennis courts which are always buzzing with activity. As you can see, the late September weather was just gorgeous. I was amused to see this very serious tennis clinic in full swing on for teeny tiny tots - British parents wouldn’t dream of sending their offspring out into the world without a handy game of tennis in their quiver!!

I am dying for a little flat in one of these mansion blocks overlooking Bishop’s Park - (Deepak says you have to identify your dreams to achieve them!) I want one!!

The English roses seemed to be loving the Indian Summer too!!

After walkies its brekkie at Tinto’s on Fulham Palace Road - an ethical coffee shop I am told! http://tintocoffee.com/

Divine cappuccino and healthy eats - dog friendly too!

My daughter and I are decorating her house in Parsons Green together. Its so much fun having her as a sort of client - she has her own a very distinctive colour palette - vibrant, fun and youthful. We painted her sitting room in the new Farrow and Ball ‘Brassica’ - very brave I thought at the time, but it turned out really nicely.

I just love the curtains in the Mulberry Ikat stripe and the Canovas tapestry on the ottoman pulls it all together. Fun side tables from Andrew Martin - I must use those again - very chic.

The sit-in part of the kitchen is looking really fun and layered now. My Samode fabric works so well on her windows and I brought over the Indian throw as a pressie to save the sofa from dog damage. Just got it for a song on One Kings Lane - how did I ever exist without that resource?? Ikat lampshade we picked up at the new Anthropologie in Kings Road on my last visit.

We are still looking for a small dining table for the end of her sitting room, so first stop of our day we dropped in on Lots Road Auction House- http://www.lotsroad.com/About_Us.asp to see if they had anything we liked. This was a good candidate but we ended up choosing something from The French House, our old favourite.

Lots Road Auction House is on the way to the Chelsea Harbor Design Centre, you should pop in if you have the time, its fascinating the treasures, and ghastly junk,  you can find there.

I drooled a while over this old textile with hand block pieces held together with Kente cloth strips, but time to move on...

I wanted to check out the new home of the General Trading Company- http://www.generaltradingcompany.co.uk/Home since it moved away from Sloane Street.

The GTC is the mother ship of every Sloane Ranger - (they’re kind of yummy mummy’s from the right side of the English tracks.) GTC stocks home goods, ethnic stuff, kitchenware, gifts and jewelry - terribly well bred staff!!

I took a fancy to this unusual green necklace in the window

Lunch round the corner at our fave spot for salade Nicoise, La Brasserie - http://www.labrasserielondon.com/ , with all the tanned Euro businessmen and the face lift ladies with huge Chanel handbags -  Best lunch ever!

Quick wander down Walton Street to see what was going on there. Just love this fellow watching the goings on from his post.

The Chelsea Textiles shop windows are always very glam and serene.http://www.chelseatextiles.com/uk/furniture.html

Time to start catching some of the shows - first stop 100% Design.

I’ve done 100% Design  for a couple of years now, used to be really out there, but I found it a little blah this time.

The really innovative young designers have quit and gone to Tent as 100% becomes more mainstream. I find it so interesting how the trickle down in the design world works. We will all be seeing the themes that the 20 year olds are embracing emerging in mainstream design in a couple of years time. I love to try to be ahead of the curve!

As usual there was lots of brave colour - fun outside furniture..

Loved this chair/hatstand below-

Adorable!

And a large helping of Yuck!!

The Russians were there in full force - proudly demonstrated the LED lights in these

chairs - nasty!

And this gold plated Russian designed kitchen just finished me off - I suppose there must be a market for it.....

On the other hand, this concrete kitchen was a show stopper!! Everything is fabricated out of this gorgeous smooth concrete and the drawers just roll out like a dream.

I spotted this couple dressed in full on retro gear - I was later to realise that the theme emerging among the young designers is ‘old world, yesteryear’s hearth and home’ theme. Sadly the young are definitely not enamoured with the world we have handed to them!!!

Also  there’s organic/recycle thing is still going strong and then there’s the ultra high tech, luminous rave colours look. Not yet a favourite of mine!

Crocheted faux bois children’s stools, very homely

Super simple children’s rockers

The fabric on the tables in the eating area fascinated me - found the owners later at Tent!

On Saturday I did Tent. http://www.tentlondon.co.uk/  It was held in the Old Truman Brewery, on Brick Lane in East London, most definitely off my usual London beat. I missed a turning and found myself in the London equivalent of Kabul - mini panic ensued, but figured it out - no battery in my iphone for Google maps, I’m sure you’ve all been down this road before!

Brick Lane is the narrowest of little streets, packed with Indian Restaurants and food shops. (And wide-boy cars - check out those rims!)

The confectionery in the food shops comes in the most startling colours!

First thing I spotted was that unusual fabric again - see they won some awards!

This stand caught my eye...

Loved all the colour....

The etherial beauty of these porcelain plates was quite breathtaking...

Game of cricket anyone??

The next day was Decorex - I was desperate to catch Nicky Haslam’s chat with Susan Crewe of British House and Garden. He is a fascinating man, with his own take on life and design. A true individualist.

In celebration of the publication of his biography, Nicky had been invited to decorate the the back entrance to the huge Decorex tent. His exhibit had a under-water theme, Neptune’s lair on acid, very funny!!

When I arrived on opening Sunday, Nicky had installed some little girls in white nightdresses in his stand, and they were squirming in the bedcovers - I love mad people!

The floor of the exhibit was littered with thousands of oyster shells, and the coping around the top of the walls was made of twisted bubble wrap - crazy genius! He talked about using every-day materials to create glamorous results in his lecture I was rushing to get to.........

When I got there the place was packed, so I joined the people sitting on the floor.... There he is chatting to Susan Crewe about his life’s journey - not what you would expect...http://amzn.to/rrzHyp Here’s the Amazon link to his memoir, Redeeming Features, I just ordered it.

Here he is talking about a party he threw for Diana Vreeland in the sixties - and yes that is him with Andie Warhol! Mick J in the top pic. - what a life!!

When asked “what inspired him?” - he said his eyes, he is always, always looking.

Nicky’s design advice:

- Break the rules

- Break the rules of scale

- Never been afraid, don’t listen to the noise

Love it!!

I love doing Decorex every year because it gives me a chance to chat to the people whose merchandise I use in my own projects. I had a long chat to the charming Nicole Fabre on the Tissus de Helene stand - I have loved her traditional French document fabric for years.

Julian Chichester’s stand is always worth a look and he is such a charmer!!

His new bobble chair was my favourite furniture piece of the whole festival, I have, have, have to get them for my kitchen table - Love!

Gorgeous pink lampshades

Quick hello to Penny Morrison, a fellow ex South African fabric designer, I know, we’re everywhere!! She shared her stand with Carolina Irving, lovely fabrics out of California, nicest lady too!

Here’s Carolina’s latest fabric - it justly won an award. Don’t you love the way she just threw it over a chair!

William Yeoward was charming the people on his stand - his new side tables and stools are tres chic!

Loved the Rug Company’s tent within a tent! They have released a new line of dhurries - great fun!

What is going on with Nina Campbell?- horrible pink wallpaper, dated uninspiring stand, sad!

Andrew Martin’s stand was so so, but I did love the saying on the wall and the new log pile wallpaper is funny!! Would be great in a loo!

Day four and I have to admit that even I am beginning to get a little interior designed out!

I did however love the new fabric in the Zimmer and Rhode window - that painterly effect is my fave thing in fabrics at the moment.

Chunky new lamps at Vaughan - couldn’t live without them....

Found out that Hermes has jumped into the home furnishings space - lets see how that goes.....

Coles amazing new circus wallpaper!

We had a quick lunch in the temporary restaurant set up in the center of Chelsea Harbor Design Center and called it a day -

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