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The design lover’s guide to London

August 15, 2013

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Sponsored by Laminex

abigail ahern
British interior designer Abigail Ahern, who is popular with Australians

I asked leading British interior designer Abigail Ahern to tell me what’s hot in my home city of London for design lovers right now. I’m planning a stop-off at the end of our honeymoon in November, and I can’t wait to check out a few of these new shopping and dining finds!

Columbia Road

In an age of lookalike high streets, Abigail calls East London’s Columbia Road a breath of fresh air. “Every Sunday, a flower market runs down the middle but if you want to explore without the crowds and the celebs, get there after 12 on a Saturday. It’s full of little independent homewares stores like Nelly Duff (for fab prints) and Nom Living (for great tableware) and the vibe is magical.” 

ben southgate columbia road

Petersham Nurseries, Richmond 

Abigail’s “obsessed” with this place. Its restaurant has a Michelin star but without the fuss or snobbery. You dine in a greenhouse, next to another greenhouse selling beautiful homewares, plants and cool garden stuff.

Copyright of Keiko Oikawa www.keikooikawa.com
Copyright of Keiko Oikawa www.keikooikawa.com

Shoreditch shops worth visiting

Squint: for bespoke patchwork furniture.

House of Hackney: newly opened to rave reviews, for homewares, bedding and clothes with a twist.

2 Columbia Road: for amazing vintage pieces.

Atomic Antiques: “Love this guy’s eye. Fab fab vintage lamps and rugs, I am continually there.”

Labour and Wait: Traditional products for the home. “Such a sweet, cool store.”

Labour and Wait
Labour and Wait

SCP: for upholstery, lighting and accessories.

If you are in this area, you have to try and swing your way into the rooftop of Shoreditch House for a swim, cocktail or both, have coffee at The Boundary, Sir Terence Conran’s cafe, restaurant and mini grocery store, and go to Rochelle Canteen.

Central and chain stores

Historic department store Heals
Historic department store Heals

Heals is going through a major revamp stocking mainly British products, from the end of this month. Also check out Habitat, Anthropologie, Zara Home and Debenhams (launching Abigail’s own homewares line from next month).

Liberty top floor: “Amazing!”

Abigail recommends Liberty's top floor
Abigail recommends Liberty’s top floor

The Conran Shop (recently revamped with son Jasper at the helm) and Tricia Guild, both on Marylebone High Street

Inside The Conran Shop
Inside The Conran Shop

Kings Road

Core One Antiques for amazing vintage furniture.

Sigmar for beautifully made classic furniture.

The Shop at Bluebird, a super cool concept store!

Retrouvius and Lassco for super cool vintage. Go on a Saturday and stop at the Maltby food market.

Find vintage treasures at Retrouvias
Find vintage treasures at Retrouvias

Want $10,000 to spend on your own designer destination?

This competition has now closed

Has this post got you yearning to explore London? Or anywhere else really? The Laminex Group is giving away a $10,000 travel voucher to 1 lucky person in its latest promotion – Designer Destinations.

Visit The Laminex Group Australia’s Facebook page and complete a quick 4-question multiple choice quiz to find out which city suits your style: cosmopolitan New York, eclectic Shanghai, historic London or fashion capital Milan. My result was New York, which I’d have to agree with, much as I love the Motherland!

Along with the grand prize of a $10,000 travel voucher, there are also weekly prizes of $250 eftpos cards up for grabs. The promotion runs until 2 October, with a new set of questions each week, meaning you can enter once a week over the promotion period.

To enter the competition and keep up-to-date on design trends from around the world and stylish home living ideas, visit the Facebook page.

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Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into tiled steps 🤕

Oh what a night. Thankfully Hornsby Hospital were as amazing as always and we avoided stitches. All taped and glued  back together and now to keep him calm for the next few days (🤪) and watch for signs of concussion. 

Bravest little patient ever. Yes I've had a 🍷

Funny how we go into super organised mama mode in times like these. Grabbed dinosaurs, textas and scrapbook on the way out in case we had a long wait!
Australian made bathroomware is seriously impressi Australian made bathroomware is seriously impressive!

The new @studio.xox ONLY sells Australian brands. Like @nood_co coloured basins, lead-free eco brass from @faucetstrommen and @lindseywherrett's  ceramic basins made by hand in Tassie.

And as for their Sydney showroom (they also sell online): WOW.

See and read more on the blog now via link in bio.

#interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop
#creatingbeautifulspaces #homestylingdesign
#designbywomen #homestylingtips #sydneycreatives
#homestylingsydney #interiorstyling #interiordesignsydney
#everydaydesign #interiortrends #renovationinspiration
#homedesigninspo #lovemyhome #stylingdetails
#loveinteriors #homeimprovements #interiordesignaustralia
#dreamhomeinspiration #homemakeover #personaldesign
#interiordesignaus #creatingbeautifulspaces
#creativehomes #housestyling #sydneyhomes
#interiorinspiration #myhomedesign
I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new @madeinaustshow in Sydney this August.

🦘🐨Forget every tacky association you ever had about touristy Australian made and prepare to see a showcase of the best of home, lifestyle, fashion and beauty made right here. If the pandemic has made you appreciate buying local even more, this is for you.

It's the first business to business trade event connecting retailers with Australian made products to champion our local makers🙏

Apply to exhibit or find out more at their website, via their bio, now!

Are YOU buying more Australian made post covid?

#madeinaustralia #australianmade #aussiemade #aussiedesign
Do I recommend a timber vanity top? A big fat NOP Do I recommend a timber vanity top?

A big fat NOPE! 💧 

Which is why we have recently covered ours with a Caesarstone top (thanks to @justinplace_sydney for the advice and supply) and the sweet RELIEF of not having to worry about this high traffic area anymore, I'm telling you!🤗

Doesn't matter what they tell you or how many times it's sealed, I'm not sure it's a great idea in a room which is so, well, wet!

I love having the warmth of timber in the bathroom and it's a beautiful piece, but timber on the top? Never again.

Ours probably lasted a year (if that) before it started to go downhill (and we want a good decade out of a bathroom, right?!). 2.5 years on, everything else in this bathroom looks virtually brand new and the water marked vanity top was really letting the side down and making me sad!

But I'm so pleased with this solution, I have to say! Took the plumber less than an hour to remove the sink, install the top and connect the sink back up. We didn't need to move the tap and it isn't too close to the basin.

The kids are allowed to brush their teeth and wash their hands (liquid soap 🥴) in here again and I can leave my hair straightener on there with gay abandon 😆

The reflective surface (which I can clean with whatever I like!💪🏻) brightens the room up too!

Next week I'll tell you what I really think of my brass tile trim too 😉

#interiorsaddictbathroomreno2 #interiorsaddictfamilyhomereno #timbervanity
Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

I think not!

Grab the recipe on the blog this morning via link in bio.
Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

✔️ I'm English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008😆 

✔️ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. 🛁 

✔️ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) 📓 

✔️ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London 🚔 

✔️I had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife 😁

✔️ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK ❤️ 🇬🇧 

✔️ At school, my favourite subject was French 🇫🇷 and I was head girl 🤓🤓

✔️ I'm addicted to ☕️ , long hot baths and💄 (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

✔️ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message 😁

✔️ My favourite cuisine is Japanese 🍣 🍜 and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

✔️ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

✔️ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or🍷 

✔️ Cheesy as it sounds, 💁‍♀️being a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life 🧒👦

✔️ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view 📖 

✔️ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

✔️ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker 😯 🅿️

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better 😘

📸 @vanlowvanlow
Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 @nood_co coloured con Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 

@nood_co coloured concrete basins is a great Aussie business success story. Although co founder Matt Di Costa first found fame as one half of Matt and Kim on The Block, he hasn't relied on this to build his brand.

“We are very honoured to have been a part of The Block, and all they have done for us. I am, however, a believer in letting the product take centre stage,” he says.

Read our interview with Matt via link in bio now.

🙏Share your favourite colour basin in the comments!

#colouredconcrete #noodco #colouredbasin #blockheads #the block #bathroomtrends2022

Pic 1 by @naibudesign_ and 2 by @twostyleinteriors
I'd love to see more colour in Aussie interiors! I'd love to see more colour in Aussie  interiors! 🎨 

At the end of the day though, it's a matter of personal taste. I love pops of colour but it's not for everyone. 

We couldn't resist featuring this Canadian house tour today. The amazing Kelly Green  hutch (swipe) was an upcycled $200 find 🤗

Head over to the blog via link in bio to see the rest including one of the best playrooms we've seen in ages!

Project by @in.house.design
📸 @philcrozier
Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis o Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis on light and nature.

That was the brief for the conversion of a corner shop and a warehouse bakery into a luxury family home in Sydney's Newtown. And how about the library?!

Take the tour of this very special @annacarindesign project on the blog now, via link in bio.

Pic: @justinalexanderphoto
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About Jen Bishop

Jen Bishop is our owner and publisher and an experienced journalist and editor. Interiors Addict has been her full-time job for more than 8 years. She is married to Damian and mum to Sebastian and Charlie.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarEmma - My Bespoke Chair says

    August 15, 2013 at 10:49 am

    Great list – I’m excited just reading this post. I shall bookmark this for when I go home at Christmas. I’ll block 2 days alone in London, ‘sans famille’, and gorge myself on home-wares, interiors and general cool stuff.

    P.S just popping to the Laminex fb page now to win my 10k prize!! 🙂

    • AvatarJen Bishop says

      August 15, 2013 at 10:50 am

      Glad you like it, Emma! I can’t wait to visit some of these places too!

  2. AvatarLouise Waddington says

    August 20, 2013 at 8:52 am

    Hi Jen, I will be keeping this post for the next trip to beautiful London but for now I have an emergency request. I’m off to New York in 2 weeks, do you have a similar list for there? I’ve never been and would appreciate some guidance. Cheers, Lou x

    • AvatarJen Bishop says

      August 20, 2013 at 8:53 am

      I’m actually working on one to publish on September 5th. Is that soon enough?

    • AvatarLouise Waddington says

      August 20, 2013 at 9:32 am

      Fantastic! I’ll be there by then and will check in for your recommendations. Thanks.

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