Making the most of your Roof Terrace

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Alexander Francis

Turn your roof terrace into an outdoor living room. Creating a comfortable space for all seasons which invites you to lounge in style.

Use materials both indoors and out; if you use a granite kitchen surface think about following this material out with a granite topped table. Similarly use various shades of the same colour palette in both spaces, changing your furniture accessories to suit the trends. You need to visualise your outdoor terrace as if it was an indoor space.

Images sourced from home design decor.

Strategically placed mirrors on walls and cupboards or shelves create an indoor feel and make the space both stylish and comfortable.

Use seasonal flowers in pots to dress your outdoor dining table and to change the colour scheme of the space throughout the year.

You can even think of your terrace as a secluded garden, and pick plants that will grow vertically to create that hidden away secret garden space. Choose plants that can be pruned so that they can be made to fit your space, try climbers such as, Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’. Or pick potted plants that can endure harsh weather such as ‘Armeria maritima’ Splenders, they flower over a long period of time and are suitable for windy locations.

Modernise your terrace with outdoor sculptures, inviting the eye becoming even more aesthetically pleasing. Be it a colourful potted plant or an interesting sculpture you are rewarded at every turn.

This lovely sculpture is something you can all try and it brings an essence of your indoors home and style out onto your terrace.

Make sure that you have comfortable and stylish furniture to match the theme of your home, if it’s a contemporary finish go for some modern furniture that still reflects the natural feel of the outdoors.

Perhaps choose darker coloured furniture for that contemporary finish and match it with vibrant flowers and cushions. Make sure that the furniture is all weather proof and that the cushions are splash proof, so that you don’t have to worry about it going mouldy and having to replace it every year. Something like our Sicilia Sofa Set for those comfy evenings or even a Dining Set for your al fresco dining when entertaining friends!

How to be inspired for Spring Cleaning – the Sicilian way!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Alexander Francis

Spring is upon us – March has arrived! What are your plans for Spring?

In Sicily, Spring is a sight to treasure, the Sicilians have but one word to describe it, bedda – beautiful.

High pastures run to pink and purple clover, yellow mustard, blue flax, bursts of blood-red poppies all encompassing and surrounding you wherever you turn. Almond trees bloom in the valleys and the scent of orange blossoms fills the air. The beaches are calm and serene, warm enough to dip into the blue Ionian Sea and start on a suntan.Photo from A Taste of Travel

Feel inspired by the ethereal nature of the Sicilian landscape? You can take inspiration from the colours for your interiors and ideas for your planting for the exteriors.

Spring is also the best time for clearing, many attack that needed spring clean when March comes round.

For most of us this means getting organised at home, looking through unidentified boxes in the garage, and taking clothes we no longer need to the charity shops. If you take photos before you start clearing you will feel so much more inspired half way through, and it will feel rewarding when you have finally finished!

When you’re deciding on what to keep and what to get rid of, keep some basic rules in mind.

1. Do I need it?

2. Have I used it all year?

3. Does it fit?

Once the indoors is more organised you might think about the outside – your garden for instance. Are there weeds and leaves everywhere? Could it do with a new look and a dash of colour?

Maybe change the cushions on your garden furniture and create a nice centerpiece for your table. It’s not too late to place a bird box in your garden or to plant new flowers for summer.

Keep your dream location in mind when cleaning and giving your home a new lease of life, this will not only inspire you and spur you on but will also make you feel happy when you get to experience the delights of Sicily in your own home.

Tangerine Tango as Pantone’s colour of the year 2012

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Alexander Francis

Around this time every year the colour experts reveal their new colour trends and Pantone have announced their new colour of the year, Tangerine Tango.

Tangerine Tango, a vibrant reddish orange, provides us with that liveliness and bright approach to 2012.

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

If you feel a little scared of being so bold, it is very easy to just add vibrant touches or tangerine with cushions, vases, flowers, or even orange tableware. Like pictured here at our Tuscany Sofa and Armchair Set

Tangerine can work beautifully with aqua, taupe, green and grey. Don’t be afraid to use it boldly if you want some energy in your home, try a lovely tangerine painted wall, or some vibrant curtains.

Colours to look out for and think about applying to your interiors that match the bright Tangerine are: French Roast, Honey Gold, Ultramarine Green, Titanium and Rose Smoke. Have a read of Pantone’s Colour Report for 2012 for more info.

Alexander Francis Finding Inspiration on Pinterest

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Alexander Francis

We’ve recently joined Pinterest, and we love it!

Pinning all of our daily inspirations, our dream home images, photos from our lovely customers to gardening ideas.

We’d love you to take part and repin our images – but also if you are a customer feel free to add to our Customer Photos Board.

These are some of the images that we love at the moment. Bright, fun and inspiring colours and ideas!

With lots of beautiful photos, garden inspirations, colour trend examples and customer photos there is plenty to keep you pinning for more.

AF Furniture Photoshoot

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Alexander Francis

It was time for a new photo-shoot and a launch of our new range. So this weekend we got all our gear together, delivered our new furniture, made a pack lunch for us all and spent all day taking lovely photos.

We won’t share any of the new range with you just yet, but we have some little snippets of what the space was like and all the lovely colours that surrounded us.

New photos and our new beautiful range will be loaded soon!

How to create the perfect Al Fresco Dining Experience in 5 simple tips

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Alexander Francis

Are you looking to design an outdoor dining space this year? It’s all the range. If you haven’t got a garden, then don’t worry it is still possible. Have a roof terrace or a veranda?

Here are some things for you to try:

1. You can grow your own herbs on a wall mounted herb garden, this saves space for your dining table and chairs but also creates a lovely display.

Source: Casa Sugar

2. Perhaps place an outdoor mirror on the wall facing outwards to create an illusion of space and a focal point for your seating area.

Source: Apartment Therapy

3. A chandelier above the table becomes a lovely centre piece and brings the indoors out.

Or you could even make your own chandelier for a more contemporary finish. Like this one made from jars.

4. Choose your furniture wisely. How big is your space? How many chairs can you fit on your terrace? Do you want it to be a romantic experience or an area where you can entertain your friends and family. For a contemporary finish paint a show stopping wall that will create a feel of an indoor space.

This dining set is from our Sicilia Range and has a great storage area in the centre of the table, perfect for cooling your bottle of champagne!

5. Candles and lighting create a great atmosphere for a romantic evening. Perhaps add a little table feature for Valentines Day. If you’re not a fan of red, go for a classic white decor or for purple flowers.

Happy Dining!

Spring Fair 2012 Inspirations

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Alexander Francis

We thought we would share some of our favourite Spring Fair photos with you as well as what we loved and what we would buy…

So many of the stands had lovely displays, very imaginative and inspiring.

This is a great idea as wallpaper – use newspaper – why not?!

Equally the displays before every Hall where also very engaging and innovative.

Things we like…

We love these coca cola trunk boxes.

We think these lights are fab! We’re loving the industrial feel this year – especially as we’re thinking about styling our new studios in this style.

This hanging metal frame, that looks like a bed frame, is a brilliant idea for pegging images and inspiration up on your wall. Also, the cactus’s are a little garden delight in this bowl – perfect for adding a touch of green without having to care for it much. And notice how the light is illuminating this little habitat.

We’re also looking for some new exciting storage solutions and we loved this cabinet. Could be used as pigeonholes for all the staff!

This is a lovely design too, the drawers pull out as if they were suitcases!

These vibrant vases are a great colourful display that depict the scratch colour palette as explained in our post on colour trends.

That’s all from us and what we loved at Spring Fair if you visited and would like to share your thoughts and inspirations we would love to hear from you.

Spring Fair at the NEC and WGSN 2012/13 Trends

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Alexander Francis

The team at Alexander Francis drove up to the NEC on Sunday to visit the Spring Fair. Feeling apprehensive about the snow but excited about our ventures and what we may find, we arrived in time good for the Home Trends – Winter 2012/2013 Seminar. Though we felt absolutely shattered by the end of the day (after approximately 4 hours of walking), we were excited over all of our photos and conversations with traders and designers.

Here we are now, back at the office and wanting to share our notes from our first seminar with you.

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The WGSN Trends 2012/13 Interiors inspiration and colour

Ali Morris from WGSN revealed their three trends for 2012/13 examples of which could be seen at The Trend Bar and the Trend Box.

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1. Radical Neutrality

Looking at how you can balance a radical but yet neutral attitude; an attitude that involves dedication and focus to achieve something that is perfect in moderation and within reason. This trend is subtle and clever, clean harmonious.
Less is more. Using materials that are perfect for each design, silent and trustworthy. Textures are soft and smooth and inviting to the touch.

Colour-blocking techniques rendered in paint, veneer, glass, plastic, resin, wool or suede. Radical neutrality is the new minimalism.

Sourced from Moco loco. Kopiad – a Swedish Company called Box it Design.

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2. Hyperculture

In this new age which we live in we are surrounded by multicultural happenings, issues, relations, no culture stands alone. Cultures are based on nationality or ethnicity, religion or belief, sports or music, youth or age and within this cultural understanding is vast and complex.

Innovative pattern, with motifs made up of elements of north, south, east and west, all in vibrant juxtapositions. Patterns become mixed up and become a rather radical mix of historical and modern, think manner mansion with website brand logos. Street art becomes intermingled with classical fine art. This clashing of cultures, layering of design is playful, vibrant and provocative.

Synthetics are mixed with naturals. Soft and hard materials are associated in innovative new ways.

Hyperculture mixes multiple cultures, times and techniques in endlessly inspiring combinations.

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3. Eco-hedonism

We are always striving towards becoming more sustainable and ecological, though this is more a necessity now than a choice. Everything must be created with the greater ecological good in mind. This trend focuses on the natural beauty of nature and what can be created and appreciated when natural materials are involved. Highlighting the integrity and spirit that comes with raw materials.

Think of rough-hewn stone and wood, hand-wrought metals, minerals and natural fibres. Organic shapes that are directly inspired from nature. Weathered qualities and reclaimed materials, with particularly tactile textures.

Patterns are delicate and refined and appear to have been created by the weather: sun, rain, fog, ice and snow seem to have worn or created motifs into and onto materials.

Eco-hedonism expresses the nature of the seasons, and the beauty that lies outdoors.

Photos Sourced from the Trend Bar, Hall 6

Updating your garden for 2012′s latest lifestyle trends

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Alexander Francis

This year many of us are feeling the cuts and partly for this reason, as well as the fact that we are trying to do our best for the environment, many are leaning towards growing their own vegetables, collecting rain water and thinking carefully about which plants attract birds and butterflies. We are slowly edging towards a greener lifestyle. And so what better way to promote this further than by updating your garden to match this new way of living.

Rethink the structure of your garden, what do you want to achieve? More butterflies? Plant some colourful and fragrant flowers. More birds? Add some berry plants and a lovely bird box that can become a feature in your garden.You can try something like this lovely bird box chandelier, which not only becomes a great feature but also brings the interior of your home out – a key trend this season.

The National Wildlife Federation have a lovely ‘how to’ page on their website so that you can make your own.

On trend this year is adding ornamental trees or shrubs with foliage and colourful blooms to create a lovely focal point for your garden. Look at trees such as Japanese maple, dwarf Korean lilac, or even a weeping cherry tree work well planted among annuals and perennials within a large container.

This pot is alive with colour and texture from flowers to foliage with lovely daisies creating height and becoming the bright focal point.

A. Gerbera daisy (‘Festival Orange’)
B. Creeping Jenny
C. Verbena ‘Superbena Burgundy’

The photo of the lovely rose tree pictures a rattan planter that matches our furniture sets. This is perfect for that modern touch matched with an ornamental tree. Depending on your colour palette you can choose specific flowers to match. So if you were going for the Vanity Palette for example, you would go for pink roses.

If you don’t have a garden or want to create a little haven in your home this is a brilliant idea. We’ve already seen top interior designers feature these as well as noticing them at trade shows.

These jars are a brilliant idea and something everyone can do. You can even add dry vibrant flowers to match your cushions and to add a sense of this year’s colour trends.

Highlights of INTERIORS UK

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Alexander Francis

Below are just a few highlights of our visit to INTERIORS UK – the things that caught our eye and that inspired us.

This caught our eye with its natural palette of greens and browns.

These gorgeous little treats caught our eye almost more than the product did!

We loved the fake bookcase and the hunter’s lodge feel to this set up of The Original Book Works Ltd.

The Design Village, the creative hub of Interiors, was one of the best parts of the show, with lots of new and exciting talent.

Peter Bullock’s shoes were a success with many having their shoes reworked and accesorised.

We had a little chat with these guys called JAILmake who create lovely innovative designs and products that interact with and shape different environments.