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| Picture copyright Kate Jacobs |
All change please! A bit of a new look seems to have emerged in the Interiors Nut household recently. It's not a departure from the recent prevalence of raw, authentic materials - it's something that builds on that. It's an aesthetic that's been bubbling under with me for a year or two, and I've been slowly accumulating things that were a little bit different to what had gone before. Less elegant, more humble. Now, it has burst into life (on my sideboard!) and I am completely inspired.
It came as a bit of a shock when I realised it was a 'country' look. For so long now anything of this style has been... not even unmentionable - just completely and utterly off the radar - hardly thought of since Mums were doing it back in the Eighties. But for me it's suddenly very comforting and - when there's lots of green and greenery involved - fresh and summery. There is a mix going on: firstly there are genuine, older country-style pieces, like the hen-shaped egg holder, the bone-handled knives and the stoneware jar, as well as lots of Seventies pieces with a country / crafts vibe.
I still like yellow but, a few weeks ago it was as though a switch went off in my head and I know longer felt all inspired when I saw fizzing bright yellows. Now give me green. Cooling, relaxing, leafy, grassy greens, lots of shades together, as in the roadside verges that look as great as any herbaceous border at this time of year. I like to see these greens with amber colours; wood or pottery mostly, earthy beiges and a dash of white to make the whole thing look crisp. Although I still like glass, stone and metal things, I think pottery and wood fit best with this 'Good Life' aesthetic. Suddenly, after an era of liking smooth, graceful ceramics, they can't be too rustic for me, with chunky earthenware pots floating my boat - pieces dripping with thick glazes of amber and bottle green. Pattern-wise I'm completely smitten with botanicals (like the botanical prints hanging on the wall here), as well as the circular, medallion or stylised flower type motifs that crop up several times in my picture. I'm finding myself much more drawn to the unsung aspects of nature; from garden weeds (which scrub up quite well in late May), right down to lichen and moss. I'll be exploring all of these ideas in more details in coming posts. But for now I'm just enjoying being out in the country, in my London kitchen.
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| Picture copyright Kate Jacobs |
