DECORATING WITH CUSHIONS

Friday 14 August 2015

The first product I ever designed and made for chocolate creative was a cushion. I did it out of need, I wanted some new cushions for my bedroom and living room, and it was an easy medium to try my first pattern designs. Cushions continue to be my favourite products to work on, despite what my mother once said a few years ago. On her first visit to a trade show in London, only after 10 minutes of stepping into the venue, she commented: "Marga, do you think the world needs another cushion" . This phrase has stayed with me ever since, and I often wonder if that is true?? Well, all I can say, is that YES the world needs more cushions, for as along as people continue to buy them, I will continue to make them!!

  

Updating the look of a room can be easily done on budget. Sometimes, all it needs is a new fresh coat of paint, and some new accessories: cushions, lamps, bed linen, wall art, curtains, etc… 

I hope these photos, (most of them of my house, apart from the one of veronica's home, and Liberty store in London), inspire you on how to update your home. My style is very eclectic, I like to mix vintage with new designs. I collect old paintings, and mix them with my own prints. The same goes with the furniture pieces. I tend to change the wall colours now and again. The main bedroom is currently painted in blue, the guest bedroom in white, as well as the rest of the house, with the exemption of the grey corridor and black wall in the living room.

English romantic collection: Red and Blue lake cushions £45 each. 

I recently got a prize from Atmine, it was the gorgeous bed linen from Loaf, that you see in the photos, so I decided to add some new cushions to go with the pink, white and grey bed linen set. I tried several combinations with different designs and patterns. You can see how different a room can look, depending on the wall colour, wall art and cushions you choose.

There is a lot of inspiration out there, in the form of interior magazines, blogs, pinterest, design events, shops, etc…I believe that living in a comfortable, and beautiful space can add quality to your life. Homes are very important, is where we rest and spend time with our families and friends, so why not to make the most of what we have?

There are millions of products and hundreds of shops/designers out there, from a very low budget to the most expensive gorgeous things money can buy, the range is vast, so start making your house a cosy HOME!

Photos by Piero Pierini | Styling by me

CHOCOLATE CREATIVE WINNER OF THE #StyleAtMine COMPETITION AT ATMINE

Thursday 6 August 2015

A while ago I entered a competition over at atmine, for the launch of their new monthly styling challenge called #StyleAtMine. atmine is a social platform, where people like you and I, can share photos of our homes and interiors ideas – I invite you to explore atmine, and become a member.
chocolate creative shop online  | knit knit duvet Room 39 | Small town cushion Roddy & Ginger

In this occasion the theme was "bedroom" so I chose the photo above for my entry. Piero and I took this photo at my house. I live in a very simple and normal house, without any interesting features or nice wooden floors, etc…I have always treated the places where I have lived as a home, even when I was renting a room in a shared house, or even earlier when studying at Uni. My little rooms were always home to me, with small budgets I made them comfortable and cosy. So wining this prize makes me very happy, as it shows that you don't need a big expensive house and loads of money to create a personal and comfortable place where to live, entertain and be happy.
To my surprise I was notified last week that I was the winner of this competition, for someone who has hardly ever won anything, this came as a a very nice surprise, specially as it is my work that has been recognised and valued. Sara from the Me & Orla blog, was asked to pick up a winner, and the prize was a set of "lazy linen" from Loaf.
You can see more about the competition over at atmine blog, explore the inspiring world or Me & Orla and browse Loaf's beautiful range of products at their website.