Blog – Lisa Dawson Interiors

Tropics Arrive in Aylsham!

BY Jane | Published: March 13, 2015

A tropical heatwave has hit the studio this week with the arrival of our new books from Harlequin Fabrics. Amazilia is a new collection, named after the native South American hummingbird and channels the current trend of bringing the outdoors in with bold botanical designs using exotic imagery.

This collection has been 18 months in the making, with initial research by the Harlequin design team at Kew Gardens studying tropical birds and insects and has culminated in beautiful hand painted designs in varying colour palettes. The collection includes both fabrics and wallpapers, is bold and bright and prices start from £46.00 per metre for fabric and £42 per roll of wallpaper.

Tips for Using Amazilia in your home

One of the current trends is to have a statement wall in a room, along with light vibrant curtains.

However, if you feel overwhelmed by the use of this much colour why not pick out a few of your favourites from the collection and have a bed throw, cushions or small piece of upholstered furniture to bring a touch of the tropics without too much change. We don’t always have the luxury of changing our décor regularly so a cushion here and a statement piece of furniture there would enable you to update a scheme without spending a fortune.

This Harlequin range is both bold and inspirational and we think it’s interesting to let you know how collections come to life from conception to execution! The team at Harlequin have worked hard to bring together this collection and they obviously had a lot of fun photographing it for their clients and ultimately you, the customer. If you are interested, click on the link below to see how it was photographed in the sunny South of France! Now, where did I put my cocktail and sunglasses……

Lisa x

Mediterranean Sunshine

BY Jane | Published: July 4, 2014

The weather the last few days has really brought to mind the scorching days and balmy nights we would normally associate with the Mediterranean at this time of year and coupled with a client who was in the studio yesterday wanting to create a Mediterranean feel for her bedroom, I thought it would be a good idea to offer a bit of inspiration on how to create a cool summer look.

Team beautiful blues, evocative of the Mediterranean Sea, with crisp white linen or silk and you are immediately transported to a Greek village set into the cliff side with olive and lemon trees in abundance and white shutters keeping out the midday sun.

The floors are stripped and painted and the wall behind the white wrought iron bed provides the focus with a stunning wallpaper such as Cole & Son Albemarle Coleridge in an eye-catching azure and white design, £85.00 per roll. The other walls are bathed in either a soft white or alternatively Little Greene’s Blue Verditer or Deep Space Blue, both £35.00 for a 2.5l tin of Absolute Matt Emulsion. Hanging at the windows are Clarke & Clarke Lindow in natural, a viscose and linen mix at £18/m, perfect for diffusing the light or alternatively Harlequin’s Plains Five in Nautical £35.00/metre with a white Regal silk trim from James Hare, £41/metre.

So sit on your patio or in your garden this weekend and be transported to your very own Greek island in the sun. Now where did I put the Ouzo?

Lisa x

Spirit, Rhythm and Soul – all new from Scion fabrics

BY Jane | Published: June 27, 2014

If modern tribal designs in a natural palette of rich earthy tones, or fashionable, ultra-modern prints which pay homage to the motifs and colours of the 1970’s are your kind of design, then the new ranges from Scion fabrics are definitely for you. Complemented by plains in bold, bright or neutral shades these new collections are sure to get your design juices flowing!

Want to revamp the downstairs loo, kitchen or utility but can’t decide on a single colour? The new ranges have it all – geometrics, stripes, kinetic brights and on-trend nudes – it will make choosing the bathroom or kitchen accessories a doddle – with so much vibrant colour there will be a wealth of plains to suit and really zing up your colour scheme.

The main picture here shows just how versatile these designs are, mixing zig zags, plains and florals, all with amazing eye-catching effect. Individual fabrics featured include (from left to right, bottom row) Plains Five in Acid £35/m, double width at 275cm; Diva 120277 in Peony/Acid/Sunset – £27/m, 137cm wide; Pivot 131119 in Fuchsia/Pimento – £25/m, 137cm wide; Plains Five in Kingfisher £35/m, double width at 275cm. From top to bottom (right hand side) Groove 120285 in Grape/Lagoon/Shrimp – £27/m, 137cm wide; Plains Six in Cerise £33/m, 137cm wide; Zsa Zsa 120294 in Chilli/Linen/Peony – £31/m, 137cm wide.

All fabrics are available to order – just pop into the studio and take a look at the pattern books. We can order you samples of any that you like (a free service) and delivery is normally within 3-4 days once an order has been placed. We are here Monday to Friday 9.00am until 5.00pm and Saturday 9.00am until 3.00opm. Look forward to seeing you soon.

Lisa x

Harlequin Launch New Range

BY Jane | Published: May 22, 2014

A new summer range from Harlequin has just been launched and features in our other Studio window.

Jardin Boheme is a modern, bohemian-style range full of florals, woven stripes, embroideries and wallpapers in a versatile palette, from contemporary brights to vintage hues.

Featured in the window (from left to right) are:

Floret – Peach/Linen £42/m

Fleur – Blossom/Coral £49/m

Lulu – Wallpaper Coral/Spice £59/roll

Also featured are a range of Little Green Paints in co-ordinating shades – available to order in the Studio – delivery takes between 2-3 days.

Emma Bridgewater Has Arrived

BY Jane | Published: May 20, 2014

Our long awaited Emma Bridgewater Fabric and Wallpaper collection has finally arrived, so we thought we would celebrate by dedicating a whole window to her gorgeous prints and designs.

This collection is a joint venture between two great British names, Emma Bridgewater and Sanderson, renowned for their high quality fabrics and wallpapers, and includes all the Emma favourites such as Hearts, Polka Dot and Love as well as newer designs including Daisy Spot, Floral Damask and Splatter.

Featured in the window are:

Pomegranate – Lion Yellow/Pink £45/m

Figs – Purple/Green £45/m

Polka Dot – Multi £35/

Hearts – Rose £35/m

The Dresser design of wallpaper is available in three colourways and comes untrimmed in a width of 137cm. This design, although wallpaper, is sold by the metre and costs £80/m.

Girls Treat at Congham Hall

BY Jane | Published: May 6, 2014

To celebrate our seamstress Gemma’s forthcoming wedding to the lovely Ben, the girls all spent the afternoon pampering at Congham Hall, a beautiful, privately owned, Georgian Manor set in the heart of the North Norfolk countryside. We were sauna’d and steamed, treated and fed and all had a fantastic time.

Facials were the order of the day, along with a soak in the outside hot tub (thankfully not raining). The tropical showers were pure luxury, with sound effects, and the high tea we had in the hotel afterwards was absolutely sumptuous! We were slightly mean to Gemma though, as we had told her that we were going on an adventure and kept mentioning flak jackets, helmets and gloves, so it came as a nice surprise to spend the afternoon relaxing.

Thanks to all at Congham Hall, who made us most welcome, and if you are passing that part of the beautiful Norfolk coast, do drop in for the day or weekend.

Belynda Sharples Exhibition over Easter

BY Jane | Published: April 10, 2014

Local artist, Belynda Sharples, is exhibiting at Burnham Overy Staithe over the Easter period, showing a selection of her work which will also be for sale.

As far as interiors are concerned, Belynda is best known for her wallpaper designs which depict animals including cows, sheep and pigs. We stock these here in the studio and are happy to support this exhibition, so that people can see a wider variety of her work. As well as her paintings and wallpaper Belynda is developing a fabric range soon, so watch this space for further information.

We wish her lots of success in her exhibition over Easter – here are the details.

and this is the link to the exhibition information.

http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=bb63b599f8b0e99b2aa09020e&id=ab4a50c61d&e=b19c08aa1a

Have a lovely weekend.

Lisa

Fabric of the week

BY Jane | Published: April 9, 2014

We have some new fabric collections coming soon from Harlequin. This gorgeous print is called Florica, from their Jardin Boheme collection. It is a painterly floral, impressionistic depiction of meadows and hedgerows on a soft, brushed chenille – 100% cotton, 137cm wide with a 64cm pattern repeat (half drop). It retails at £42.00 per metre.

We have teamed it with a selection of colours to co-ordinate, from soft greys and pinks through to vibrant cerise, orange and mustard. Ideal as complimentary plain fabrics for cushions and blinds or feature wall paints.

Look out for more Fabric of the Week designs, coming soon.

Lisa

Spring Cleaning at Lisa Dawson Interiors

BY Jane | Published: April 4, 2014

A little late I know, but for those of you who have visited the shop recently, you may have noticed lots of changes. Over the Christmas period we closed the shop for three weeks and undertook our refurbishment to make the showroom a cleaner, brighter and more user-friendly space for our customers.

Our fitter rebuilt all the display units and then the team came back after the Christmas break to paint the whole shop and workroom – making sure everything was ready in time for reopening on Monday 13th January.

Since then we have received some really positive comments from customers. The books are now much easier to access and there is a dedicated area where clients can look at fabric and wallpaper books.

Our two windows are now well lit to show off the ranges featured and we hope to change the window displays regularly to show the diverse range of fabrics and wallpaper that we stock.

Our haberdashery range is now all together and clearly displayed and we hope to offer customers a wider range in the future, including more choice of yarns.

If you’ve not been in to see us for a while, pop in and say hello and look at all the changes we’ve made – our friendly staff are here to help with your soft furnishing dilemmas – however large or small.

Have a great weekend.

Lisa

More Flowers!

BY Jane | Published: September 6, 2013

How lucky are we again this week! More flowers appearing at the Studio and another happy customer. These flowers are beautiful and the card accompanying them was thanking us for the curtains and blinds made in stunning Vanessa Arbuthnott fabrics.

Now that the children have all gone back to school quite a lot of our customers are beginning to think about furnishings in the Autumn. If you are contemplating new curtains or blinds, paint, wallpaper or a wide range of designer fabrics then pop into the shop to browse our new Autumn collections. We are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 3pm.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Lisa x