I got the latest issue of the UK edition of House and Garden the other day.
It's one of my favourite magazines and as I live in London is the most relatable as it doesn't feature McMansions unless it is a centuries old country estate.
It's one of my favourite magazines and as I live in London is the most relatable as it doesn't feature McMansions unless it is a centuries old country estate.
Now I must preface and stress that I appreciate Ben Pentreath's work and his instagram is one of my favourite accounts.
I repeat that one of my favourite magazines is UK House and Garden.
But I opened the page to one of the main pictorial editorials featuring Ben's London flat and that is the moment where I thought I might have reached a tipping point in exposure.
It's my fault because as a decor enthusiast I read newspapers, magazines, and blogs,
I follow decor instagram accounts, and
I am a Pinterest enthusiast so I am
Therefore, I had seen this flat in every manner of social media there is -
including his own blog.
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| I don't know if I can bear another pithy quote about fashion dating etc etc etc |
I have discussed with a select few who I like to dissect design issues with and touched lightly on posts and comments on other blogs that there is a turning point in the world of decor and
it is at a pivotal juncture.
But usually House and Garden is the pinnacle to most Anglophile decorators to be featured on
and yet in this instance House and Garden was like the long suffering wife
and the last to know or show rather.
It also made me appreciate the New York Times policy that they would not publish interior decor pictures if it had previously been featured first elsewhere. With the demise of their weekly Thursday Home and Garden feature, I haven't confirmed that this is still their policy.
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| Via |
( i.e. They used their own photographer so the photos were "theirs" or the flat was styled in a new way?)
Over the years I have seen his flat in so many different paint colors and cushions and wallpaper.
The picture below was when he installed the now famous London print and with less furniture.
I still don't understand how this flat is meant to be 35 sq m!
His latest makeover to his bedroom has made a big impact and am sure was a great publicity shot for Soane Britain and has made seaweed lace a known pattern.
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| Via the FT.com |
Farrow and Ball Brinjal paint below.
The fact that his pictures are pinned and shared are no fault of his own other than his talent but I think the reason why I didn't mind seeing them is that those who follow interior design has seen the metamorphosis of his flat when it was bare like in the pics below.
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| Via Ben Pentreath's blog |
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| Via Ben Pentreath's blog |
Ben Pentreath shows us the flat with the behind the scenes shots and perhaps we have all emotionally invested over time the various stages of his London living room?
that featured Conde Nast's darling and stylist
Caroline Sieber and her Notting Hill home.
It has all the makings of a beautiful home and all the perfectly poised decorations:
posh Anglo pink sofa enveloped by bright and graphic Zuber wallpaper.
It also featured snippets of the rest of her house and decor cred was given when she used Pierre Frey's Tree of Life as the featured blind in her library.
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| Photos of C Sieber's home downloaded by my IPAD in the preview Vogue |
And yet a week later, I have seen this home on most blogs as this bridges both the fashion and decor world, and regrammed on most Instagram accounts, and pinned ( guilty! ) on many Pinterest accounts.
It's not that I am sick of it ( well kinda ) but
as in the words of many a fashion magazine intern,
this home albeit beautiful has become
"so last week".
In comparing the two homes that has been media saturated, I wonder if in fact a sudden blitz of publicity works anymore and in fact we all do appreciate real life changes in real life time?
Therefore, I don't know if I am that interested in just the final unveiling of a home anymore and
I want to see a room not only in its final perfect state because most of us know what a beautiful room ostensibly looks like.
So endless pictures of perfect rooms lack any real meaning though I think there will be an increase in pink sofa sales and the Zuber would have surely seen a spike to their website visits.
I now like seeing rooms in real time and seeing how a room can evolve and am unwittingly yearning for slow decor.
Your thoughts?
I want to see a room not only in its final perfect state because most of us know what a beautiful room ostensibly looks like.
So endless pictures of perfect rooms lack any real meaning though I think there will be an increase in pink sofa sales and the Zuber would have surely seen a spike to their website visits.
I now like seeing rooms in real time and seeing how a room can evolve and am unwittingly yearning for slow decor.
Your thoughts?
I love this post.
ReplyDeleteYes pink sofas and Zuber wallpaper will become the new black.
I love slow food so am all for slow decor.
I am kind of shocked at how much my own home has changed in the last year.
Agree that watching the journey of the home unfold is fascinating x
Slow decor might be the way to go for many - I like seeing rooms change and am against the idea that a room is done! It's never done - mind you i am far from finished but I live in hope x
DeleteI also love this post because reading a magazine with your comments is the best!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way when I saw the C Sieber home recently, it had been floating around somewhere else and of course I am an avid pinner too, I've seen it everywhere.
I guess slow decor is more interesting because that's how most of us actually live, our spaces evolve over time and in fact if a space is decorated all at once it can look "manufactured" if you know what I mean. A space is much more personal if it has evolved over years or even decades.
XOX
It is everywhere...Also there is no investment of time so it's a bit flash in the pan. But I totally understand the "manufactured" look - bit of a posh showroom look. xx
Delete'Slow Décor' is all about the tortoise prints...so walk, don't run FF.
ReplyDeleteSo does leopard print mean fast decor?
DeleteYes, I know what you mean, but nothing still beats the thrill of seeing an ENTIRE new project in a magazine that makes your heart beat a little faster and you read it 5 times. The total letdown one feels such as when this happens, "i waited all month for this magazine and all I see is a reincarnation of the same flat?!" is a bit of a bore. Things are over-saturated but maybe magazines should start featuring whats and WHO are new and not the same old 10 designers over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean but those moments are not as frequent and perhaps it is because the big name designers are saving it for their coffee table book? But I agree that the editors need to rotate designers and show various designers - one designer that gets over looked for whatever reason is Lorenzo Castillo - is it because he doesn't fit an editorial narrative that is not as easily marketable but this is one gripe I have with many of the editors right now too.
DeleteBen's house in Dorset was also just in the New York Times or WSJ Magazine within the past few weeks. He's everywhere. Totally charming and delightful, as are his husband, Charlie, and partner, Bridie Hall. But he's got a great PR machine working behind him.
ReplyDeleteI also think that as bloggers, we tend to look more closely at a wider range of sources, so we see more.
I need to catch up with the weekend edition. Oddly I love seeing the same angles of his home in both London and Dorset on IG with a tweak here and there and in different times of the day as well. Like I said - it's not his fault his projects get regrammed and repinned but I do agree that as bloggers our range of reading material might as a generalization be wider.
DeleteI guess it's true that familiarity breeds contempt. Perhaps we want the places we like to feel somewhat special, our own "secret discovery," and too much attention and repetition destroys this feeling.
ReplyDelete--Jim
But it's different kinds of familiarity isn't it...I did find it rather amusing that House and Garden only featured Ben's flat now though!! Seems a bit late in the day though and perhaps it needs to stay current and lead the world rather than lag behind everyone else.
DeleteNaomi I am kind of with you. I like seeing photos of a project in real time and by time they show up in a magazine it can be anti-climactic if we've seen almost all of it. I guess that is why I appreciate someone's home who isn't famous yet or on social media in a magazine. So enjoyable to see a totally new perspective and home, but that rarely happens now!! xo Kim
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate homes of civilians and see how they adapt to and adjust with all sorts of limitations such as budget, size, council regulations and climate. But you are right it is so rare to see a new home straight from the get go - it seems due to economic pressure perhaps magazines want a known quantity that has been proven popular? But magazines with their presence and influence could do with a little more backbone xx
DeleteI agree. Perfection is now pedestrian, or at least we believe it is because it's all we see. Seeing things in progress gives a sense of intimacy. Plus I feel like the mags are becoming boring trade publications where they just exchange monthly public praise for industry friends/enemies in hopes that next month it'll be them. But I'm in a fussy mood and might have something nicer to say after some carbs.
ReplyDeleteI eat predominantly carbs and that's what I think too!! ;)
DeleteFor really slow decor see the Château de Gudanes http://www.chateaugudanes.com/captains-log2/
ReplyDelete- so slow that it seems, alas, to have reached a standstill now.
Ha! I know! By the time that's done it'll be a museum
DeleteI think we've had these discussions a fair bit, so you know my views, but agree 110%. I feel like the internet saturates things so quickly that a trend becomes full blown and overblown in the most amazingly short period of time. I become so tired of stuff so quickly. It's kind of depressing. I'm also sick of display home styling as everything just shows so little personality of the home owner. The Design Files (melbourne based blog) has an interesting series on real homes/ apartments. But they tend to be a certain aesthetic, which is equally bland after a while (mid century, jardan sofa, ferns, quirky artwork, grey, furry flotaki type thing somewhere, polished concrete floors etc).
ReplyDeleteEnglish House and Garden is still my favourite mag, but I do tend to flick through a bit now. There was one apartment I looked at recently that I actually wondered if the designer (young girl) had some influence somewhere that got it in. It was so boringly basic. Artwork was hung too high, nothing special, but yet it was in there.
I've been reading a bio on Nancy Lancaster that Faux Fuchsia gave me and I love it so much. All Nancy's design principles about things not looking too done, layers of history and adding on just are the complete antithesis of what is going on with decorating at the moment.
Oh yes trends live for 5 minutes as you say but I was taken aback at how I felt seeing Bens flat- I was very happy for him as its the ultimate but I also thought to HG - bit late luv. It didn't feel right oddly. Then I loved Seiner's zuber living room but am kinda over it now which is terrible BC I think my mind is corrupt now! don't want to name names but I think I know the flat you are referring to and that's BC she worked for someone influential. It's still not a meritocratic world. But want to check out that series now on design files I missed. X
DeleteI figured as much re the flat. It's like a certain market editor at one of Australia's major Interiors magazines who is constantly mugging in the mag posing next to a selection of buffets or something. I keep thinking it's not a magazine about personalities!! Get her out! That flat was so boring. What is interesting about painting a flat white, and putting in some pretty basic modern furniture? Dime a dozen. Well… go and have a look at DF, but you'll feel on repeat after a couple of houses. Plus in the comments everyone complains if the home owner hasn't bought everything at flea markets and crafted things by hand etc...
DeleteThere's a male editor who does much the same thing. His taste is for very modern minimalist interiors and under his editorship the magazines rapidly become quite boring.
DeleteDo like the old flea markets though, Heidi. Specially in France or Italy. And the odd hand-crafted thingy. Think this guy would probably hate that. His taste seems to be for Italian modern and minimal - and grey, white, black or beige. So not me. Pammie xx
Oh I don't mind a European flea market at all. This was more the trash n' treasure in Melbourne stuffed full of plastic bits from the 60's and 70's. Kind of has kitsch appeal in a certain aesthetic.
DeleteAs the saying goes, too much of a good thing ... I wholeheartedly agree with your views Naomi and over-exposure of the big picture is a real danger in today's instantly accessible world right at our fingertips. I think people overlook the little details often and focus instead on the one perfect big picture. Why can't we have both, making for a richer visual experience of how one gets there?
ReplyDeleteI too love UK H&G and always make sure I pick up a copy each time I'm back in London. Like you, I've seen Mr. Pentreath's flat and Dorset home on his blog many times, which I enjoy, but I've yet to fall down the IG and pinning rabbit holes, which I just know will suck me right in and over-expose me to lots of beautiful images. I'll stick to blogs and magazines for now.
I love your restraint though I am considering getting off Facebook BC Instagram is harmless as it isn't political - yet. I think perhaps blogs expose you on a deeper level of engagement so I liked reading about Bens flat where as Seirbers flat was more of s flick swipe swipe so I didn't connect. But Pinterest makes my house neater because before that I had ripped pages everywhere!!
DeleteYou want slow decor...come to my house. Someday my new sofa will arrive. Some day. In the mean time, I took it upon myself to get rid of the old, the ugly, the cat ripped. Somehow I am left with brown. Brown leather, brown tables...when was I in this phase.
ReplyDeleteHehe I am with you!! My house is slow decor. Loo still not sorted and I'm so over it I'm not even nagging the husband. Funny I'm into brown lately- wonder what that means?!
DeleteSlow Decor here too!
DeleteNearly 13 years after we moved in, contemplating the future of our entrance/ hallway 11.5m x 2.3 m which was used by kids as soccer field, picnic ground, cricket pitch, bike track, electric car circuit. We had one rule which they adhered to even as small munchkins - don't destroy the walls! Thank goodness they have grown up. I've lost tolerance for balls in the house (helped along by other mums going no balls in the house) We deliberately didn't have anything in this area during the past 12 years. It's now ready for its next life, but I'm no design or style guru. Den x
But now you can do what you like without the worry of something being ruined and can consider what you like without being too practical right? X
Deleteand I'm left wondering where that ur-British putdown "they're the sort no buy their own furniture" has gone...
ReplyDeletedamned autocorrect - "the sort who buy..."
DeleteIt's still around hehe
Deletemy vogue arrived and I saw the house on the pages and I can't help it I love it! even with all the shiny new books!
ReplyDeleteAnyway I hadn't seen the images you had so it did seem fresh to me- the bathroom! The stairs!
I like the country garden too xxx
It definitely has a wow factor and leaves an impression but she's obviously the boss BC most men wouldn't put up with that paper! I am on the zuber website a lot lately too xx
DeleteThe big issue is the lengthy lead time on magazine publishing. So it's not surprising that a fabulous design is blogged and pinned and talked about for weeks before the release. A great room is a great room; however how many times do we need to see it?
ReplyDeleteXoxo
Karena
The Arts by Karena
Yes there are lead times but in the case of HG they were years late!
DeleteDon't think I'll be hiring Ben Pentreath any time soon (not that I would have anyway!). Not so sure the new husband has been a good influence decorator-wise. Haven't seen all the previous versions, though I have one of his books.
ReplyDeleteLike FF, I love Caroline Sieber's home. Such beautiful wallpaper and colour against that divine pink sofa. Must look for that Vogue issue. I must admit to getting a bit bored with design magazines lately. No longer subscribe to any. Just flick the pages in the newsagent's to decide if I want to buy. Mostly it's same old, same old. I used to get really annoyed, when I was a subscriber, to see an article and pics in English Vogue Living repeated an issue or two later in the Australian version. Likewise articles in US Vogue. It doesn't seem to occur to them that readers might buy both. Of course they're trying to save money - but I always feel cheated when they do this. Pammie xx
Are you on Pinterest? You really don't need to buy any mags BC they all end up there!
DeleteYou are so funny because of what you said re Ben and his husband 😂
I laughed out loud Pammie. Well he got rid of any previous remnants of the old bachelor life. They have seemingly a very traditional marriage and are very non Anglo in their public verbal displays of affection which is sweet or embarrassing depending on which side of the bed I get up in. Are you on Instagram yet? Ps there's not much more the CS's house. The pics I have is pretty much it. Very nice and lovely bug my husband would have vetoed the paper!! Xx
Ps I forgot emojis don't appear but the question marks meant to be laughing face
DeleteHave occasionally ventured towards the deep end of the pool. Yes, probably should go more towards Pinterest and try Instagram. As you used to, have heaps of tear sheets from mags - and the pile just seems to grow and grow. The piles of them in drawers and folders make me feel guilty when I read about decluttering. Would be so much better to just pin them.
DeleteWill be sad if you drop off FB - I enjoy your posts there too. I'm afraid I quite enjoy the political side of it and the diverse range of things that appear that I wouldn't normally have been aware of. My hubby would have vetoed the wallpaper too. Probably first of all because it would be jolly expensive and secondly because it would take out a wall from hanging space for pictures. Pammie xx
When I see old boxes of turn pics I really thank Pinterest. I was terrible! In one de clutter right before Pinterest I filled up my two baskets with tear sheets and waited a few weeks to clear the clutter.
DeleteFB is funny BC I remember when people posted what they ate and then due to public sharing issues especially as you never know who is sharing your things with others it has define loved and I gather it will continue to do so. I tried snapchat and I couldn't figure it out so for now will stay on FB!
Do you have any tips for people with good Pinterest posts, Naomi? I'm just a novice at this with only my toes in the pool. I'd love to declutter the tear sheets - but only when I can find the good Pinterest posts.
DeleteIf you can't figure out Snapchat I'd have no hope. Saw recently that Miranda Kerr is currently the girlfriend of the guy who started it - only worth about a billion!
I try to be careful about what I put up on FB but I don't mind people guessing that I'm concerned about the environment, refugees, animals, international security, politics, women's issues and rights, social justice etc - or that I love children, animals, books, gardens, food, fashion, travel, design etc. Pammie
There are tooo many to mention! But once you are on you can see who i follow and Heidi as well and you can search stuff on there and it is like a visual google. Yes I suppose you are right and I am jaded hehe
DeleteThanks Naomi. Have found my way to your Pinterest and it looks gorgeous. But just so busy right now don't have much time to browse properly. When the silly season is over!
DeleteYesterday went to a talk by Ken and Julia Yonetani (she's an Aussie, though born in Japan) at the National Gallery about their fabulous exhibition /installation of radium glass and salt sculptures. The chandeliers are ravishingly beautiful and at the same time there are so many interesting references and history to them. The salt table and objects are also amazing! If you're not familiar with their work (I wasn't!) do google or attend their next exhibition if anywhere near you. Sadly, hadn't taken my camera along but took a few pics on phone so if they're any good will post some on FB. Pammie xx
I completely get what you mean, social media is so fast moving now, magazines just can't keep up so once you've paid your money for the latest issue, you've already seen most of what you want to see for free at the scroll of a finger. I think we had a nice series of evolving blog posts when you were renovating xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Colleen and now I've run out of steam then it's the crazy season so I will wait till spring to try and do stuff. But I have discontinued subscription due to overexposure so it's saved me money xx
DeleteThe other day I flicked though H&G in Waitrose- in a quiet aisle-didn't see anything new or interesting , so didn't buy it and saved my self 4 quid. Result
ReplyDeleteBest
Lucky I got one of the cheapie subscription deals and ends up a quid!
DeleteWhat do you think of Ben's shop ? Have you bought anything there ? £40 for a glass pencil pot seems a bit steep and more smelly candles who needs them ? Best
ReplyDeleteIt's in a very cool street - or is now rather! The shop is technically run or co run by his business partner but it is definitely a case of the store being propped up by his brand rather than the other way around. It's sweet but is something you'd get in an English village - twee and nice for a present but nothing is merchandised that you couldn't get it elsewhere.
DeleteVery good point. Even as a newbie I agree with you. In a way that's why I like Emily Henderson - she'll show you 3 versions of how the room might have looked and then show you the final. You can see the evolution. And she's always changing up her own house.
ReplyDeleteI think the Ben dude ought to have you to dinner and ask you what YOU think about his place;).
YOU NAILED IT!
ReplyDelete