What Happened This Weekend

"My son and I made a new coaster this weekend," says Masami Akatsuka founder of Cocon Shop

"This is my new bike and I am in LOVE. The colours are so wonderful. The only problem is I can't keep it outside so I spent all weekend trying to come up with a solution how to store it indoors," says Kate from Chocolatekate

"This weekend was my 30-something birthday party. My house is a long way off finished but I love having friends over to eat, drink and celebrate. It was hard not to snap my friend J looking very handsome in my living room, candle-lit and surrounded by mine and others' art work, says super talented Textile Designer Ruth Singer".

If you would like to take part in next weeks "What Happened This Weekend" please send your picture and quote here. Remember it has to relate to your time at home.

Child's Play by Yusuke Suzuki

Here at SnOOp we like to challenge and make you rethink how you design a room and challenge a designer to think beyond the country they live in and look at other cultures for inspiration. In the East it's not uncommon for people to prefer to sleep on a thin mattress on the floor that can be rolled away during the day to save on space. 

Imaginative photographer Yusuke Suzuki  has created a page turner of a bed  that looks like an oversized book. At night it is opened up for sleepy heads to sleep in and during the day it is shut closed to create enough space for children to play in their room.

Let's Colour Project by Dulux

It's no secret SnOOp loves colour and adores an initiative that can change peoples lives and communities.  I guess you can call this Power to the People and Power to Paint or for a more official title 'Let's Colour Project' by paint company Dulux. Dulux is working alongside Dulux Valentine, Coral, Flexa and Marshall to transform grey spaces with colourful paint. A mission to spread colour all over the world. The brand is  working together with local communities across the globe, rolling up their sleeves to paint streets, houses, schools and squares.

 and here it is in action! An incredible initiative captured on film by award-winning director Adam Berg to highlight the journey of colour across the globe as people and colour combine to regenerate public and private spaces... watch and be ...inspired!

Designers Guild - House Tour

With its plain white walls and bold hits of contrasting colour and pattern, this London home proves that bright can be beautiful. I know a lot of you have seen this house on other blogs but as this was my production that I styled I thought it deserves to be on SnOOp. I hope you don't mind.

The very talented photographer James Merrell and myself went to visit this house a couple of years ago. The owner Lisa Giles at the time worked as senior stylist for the queen of colour, Tricia Guild - owner of iconic British interior design brand Designers Guild.

Liza and her architect husband Matt have embraced Tricia's trademark style of using bold, original fabrics and wallpaper and her extraordinary ability to mix colour and pattern.

Flock wallpaper adds wonderful texture and a little glamour to a space. Liza loved old French fringed window voiles and Twenties fringed lampshades.

Liza's cushions are all made from old English fabrics and toiles which have been collected over time.

Liza displayed Twenties dresses for their sophistication and glamour and she adored the informal geometric prints and colours from the Fifties. She liked to leave them on show in her glass-fronted wardrobe.

Liza liked to create moodboards so she could have inspirational things around her to encourage her to begin those projects that were waiting to be done. Liza loved old mercury glass in mirrors - the more distressed the better. The reflections they give are slightly different to a new one. 

From Tree to Home

wooden cup by Billet; Victorian ash timber and powder-coated spun aluminium light by Coco Flip

Hermes Maison Collection

Recently unveiled in Paris, European luxury brand Hermès new furniture line Hermès Maison is to feature re-releases of iconic pieces designed in 1924 by late French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank. This is just a sneak peek at just small part of the collection.

The timeless X-base dining table is one of Jean-Michel Frank's pieces to be re-introduced.

My favourite of the collection  is the soft furnishings including sumptuous velvet and silk cushions

The exclusive furniture collection Jean-Michel Frank par Hermès will be launching in April 2011 in US stores.

Back To The Future by Irina Werning

 "I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them," explains Irina Werning from Buenos Aires. "Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining
how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today... A few months ago, I decided to actually do this. So,
with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future. This project made me realise Im a bit obsessive..." This photo is INGRID IN 1987 & 2010, Buenos Aires

MARINA IN 1988 & 2010, Buenos Aires

MARITA & COTY IN 1977 & 2010, Bueno

Photographer Irina Werning explores 

SnOOp Friday

Photo by Aoiyuu

1. You can now SnOOp through your Goggle Umbrella  | 2. Bulky Tea Sets are HOT | 3. Blue soothes the soul

4 Serious Love For This Throw  | 5 Hexagon is the new circle  | 6 Fun and Functional

 7 Note Design Studio are on the up |  8 Cool Japanese Bag | 9 Seriously expensive... available in a variety of leather colors but each color is an edition of one

 10 Barber Osgerby studio  | 11 Stop The Water While Using this cosmetic  | 12 If you're watching time then this is for you | 13 Chunky Knit Throw was one of my Spring Style Updates For Conran hit the link and come over and say hi... Oh you can see my big old face there too.

Family Portrait

Photo by Hideaki Hamada

When it comes to your family portrait and your stuck for an idea well how about doing something like this! 

Amanda Talbot (That's Me) Interview

Todd Oldham's home cinema photo by Richard Powers

I don't share very much with you about my personal life within the design world, my styling or life working on some of the worlds best interior magazines. Well you can read a little snippet about me on website Furnish UK. 

Something to share about this photograph. Todd Oldham and his partner Tony were one of the most colourful and fun couples I have ever met. I wanted to create a dramatic shot that captured this so I dragged out the colourful cushions, mixed up the chairs and chose a fabulous, flamboyant movie.   Todd's dog, Anne, was a supermodel. Every time photographer Richard Powers took a snap she tilted her head and stole the show. 

What Happened This Weekend

"Russell and I are professionals in how to enjoy the weekend," says artist and musician Joe Howe.

"Now my son's nearly two he's really fun to spend the weekend with. Not doing grand ambitious stuff, just weird little things like playing with mud, jumping off stuff and running around," says Nicolas Roope - creator of the The Plumen 001- the world’s first designer energy saving light bulb.

"I can't believe how fast my son is growing up. He is like a little man now and likes to entertain himself at the dining table by reading and drawing," says Hideaki Hamada

"I took a photo of Agnes on her bed," says freelance photographer Sannah Kvist

"I travel a lot with my work so when I'm home I like to sit still and make things. I created Dandelion Bottle this weekend," says Daisuke Matsumura


If you would like to take part in next weeks "What Happend This Weekend" please send your picture and quote here. Remember it has to relate to your time at home.

7 Ideas For DIY Headboards

Want to get creative in the bedroom? I don't have a lot of cash to splash at the moment so I'm looking at ideas that are fun, unexpected and has a great end result.   This picture was spotted on Swiss Miss

Headboards by Blik

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SnOOp Friday

Photo by Chung lun Wu

Fashion guru Tom Ford shares his recipe for sweet pecan pie with Wallpaper Magazine

Here is your chance to witness what goes on behind the scenes of an editorial shoot with Sarah & Chris Rhoads shooting for Rue Magazine! Go here to find out how!

About time! You can finally keep up to date with SnOOp on Facebook.

Do you love typography? Well you should check out Berlin's Letter Museum

Love food, Love Flowers, Love all things pretty, can't wait for spring and going to be in London? If yes you need to schedule  The Folly Bar into your diary.

Getting married and need wedding invite inspiration? Then check WeddingInviteLove.com

Need nerdy gift ideas for Valentines day? Check Nerd Valentine, curated by Amrit Richmond, and you’re all set.

Fancy living in a community of treehouses? You can here! 





Great news photographers! A digital Holga is on its way and it's called Holga D 

One Tonne Life

In an extraordinary display of brand collaboration, Sweden’s "One Tonne Life" project aims to enable a family of four to bring down their average carbon footprint of seven tonnes per person, per year, to just one tonne. "The One Tonne Life" project in Sweden, launched on January 19^th 2011 has set out to prove, in an unprecedented fashion, that green living is easy, affordable and desirable. The Lindell family have been chosen to be a test family to show us how. 

House specialists A-hus, power supplier Vattenfall and Volvo Cars believe that with the right know-how, the right technology and confident, consistent behaviour it is possible for the Lindell family to approach the one-tonne target figure without departing significantly from their regular lifestyle or standard of living. Much of the technology and the solutions the family will use are already available to the general public or will be in the near future.

The Lindell family were chosen in tough competition with more than 50 other families, and they have now moved into the newly built “One Tonne Life” house on Älghagsstigen in Hässelby, just outside Stockholm. In the unique “One Tonne Life” project, dad Nils, mum Alicja and teenagers Hannah, 16, and Jonathan, 13, will try to live within the limits of one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions per person per year.

The big question is it possible for the average family to make a difference to our planet?  "One Tonne Life" is about the search for a carbon dioxide-lean lifestyle that does not require the Lindells to make any major departure from their established everyday lives.

The climate-smart house has been built by wooden house experts A-hus to plans drawn up by renowned architect
Gert Wingårdh. Happily, this technology-heavy home is not diminished by all the gadgetry. Wingårdh has managed to create an unexpectedly luxurious feeling of space inside.

The house’s volume is emphasised by its all-white pine cladded interior, flowing spaces and double height 7-metre stairwell, on a relatively modest 78 square metre footprint. It is, as Wingårdh says, “quite a huge space for a prefabricated, mass produced house.

Hannah was the first to spot the advert.
“It sounded really exciting. Who wouldn’t want to live in a climate-smart house with solar cells, green
electricity and an electric car in the driveway?” she asks animatedly.
The rest of the family immediately caught her enthusiasm.

ICA and Siemens are participating in “One Tonne Life” as industry partners. ICA is handling the family’s food requirements and will also help the family members make conscious choices that reduce their meals’ climate footprint.

Siemens has equipped the household with appliances of absolute world class in terms of low energy and water consumption. Siemens and ICA  are contributing their expertise on how the various family members can reduce climateimpact in connection with food shopping, cooking, washing-up and laundry.

The family is able to watch the amount of energy they are using through Smart technology

The Lindell family have left behind their two ageing cars for the brand new a battery-powered Volvo C30 Electric that is recharged using renewable energy

To follow the the Lindell's family progress and find out a lot more about the project, the house and how we can stop wasting energy in our own home  then you must visit One Tonne Life