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Design Inspiration | Beach House Style

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Inspired by our recent post on Alderney, we’ve been thinking a lot about beach house style. Our perfect beach house would be a laid back retreat just a couple of stems about from gorgeous golden sand between our toes. Feeling inspired by this beach house state of mind we collected the best in sandy tones and laid-back style to create a scheme for a living room that will remind us of Alderney. Details of our finds are below, what do you think?

Beach House Style | Where to buy:

fig.1 Wilton Layered White Mirror One World Trading
fig.2 Visit Alderney Print Orchard Market on Etsy
fig.3 Alderney Landmarks Print Orchard Market on Etsy
fig.4 Two Seated Izzy Sofa Sofa.com
fig.5 Safavieh Gold & Ivory Rug Wayfair.co.uk
fig.6 Sahara Coffee Table Swoon Editions
fig.7 Diamond Cushion West Elm
fig.8 Frehel Table Lamp John Lewis
fig.9 Beehive Blanket Tartan Blanket Company
fig.10 Salcombe Lantern Lights4Fun
fig.11 Beside the Seaside by Jane Struthers
fig.12 Anchor Vase John Lewis
fig.13 Sunny Day Dulux
fig.14 Sandy Steps Dulux
fig.15 Pearl Grey Dulux

12th August 2016

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Book Review | Botanical Style by Selina Lake

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Orchard Blog

Book Review Botanical Style by Selina Lake

We spend a lot of time planning home decor, it doesn’t matter if it was our rented flat or for our ideal future home. It is one of our passions and, in part the reason behind this blog. As well as almost single handily keeping the magazine industry going and a healthy pinterest/instagram addiction, we do love a good interiors book to scour through and find ideas that we can us. We also like to have a stack of beautiful books on the coffee table to delve into every so often. It is the little things in life that makes us happy! With that in mind it brings us to todays posts, a brief review of Botanical Style by Selina Lake, our latest interiors book purchase and a goldmine of stunning inspiration.

Selina Lake is a freelance interior & lifestyle stylist (that might be Rich’s dream job!) and Botanical Style is her seventh book. We first heard of the book when Selina did a book signing at Anthropologie in Guildford, being local to us we picked up the event on social media. We were’t able to make it along but our interest was peaked and we wanted to buy a copy!

Botanical style can mean many things to many people, and to this end the book is operated in to five separate styles: Vintage Botanicals, Boho Botanicals, Industrial Botanicals, Tropical Botanicals and Natural Botanicals. Different chapters will appeal to different people. Rich loves the vintage and natural chapters, Calum like the tropical style and we both love the industrial industrial. As well as explaining the styles in depth there are also individual style tips and little make projects. Reading the book we were itching to get out to the local garden centre to add to our already healthy supply of houseplants!

The key to a good interiors book is plenty of great photos to illustrate the ideas, the photographer, Rachel Whiting, does a great job at bringing the style to life. We’ve already spent hours pouring over every gorgeous image for inspiration, and I am sure this is a book we will return back to time and time again.

There is so much inspiration packed into this book, from romantic summer houses to tropical glamour. For anyone with green fingers (or wishes they did) we thoroughly recommend this book, it has made us very happy!

You can buy Botanical Style by Selina Lake here

Follow Selina’s Blog here

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Design Inspiration | Vintage Aviation Styleboard

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Orchard Blog

Taking inspiration for the NATO Phonetic Alphabet Print available on our Etsy Store We’ve created Vintage Aviation Styleboard for a room scheme that would work perfectly as a room for an aviation fan, either young or old!

This blog originally appeared on Rich’s graphic design blog, but we though it is more in keeping here!

Vintage Aviation | Where to buy:

fig.1 Sopwith Camel Model, Hicks & Hicks
fig.2 British Aviation Posters by Scott Anthony
fig.3 NATO Phonetic Alphabet Print Orchard Market on Etsy
fig.4 Professor chair Hunters
fig.5 Alfred Tripod Light Made.com
fig.6 Map Cushion Cover Dunelm
fig.7 Globe on Wooden Stand John Lewis
fig.8 Royal Maroc Rug Wayfair.co.uk
fig.9 Sopwith Propeller Hicks & Hicks
fig.10 Archive Coffee Table Made.com
fig.11 Wevet Farrow & Ball
fig.12 Skylight Farrow & Ball
fig.13 Pitch Blue Farrow & Ball
fig.14 Off Black Farrow & Ball

15th July 2016

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Our Houseplants

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Orchard Blog

We have been on a bit of a houseplant binge recently, adding some greenery about the place to brighten things up. Whist we do not pretend to be experts we’ve rounded up what we are growing and added in a few tips to care for them. Read on to find out more:

Mind your Own Business Soleirolia soleiroli

Fast growing mounds of tiny leaves that gently cascade over the pot as it grows. Available in various shades of green. A happy little plant that will brighten your home or office.

Light Medium, bright but not direct
Water Keep soil moist
Care Fertilise occasionally, and trim leaves with scissors to keep looking it’s best

String of Pearls Senecio rowleyanus

A curious succulent that grows ‘strings of pearls’ that trail over the side of the pot. Best placed in a hanging container or on a high shelf to get the full effect.

Light Medium to bright and can tolerate some direct.
Water Allow to almost dry out between watering
Care if stems become straggly they can be cut back

Maidenhair Fern Adiantum fragrans

A delicate fern with leaves on wiry arching black fronds, well suited to growing in terrariums. Would work well in a bathroom.

Light Medium, bright but not direct
Water Keep soil moist, requires misting
Care Requires high humidity, keep out of drafts

Sword Fern Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Green Lady’

A Victorian favourite, the Sword Fern has long arching fronds with many smaller leaflets. A great choice for more traditional interiors.

Light Medium, bright but not direct
Water Keep soil moist, requires misting
Care Requires high humidity, keep out of drafts

Jade Plant Crassula ovata

A succulent with plum spoon shaped leaves that grow on woody branches. A South African native that is perfect for centrally heated houses.

Light Bright with some direct sunlight
Water Allow to almost dry out between watering
Care Very little

Asparagus Fern Asparagus densiflorus

Another traditional choice, the asparagus fern has a cascading habit with long arching stems covered in needle like leaflets. Suited to a hanging container or on a high shelf.

Light Bright
Water Allow to almost dry out between watering
Care Trim back old stems in the spring to make space for new growth

Zebra Catus Haworthia attenuate

Succulent with a rosette of sharp pointed and striped leaves. Easy to grow, even if you occasionally neglect them.

Light Medium, keep out of direct sun
Water Allow to almost dry out between watering
Care Very little

18th May 2016

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Upcycling Furniture

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When we moved into Richard’s parents house, we were also in the position of not having any drawers to store our things in. We debated buying something easy to use whilst we were staying in the house, but also thought about our future home and decided it would be good to get some furniture now, so we set of to find furniture to upcycle.

The flat we rented had some Stag furniture in it and we really liked the structure and sturdiness of this and wanted to find some. We had been looking on eBay for them and bid on a few, but never seemed to get close. On a trip to Southampton early one Saturday, where we had planned to scour a few charity shops, we found a three over two set of Stag drawers, at the first store we went to. A few weeks later, after many failed attempts to pick up another set of drawers, we found a four over two set in a bric-a-brac store just outside of High Wycombe. It seems our furniture is fairly well travelled!

With our newly acquired furniture, we set about turning them, and a bedframe we found on eBay, into what we hope will be our guest bedroom set. A light sand of the surfaces took off the varnish and gave the paint somethng to adhere to. We then wiped the surfaces with a damp cleaning cloth to remove the dust. Two coats of Annie Sloane chalk paint later and we left it to dry. Fortunately, the day we did it, we had fantastic weather and, after an hour in the sun, we were ready for the next step. Applying the wax using the brush and giving it a once over with a cloth, we turned it from a fairly light grey colour to almost black. By the time the second coat of wax was on and drying, we were done for the day and made a start enjoying a drink!

The following day we set about putting the handles on the drawers. We found a few cupped handles on eBay that give the drawers a good look. First, we buffed up the wood using cloths to smooth out the wax and remove any excess. Then after careful measuring, set the handles on the drawers.

The drawers are now in situ in our room and look great. We look forward to setting it up in our future guest room. The cat, Annie also seems to have taken a great liking to them, but that is more likely to be the fact we keep the pet treats in the second drawer from the left!!

11th May 2016

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In the Garden | Planning our Veg Patch

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We are currently between houses so we find ourselves living with Richard’s Mum & Dad, and we are likely to be here over the summer. To help out whilst we are here we have offered to take on the veg patch. Having lived in a flat with only a tiny balcony it is very exciting to have some outside space to get our hands dirty in.

We have both had veg patches previously but that has been quite a few years ago so we are taking it simple this year, but we are already planning what we would do in future years.

This year, in the veg patch we will be growing the following:

Lettuce ‘Little Gem’
Mangetout ‘Delikata’
French Beans ‘Sultana’
Courgette ‘Early Gem’
Carrots ‘St Valery’
Potato ‘Vivaldi’ and ‘Nicola’
Onions – Various Varieties
Pumpkin
Strawberries
Raspberries
Rhubarb

and in the greenhouse we will be giving the following a go:

Tomatoes ‘Tomatoberry’ and ‘Big Boy’
Cucumber ‘Telegraph improved’
Aubergine ‘F1 Scorpio’
Chilli Pepper ‘Cherry Bomb’
Sweet Peppers ‘Jingle Bells’ & ‘Italian Long Sweet’

In addition to the fruit and veg we are going to give a cut flower patch a go, we’ll update on the another time as it is still in the final planning stages.

I am sure there will be plenty of updates so check back and see how we are getting on, and if you have any questions or suggestions please let us know in the comments below.

28th April 2016

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