Tag: Interior design

Magnificent Majeka Hotel, Stellenbosch 

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It was summed up it perfectly when, as I commented on yet another thing at Majeka House that I wanted for my house, the reply was ‘you want lots of things here for your home!’

Perhaps a few less pigs (the owner Karine apparently has loved pigs since she was a child and has filled the hotel with an assortment of pigs of all shapes and sizes). I like a pig, but I’m personally an elephant woman through and through, as my growing collection attests to. But apart from that, yes, I did basically want everything about the interior design at the stunning Majeka House hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

From Kartell Louis Ghost chairs to the bright electric blue garden furniture, it’s no wonder that Majeka House was crowned Best Design Hotel, Africa and the Middle East, in the Condé Nast Johansens Awards for Excellence 2017. I only left yesterday and I’m already missing its beauty.

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Smitten Kitchen

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Five of six months building work down and the house is starting to become a home again. I wasn’t sure which new room I was most excited for, but seeing the kitchen today – and the loud ‘Oh my gods’ that ensued – answered the question.

I adore cooking so it was always going to be a strong contender. The old layout lacked light (the staged shot taken by the estate agents was very cleverly lit!) and the edges were just getting a bit tatty.

But the new one is anything but.

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New Magnet kitchen going in, with space for American Fridge Freezer and cooker

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Interior Design School Inspiration Day

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Firstly I should begin my explaining my till now unexplained absence for the past couple of weeks, which was down to very nearly loosing my dream house. The good news is that at 4.49pm on Monday 9 February we finally exchanged. I won’t go into all the boring details, or emotional turmoil, other than to say my buyer turned out to be more than a bit of a headache, but needless to say whilst that was going on the last thing I wanted to do was blog.

But now I’m back! We’re scheduled to complete in just under two weeks, on Friday 27 February. I cannot wait to get in and get my hands on the place. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I spent some of my holiday thinking about things I wanted to do. Sewing was one of them, as was learning about interior design. So just like with cushion making, I scoured Google to find a short course on home interior design for beginners. It was actually harder than it looked. There’s a lot of online only classes, but I have always preferred to learn in a classroom, and many of the classroom based ones were more intensive/longer than I was after. But then I found The Interior Design School in Queens Park, London, which offered a one day ‘Inspiration Day’ course. To be honest, unlike with Saturday Sewing Session I didn’t jump right in and book straight away. Firstly, you can’t avoid the fact that its on the pricey side at £145. Secondly, there isn’t a great deal of information about what exactly it is you’ll do on the day. That said, the overall reviews were good, I liked the look of it, and besides I’d just ordered a slightly obscene number of interiors books on Amazon and was feeling a bit trigger happy.

Taught by professional interior designers, this is a stimulating and practical day that introduces the process of creating a design for an interior – whether you’re interested in designing your own home or thinking about a future career as an interior designer.

So off I went up to Queens Park on Saturday 31 January and found tucked away down an 18th century mews, a fabulously light, airy and modern interior design school.

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