Margot Austin

The Ban.do hair ornament in full bloom

I'm so pleased to be back here. Missed you all dearly. Today my head is filled with blooms. Great giant massive huge painterly blooms. It may be the weather (though I've never been a spring freak -- April is the cruelest month, lilacs, dead land and all that), it may be my work life (we're well into June there), and it may just be my trendspotting radar on high alert. Blooms are everywhere. The cool kids (Anthro et al) have hopped on this trend and I love how they breathe new life into fusty florals. But you see, while the newbies do it well, the oldbies got it right in the first place. My all time favourite forever and ever floral is Bowood from Colefax & Fowler. Oh John Fowler, thank you thank you thank you for this lovely gift to the world of decorating -- a tidy rose print. My favourite colourway is the white/grey/green combo, and my dream would be to do a whole room in it -- windows, walls, furniture, bedding. Oh I really must have that fabric in my home some time. I will. Here's my bouquet of pretties to enjoy.

John Fowler's perfect pattern:

Bowood in my favourite colourwayBowood in pink: walls and windows

Blithfield, a lovely new washed linen fabric collection I spotted at the Lee Jofa showroom in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. So femme and delicate.

I saw these unbelievably gorgeous hand-painted wallpapers by Brit Kevin Dean at the Sept 08 Maison et Objet. Will never forget them. Classic English roses on a large scale. True romance. And he does dinnerware and fabric, too.

Urban Outfitters super fun Springtime duvet and shams look like a painting blown up to 400%. And below, two sweet dresses. I'd like the first one with a cardie à la Mrs. O.

Anthro's Blooming Filigree wallpaper mural is pricey but WOW: this is art. The top gives me a case of the wants -- maybe as a treat when I'm in NYC next week....

Oh, and one last thing: I have something VERY exciting on my calendar for this Sat. Can't WAIT to tell you more about it!!

If you know me at all, you know I'm a fabric nut. Fabric is definitely my favourite ingredient in the decorating tool kit. Today I was trolling Designer's Walk in Toronto. Well, what can I say about Designer's Walk fabric showrooms -- HEAVEN. I couldn't possibly pick a favourite -- they all have something lovely to offer. But today's discovery is a collection called John & Henri's. It's just a single small book of samples I found at the Primavera showroom. What did I love about the fabrics? Absolute simplicity. No embroidery, no ikat, no damask, no toile, no birds, no flowers. Just stripes and checks in very honest classic colourways and pure and simple fibres. Aaaah. Just perfection -- and completely unpretentious. I don't know if you've heard, but unpretentious is tough to find in the design business sometimes. A little digging reveals that the John & Henri's collection comes from a Dutch family textile business -- six generations no less! Visit their site here, plus I've added a few more pics for inspiration below.

Lutyens bench, Restoration HardwareI just so love this piece. It's the Lutyens bench, named for its designer Sir Edwin Lutyens. Sir Edwin, or Ned as he was known, was a totally bril architect and landscape designer who lived and worked in England in the late 19th and early 20th century. To be honest, I don't know enough about him, but what I know, I like -- stunning country houses, beautiful gardens designed with the legendary Gertrude Jekyll, and this lovely garden classic. Ned created the kinds of spaces where novels unfold. Fantasy worlds of allées and knot gardens and grand terraces. Like living sets for costume dramas. Dreamy!

 Hestercombe gardens, Taunton, Somerset, UKsuper fun red lacquer version!