Following on from our blog last week about eclectic interiors we so fell in love with the palm tree floor lamp that we decided to interview its lucky owner Rebecca Davies of Carnival Interiors for her thoughts on style. Rebecca is an interior designer with an amazing use of color and her collection of quirky objects make for a really unique and inspiring home.
1. Describe your style
I embrace so many different styles when decorating, but I think the common thread linking them all is they all nod to the past, with retro, vintage and antique pieces scattered around to give each room individual character. I love the fact that they’re unique and nobody else will have them in their home. Textiles are a must, as is a riot of colour, and I like to use layers of pattern and textures, and wallpapers, and ornaments, so there is always something beautiful to look at. I’m a complete maximalist. My sister calls them dust collectors, but without them, I think I’d feel a bit cold and lonely!
2. What state did you buy the house in, have you done a lot of work to it?
The flat was above the shop that we rented, but even though it was a rental, we always knew we would do a lot of work to it as it was in a complete state when we took it on. We were, after all, going to spending the five years of our lease there. We needed to gut the entire flat. We re-wired the entire place, put new central heating in, replaced the kitchen, replaced the flooring throughout, skimmed all the walls, and papered and decorated throughout. We actually only just finished all the work when we moved out in December! But we absolutely loved living there and making it our own.
3. What is your favorite room in the house and why?
I don’t know where to start with this one!! It was my bedroom and the reasons were sooooo many that I wrote a full blog post about it. But I suppose the short answer would be because it was the room in the flat that I felt most at peace in. I absolutely fell head over heels in love with the wallpaper I used in there (Geisha by Cole & Son) and could actually just stare at it for hours. I decorated the room to create the effect of an enchanted garden, with dark walls, rambling roses growing up the walls (my embroidered curtains), crumbling old statues, atmospheric lighting, furry throws and animals dotted all over the place. So when I went in there every evening, it really did feel like my magical midnight garden, and it was my little sanctuary from the world where I felt so relaxed and happy. I have written a full blog post here on why I love this room so much.
4. Favourite bargain piece
I think it has to be this pair of palm tree wall lights I got off eBay. They were hardly any money at all, maybe about £50 for the pair, then I gilded them myself, added some cheap vintage lampshades off eBay and voila, my gorgeous glamorous sconces for the living room.
5. Favourite luxury piece
Although I didn’t splurge on her personally, I asked my husband to buy her for me for my 40th birthday. She’s a rare chalkware 1960’s lamp, and I absolutely love her! She’s one of my forever pieces that will just go with me from house to house to house. I can’t tell you how much she was, but we got into a bidding war on eBay for her! My other favorite all time piece that I had a little splurge on is the palm tree floor lamp, which you kindly featured on your blog recently and you can see here. It is the very last thing I would sell if I was destitute! But I couldn’t include it for your answer as it never strictly lived in our home; it couldn’t fit as it was too tall, so could only live in our shop. It is now safely housed in our garage, waiting for me to buy a house big enough for it come and live with us!
Thank you Rebecca and if you are inspired, as we are, by Rebecca’s images and would like to see more of her work visit Carnival Interiors to see more.
Jacqui x