The weather is making me look at areas of my house and home that I’ve been able to cheerfully neglect over the last few dismal summers. I’ve got garden chairs on the brink of collapse and plastic plates bought at Ikea in 1992 that have gone that funny muddy non-colour after too many times of being left out overnight and then parked in a hardly used cupboard to gather cobwebs for the next decade.
I went to Wales for the weekend where it was beyond glorious and we practically lived on the beach and outside, luckily we were staying with well equipted friends as at my house we’d have definitely struggled to put together a well coordinated picnic basket or beach bag.
So while this amazing spell of wonderfulness continues, you might, if you have been neglectful of the outside like me, need a bit of an inspirational nudge towards stylish replacements. Luckily, the Swedish are good at the outdoor life, and skandi retailer Gudrun Sjödén has some colourful and eclectic outdoor-living, beautifully colour coordinated items in her Summer House range.
We love Gudrun’s inclusive and colourful retailing philosophy, but we often hear comments from readers that although they quite like the clothes, they really love the home furnishings best.
She has a very inspiring website full of nice outdoor product such as tablecoths and cushions, but also great images that might give you a few ideas to do at home. I love the brightly coloured tableware, but the fabric by the metre is really useful in a time when it’s becoming harder and harder to find the stuff. If I’d had the time I’d have rustled up a printed windbreak (or sun trap as my dad used to optimistically call it on our beach holidays) for our Welsh weekend as pretty as the one below….
It’s amazing what a metre or two of bright colour and print will do to cheer up a sad looking table and bench. Particularly if there are bright tassels involved.
If only we could guarantee the sun would shine like this every year! I’d be out buying new garden cushions and investing in hammocks faster than you could say 1976.
Check out Gudrun’s website for further inspiration here. There’s a sale on some items, too.
What fabulous prints, the tassels are so effective. After a few years of being run down and needing an update I’ve gone grey and minimal this year – not me, my garden furniture, I hasten to add.
I’m so putting tassels on my cushions Lilac in May, seems like the right thing to do this summer…Ax