Fashionista - Fashion Sister

In this weekly feature  I'll be sorting the Fashionista from the Fashion Sister.  Selected from Vogue's 'Best Dressed of the Week' we are talking 'A list' style royalty selected by THE top style magazine.

So where do I come in?  Well, even style high achievers can 'fall off the wagon'. Some people seem to make the grade looking anything but elegant or considered.

Included for who they are - despite style faux pas.  These are the fashion sisters.

Fashionista: Jennifer Lawrence is the woman of the week & had many fabulous outfits this week to promote the Hunger Games but she seems most at ease in this gorgeous Dior coat dress.

Fashion Sister: You would think someone would tell Jessica Biel that she's accidentally tucked her Giambattista Valli skirt into her knickers!

Walls Have Ears

Well ears, angels wings, flamingos, pretty much anything that ' floats your boat'.

The vast array of paint colours and finishes, wallpapers, wall stickers and made to order wall art can be mind boggling but get it right and that colour, or image can change your room from the ordinary to the extraordinary from the weak to the chic, the fine to the devine. Well you get my drift!

Farrow & Ball Hague Blue used on alternate walls 

With paint my advice is this, there are so many paint companies now from www.dulux.co.uk to www.firedearth.co.uk, www.littlepaintcompany.co.uk  even www.MrandMrsSmith.com, the boutique hotel sight has just launched a range, but I think you do get what you pay for in terms of pigment and paint quality especially if you are going for a dark, rich colour. The days of the one colour featured wall has been superseded with people being bolder and painting an entire room or painting to a fixed point. I've recently updated the much loved Dulux Night Jewels 2 in the kitchen with a rich www.farrowandball.co.uk Hague Blue which has a wonderful depth to it. I've also painted alternate walls, mad I hear you cry, but it really works, adding length to the room.  And what's the worst that can happen - be brave people it's only a tin of paint.

Faux wood wallpaper at Rockett St George

Faux effects wall paper is really hot right now. www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk have some of the best. Think distressed wood and metal. www.andrewmartin.co.uk also have some real beauties.  Again it pays to buy the best you can afford as the more expensive ones have a larger repeat - so giving a more realistic appearance which is what you're after and a better image depth and resolution. Choose your wall carefully. Ideally you want this on the opposite wall to the room entrance. That way it creates most impact and you view it from the furthest point. If it's behind you as you enter you already know it's not really a set of library shelves or a busy London street resplendent with double decker bus.

www.surfaceview.co.uk are one of the most forward thinking companies printing almost any image to fit your size of wall, from a classic painting to a classic car, a herd of elephants to the dyeing  swan in Swan Lake and anything in between. Even your own family photos. Just be careful of the resolution when super sizing your own images.

Panelling in our hall

I've been busy convincing Mr H-at-Home that panelling would look good up the stairs. He protested, and then having realised the error of his ways, got on with it. He's not done a bad job - although obviously I am the genius at work here!

Another one of the tasks my other half was issued with was to line the wall of the cloakroom in penny pieces. Yes my fabulous idea once again. Beautiful shades of bronze shimmer in the light as part of a dark and moody WC.

So people go forward with angels wings, wilder beast, pennies, panelling and even ears.

After all if walls really do have ears it seems only right to let them  do the talking!

Fashionista - Fashion Sister

In this weekly feature  I'll be sorting the Fashionista from the Fashion Sister.  Selected from Vogue's 'Best Dressed of the Week' we are talking 'A list' style royalty selected by THE top style magazine.

So where do I come in?  Well, even style high achievers can 'fall off the wagon'. Some people seem to make the grade looking anything but elegant or considered.

Included for who they are - despite style faux pas.  These are the fashion sisters.

Fashionista: Kate Hudson wearing Gucci. A master class in how to show off 'to die for abs' without looking like a school girl or that you've come straight from the gym.

Fashion Sister: Sarah Jessica Parker's stance says it all. What on earth!!

Fashionista - Fashion Sister

In this weekly feature  I'll be sorting the Fashionista from the Fashion Sister.  Selected from Vogue's 'Best Dressed of the Week' we are talking 'A list' style royalty selected by THE top style magazine.

So where do I come in?  Well, even style high achievers can 'fall off the wagon'. Some people seem to make the grade looking anything but elegant or considered.

Included for who they are - despite style faux pas.  These are the fashion sisters.

Fashionista: An effortlessly chic Rosie Huntington-Whiteley reminding us just how classic a black trousers / blouse combo can look

Fashion Sister: The style & elegance that is Gwyneth Paltrow showing that despite a 'wash board' stomach & crop tops being sooo on trend, that when you're over 25 you may look a little bit 'high school reunion' - Just saying! 

Fashionista - Fashion Sister

In this weekly feature  I'll be sorting the Fashionista from the Fashion Sister.  Selected from Vogue's 'Best Dressed of the Week' we are talking 'A list' style royalty selected by THE top style magazine.

So where do I come in?  Well, even style high achievers can 'fall off the wagon'. Some people seem to make the grade looking anything but elegant or considered.

Included for who they are - despite style faux pas.  These are the fashion sisters.

Fashionista: Staffordshire model Erin O'Connor showing how to wear a black DJ. Pure class.

Fashion Sister: Dakota Fanning choosing a Vionnet S/S 2014 gown that washes out her lovely colouring. Dakota you usually do so much better & it's time to get your roots done.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like.......

Christmas! - There I've said it and we haven't even got past Halloween.

In fairness Christmas has been in our uppermost thoughts at work since July and the office party is scheduled for November! So perhaps it is inevitable that my thoughts are turning to family festivities too. My niece is coming over from Canada this year, which is very exciting, and the complicated logistics of getting everyone together in the same place at the same time is already being discussed.

Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and my usual pared back style gives way to an ethos of 'more, more, more'  as I start dreaming up schemes worthy of being the backdrop to our  traditional family celebrations.  And although never a day goes by when I don't do or say something that reminds me of my mother, it is Christmas when I realise that the things I do as part of our family Christmas are influenced so much by her and how magical she made all my childhood Christmas'.

One of the things I love most about Christmas is preparing the house for visiting family and friends. Setting the scene and creating an atmosphere that conjures up that feeling of expectancy, that tingle of excitement that only Christmas brings.

As usual there is a wealth of decorations to choose from with high streets and retail parks awash with every colour combination imaginable. If in doubt check out www.coxandcox.co.uk for lovely fairy lights, silvered tea light holders and glass candlesticks   Homespun is still a popular theme so get knitting, felting, or baking. One year I made gingerbread angels to hang on the tree, together with brightly coloured candy canes. By the end of the holiday the gingerbread went soft and one by one each angel fell from the tree only to be devoured by an expectant dog grateful that patience had finally paid off.

If all else fails gold trinkets and a vase of white lillies will add impact

I found a tub of plastic safari animals in a pound shop and sorted out the Elks & painted them white. From a distance or after a couple of Rum Punches they look like Reindeer amongst the snowy marshmallows

Anyone for Turkey, the table set for Christmas dinner

A big part of Christmas is obviously party season. Last year I was adamant that I was going to wear a dress I had worn previously, after all who needed a new dress?  Well it turned out that I did, and the resultant panic buy is still hanging in my wardrobe in shame. So this year far from it being an extravagance to buy a new outfit I think it's all part of the Christmas preparation and anticipation of the party season.  Yes, I've got a number of dresses that I could wear and yes it's unlikely that anyone will remember what I wore last year,  but that's not really the point!

Having been to the Style Birmingham Live event recently www.shoppinginbirmingham.com which was a wonderful showcase not only for the gorgeous style on offer but also for Birmingham itself,  I have designs on several dresses for the party season.  www.riverisland.co.uk came out very strongly at the Bullring 10 show www.bullring.co.uk with some really key pieces, notably some wine coloured shorts and a lush beaded top that  would look stunning if, and I use this as a loose rule of thumb, your birth certificate was registered in the 90's. (That counts me out then!)

Really lovely detail on this beaded top. 

For me the www.monsoon.co.uk beaded white flapper dress was gorgeous. It moved really well, which is not always obvious without seeing it on the catwalk but trust me on this, this frock will Conga and Macarena with the best of em!

Too sophisticated for the Macarena? Who knows after a couple of G&T's

Hark, do I hear the tinkling bells of the Coca Cola Christmas ad?

Yes, it may be October - but in my 'minds eye,'  in the words of Noddy Holder, "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

Fashionista - Fashion Sister

In this weekly feature  I'll be sorting the Fashionista from the Fashion Sister.  Selected from Vogue's 'Best Dressed of the Week' we are talking 'A list' style royalty selected by THE top style magazine.

So where do I come in?  Well, even style high achievers can 'fall off the wagon'. Some people seem to make the grade looking anything but elegant or considered.

Included for who they are - despite style faux pas.  These are the fashion sisters.

Fashionista:Karlie Kloss in Michael Kors AW 2013

Fashion Sister: Pixie Geldof resplendent in a Gucci vinyl skirt and with an Ashley Williams SS 2014 Shark Bag - Form an orderly queue here!