How to create an eclectic...exterior! Rugs, seating, lanterns and other colourful patio ideas

April always seems to be one of the best months in the North East of Scotland and today we had tropical temperatures of 19 degrees Celsius! It was incredibly windy, but still, I managed to enjoy lunch 'al-fresco'. Each year I hope that we'll have great weather until at least August, but unfortunately we've had plenty of wetness and cold too.... Anyway, enough about our crappy Scottish Summers, let's talk sunshine! As I have recently been writing a couple of posts about how to create an eclectic interior, I thought it would be nice to focus on how to create inspirational outdoor areas today, since we'll all be walking around in our flip-flops soon.

As you may have seen in earlier posts my husband and I are still busy building our own patio area from beautiful natural stone, which hopefully will be finished before Summer. Can't wait to dress it up with furniture, cushions and pot plants. The rockery plants are in place already.

To give you and myself some inspiration, I selected some great images to get our creative thinking going...

I adore everything in this picture. Look at those tiles! Image: www.style-files.com

How romantic is this...! Image: La Belle Vie

How to create this eclectic garden chandelier, read it on www.sunset.com

And another wonderful alternative chandelier

Not exactly a patio area, but wouldn't you love to have your al-fresco Summer lunch here? Image: Modern Interior Design

I have a thing for colourful cushions, like necklaces, you just can't have enough of them! Image: My Deco

Even small balconies can be transformed into wonderful spaces. Image: Houzz

Indoor furniture doesn't have to stay indoors! Image: House to Home

Get your vintage linens out to create a wonderful country chic dinner table. Image: House to Home

Yup, told you so, get those vintage linens out. What a lovely French style patio! Image: House to Home

And of course...an example from Stockholm, where we'll be heading for our Summer holidays. Great use of a tiny roof terrace! Image: Pitut.com
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Don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to Summer now...hope you like this post.  How do you create that individual look on your outdoor area?
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Design line-up: lamps and pendants

I love Danish design and this lamp, called the IQ Light, is one of my all-time favourites, especially when lit at night. The one pictured below is a replica and sold on eBay.

Another mid-century cracker from Denmark (from collectables.articles.com):

I also love Moroccan lanterns and pendants that create such a lovely diffused light. This one is from Haysom lighting.

This one is a cheapy from B&Q, that we've got hanging in our hall way. Got a nice retro feel to it!

This pendant light is great for its simplicity and elegance and would go in any interior really (and I'd love it to in mine!). You can get it on eBay.

 

This pendant light with aluminium casting is reminiscent of the successful industrial era of the 60's. I love it! Wouldn't it look great in a pair above the kitchen table? It is available from Garden Trading.

Fabulous warm orange light coming from this retro beauty (found on eBay):

Making furniture out of old pallets

Image: Ana White

I am a big fan of recycling, or in other words, making sure that something doesn't end up in the skip. I love seeing old wood being reused and the crates made by Ana Whyte are a beautiful example of this. She has the complete How-To on her website, so do have a look if you want to do this yourself.

The next example from www.folksy.com I really like, but... £180 for coffee table made from a reclaimed old pallet? (For US-based readers, that's $288 - yes, you are reading that correctly!). It doesn't look that difficult to screw four wheels under a pallet, give the thing a good varnish and get a cut-to-size piece of glass to put on top of it, does it? Although, glass can be expensive...maybe that's what has put the price up... ;-)

Image: mobius-living.co.uk

Hold on, I just came across this Studio5 website with some tutorials on it... Time to save some money, folks! Tutorial: How to make a coffee table out of a pallet

And another great looking coffee table here... And you know what? I've got the tutorial here just for you: pallet coffee table tutorial

You may be charging £180 for your own home-made creations soon!

This design is very nice too, an ottoman designed by BCK design from Canada. Looks very contemporary, beautiful and functional at the same time.

Image: Designspotter.com

The lovely Recicla e Decora blog also shows a great number of recycled pallet projects (although I can't understand the Portuguese text - I always enjoy the pictures!). What about this shoe rack...? I know, a bit basic...but an original idea.

Image: recicla e decora

One of my favourites is this rustic bench and a similar one was shown in the BBC gardening programme Gardeners World last Summer. I'm pleased to say there's a video tutorial for it on the BBC website. It's not the most glamorous looking thing, but hey, it's a pallet - what do you expect!

Image: treesandthings via GrowsonYou

Pallets are not just great for making tables and benches, London based Studiomama also makes lamps out of them.

Image: studiomama

That's it for today! But if you still can't get enough of pallets and the magic you can create with them, go and have a look on www.greenupgrader.com, for many more ideas and "The 8 best resources for Building with Pallets".

Time to dive into the skip, I think, and find some old planks...

Cool Scottish contemporary craft and design

Image: Papa Stour

I don't usually boast about Scotland as the place to be when it comes to interior design, as most interior shops up here I just find incredibly boring and traditional. Sofas are bulky, sideboards massive, "contemporary design sofas" often means "oddly shaped" and made out of black or red leather - but still bulky. Where are the aesthetics?

I am always flabbergasted (I love that word) by the many homes decked out with complete lack of inspiration, with everything bought brand new, in the same shop, on the same day, in the same colour. Playing 'safe', by choosing beige, creams and 'neutral' colours. It's so soul-less!

Image: Papa Stour

Anyway, I will get off my soap box now - phew - because today I am proud to present Papa Stour, a wonderful Scottish online shop featuring great individual, eccentric home decor pieces by some very talented artists!

Papa Stour was launched 5 years ago by Rosie Brown, a Scottish textile designer, freelance interior stylist and a regular contributor to publications such as Elle Decoration, Living Etc and Homes & Gardens. 

Since Scottish design seems to be my topic today, I'd also like to boast about my good friend Libby Day, who is a very talented designer based in Aberdeen, making the most wonderful contemporary interior pieces - and jewelry (including my wedding ring!). 

Libby focuses on the natural and built environment as inspiration for her designs, which I think is shown beautifully in her room dividers/screens and the box seats. Libby does large commissions and big interior projects, but also sells limited edition items on her website www.day2designs.co.uk. Do check out her fruit bowl and lighting, as they're ace.

Light bulb cozy

To continue the lighting theme of yesterday...here's a totally different designer lamp, but equally as cute. The shades are made of used wool blankets - love them! They're from Dutch artists/designers Beeldenbouwers, who also make wonderful cabinets and sculptures.

Light blubs

I know my blog is meant to be about junk, great but affordable interiors and how do create this, but aren't these lights just charming? I love design that makes you smile and this certainly did. I probably can't afford any of these but just wanted to share it with you. These lights are Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans' 'Light Blubs' or as she explains: "a light bulb that has gone way out of line. Infected by the dreaded Design Virus, these Blubs have taken on all kinds of forms and sizes you wouldn't expect from such well behaving and reliable little products. Nevertheless, they seem to be enjoying their new free existences." The blubs seem like bogies coming out of lamps, or fat puddings crashing down from the sky and collapsing on the table. Brilliant.

Let there be light (and colour, more colour!)

Orla Kiely fabric