ablindpash

30/08/2026

Snippets from Amsterdam

24/08/2026

20/08/2026

OUT OF THE OFFICE

From 20 August to 7 October, we'll be out of the office as Kris heads off on a design tour through Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and London — visiting Maison & Objet, Focus on Design, and no doubt filling up the inspiration folder along the way.

We'll still be checking in when we can and sharing highlights on the socials, but response times on emails and calls will be a little slower than usual during this period. If you've got an urgent query, please bear with us — we'll get back to you as soon as we're able.

Thank you for your patience, and we can't wait to bring all that fresh inspiration back to our own projects when we return in October.

18/08/2026

DESIGN INSPIRATION - Andrew Martin Fabrics

Founded in 1978, Andrew Martin has spent almost five decades proving that eclectic doesn't have to mean chaotic. Bold prints, animal and botanical motifs, chinoiserie, rich velvets and jacquards — it's a collection built for layering with real conviction, not for playing it safe.

What we love most is the philosophy behind it: mix, don't match. A saturated jewel-toned solid grounds a bold print. A stripe brings order to something more exuberant. Texture does as much work as colour. It's exactly the kind of considered maximalism we're always chasing in our own projects — pattern piled on pattern, but never by accident.

The brand's collaborations are worth knowing too — including a joyful, folk-tale-inspired range with Kit Kemp — proof that the best in British design tends to keep circling back to the same handful of people who really understand how to have fun with a room.

Bold, worldly, and endlessly mixable. A go-to for us for a reason.

12/08/2026

This August and September, Kris is heading off on another design tour — this time through Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and London. Visiting Maison & Objet and Focus 26 on Design.

Expect a proper deep-dive into Art Nouveau architecture (think Horta's own house and studio in Brussels, and the extraordinary Maison Hannon), some of the world's great art museums (the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam), and no doubt a fabric showroom or two along the way.

Make sure you follow along on Instagram for behind-the-scenes highlights as it happens — always the best fuel for what comes next in our own projects.

12/08/2026

Highlights from Life Instyle last week ❤️

11/08/2026

DESIGN TIP - Match the window treatment to the room's job, not just the window's shape.

It's tempting to default to curtains everywhere — but the best window treatment isn't always the prettiest one, it's the one that actually works for the room. A few we swear by:

-Kitchen: Roman blinds. Practical, tidy, and they stay well clear of splashes and steam.
-Bedroom or living room: Full-length drapes. Softness, warmth, and genuinely useful sound absorption.
-Bathroom or a high-glare room: Plantation shutters. Real light control without adding bulk to a smaller space.

Function first, and the room will always look better for it.

10/08/2026

DESIGN BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Nature of Decorating — Jenny Rose-Innes

This month's pick is about bringing the outside in. Jenny draws on years of decorating, renovating, and building homes to show how design can deepen our connection to nature — stunning images of her own home and garden, paired with real, practical advice. It also features homes from designers she admires, including Butter Wakefield, Cath Kidston, and Sean Anthony Pritchard, so there's plenty of style variety to draw from.

A lovely one for the coffee table, and an even better one to actually read.

07/08/2026

Period Home Renovations

Period homes have a way of asking for patience.

As someone who has owned and lived in a period home for over 20 years, this is a lesson I learned early: before you change anything, work out what's actually original versus what's a later addition pretending to be original. Cornices, ceiling roses, fireplaces, and skirting profiles are often the real heritage bones of the home — and they're worth protecting or matching carefully.

Later "improvements" (a boxed-in fireplace, dropped ceilings, mismatched trims) are usually fair game to update without any heritage guilt. Get that distinction right early, and every decision after it — paint colours, joinery, layout — gets a lot easier, because you know exactly what you're working with and what you're free to change.

06/08/2026

DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT - Ben Pentreath

This week we're spotlighting Ben Pentreath, the London-based architect and interior designer behind some of the most quietly influential English interiors working today. He trained in Art History before studying architecture and since then he's become known as one of the go-to designers for genuinely lived-in English style, including work for the British royal family on Anmer Hall and their Kensington Palace apartment.

What we love about Pentreath's work is the restraint underneath the pattern. His rooms borrow from 18th and 19th-century English tradition as much as they do from the 1960s and 70s, layering antiques, chintz, and family pieces until a room feels like it's evolved over generations rather than been decorated in one hit. He's spoken about how a truly authentic English interior is almost "undesigned" — the opposite of a showroom. It's history, comfort, and a bit of imperfection, all treated as design tools rather than flaws.