Images from top left to bottom right: Pooky lights table lamp in an emerald glaze with empire shade in grey ferns; Verona black table lamp with black zig zag Ikat shade.
Alternative Flooring’s Make Me A Rug online – Quirky B Spotty Grey, Rock ‘n’ Roll Mr. Blue Sky, Moon Mineral Pinstripe, Quirky B Strawberry Meadow Marigold, Sisal Bubbleweave Gold, Jute Big Panama Brioche, Wool Herringbone Zig Zag. Rock ‘n’ Roll Mr Blue Sky rug with Porcelain and Jot Denim border.
Looking for inspiration – easy updates and finishing touches
If lighting and flooring are the two most important elements when designing a home, then lamps and rugs are the most important accessories in the final decorating sweep. It’s the time to focus on the finishing touches. Here’s how to play with not just colour and pattern, but with your imagination.
Decorating with light
Pooky is all about lamp love and decorative lighting. Like Alternative Flooring they love a bit of quirkiness in the home. Sneaking an accent pattern or dash of colour into a room is great fun, but can often be a bit of a challenge – which is where rugs and lamps can be your friend. After all, Pooky is a term of endearment, a pet name, isn’t it? We asked Tim Doyne, one of the Pooky Directors, how it all began.
“Pooky – sounds like Kooky, or perhaps it conjures up the name of your treasured imaginary friend. Whatever it means to you, we hope that it includes something colourful and quirky. We want Pooky’s lamps and shades to help our customers inject little twinkles of colour around their interiors, easily and inexpensively. It’s amazing what a difference it makes to change your lampshades now and then – just like a new rug transforms everything.”
There are some great lamps bases and shades galore. You can mix and match – pattern with plain, traditional with modern. Perhaps we should all pay more attention to the plight of the table lamp or indeed its floor version both as a finishing touch and more of a statement. Tim suggests opting for, “The Nellie – a really simple ceramic base available in five bold beautiful running glazes. Pair it with a simple parchment shade and you’ve got a stunner that’ll make friends anywhere you place it!”
Styling with pattern and colour
Or you may be hunting for a lamp in just the right colour for your room. The bright sparks at Pooky make it easy for you be confident with pattern or be colour coded. Pooky and Farrow & Ball have got together to offer hundreds of shade and style combinations. Take your pick from 19 wooden lamp bases painted in a choice of 21 of the most popular paint colours from the experts.
There are tips too about which lights to use where. Lamps are a favourite in the bedroom not just for a decorative touch but because they cast a softer, lower level light. This is serious stuff and we need Pooky’s know how here. Tim again.
“In your love of atmosphere, colour and beautiful styling, don’t forget the practical side to lighting. Use metallic shades and pendants when you need to capture the light and push it down in pools for work surfaces or reading areas. But use a gentler fabric and non-directional shades if you’re trying to produce a gentler ambiance for entertaining or relaxing spaces. Little lamps are great in bedrooms but they can also find their place in the otherwise pendant world of the open-plan kitchen, where they can be discreetly tucked on a shelf to bring some gentle warmth.”
Rugs with personality woven in
Whether a new rug is an easy update or finishing touch, it brings colour, pattern and texture to a room and just like lighting, has the power to create a mood. Customised rugs are another fun and easy way to personalise your home.
Decorating with rugs opens up a world of possibilities. Whether they speak softly or shout loudly, rugs let you stamp your personality onto your floor. Everyone can have their creative moment with Alternative’s Make Me A Rug online. There are thousands of floors – wool, natural fibres, patterns and textures and border combinations to choose from. The new Alternative Flooring with Liberty Fabrics collection with iconic designs making fabulous bespoke rugs.
Watch our cool rug video starring the Mad about the House interiors writer Kate Watson-Smyth who shows the five easy steps to creating your rug. In her home, Kate goes wild with the Quirky B black and white Zebo animal print with a dazzlingly bright pink border. Read more on Kate’s blog How to decorate with rugs and here’s one of her top tips.
“Firstly, buy the biggest rug you can afford for the space. Secondly, in the sitting room (for example), a rug should be anchored by the front legs of the sofa (at the very least). A small rug under the coffee table that doesn’t touch any furniture creates an island and doesn’t pull the room together. If you have only small rugs then layer them up to cover a larger space.”
As with lamps you can afford to be bold with rugs as it’s easy to move them around to other rooms or even to change them seasonally.
As Kate says, we change our clothes with the weather so why not some of our soft furnishings and accessories too.
Discover what makes Pooky and Alternative Flooring different
You can browse Pooky’s lamps on their website
Find lots more Alternative rug inspirations here – and follow us on Instagram and Twitter
If you want to find a lamp in just the right colour and fancy designing your very own rug to match, then enter our competition link
ENTER our fantastic competition for a chance to WIN a statement rug and light here!
