Category: Architecture & Interior Design


Colonel Saab: London’s India-Inspired Salute to Afternoon Tea

There are few culinary customs more quintessentially British than afternoon tea. Typically consisting of a selection of bite-sized savoury sandwiches, scones, sweets, and bottomless brews (of the leafy variety…as opposed to pints), this gastronomic indulgence dates back nearly 200 years.

In the 1840s, the Duchess of Bedford, one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, got tired of waiting–on her evening meal, that is. To assuage the “sinking feeling” she often got around 5 PM, the Duchess requested some tea, bread, butter, and cake. “What a terrible idea” said no one ever, and thus, the tradition was born.

There have been many clever 21st Century takes on this historic repast, from fashionis-teas to fur-tea-ve dalliances with felines. One especially apt incarnation, given the rise of the U.K.’s first prime minister of Indian descent, Rishi Sunak, is afternoon tea at Colonel Saab.

(more…)

For Weird Souvenirs, You Can’t Beat Paris’ Super-Sized Marché aux Puces

You'll find everything you need to furnish your own Little House of Horrors at the Marché aux Puces de Paris-Saint-Ouen.

You’ll find everything you need to furnish your own Little House of Horrors at the Marché aux Puces de Paris-Saint-Ouen.

There may be only one place on the planet where you can find ancient French tapestries, intricately carved African fertility statues, a moth-eaten orangutan and a copy of Barry Manilow’s “Paradise Cafe” (on vinyl, no less). With a selection of antiques even the Smithsonian might envy, France’s Marché aux Puces de Paris/St-Ouen beckons bargain hunters, interior decorators, and the just plain curious.

You know you want it, ladies.

You know you want it, ladies.

Widely considered to be one of the largest antiques and second-hand markets in the world, the marché embraces more than 1,700 stalls sprawled over 10 hectares in Paris’ 18th arrondissement.

Flea market aficionados flock here to snap up deals on everything from silverplate to crystal balls to 17th-century suits of armor.

Need a medieval crown from the South of France? Chances are, they’ve got that, too.

Even if your expense account doesn’t cover jewel-encrusted headgear, it’s an amusing way to spend an afternoon.

Lose yourself in the labyrinthine alleyways and simply soak up the atmosphere as you browse for deals on some of the strangest stuff to ever clog a closet. (more…)

Grand Designs Live: Great Gadgets & DIY Inspiration

Kevin McCloud (far right) on stage at the Grand Designs Live Grand Theatre.

Kevin McCloud (far right) on stage at the Grand Designs Live Grand Theatre.

At least one night each week, you’ll find me on my sofa, bowl of popcorn in hand, feet propped on the coffee table, and eyes glued to the TV screen as one of my favourite dramas unfolds. At times, the tension is almost too much to bear. Will a family be torn asunder, a marriage destroyed, dreams shattered like a sheet of two-storey glass installed by a rickety crane while the rain blows sideways over a windy moor?

That’s right. This isn’t one of those dark, moody murder mysteries where corpses pile up like cords of wood. It’s Grand Designs, the long-running British home-building series, where cords of wood pile up like corpses.

This week at Grand Designs Live, fans of the show have an opportunity to meet Grand Designs’ host, architect Kevin McCloud, and some of the fearless folks who have dared to translate their castles in the air into genuine bricks and mortar (or occasionally, straw and daub).

Tom Raffield (right) and Kevin McCloud discuss how Tom and his partner Danielle transformed their cottage with their own bent-wood designs.

Tom Raffield (right) and Kevin McCloud discuss how Tom and his partner Danielle transformed their cottage with their own bent-wood designs.

The event runs through 7th May 2017 at London’s ExCeL Centre, and in October, it heads to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham—England, that is. (Sorry, Alabama). Click HERE for a special discount code, offering two tickets to the London show for £22.

For aspiring builders and renovators, Grand Designs Live offers a wealth of resources. You can attend design lectures, meet with architects to discuss your own plans, and chat with hundreds of vendors selling everything you ever needed for your abode, alongside loads of stuff you’ll never actually need but can’t live without once you’ve seen it.

There are acres of great home inventions to explore. Here are a handful that captured my imagination. (more…)

Next page →
← Previous page