Nikki Wilkes

www.walesathome.co.uk  
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  • About Nikki Wilkes

    Running interiors website, Wales at Home, www.walesathome.co.uk keeps me busy...finding great interiors stories, new companies to populate our online interiors directory and lovely, lovely pictures for visitors to oogle over and get inspired by to create even lovelier homes! If you have a brand new product or want to recommend a designer / brand or range of products I would love to hear from you.

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Nikki Wilkes has 10 blog posts

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  • Brand new eco chic brand!

    Last modified 3rd September
    Tags| french style, organic, ochre colours, kitchen and dining accessories, 100, cotton

    It just wouldn't be right or fair for me to keep this new gem of an interiors brand all to myself...check out Ochre&Ocre, www.ochreandocre.com, a truly gorgeous, stylish and beautifully created website selling equally well designed and sophisticated home accessories with that effortless French style. Created after chance meeting in France between Tess and Fiona, the result is a dining collection of organic cotton table cloths, napkins, runners, placemats, expanding into a kitchen range including aprons, oven gloves, gauntlets, pot holders, tea towels and shopping bags. They also have a few gifts; Cotswold lavender bags, beeswax and soy wax candles and FSC certified giftwrap should you wish to send a housewarming, birthday, Christmas or wedding gift. With the best quality 100% organic cotton the range uses a warm and earthy colour palette of Ochre colours to create the signature Ochre & Ocre look. Who could resist? My favourite are the suede backed gauntlets and the aprons big enough more »

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  • Design everywhere?

    Last modified 25th August
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    Having spent another rainy day this bank holiday wondering what to do with two children who were literally climbing the walls with boundless energy in our soon to be renovated 1960's 'shack' as I like to call it, (and this makes the equation of kids+rain+bank holiday even more unbearable), we finally sought solace in a country pub. PERFECT! Kids entertained - and fed - and my husband happy with a pint in his hand! But sitting in the dark but cosy restaurant area I couldn't help but notice the fairy lights still up (and making it look distinctly like the Christmas season was already upon us), and wondered what it would be like if pubs took on a whole new design ethos, ditching their traditional dated decor for a more modern approach? Somehow it just didn't seem right although everything about the furniture, carpet and accessories was so wrong! But it made me realise that for us design addicts we can get our 'design fix' in a trendy city centre bar or boutique hotel but would we miss more »

    Nikki Wilkes
    Nikki Wilkes

      Yes, I agree!  

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  • Moving house

    Last modified 6th April
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    What do you do when your house sale has fallen through 4 times already and you have just sold for the fifth time? My interior design dreams of creating a brand new home have been on hold for the last year as we search for our 'Livingetc' house and also hope that each sale is completed successfully. Alas! This time we have first time buyers....fingers and toes crossed as they seem quite keen...but once again, all ideas of being able to rush out and buy new furniture and accessories has once again been put on hold as we opt for what we think is the clever option: renting. Visions of being in the best buying position position drive me forward and the hope that we may have just enough left in the pot for a B&B Italia sofa :o)  Until then room designs on MyDeco shall keep me going....

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  • Tara Bernerd Lodges at Centre Parcs

    Last modified 1st April
    Tags| kids, tara, bernerd, holidays, design, interior, stylish

    Before Easter I promised to update you all on our first stay in the newly interior-designed lodges at Centre Parcs after my ramblings about holiday'ing in style with children. If you remember I admitted that staying in a Mr & Mrs Smith style hotel filled me with fear and dread that my children might wreck the place - we sensibly opted for a week in Centre Parcs. The work of Tara Bernerd and her team at Target living has been put to the test to inject style as well as practicality at the Centre Parcs holiday village and wow, has it paid off! I have to admit that I was impressed - really impressed. Being child-friendly and stylish is not easy but the design team seem to have come up with a brilliant combination of comfort, practicality and designer touches. The new Sealy beds designed exclusively for Centre Parcs were a dream (pardon the pun!) and just what was needed after an exhausting day with two energetic children. Not forgetting the large dining table with contemporary silver more »

    tile_clicker
    tile_clicker

      Do you know which ones have been re-furbished! I went to the longleat one a few years ago and was ...  

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  • Eco friendly Easter

    Last modified 13th March
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    Eco-friendly website, Love Eco (www.love-eco.co.uk) are giving away a Green & Blacks Easter egg with every cute chicken doorstop purchased. Doesn't get much fairer than that does it? The website has some great interiors products available and is worth checking out... ...For more Easter gift ideas have a look on Wales at Home, www.walesathome.co.uk but hurry if you're going to get your goodies in time for Easter!

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  • How can you holiday in style with kids?

    Last modified 13th March
    Tags| tara, contemporary, holidays, bernard, stylish, interiors

    This is a question that frequently leaves me wondering - how do you really holiday in style with kids? I have been known to read EVERY single review in the gorgeous, tempting, aspiring  Mr and Mrs Smith hotel guides  scouring the page for any mention that children are welcomed and a glimmer of hope that my husband and I might actually be able to retreat to a wonderful, stylish hotel somewhere in the countryside for a much needed break. But on finding those few hotels my hopes are dashed by the prices. Does anyone in their right mind take the kids along when the hotel is that great? I love mine dearly but I fear I may not relax. But to the rescue comes Centre Parcs. Yes, Centre Parcs. Love it or loathe it, for 5 days its practical and what's more, now us design conscious parents don't have to compromise with stylish new lodges designed by Tara Bernard. My enthusiasm fuelled by modern furniture, new Sealy beds and chic white bed linen. OK. It may not be on the Mr and Mrs Smith radar but more »

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  • Worth staying in bed for?

    Last modified 22nd February
    Tags| interiors, bedding, contemporary, white, bedroom

    I just have to tell you about this brand new interiors company, Milk and Honey that launched a few weeks ago. Based in Wales, Milk and Honey is the divine creation of home wares expert, Emilie Evans who after many years working for some of the best names in interiors embarked on creating her own special brand with all products sourced within the European Union and made under fair working conditions and strict guidelines. Emile says, 'Everyone wants to change the world. We are surrounded by corporate brands that dominate the market and offer volume over quality, low prices at the expense of human development. We are a small unique company that stands aside from the giants and dares to be different.' My favourite collection is the contemporary range of Sucre Glace bedding - as shiny as icing sugar and as soft as well...find out for yourselves...This company really is a breath of fresh air and has fast become a firm favourite of ours at Wales at Home.

    Nikki Wilkes
    Nikki Wilkes

      Ben

    I love these products! You're right - it's not all about Ikea although Ikea ...  

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  • Half term interior design

    Last modified 11th February
    Tags| interior, ikea, design, children

    For all those other mums stuck at home this week with eager faced children waiting to see what exciting activites you have planned for them...did anyone else end up in Ikea today for a cheap lunch and the handy play area? I did, with another friend, between us clocking up 5 children....I wouldn't say I would wholeheartedly recommend it but we decided to call this trip 'half term interior design'....

    my interior stylist
    my interior stylist

      Hi Nikki, so glad someone else agrees that Ikea is great for kids! My husband thinks it's a cop out ...  

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  • House envy

    Last modified 8th February
    Tags| beautiful, style, vintage, houses, gorgeous, stylish

    Does anyone else get this? For anyone else out there who makes a living in interiors I don't know if you feel like me...I spend my week visiting other people's houses (I write reader home features for interiors magazines) and people are always worried when I go there because they're thinking, 'does my house look tidy enough?', 'is it good enough to be in a magazine?', 'do I really have good taste?' And the answer is 'YES! YES! YES!' I saw a house today and as soon as I entered I was green with envy - it was gorgeous; full of lovely Emma Bridgewater crockery, a lovely old-fashioned style kitchen painted in Farrow & Ball colours, the most enviable brand new bedroom and piles of Cath Kidston towells effortlessly piled up in the bathroom over a lovely roll top bath...the list goes on. I get house envy every day of the week - and now I can indulge my interiors fantasies and re-create all the lovely rooms I see! Yipee!!!!

    Nikki Wilkes
    Nikki Wilkes

      Wow - getting a house in Elle is great...Must be lovely...it's writers dream to get a house in Elle ...  

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  • Why do you love your home so much?

    Last modified 3rd February
    Tags| style, modern, magazines, interior, design, decorating

    CALLING ALL INTERIORS ENTHUSIASTS!  We all know the common theories out there about the cultural significance of our homes in the past - from the proud Victorian parlours, filled to excess with home furnishings, to the housing boom after World War II when pre-fab houses and large developments sprung up all over Britain in response to the end of a troubled era and a new baby boom. But, we have moved on and now have a whole new set of cultural values to live our lives by. So, why do we furnish our homes to excess? Why do we love a trip to Ikea on a rainy Saturday afternoon or why is bagging a real bargain the Habitat a great buzz? Why do we love interior design and decorating? Why can we not get enough of interiors magazines, interior design programmes and of course, websites? My PhD thesis, 'The Cultural Significance of Interior Design Magazines in the 21st Century' asks all of these questions and seeks to find the answers in our modern more »

    SophieTrinder
    SophieTrinder

      Home decorating is fun and a creative thing to do and something which you can completely have as ...  

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