Month: November 2017

How to create a nice Christmas wall display without damaging your walls

Since you loved so much this article on how to create a gallery wall without drilling into your walls, I have put together three Christmas stylings to decorate your home without (again!) damaging or drilling into your walls. Christmas styling #1 For this one made in our home in France, I used Command Brand clear hooks (see below) which are great to hang paper balls, garlands or fairy lights. However, should you wish to hang a Christmas lights curtain like the one I’ve hanged in our lounge here, I suggest you use Command Brand clear medium hooks which will be stronger and more suitable to bear the weight of the lights. Either way, both are very easy to fix on the wall and providing your walls are healthy and you follow the instructions when removing them, these little hooks will not damage your walls.To hang my gold NOEL sign, I fixed one of Command Brand plastic hooks on each side of the wall, then I run a clear string through the hooks of the inflatable letters and …

Adding natural touches in your home

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen (or not… thanks to Instagram’s new algorithm…) that a Photographer came to shoot our home in London last week. Unfortunately, I can’t show you the final look I put together or any beautiful images he shot as they have to be kept under wrap until the feature is out but I wanted to show you these beautiful and inexpensive natural wooden stools and a few other natural touches I added around our lounge. I brought similar versions but much smaller stools for our home in France after my first trip to Marrakech. In fact, I was almost in tears when I came across these stools and these gorgeous baskets in the Souk the first time I visited Marrakech. I think if I had still the e-shop, I would have come back to the UK with a container full of beautiful things but as it happens, I sold it in 2016 to focus on more creative projects like this blog and my portrait photography. The ones I brought back from Marrakech were …

Beautiful, handcrafted ceramics for your home

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Do you love handcrafted ceramics? If so, you are in for a treat… Last June, Mila, my niece Lily and I got stranded in Singapore because Mila had only 6-months left on her passport to enter Bali. Luckily, I had some good friends living there and we ended up staying with them for a week until we received Mila’s New-Zealand passport. During that time, my friend Sofia took me to a lovely home decoration shop where I spotted some really beautiful, handcrafted ceramics by Zakkia Homewares. A Sydney-based studio founded by Swedish Sara Lundgren, Zakkia Homewares produces beautiful handcrafted ceramics and objects to love and cherish for a lifetime. I fell hard for the two black ceramic pots (above on the right) and really pondered whether I should be backpacking for three weeks with ceramics in my bag. In the end, common sense prevailed (for once!) and I just took a picture of the brand to look it up later. Once back in Europe, I spent a lot more time on Zakkia Homewares website. When I found …

A few new things in our home to add warmth & textures

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

If you watched my stories yesterday, you probably saw the amount of brown boxes in my lounge. It was a mess and it freaked me out a little but our home is being photographed on Monday (and I will use this opportunity to promote my portrait photography). I also thought it was the perfect opportunity to finish styling the house properly. I always find that when you go through major renovations, you tend to be on top of things for 90% of them and by the time, the heavy work is done, you have no energy left to finish the remaining 10%, which is, in fact, the fun part. It was also a challenge to source everything in the UK when I was stuck in France but apart from a few things, it went pretty smoothly. As I mentioned in this article about adding textures to your home, I moved this lovely Berber rug to our bedroom and put a much larger and beautiful rug from a company called Larusi in our lounge. They have …

Winter seaside mood board

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Working on a Winter seaside mood board for an upcoming and exciting project…. I’m off to London this afternoon to finalise the styling of our home which is being photographed on Monday. I will stay there until Friday I think, to attend a few press shows and catch up with friends. However, on my return, I will need to kick off with a new project for The White Company which I’m really looking forward to doing and sharing with you. I have been a long-term customer of The White Co and a great admirer of Chrissie Rucker, who founded the business over 22 years ago (read their story). She was a major inspiration when I set up the BODIE and FOU concept store ten years ago. Besides the business side, The White Company is always the first company I check online when I need to get new white cotton bedding and soft, high-quality bathroom towels. Looking at their collection to work on my concept, gather together a few props and create this lovely mood board, I came across some really beautiful and …

How to add textures and warmth to your home

How to add textures to your home

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

I’ve always loved the minimalist, relaxing look that exudes from our resin floor in our London home. However, since I’ve painted this wall with Kalklitir paint before Summer, I have been drawn to more intimate, muted colours, wooden furniture and handmade objects and of course, stonewashed linen in the bedrooms. I suspect this unpainted plaster wall is not going to get painted anytime soon and that’s ok… I love it just the way it is, with its small imperfections and soothing atmosphere. It’s also the start of Autumn and personally, I feel more inclined to stay at home where it’s warm and cosy rather than hitting the town on high heels in the cold, don’t you!?There are different ways of adding textures and warmth to your home but one that doesn’t fail is adding a rug, even a small one like this wool berber rug I got from Next a while ago but never got around to photograph. You can see here how the lounge looked before the addition of this small rug (especially here!) … I should have …

Kid jumping on bed © Karine Kong Photography, All Rights Reserved.jpg

How to use Lightroom (and not be scared of it)

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

This year, I started using Lightroom, a software, which at first really scared me (that recurrent fear of the unknown!) but which in the end, became my friend. This article is for you if you are a keen Photographer if you are already using Lightroom or are planning to use it. These four tips will show you the benefits of using Lightroom without being scared of it… For me, the biggest advantage of using Lightroom is that it allows you to file all your pictures by keywords, rating (1* to 5*). It also allows you to create folders and collections within your massive catalogue to find a specific picture quickly. Even if you don’t remember what month or year you took it. If tag this image of Mila in Lightroom with keywords “Mila”, “tutu”, then create two mini collections with the same keywords, I will be able to see at a glance, all the pictures of Mila or tutus I’ve taken over the years. I can even narrow down my search and have all the images in one folder with the …

Parisian inspiration

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

I’m in Paris for a couple of days with a program including editing recent shoots, catching up with friends and working in my PJs from the comfort of my sister’s beautiful flat. Elodie is having a new kitchen fitted in a couple of weeks and even her flat is filled with Ikea brown boxes, it still feels very peaceful. I’m currently working on revamp project for our home in London which is being photographed on the 20th November. Not much time left to do everything but I’ve never backed down in front of a challenge. I’m leaning towards softening the look of our lounge with natural materials, texture and handmade things. If you know a few great Ceramists in the UK or ceramic retailers, please let me know. Also, if you’re coming to Paris soon, know that the Salon de la Photo is on. Sadly, I will miss it because I’m flying to Switzerland on a press trip on Thursday to visit Vitra and given how many vintage Vitra pieces I own, it is one …