Beautiful botanicals herald spring's arrival at home

Winter's grip shows little sign of loosening but new arrivals for Lakes interiors can give your home a lift and put a spring in your step.
Birds are flying in and botanicals are bringing a growing sense of wellbeing, while a wash of spring green and ice cream pastels are set to brighten our homes and our mood.
These are just some of the interior trends for the coming season, showcased at their best at Armstrong Ward in Kendal. The shop has been at the forefront of interior design for 12 years, offering high quality furniture and accessories for the whole home, including children's rooms. Drawing on their impeccable taste and ability to source pieces that reflect trends but don't slavishly follow fashion, owners Jacqueline and Andrew Ward always manage to combine high quality and style but without excessive pricetags.
Following their mantra to be different, radical and to set the trend, they return from the seasonal trade fairs bursting with ideas and inspiration having cast discerning eyes over thousands of products and carefully curated those that will, many months later, arrive in Kendal.

"At the fairs we are looking to sift out and distil our choices down to things that will work for our customers, and also to find different pieces that will excite them to add that point of difference," says Jacqueline.
"We all need a creative influence and we go to the fairs to be inspired and educated. We typically add 25-30 new suppliers every buying season, some of whom will go on to be part of our core collections, so we need to stay ahead and see who is out there.
"We've learned to buy with confidence in our taste and to follow our instincts. We don't have specific customers in mind when we're buying, but we do think of style-conscious customers like them with a similar lifestyle. Our starting point is good quality products that we love and we can envisage in other people's homes," she explains.
It might be those who live the 'Mitford life', a term based on their best-selling sofa of the same name by John Sankey. It's a large, informal yet stylish piece of furniture that works well in family rooms and living rooms, big enough for adults and children to curl up on in comfort. With a lifetime guarantee on the frame, it's an investment piece and can be made in a range of colours and fabrics that families personalise with their choice of cushions and throws.
"It's high quality and very nice to look at yet also practical, which reflects the kind of customers who buy it," says Jacqueline, who worked in product development for a food manufacturer that supplied a national retailer before she and Andrew, who worked in hotel management and with luxury British furniture maker Wesley-Barrell, opened Armstrong Ward.

Pale pink is the new neutral to enhance John Sankey's Mitford sofa 

This spring Mitfords and other furniture are set to be adorned with cushions reflecting a growing trend for plant life.
"Big banana leaves and cheese plant designs on wallpaper and fabrics, together with real large house plants might work in London homes but I think it's too radical for our customer base. We've gone for gentler botanicals and nature reflected in hand-drawn prints by British artists," explains Jacqueline.

Abigail Bury's fabulously fresh leaf design cushion

Provenance in soft furnishings and homewares is increasingly important as buyers become more concerned about where and how things are made and are willing to spend extra for something of quality and individuality.
"I think people are being more considered in their buying and are looking for higher quality and an ethical story behind what they buy. They may buy less but are happy to pay a little more for something that's crafted in the UK and is a really lovely product, rather than something that's mass produced. We've thought about the things people will see value in, rather than the price," she says.
Falling into this category are statement designs by Abigail Bury and Lorna Syson. Abigail's bright and bold leaves and flowers, as well as on trend geometrics, are to be found on fine Scottish linen cushions, while Lorna's prints for fresh cotton are simpler with spring birds on lampshades and cushions. Flocks of British birds and flowers appear on charming lampshades by a new British designer, while blue tits on cherry blossom branches adorn Mosney Mill cushions and accessories. The English garden gives way to rustic countryside in Sam Wilson's linocut hares and birds on a muted duck egg and taupe palette and the Hogben Pottery range reflects simple yet exquisite design.

Cushions from Mosney Mill, lampshade by Lorna Syson

One of Jacqueline's favourites for Easter are egg decorations crafted from recycled cotton in a range of pretty, earthy colours.
As spring gives way to summer, a more sophisticated Seventies look will juxtapose with kitsch - expect to see lots of llamas, unicorns and cacti. Children's rooms will be adorned with rainbows and clouds on white and grey neutrals.
Scandi style will continue with photogenic pieces to feed owners' appetite for Instagram. Clean and modern will be tempered with more rustic or artisan accessories, such as a hand-turned bowl or wool throw to provide a mix of textures. Rustic wood combines with practical and tactile cool marble in Nkuku's cheese boards and platters, for instance.

Nkuku combines style with ethically-made products

Cornwall-based St Eval candles are considered an everyday essential for their high burn time, and Armstrong Ward also as its own range of lovely, seasonal smelling candles.
Utilitywear gets a stylish makeover on the basis that, if we have to do housework, we may as well have nice brushes, brooms and dustpans to do it with. Garden Trading tools beg to be displayed, not confined to a utility room cupboard.
Moving into autumn-winter things turn more luxurious with velvets in jewel colours or dark blues, greens and purples with pale pinks, pastel peaches and nudes as contrasting neutral accents. Brushed brass accessories are proving popular with the discerning Lakeland buyer in a way that copper didn't.

Brushed brass candles at Armstrong Ward

Shopping at Armstrong Ward, or enjoying one of Jacqueline's delicious cakes in the cafe, means bumping into regular customers from the local area - stylish mums, professional couples and empty nesters. Some are second home owners, others are visitors on holiday and some have travelled halfway across the world to visit family but always fit in a visit to their favourite shop.
One thing they have in common is, like the Wards, great taste.
* Armstrong Ward, Wainwright's Yard, Kendal, www.armstrongward.co.uk

Welcome to Lakeslux

Hi, I'm Sarah and in my blog I want to bring you a fresh and fashionable view of the Lake District. I hope you enjoy my selected picks from the Lakes' growing list of stylish places to eat, shop and visit, all within the UK's newest UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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