news & views


	SOME FAVOURITE SHOPS One of my favourite shops in England is Pollyanna, a whole houseful of the best contemporary design in fashion, owned and run by the redoubtable Rita Brittain. I have to ration my visits to Pollyanna in Barnsley (Yorkshire) because the place is so addictive. Rita selects and stocks not only the best international fashion but also new and exciting British designers. My other favourite shop is the Strand Gallery in Aldeburgh (in Suffolk) of which Ron Howell is the proprietor. I’ve bought some very simple Venetian glass jewellery from him (uncompromisingly modern and always much admired when I wear it), but the majority of his stock consists of contemporary British artworks – sculpture, paintings, prints, mobiles and anything else that takes his fancy. The look is fresh, clean, bright, sleek and modern. Correction. I have two other favourite shops, both in Huddersfield, near where I used to live in Yorkshire. One is the stationers and art shop Wheatley Dyson, the other the ironmongers Timothy Wood. There’s nothing like these outlets in the area where I now live, and I miss them.

	DISAPPEARING BATHROOM One of the cleverest ideas I’ve ever come across (while researching Perfect Order) was created by architect Jason Cooper. Some years ago, he had a client with a London flat who wanted more space. With an admirable leap of imagination, Jason simply removed the bathroom. Instead, he fitted a lavatory in a neat space under the stairs and a basin in a cupboard in the bedroom area. The floor of the bedroom was built up to accommodate the depth of the bath which was hidden under the bed. The bed rolled aside on runners when the bath was needed. After all, you are never in bed and in the bath at the same time and this was a one-person, open-plan apartment. Also hidden under the bedroom floor was acres of storage, created by raising the floor and accessed through lift-up hatches in the timber floor. Clever Jason! Jason Cooper Telephone: +44 (0)171 727 3104 And tell him you discovered him here. Click Perfect Order

	BOOKSEARCH If you are interested in getting hold of one of my books that is out of print, contact book dealer Sue Mosley at: Susan Taylor Books Telephone: +44 (0)1484 662120 Email: susan.mosleyr@freeserve.co.uk And tell her you discovered her here. She will do a booksearch for you. This doesn’t cost anything until she finds you the book and you pay for it. Let her know if you find it before she does! She also specialises in books on textiles and the history of women and domestic life. Click to: Finishing Touches Brides Wedding Book Library of Interior Detail Decorating with Tiles

	HISTORIC PAINTS While doing the research for my forthcoming book on paint I discovered the existence of an organisation called The Traditional Paint Forum. Founded in 1994, this is a group of people dedicated to historic paints, in the past and today. Their magazine is called Traditional Paint News (‘Towards better understanding and appreciation of traditional paint’) and is stuffed with news, articles and reprinted passages from antique painters and decorators’ manuals and treatise. Personally, I found it fascinating. The forum is a serious organisation with serious aims, but the journal is nonetheless readable and it also holds meetings and one conference each year or so. If you are interested in subjects like limewash, the use of paint types and colours in historic buildings or the methods of decorating in the eighteenth century and before, you might like to join. Contact the Honorary Secretary, Una Richards, c/o The National Trust for Scotland, 5 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh EH2 4DU, Scotland (and tell them how you know about them). Click Latest books Country style
WOODEN FLOORS Fired Earth is selling solid wooden flooring. The company that started by selling fabulous terracotta tiles (hence the name of the business) now has huge showrooms with tiles, rugs, paints, fabrics and even bathrooms (though not every shop offers everything), all of the finest quality and utterly desirable. There are shops in Britain and across Europe. Their latest enterprise is to offer real solid wooden flooring. I love wooden floors so I’m awaiting my package of samples with great interest. The types sound wonderful – red oak, white oak, hard maple, coastal maple, walnut and cherry – each with its own distinctive colour and grain. Fired Earth supply the flooring unfinished – you fit it (or have it fitted) then sand and seal or wax it yourself on site so the finish is perfect. I’ve written the two books in the Decorating with Fired Earth series, The Kilim and Tribal Rug Book and The Tile Book. A volume on paint is written and due to be published in the spring of 2001, and another on fabric is planned. I really love the stuff that Fired Earth sells, though the books are not just about their products, far from it. My association with Fired Earth has so far been a very happy one. May it continue so! Fired Earth : Telephone: +44 (0)1295 812088 And tell them you discovered them here. Click The Kilim and Tribal Rug Book The Tile Book Latest Books