Now that I can add International Jetsetter & Designer For Hire to my resume... thought I'd share (I mean tease, torment and tantalize) with you some of the hot hot trends in London. If you've been following along at home, or if you happened to have followed my stalkeresque tweets at Brizo Fashion Week #BrizoFW on Twitter, you know I'm obsessed with polished Brass. My interior door hardware in my house has been polished brass for over three years now and #ProjectKitchenGorgeous is literally dripping in gold.

I've been shouting from the rooftops it's return and well let's just say, I'm used to getting stink/side eye so it's water off my back.

Cue the Self-Serving Validation that's about to come before your eyes.

In other words.... I TOLD YOU SO.

When you attend an event with 15 or so other people, you need to find your own niche to talk about. Sure, I can show you pictures of different Design Shows we attended while in London but besides the odd pretty trinket here and there, what you really want is the side commentary non? Fashion wise - London is no further ahead or cutting edge than North America. For the most part, the kids walking around the city either look like they are out of a J.Crew ad or an UnHappy Hipsters shoot.

What was remarkably different though - the Loos. First off, most restaurants or public facilities actually took the time, effort and money to dress the place up. Most were clean and devoid of a Musty, Something Has GOT to have Died in Here Eau de Toilette. I was immediately impressed. Their toilets all have buttons separate from the toilet itself for flushing capabilities - most were dual flush too. No sticking your head down near the um container so to speak... entirely civilized. The allusion of cleanliness. It counts.

In the V & A - google it, you will learn something I'm all about learning opportunities - they even made one such washroom into a bit of a political statement. During LDF, there was a talk being given about Aging & Design. So moved, they carried the message onto the walls of the toilet just off from the Lecture Area. Inside, was be-decaled with social commentary about the aged & function. Thought provoking stuff. So thought provoking that when one redhead, was finished doing her business, she looked around to find the push button and instead was greeted with a dangling cord. Now I've been to London before. All over England in fact.. as a child. I've encountered my share of toilets that were emptied by a chain or a pull. Not phased here. Again, given that this was more than just a toilet but an installation of sorts, I pulled the cord.

You see where this is going don't you.

Well for the love of all things embarrassing, asinine and humiliating - you'd think I had just triggered some some sort of International Security Alarm. The Sirens were deafening but WORSE yet was the immediate sound of voices and banging on the door announcing that they were coming in to save me and to just hold tight. I do believe there was even a flashing red light outside of the loo. I die. Um ya, I'm pulling up my pants - I can't exactly hold tight. I'm frozen with fear and start screaming back "I'm Fine I'm Fine I'm Fine." But that was NOT enough for those young Brits assigned to Alarm Duty at the Loo. I had to open the door and prove to them that I was okay. One woman even went into the Loo to check to make sure that there was no one else in there. Seriously. It was the Thomas Crown Affair of the Loo or something. Jason Bourne escaped out of the window yet again... 

Sigh. I haven't quite recovered. Even as I pulled the cord, I knew instinctively that this was not going to end well. But yet, I pulled the cord.

Not entirely Loo related -  I also turned my hair dryer into a Hot Rod American Chopper. I have skills I didn't even know. Got blue flames. Saved the hair just in time. Damn Dollar Store Plug Adapters. Useless as boobs on a bull.

I also flooded my bathroom. Oops. That got another embarrassing knock at the door.

Went to Lunch in Chelsea - very chic pub. This wasn't a pub by North American Standards - this one had an impressive wine list and executive chef. Their loos were teeny tiny. So tiny that as I closed the door and went to sit down on the toilette, I had to turn my head and my cheek slid down the door until I was in place. Impressive.

Klassi Kanadians huh??

It's all coming together. A little too fast for this girl who is either on a plane to London England or has just gotten off a plane & is in London England. It's a a blur. A big ol' pretty blur. Did I mention that I crammed in not one but TWO reveals the morning before I jetted off to London?

Ya, because that's how this redhead rolls.

Update: Redhead is Rolling in London as I type this. Divine. Sublime. Gorgeosity.

Follow my jaunts on twitter: @meredithheron and the hashtag #Blogtour2011 

Poplar Plains was originally Boswell Ave in our Portfolio. To that end, we've moved just about everything out of that house and into the new one. Many pieces are now in new rooms. Our client has gone from a Maximalist Look to wanting something more refined and elegant. Of course, this means she has to fight her natural inclinations toward some things and presents some new challenges for me in working to achieve this.

Clients wanting a change in look and feel but who are wanting to still work with the pieces they've already collected or purchased often go to extremes in their desire for change. I find it especially difficult for clients to go from Layered to more paired down because it can look entirely dull and drab. In order to do so, one has to quietly layer in textures so that a space appears at first to be more serene but then details reveal themselves to you as you drink in your surroundings.

I often walk into a space and have an immediate vibe/intuition about where the room needs to go. In many cases, I get a flash of an idea and we're done. When we put together the house on Boswell Ave we spent weeks pouring over magazines and tear sheets fixating on the smallest detail. Take a look at our portfolio - you will see our efforts paid off in spades. We are also battling a different beast this time - our client has seen a friend's house that she admired but of course that friend has a completely different base on which she built her own project - easy to replicate a feeling/mood/space that someone else put together only when you yourself have a blank canvas. Design is always a negotiation - don't let anyone ever tell you differently.

Side note: I told a different client today that moving the sofa to where I wanted it was a must & her hubs needed to deal with having just gotten used to the TV in a new spot only to put it back to the old spot - I said to tell him it was "character building." Maybe that isn't exactly the best example of negotiation - okay sometimes I'm also a dictator.

The Master Bedroom at Boswell we designed 6 times and executed once.

We are currently debating (read: arm wrestling) over the wall colour in the bedroom. I want it cooler and she wants to leave it Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore. I am very familiar with this colour as it is my current living room colour. I desperately want to change it but don't want the upheaval in my life at the moment... hmm maybe when I'm away in November though......