PETER

Hello everyone!

Since the last issue i feel like we’ve crossed the line of bad weather to good weather, don’t you? and with that brings a new season of interior shopping habits!

I was lucky enough to attend the opening of world’s first stand alone Primark Home store in Belfast city centre. It has brand new features like the Primark Edit with a range of products that feature a more elevated and luxurious quality. While browsing I had a guess that a cushion from the new range was made from Wool and was incredibly shocked to find it was made from a totally synthetic fabric, it was just such a great quality. On the night I bought a few pieces and I have to say I’m now addicted to spraying their Sundried Linen fabric spray all over our home. For just £4 you can have that real ‘Outdoor air’ feeling. Scent can play a huge role in the seasonal feeling of your home. We all know that in Winter the shops are filled with Cinnamon & Mandarin scents but with Spring/Summer scents can be less rigid. If you’re someone who doesn’t like anything too floral for Spring (groundbreaking)

Evermore

London have a beautiful ‘Sun & Wild Citrus’ fragranced candle that strays from normal high street staple scents, whilst on the pricey side, it could be a lovely gift item to someone who’s hard to buy for. Closer to home a great local brand to Northern Ireland is The Bearded Candle Makers, they have candles with scents like ‘Irish Gorse’ & ‘Donegal Wild Flowers’. Locally made in Castlewellan and part of a range of nostalgic outdoor scents, they can make you feel like you have the windows openeven if the weather won’t allow it!

On the topic of good weather, it will soon be time for us to start thinking about outdoor dining (one can dream!). An item that is having a massive surge in design is the rechargeable lamp. Gone are the days when it looked like a clunky thing you’d take camping, finally lighting up have to sacrifice in style. From loud checkerboard lamps to minimal metal, a personal favourite and one I might have to buy for myself is this wicker shade table lamp from M&S. Who would think a design so elegant could be moved around the garden or home- because yes, there’s also a rise in the rechargeable lamp being an item we use inside too. Try placing your lamp on your kitchen countertops to add style and consideration to an ever practical area of the home (that is, if it’s clutter free!) it’s a great option for mood lighting in the evenings when overhead lighting is doing nothing for the daily wind down, great for areas where you don’t have electrical sockets and for the worriers of the world they’re great for a power cut too.

Last issue I mentioned the latest television project I’ve been working on, The Salvage Squad (on Virgin Media One) and I’ve recently started to meet the families of season 2 which is really exciting! It’s always a joy to help families with a room in need of a refresh, maybe the family has zero design ideas, maybe they are strapped for cash or maybe they need practical solutions to make their home function better for them. My mission as a designer in the show is to redecorate the space with their help using only salvaged, skip, charity shop or eco conscious finds. It can be quite tricky, especially finding building materials, but it gives viewers tips and tricks on how to view things differently. Last season I used a kitchen splashback to create box beams on a living room ceiling and used a concrete garden pillar to make a side table. It’s all about trust! It was the same in our own home when I asked my partner to use a stone garden planter as our kitchen sink- he definitely wasn’t sold right away! So I’ve met a few families and spending the coming months hunting every charity shop I know for interesting items to use, but who doesn’t love trawling through charity shops?! I can’t believe as an adult shopping is now part of my job- little Peter is so proud of grown up Peter right now haha.

Speaking of jobs, as an Interior Designer & Instagram content creator I was fortunate to be asked to be a part of an upcoming docuseries for UTV (Northern Ireland) that comes out in May. It’s focused around the daily life of content creators. While there are other people featured for their skill sets: UGC (user generated content, call it a new form of brand advertising), Food blogging & Beauty… I have been taking the film crew around several Interior Design events i’ve been attending. Events like: HouseProud influencer evenings for seasonal promotions, the Primark new store launch and even the journey of becoming an interiors columnist for GNI mag. It’s not so much to show an interior designer with a paintbrush in hand, but the process of capturing content and for the audience to see how a skillset can branch you off in a direction like content creation. Without social media I wouldn’t be writing here now. So if you have access to the UTV channel and want to see more about the daily life of an Interior Designer/Content creator that’s definitely one to check out.

Peter Irvine Instagram: @thewhitehome

Please note, this column is the opinion of the columinst and not that of GNI or Romeo & Julian Publiccations Ltd.