Xmas makeover - limited offer!

With three weeks to go before Christmas, you have just enough time to perk up your living room or paper the downstairs toilet in time for your guests arriving.  I'm feeling rather smug today as my downstairs has just been painted by the brilliant (and quick!) Emma Osenton - I'll be posting once it's all back together and I have some decent photos to show you.

So, it got me thinking that I'd like to share my warm, decoratey feelings and offer a FREE roll of wallpaper to anyone making an order of 1 roll!  Yes, it's a buy one get one free!!!  The offer starts today and will end on Friday 19th December, so you only have two weeks!  Enough time to order a sample today, think it over and have it up on the wall before the guests arrive for their eggnog!  Order on the website at clairemurraydesigns.co.uk

Have a lovely xmas everyone!

Home Is In The North - sure is!

Just starting to think about Christmas now, planning the meal, checking who is coming, and of course what to buy/make for people this year.  Last year I made some lovely vodka (well I bought some Smirnoff) infused with pomegranate seeds - yum!  

So I'm very much looking forward to exhibiting at St. Peter's Church in Ancoats, Manchester tomorrow, where I'll be able to pick up some of the gorgeous designs and hand-made products on show (and for sale!) just in time for Christmas. There are around 30 designers who will be there showing their wares, including the lovely Annabel Perrin, Lisa Watson and Lomas & Lomas.  I'll be showing some new designs, and offering a special one-day only discount on all products!!!  

The building itself is an excellent space in which to exhibit, having been recently renovated, so it's got great acoustics (the Halle Orchestra are based here), lovely light and is even warm and cosy for such a huge space!

I've had some time out recently, resting up and spending time with my nearest and dearest. I'm careful not to get too personal on here but it has much to do with losing my dearest friend on 21 years to cancer very recently. She was a brilliant artist and amazing friend and I was privileged to know her, and very proud that she was a huge fan and great supporter of my work. I'll miss her loads.

So I have been quiet on the design front for the past few weeks, but have enjoyed getting back to it and making some one-off cushions for the show.  I hope they go down well.

Psychologies Magazine

Psychologies November issue, photo courtesy of TAB Collective

Chuffed to bits to see my new Myall cushion featured in next month's Psychologies Magazine!  This is one of my favourite designs and I hope some of you might like it too!  I have it on good authority that 100% silk cushions make excellent xmas presents for very special people :)

I'm also gearing up for the November 15th Home Is In The North interiors show in Manchester Halle St Peter's, a fantastic showcase of northern design and a stunning venue!  Get it in your diaries :)  Of course that means I have loads of cushions and lampshades to make up so it's just as well that I enjoy my work!  The show is open to the public so please come along and bring all of your interiors buddies.

My stand at the April Home Is In The North show

I just had to include this photo of my orchid - got to turn this into a design sometime.  Amazing colour!

Autumn beckons...

September sun over the veg patch

September has been a beautiful month - the sun has shone and warm breezes are still in our midst.  The garden has bloomed this year (not a garden more a veg patch!).  The broad beans were sweet and delicious and the onions were onions (!).  Lovely though!  

I know I here to talk about my designs but it's the simple things in life that really matter - good food, good health and great friends.  These are the things that inspire me and make me happy, and September has been about slowing down and taking stock of those important things in life. Hence the lack of new posts (last one way back on Sept 7th).   I won't go into any details but I'm dedicating this post to my dearest friend Karen, of whom I'm thinking about a lot right now.

Sweet broad beans!

Our onion crop

Love this little squash and vintage jug I picked up in time for Halloween!

Tab Collective spreading the word...

Launched just this year, the Tab Collective is a fabulous online portal representing a range of exciting home-ware designers (ahem, including myself!).  Laura Baldry, one of the founders of the site, is driving a very successful PR campaign on our behalf, as you can see the in the 'In The Press', section of the website.  This week I was thrilled to see my Heron silk cushion in a lovely photoshoot in Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms magazine, Sept issue!  Thank you Laura!

Libertad

I'm bang in the middle of preparing for my 3 minute stint at the Liberty (Libertad in Spanish if you're wondering) London open call for designers 2014 this Saturday, thinking about what to take, what to say, what to wear, what will the weather be doing...ad infinitum!  So of course, my mind wanders to what inspires me, what keeps my creative buzz going and of course I just love nature!  So here are some more images of my recent trip to Andalucia. No doubt I'll be up 'til the small hours pondering the rest!

Don't know what this tree was but I loved the flowers!

The awe-inspiring gorge at Ronda.

Roof garden

My son's first Spanish artichoke - yum!

In Japan...

Just before my holiday in mid-July I had some great news.  My wallpapers are going to be on sale in Japan!!!  WALPA are a very cool wallpaper distributer with four lovely stores (2 more opening soon) in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.  I'm hoping they like my organic designs and buy lots and lots!

I'm almost ready to send off my lovely new sample books...

A little taste of Spain...

I really cannot believe I haven't blogged for a whole month!!!!  It must be the holidays - oh yes it is! We started the holidays with a trip to Andalucia in Southern Spain, staying in Gaucin, a beautiful mountain village with white walls and terracotta rooftops.

Amazing view of Gibraltar and Africa from the apartment.

I have to say, we had an amazing place to stay.  Such is my interest in interiors, that I stumbled upon Sylvia Felix's gorgeous and extremely comfortable apartment using a load of keywords on google - can't remember them now but they were probably 'holiday', 'apartment', 'luxury', 'interior design', 'artists'...you get the picture I'm sure.  Anyway, Gaucin is full of international residents, artists, photographers etc, and the most friendly local population you can imagine.

Genalguacil sculpture trail.

Imagine who has been though these doors over the years...

I'm always on the lookout for beautiful flowers!

Our favourite beach near Tarifa - kite-surf central!

And relax...

An amazingly empty beach near Sotogrande, a nature reserve allowing migratory birds fly safely to Africa

The apartment was on the upper floor of a two storey house and had THE most incredible views over the half hour drive up the mountain, the Rock of Gibraltar and clear views of a very close Africa beyond, with the twinkling lights of Tangier at night.  Magical.  If that wasn't enough, dozens of booted and long toed eagles drifted on the thermals over the house every day, and we watched shooting stars from the balcony at night.

It was lovely to relax but I can't travel anywhere without checking out an exhibition or two, and loved the permanent collection of Joaquin Peinado's work in Ronda, which had a great little exhibition of Picasso prints on display.  I love to buy a little bit of art too, and picked up an etching by Grabados Somera which is intensely detailed and beautifully printed.  Just what I needed to reboot my energy and come back with loads of new inspiration!

Etching by Grabados Somera

Champagne and canapes at Emma Kay & Co Launch Party

Just a little blog post on my day today (last week's amazing Tour de France post will just have to wait!).  I was kindly invited to attend the launch/relaunch of one of my stockists, Emma Kay & Co Interiors in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, and was bowled over by their beautiful new showroom.

Emma and her partner Lucy have created an elegant, understated and contemporary showroom, showcasing products from Little Greene paints, Designers Guild, Sanderson, Harlequin, Clark & Clark, Cole & Son, Jane Churchill, and many more, including Claire Murray Designs wallpapers, cushions and lampshades!  Good luck with the new showroom ladies - it all looks gorgeous!

Emma and Lucy had done a fab display of my products!

Lovely bag of freebies, including a gorgeous scented candle.

A happy customer...

I got a little message via Twitter this weekend, telling me that this lady 'loves her new wallpaper'! Woop!  I think it looks great with the oversized spotlight too - great styling.

Room at the top...

I've finally got the photos of a job I've recently finished, accessorising an office space for a self-employed client.  The blinds have been beautifully made by Robin Wood Curtains and Blinds in Todmorden, and they have done a perfect job in matching the pattern!  I loved the silk lampshades so much I made two for myself!