An April Recap
Here we want to guide you through all the delights that appeared on the Tat Journal this April
April On The Tat London Journal
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Members - Antiques That Caught My Eye
Antiques are not for everyone, and we make no apology for that. But for those with an eye for beauty and the means to indulge it, you've come to the right place. I have divided the pieces below into two rather arbitrary categories: over £500 and under. Arbitrary, because those pieces that are over tend to be considerably over, and those under, well, they are still quite expensive, as £500 is no small sum. So thank me or damn me, it's all here below: some truly glorious pieces, and one or two that will nicely fill a corner. And if you're not buying antiques, well, on your way with you, and stop bothering our door.
Members - Oh, The Things I've Seen
I do apologise, I am going to go into quite a garbled first suggestion, the later ones will be much more to the point.
March In Abbey Dore by Liberty Nimmo
The seasons may be shifting but March is refusing to make it easy. Liberty Nimmo writes from her Herefordshire cottage on the knife-edge weeks between winter and spring.
Members - Our Picks Of The Best Properties On The Market For 500k & Under
This is a real mix of properties, thirty-four to be precise, and as a rule we do tend to miss out the new builds - they are rarely what we are after. We are mostly on the lookout for charm; if a house has a crooked smile we will probably give it a second look. So, many of the below will need a kind hand to tend to their revival, but they have boatloads of beauty to be uncovered and, as ever, the Tat gang are the people to do it. While we love the slow reveal, we can also tend to be a little lethargic and in need of being spoon-fed, so for those of you in that category, do not fear, we have turnkey aplenty below. So good luck, my friends, and have a good old gawp at the houses and lives of others.
Members - Twenty Eight Dream Houses From £600k - £2 Million
I am going to have to redirect your attention to the title, it does not say ‘Dream Interiors’ it says Dream Houses. This means we for the most part are very much ignoring the interiors given to these abodes. We are concentrating on the beauty of the structure and knowing that handed over to us fair maidens, and dashing gents we would be golly turn them into something magnificent. We would not be tied down but velour chesterfield sofas, or knock off Hansen chairs, instead we would be knocking on the door of our favourite dealers and heading to France with our trucks waiting to be filled. That being said there is always a few interiors that leave me flattened with love, which always makes this feature far more exciting to research.
We like to keep the prices in line with realistic expectations, obviously that is quite a laughable statement, being that they start from 600k, but still as you can imagine we could have gone completely bonkers and added the real heavy weights to the list - so you’re welcome.
Members - Sixteen Houses For The Perfect Commune & The Rules To Keep Them Going
Last month we launched this feature, Houses for a Commune. When I put it out on Instagram, the response was riotous, so many of you feeling exactly the same way, wanting to start your own village. Many said it was their retirement plan, though I'm not sure we should wait that long. I'll come to that.
Members - Twenty Properties With Potential
Usually, it’s Properties with Potential that has my heart, such a meaty subject to get one’s teeth into. That said, this month I feel quite warm and bubbly about everything we’ve found, and I’ll confess the two sections, Dream Houses and Properties with Potential, have rather mashed into one in my affections. Undone houses are my favourite things in the world, so to me they are pretty much all dream houses anyway. My particular favourites this month are the former schoolhouse outside Cirencester and the Georgian townhouse in Glastonbury, a whopping 4,200 square feet of it. All in all it’s sumptuous stuff, and I feel certain it will do you very well indeed.
Members - TORM – Why You Need To Visit The Original Reenactors Market By Blue Firth
In a world of beige be Blue. That's how I feel when I read whatever Blue Firth sends me. I say whatever, although she does tell me, I never know quite what to expect. What I am always sure of is that I will be delighted. This feature is no different, Blue introduces us to the world that stands in the present with it head thoroughly buried in the past. If there could be a more Tat article I am not sure we could find it, although her piece on Finding Bohemia, is still one of my favourite reads and I insist you make a note to read it soon after this.
Fifteen UK Furniture Restorers Preserving The Past
It will come as no surprise to you that we felt this a necessary subject to shine a light on. In a world of consumerism and trends, we want to fight against such ghastliness , against fast furniture and throwaway culture, while championing the patronage of the skilled and the caring. This is why we wanted to delve into the world of Furniture Restorers: those talented hands whose love for furniture and the craftsmanship of the past drives them to preserve these important pieces - family heirlooms, and chairs we just like, for the future.
Members - Two Delicious Room Sets Where Every Piece Is £500 Or Under
Oh, you say, is that a glorious room I see before me? No, dear friends, it is merely an overly intense woman who enjoys the idea of filling your home with antiques and access to a Canva account. As I always mention, £500 is still a princely sum, but really on the whole, unless you are solely looking at Ikea, you won't be finding pieces for much less. But why buy antique, I hear you ask. Well, let alone the fact that you are buying from independent dealers, your carbon footprint is far less, and many of these pieces have already lasted a lifetime and look like they intend to do a few more. They also make your home look dandy. A well placed piece of sturdy wooden furniture can give such a hefty presence to a room that your Ikea sofa will suddenly be lifted into a new space, a space that says I am a room with substance, I have been found, I have been reinstated, I have not simply been bought.
Members - Our Little Black Book Of Beds
We spend half our life in bed, I couldn't tell you if that is true but let's just go with it. So with all that time spent in a particular spot we might as well make it as lovely as possible. As ever with our little black book series we have really delved into the market bringing you eye wateringly beautiful (& expensive) beds, while also searching the high street for those cheaper options. We also have a fine line in sofa beds and of course a hefty few companies who specialise in antique beds. We hope we have you covered.
Members - Walls in Bloom, Wonderful Wallpapers For Spring
So fabrics and I have always got on like great mates but wallpapers, we have had to find our rhythm. It doesn't mean the friendship is any less important it just perhaps means that we are a little more tentative with one another. I put this down to much of my early career seeing interior designers cover houses with wallpaper. Each room would have a different theme and it used to give me quite the headache, I also thought that wallpaper was doing far too much of the heavy lifting for trying to achieve a 'look'.
Members - Milan, The Good, The Tiresome And The Beautiful
Fresh off the plane from Milan. I have been home two hours and wanted to get to penning this article so everything was as sharp as possible. What wasn't fresh was my Airbnb, an ode to the 1970s which in theory sounds joyful, but in execution a very brown room with carpet everywhere and multiple different step platforms which caused quite perilous situations throughout my stay. But needs must when you are in Milan; simple hotel rooms are ruinous, so you get what you're given, and it's not even close to the worst I've bedded down in.
Toot, toot, that is me tooting the Tat horn. I am allowed to, as Charlotte Becque created this article and good work deserves to be celebrated. This, dear ladles and jellyspoons, is one marvellous compilation of events up and down the country to keep your mind ticking through May. We have of course done a separate list for Craft Week, as it is an important slot in the design calendar, but for everyone else, don’t worry, there is something for everyone in the list below.