Unfortunately I haven’t seen as much of London Design Week as I’d hoped to (so far) mainly because I’ve been manically putting the finishing touches to the website. But last night I made it into Tottenham Court Road to the Heals London Design Festival party. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve made it into TCR, so apart from anything else it was just nice to be able to browse (and the free champagne was a nice bonus!) 

Being a follower of Abigail Ahern’s blog, I made a beeline for her new faux flower store at the entrance to Heals. I know some people are not fans of the whole ‘faux’ thing, and usually I would agree. But I went with an open mind (particularly given my track record with keeping plants alive!) If you’ve checkout out my instagram you’ll see some of the pics of the amazingly colourful displays. I have to say it did look pretty impressive.

Overall I’d say I’m more of a fan of the greenery than the actual flowers (the same is true of the ’real’ thing) so I had to leave with a couple of the Palms Spring stems (I love a bit of desert chic!) I’ve had a lovely, knobbly large vase at home for ages, but I’ve never been quite sure what to put in it. Most flowers and plants are too small, and it lives in an alcove that doesn’t get much light so anything real dies. So, spurred on to give this corner of the living room a much-needed sort-out, I thought I’d share a quick pic of my faux palms in their new home...

And for the nosey amongst you, here is what the alcove looked like BEFORE...with my oversize lamp (which I love, but does tend to dwarf everything); too much multi-coloured plastic, and some rather poorly arranged clutter! 

And I'm rather pleased that the clear-out prompted me to find a perfect new home for my pair of cowhide stools too - under the shelf.  But, what do you think? Could you go faux? Is desert chic even a thing? (In England, in autumn?) I think so, so the palms are staying!