Category: Hospitality Décor,

Festive Tips for a Welcoming Virtual Office

About me, Home decor, Home office decor ideas, Home office inspiration, Home office styling, Hospitality Décor,, Interior design, Online meetings, WFH

This week I was delivering professional development training and facilitated workshops in Manchester in the north of the UK and back down in London.

Me setting down after leading a one day professional development workshop about successful meetings

On the way back home I noticed how all the HQ buildings in the area had beautiful Xmas trees. Next year I will do a post on the line up of Xmas trees at corporate HQ buildings.

AI generated image

It told me something about how just putting up a Christmas tree in the spacious reception areas of these building is important for converting a sense of arrival and welcoming.

Seeing how the facilities teams of these massive organisation seriously consider the decorations made me realise that when we work from home we must also create our version of the well dressed welcoming Christmas tree for people that join our meetings online in virtual meetings.

My photo of Ashridge house Xmas decor
The beautiful tree in the entrance to the learner’s breakout area at Ashridge House
Me using the decor backdrop of Motel One in Manchester

3 top tips for more festive spirit in your virtual and online office scene

  1. Print off a printable Jolly leadership quiz to have some festive fun amongst other managers to bring some cheer to the workplace and available in my Etsy shop this holiday season.
  2. Hang a stocking on your book shelf to signify and mark the festive season has begun and start conversations about being ready for Christmas and build rapport conversations about Xmas gift giving habits
  3. Arrange some baubles on your shelf to give your audience something to break the ice about when joining your online meetings

What will you do decor wise this season to bring cheer to the office and team?

Eclectic Inspirations: From Ancient Crafts to Modern Brands

About me, About My Art, Architecture, Beauty influence, Buildings, Home office decor ideas, Home office inspiration, Hospitality Décor,, Interior design, Local inspiration & activities, Photography

Look up from the main hall at Ashridge house and you will marvel at the amazing craftwork and design choices of those with an eye for style and culture hundreds of years ago.

Fast forward to November 2024
Really love what the brand formally known as Haekles is doing to assert their values around environment and social responsibility. They have changed their name and got new packaging that is not about creating a dressing table ornament. It is about creating a vessel for their product that is compost-able. It makes me love them even
Love the smell of this had to take a photo so I can remembered it has Sweet Pea

Overall my visits this week made me notice the extent of my eclectic appreciations, I can be enthralled by ancient design and crafts through to being captivated by 21st century crafting of our cultural practices from brands like Formaly Known as Hackles.

English Country Guesthouse inspiration

Family, Home decor, Home office decor ideas, Hospitality Décor,, Ideas, Travel

I’m an obvious urbanite and was nervous about travelling to England’s South West Countryside for work, this week. I had to visit Somerset in particular Chard for my 9 to 5. But my journey was helped because I stayed at a lovely little local guesthouse. And while the Chard guesthouse did not exhibit all the slick, minimalist, post modern or contemporary industrial style I have been accustomed to seeing on my usual business travels, this place really did emit some helpful old world charm

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Noticing the artistic contribution in our everyday life.

Artists, Beauty influence, Elegant Decor, Hidden Artist, Home decor, Hospitality Décor,, Inspiration, Local inspiration & activities, Photography, Restaurant Interiors

I visited Covent Garden for a meal and did some shopping. There I also noticed how the artistic contribution features m in our everyday encounters. Sometimes we must look deeper to notice how the hidden artist gets to express their work through mundane things like our retail experiences and our eating out.

A balance of thought used to present this maple tart at Clos Maggiore.
Continue reading “Noticing the artistic contribution in our everyday life.” →

Colour scales & tone

Art-lessons, Creativity, Home decor, Hospitality Décor,, Painting-classes-London, Paintings, Restaurant Interiors

I got painting in colour this week. The still life got me to experiment with light and shadows.

She said it is a lovely little painting 🖌️Acrylic still life on paper on warm peach ground

I did the shadows and dark s without using pure black on the page but instead using primary colours to create a neutral. That dark neutral would also create a lovely grey when white was added to it.

Doing my colour wheel 🎡 meant I squeezed in two extra colours to make 14 instead of 12. My orange colour scales show the journey to dark neutral turning into grey.
Developing my colour scales practice

Inspo Week from Decorex & Frieze London

Art Exhibition, Creativity, Home decor, Hospitality Décor,, Interior design, Paintings

In London this week we had two big exhibits. Decorex and Frieze were on this week.
Wednesday, I popped into Decorex ( the interior designers’ top show) and found they were showing three big design trends with lighting. The new styles included natural lampshades, ethereal and fantasy. Below are some photos showing those themes. It was showing in Olympia London, and I felt very at home, since I am from the locality. It was my first time going to Decorex, and I got inspired to do a booth there in future as I was inspired by a small cushion maker’s tiny booth. That could be me, I thought. Not particularly making cushions but instead offering my items to the interior design trade.

The second show was Frieze which according to the tour guide “is the Hollywood of the art world”. It was beautifully set up in Regent’s park. I was very impressed. Slightly overwhelmed and a little bit intimidated at the beginning.

It was great to see so many giant paintings. Some cost £300,000 to a million. Others cost about £6,000. Our guide told us about the process of the gallery pitching then a selection panel decides which work to exhibit. The dominant theme this year and recently is about showing consciousness. There were fewer north European artists and more artworks from voices we don’t always hear about, like native Americans, Vietnam and Brazillian. The underlying themes also had much to do with sustainability, social good, or responsibility.

I’d like to attend next year and will plan to make a whole day out of it with a nice lunch and make it more social.

Spotted: Lux Nail Head at F&M’s High Tea

Home decor, Home office styling, Hospitality Décor,, Interior design, Restaurant Interiors

I had the famous High tea at Fortnum and Mason’s to celebrate my big birthday this week. I was delighted to see in their 2012 refurbished Diamond Jubliee Team rooms that the chairs had lovely little strips of decorative nails.

The shop’s website tells us that the 300-year-old space (where the world comes for Afternoon Tea- when in London) was originally the Fortnum’s family apartment and the shop’s interior decor section before its refurbishment in 2012. So I felt really in good company. The significance came together when I spotted the clever use of nailhead trim, adding some classic lux detail to their beautiful teal upholstery.

Above are some examples of the coordinated tableware and beautiful tablescape that comes with High Tea.

What is the difference between English High Tea and Afternoon Tea?

The images above show how they gave us a nice portion of protein at my High Tea. I had a lobster omelette, and others had fish and strips of steak on light vegetables. It made a nice change from the sandwiches you get at Afternoon Tea. There, I learned the difference between English High Tea and Afternoon Tea.