May 10

May 10 Outshine Interiors Glam Lavatory at Grand Design Live Show

Hello, well I’m pretty excited about this as I’ve never written a blog before so to do a Guest Blog for Nicola is a total honour – best get me spelling write!

I’m Trish and 18 months ago, in my 50’s, I thought sod it! Let’s do it, let’s follow that dream, so I did – and I launched Outshine Interiorsmy Interior Design & Home Staging Business in 2016.

18 months on, to be selected as one of the Designers for the Grand Designs Live Show in London was absolutely incredible for me!

NOW, before I go any further I’ve had words with Kevin McCloud, so don’t worry, yes, I’ve told him straight, I mean "LAVATORY PROJECT" doesn’t sound too glam, does it??

BUT I forgive him because –

1. I was selected and

2. I love the idea behind the Lavatory Project

That small space that gets forgotten, the downstairs loo or the "Glam Lav" as I’ve renamed it. The Lavatory Project was new to Grand Designs this year, to give visitors inspiration for this small space.

So, you don’t want me wittering on; let’s get to it!

Glam, Hollywood Glamour, 1920’s, Art Deco, Flapper Dresses, walk of fame, all these things go whizzing through my head, give me a massive headache but then my whizzing comes together and I have a Design that unfolds – take a nosey!

What d’ya reckon so far?

Don’t you just love thatAnna HaymanWallpaper? Anna was the first person I rang and if she said no, to kindly giving me her Pearl Wallpaper, my design was pretty scuppered.

Phew! that was a big relief when Anna not only said YES, with no hesitation, but then offered to help if I needed her.

Do you know what this Glam Lav has really highlighted to me – the importance, no matter how big, small, in between, that each product, each designer, manufacturer, small business, big business, production lines, tradespeople, so many individuals, go into all of us being able to have these wonderful things for our homes and as a Designer we could not possibly do our jobs without each and every one of us.

And you see this – from The Alphabet Gift Shop.......

I was just as excited to receive this as I was picking up the light fittings from Curiousa & Curiousa because EVERY detail is so important and is what makes the whole design.

Talking of light fittings oh my goodness take a closer look, I’ve dreamt of these lights for years! I camped outside Esther’s studio until she agreed.

I also had nightmares of those lights for weeks, nightmare of me dropping them, how would I explain that one.

Next - accessories – we LOVE our accessories and I get a little bit obsessed with things. In this case I got obsessed with towels, and I knew I had to have Biba & Christy towels – believe me I searched and searched and they were the ones!

House of Fraser lent me so many gorgeous things.

I had to have a bit of MucknBrass just to ramp it up a bit and local to me for Vintagey bits – Eclectic Finds, Frilly Lily’s and Miss Victoria’s, Feathers from Limelace by Mineheart and this Anaglypta Dado Panel.

Next up – Art. I use what I love, what I’m drawn to and it didn’t take me long and I loved every piece I chose – Amy Beager, David Evans, FinandG and Xue Wang loaned from Castle Art Gallery in Nottingham

Now, for "Glam Lav", you have got to have a little bit of Sparkle so these floor tiles were perfect and I adore antique glass so these tiles were perfect too; both from Topps Tiles, and how gorgeous are these soaps? The smelt divine which was just as well with all the expiring I did!!

Last but not least I have to give a huge shout out for Sam and Roger; my two guys who work for me, and Lee x2 and Gareth who I had never met!

Sam was my man, we had date in diary, wallpaper paste to the ready, everything was set to go.

Sadly, a couple of weeks before the show there was a death in Sam’s family, the funeral, yep day of GDL build. So, I had two choices, crash course on wallpapering or call Roger!! Roger at very short notice and already mega busy pulled out all the stops and was set to get me and all my products to London, 6 days before GDL build day Roger was rushed to hospital!!

NOW Outshine Interiors is not usually a panicker, but I have to admit to about a 20 minute total meltdown before I told myself pull your socks up and get it sorted Trish.

So, my House Dr colleagues got a GDL SOS MESSAGE and Lee from Cassellie Bathrooms who supplied our toilets & basins got a frantic voice message. Lee rang me straight back, and before I knew it I was sorted, and the most awesome Gareth and his mate "another Lee" worked so hard and I avoided going totally grey!

So that’s my Grand Designs Live Show Story. I loved working on this design, and I loved every product, and really big thank you to all the suppliers, I couldn’t have done it without each of you.