Hackney Homemade

It is pretty embarrassing to be writing this, but I have just had a really fun evening playing in my bathroom. It gets worse: it was Kirstie Allsopp that got me going. I know this woman is a hideous combination of gushing Nigella Lawson and nauseating estate agent. But there is something about her TV programme that is downright enchanting and, actually, inspirational. I can't say that it was down to watching her this evening that made me re-collect some of my most mundane things and see them in a new and beautiful light, but it must have had something to do with it. My somewhat functional bathroom became a shining, colourful shrine to pink and turquoise. First, some glossy books in my living room grabbed me, including the gilt glad Erotica Universalis ('A banquet for the imagination and a feast for the eye'), and the shiny turquoise The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tam. which I placed on top of my steel bathroom cabinet. Inspired, I pounced on a collection of (empty) small bags – all pink and turquoise – I have amassed, which look lovely together above my bathroom window. Chinese silk bags in similar hues bought in New York hanging on the back of the door fitted the scheme perfectly. And then I realised I have two matching dresses... and, miraculously, my recycled, tin-worked lanterns from Morocco matched too.
Continuing on the cocktail theme, my clear blue bottle of Bombay Sapphire, the queen of gin, which my godmother always perfectly described as 'liquid anesthetic' sitting alongside twin Moroccan rose and green tea-lights filled with candles completed the picture. I thought I was done with this whole pink/turquoise trip until I stumbled on an exquisite painting done by my four-year-old god-daughter on top of our cocktail cabinet. In the style that any Expressionist would be proud of, it now takes pride of place above our toilet. As a result of all this, I have just signed up for a an 'Introduction to Colour' workshop at Walthamstow's divine shop, Beautiful Interiors (www.pennyfielding.com)