Styling Tips With Amara

A few weeks ago I was invited along to a gorgeous home in Shoreditch to attend the Amara Home Refresh Event. It was lovely to walk in and see some new faces and have a good catch up with blogging buddies Elfa from Californian Mum In London and Jacqui from Mummy’s Little Monkey.

The day kicked off with a workshop from the founder of Amara herself – Sam Hood. It was wonderful to hear the back story behind this fabulous interiors brand and see how much love and passion has gone into it.

Sam talked us through the fundamentals of interior design which was a real eye opener to me. I tend to run away with mad, random ideas and get myself in a real mess instead of having a more concise plan that starts off with the basics and can then be added to.

Mood boards were a big part of planning for Sam’s clients and for me this is a great way to channel my random ideas. Sam also surprised me by telling us that the wall colour should be the last thing to consider when designing a room. For me this is always something I choose first and will be a big game changer the next time I’m putting all this advice into practice.

Next up was a workshop with one of Amara’s stylist – Elle Taylor. Her mission was to take a table full of accessories and fill a a shelving unit.

The amount of accessories would have sent my head into a spin and I would have no doubt over filled all the shelves. But Elle cleverly selected specific items and arranged them all beautifully. I took all of her tips on board and will be using them later on to style a selection of my own accessories I was lucky enough to take home from Amara.

We finished the day with a cookery demonstration from the lovely Linda Duffin who cooked up a storm in the kitchen, creating a fresh and fruity said and a creamy chicken risotto that would certainly impress if served at a dinner party but required very little preparation.

With my mind spinning with all this new information I couldn’t wait to put my new found knowledge into action and get started on my own creation.

I was a big lover of the Amara ‘Arcade Trend’ that uses all my favourite vibrant, eye catching colours, in short…everything my husband hates!

To his defence my love for everything colourful can get a little out of hand at times so the first of Elle’s tips I put into practice was to keep a similar theme and use no more than four different colours. I was more reserved than usual and went for vibrant greens and yellows and set these off with darker blacks and greys.

I took a selection of these objects and as advised placed them in different positions with varying heights.

Elle also told us to make use of greenery which is usually something I avoid as I’m not to green fingered, she did however showcase some wonderful artificial plants that I would never have realised weren’t the real thing.

Lastly Elle told us to give every area a personal touch. For me this tends to equate to pieces of kids art work randomly stuck between vases which probably isn’t the best look. So instead I utilised the small clear vase and used it to home small pieces of jewellery.

Amara have ignited my passion for interiors and given me some real food for thought!

*I was invited along to the Amara event and was gifted the items to style in my own home.