April 2012

Cherry Tree Interiors opens its doors in Harborne

After months of negotiation and weeks of building and decorating (and moving furniture and stock from two different locations) Cherry Tree Interiors finally opened its doors on Wednesday.

Ok, so the sign still isn’t finished (our builders were very good but slower than we anticipated but by Sunday, this will look so much better!)

We are so proud of it, it’s a small business with a big heart and a real passion for creating beautiful soft furnishings, giving new life to old furniture and providing some rather gorgeous lifestyle accessories from the likes of Wood & Willow, Dora Designs, Pip Studios, Parlane, Riverdale, J-Me and Westgate Clocks. Art and photography by yours truly, Tony Shill and This is a Limited Edition.

Here are the first images of the shop as we opened on Wednesday.

Gorgeous glass pendant light in the window, attracting lots of attention (and rightly so!)

Traditional renovated Welsh dresser displaying pretty lifestyle products and silk cushions designed and made by Maxine in-store.

Wood and Willow and Dora Designs sit side by side atop traditional renovated pine coffee table and a post modern extendable dining table.

A stunning, renovated Regency dresser displays Pip Studios vibrant wares.

The walkway from the front to the back of the shop entices with flashes of retro furniture, furnishings and artwork.

Stunning Harlequin wallpaper and soft furnishings are perfectly complimented by a renovated 1950′s retro cabinet displaying Westgate clocks, handcrafted scrapbook albums and gatefold albums covered in Orla Kiely papers (by yours truly) and photography by Tony Shill.

A renovated retro rocking chair and fab bubble clock by Westgate.

Harlequin wallpapers and fabrics, cushions made by Maxine in-store and stunning silk curtains and pelmet – so luxurious!

Black Villa Nova ‘Naples’ wallpaper, a stunning renovated Regency sideboard, plum cut velvet cushions and ghostly art by Geraldine Georges show how to decorate with black.

The entrance to my new home at the back of the shop, compact and bijou but perfectly formed and working out just fine!

We’ve had a trickle of people of the last 3 days, lots of interest in what we are doing. A few sales, a few bookings for consultations and a potential craft class booked for June.

The future’s looking very bright!

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The joys of Pinterest

I finally pulled my finger out a few months ago and applied for a Pinterest account; I didn’t really understand what it was all about but had been reliably informed that it was ‘the thing’ to do. So I did it.

After being accepted, I came to my home page and stopped. What on earth was I going to ‘pin’ about? I mean I’ve always kept directories and files of ideas, references, resources and inspiration (these are quite significant in size) but the thought of transferring all that loveliness onto Pinterest was a tad daunting. So I left it alone.

Then a few weeks ago, faced with the reality of moving my business from my home to a new High Street outlet in Harborne, Birmingham, and being put in charge of the shop signage, I finally had a reason to create my first ‘pin board’ …

and so my Traditional Shop Fronts Pin Board was born.

Boy did it make researching shop frontages a joy. So easy just to find a great little image you like and ‘pin it’ straight to the board and such a fab way to display and search through too.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that I was hooked.

Every morning now over a cup of tea I browse the internet for items I love or need to research for a project and take great joy in adding them to my pin boards. It started with Gorgeous Gowns I drooled over at the Oscars, like this fab little number Gwyneth Paltrow is wearing…

progressed to my ever present love of paperart including these amazing papercut and dyed fruits notepads – Kudamemo designed by Masashi Tentaku

and Danish chairs like this curvy high back lounge chair by Peter Hvidt & Orla Molgaard Nielsen (not too dissimilar to the one we’ve renovated at Cherry Tree Interiors)

and finally, this morning I created a ‘Beautiful homes’ board. A place where I can visit and drool endlessly over stunning mid century modern homes whenever the mood takes me.

Raised ‘Soho House’ in the Catalonian countryside, Spain. Designed by Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects (Chile)

Heavenly!

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