August Newsletter
Inspiring interiors, fresh vintage stock & more
Welcome to the August edition of Love Vintage Etc. for all my Substack subscribers and Mason & Painter followers.
A Visit to Interior Designer Beata Heuman’s Showroom
When interior designer Beata Heuman first viewed 188 Hammersmith Road, a neglected Grade II-listed former home, a Constitutional Club (where Winston Churchill stopped by), and a ballroom dance school, the building was in a sorry state of disrepair.
Almost two years later, Beata and her team have completely revitalised the late Georgian building, giving it a new lease of life and creating a showroom for the company’s signature designs, which include furniture, lighting, textiles, wallpaper, and paint.
Each room is a joyful showcase for Beata’s playful interiors and lively colour palette with influences ranging from Arts and Crafts and modernism to Swedish folk art. As well as her knack for creating fairytale worlds, where rooms sing with colour and quirky charm, Swedish-born Beata designs functional pieces such as sofas and chairs unholstered in painterly fabrics. Her Nettle fabric, printed with metallic ink to mimic the plant’s prickly surface, adorns the New Wave Country sofa, below. And the Marbleized wallpaper is a take on marbled papers which became popular in Europe during the 17th century; this upscaled version is also available as a fabric.
Velvets and linens, in the main reception room, hang from the wall like a row of colourful umbrellas. Oversized ginghams, marbled velvets and willow pattern prints mix with slubby hemps in a variety of weight and colour, below.
Antiques and vintage ceramics are displayed around the showroom and offices to add texture and nostalgia; furniture, mirrors, paintings, and antique plates and plaques hang on the walls.
Favourite things from the BH showroom:
The stair wall painted in Cigar, with Nettle wallpaper above the handrail and blue painted treads - a winning combination of burnt toffee and inky blue, above
Raviolo cushions on the sofa, second image from top
Tongue & groove panelling painted in John’s Pantry an uplifting ochre yellow, developed collaboration with Mylands paint, montage top
Snowdrop lighting, third image from top
Eyelash wallpaper, shown below, in Spring. A little eye appears every 10m
Sun 100% Hemp fabric, light weight and honey-coloured making it ideal for blinds or curtains, shown below
Pigeon solid aged brass wall hooks.
Vintage Arrivals from France
This week’s vintage stock drop includes an unusual Quimper fish-shaped dish, with a Petit Bretagne figure carrying an umbrella. The small dish from north west France is perfect for olives or almonds. Measures 24.5 cm long x 10cm wide.
Bring joy to your kitchen walls with these pretty vintage French plates, above. Produced by Fleuri, the hand decorated designs features baskets and posies of flowers with either a scalloped edge or mustard yellow detail. Each plate measures 22.5cm in diameter. All available online at Mason & Painter
The oil on canvas painting Fishermen Repairing Nets, below, dates to the early midcentury and measures 35 x 27cm. And the two small oil on board seascapes, reminiscent of the Mediterranean coastline around northern Spain, depict boats around a jetty and two figures on a beach carrying fishing rods. These date to around the late 1940s / early 1950s and each measure 18.5cm square.
The striking oil on canvas painting, below, is by French artist JE Bastel. The composition shows two old-style hayricks, Le Meules, set against a dramatic stormy sky. Impasto painted texture and great detail across the fields with a view of a town in the distance. Signed and dated 1949 on the reverse.
Sold in sets of twelve these reclaimed botanical prints are reproduced from antique manuscripts of popular garden flowers including hollyhocks, buttercups, primroses, roses, sunflowers and irises. Each illustration is double-sided to offer 24 different flowers and each measure 38cm x 28cm - perfect for florists, artists, vintage shops or anyone interested in horticulture.
Plum Clafoutis
Around this time of year I bake at least one clafoutis a week. It was after staying with my friend Anne-Françoise, near Bordeuax, that I became hooked on the classic French dessert, a delicious golden pudding with summer fruit. AF loves to bake and she had several on the go that summer, crammed with seasonal cherries, plums or apricots. I’ve since lost her recipe, written on the back on a magazine tear sheet, but I’ve adapted this flourless plum version from Felicity Cloake in the Guardian. You can use any summer fruit, blackberries also work well, simply substitute the dozen or so plums for around 500g of fruit, I’ve also tried it with coconut milk instead of cow’s milk.
Ingredients
10 - 12 plums, washed, halved & de-stoned
Butter to grease your baking dish
50g cornflour
100g ground almonds
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
100ml milk (I used oat milk)
300g tub of creme fraiche
Quarter tsp of ground ginger (optional)
Heat the oven to 180c / gas 4. Wash the plums, remove any stems, then cut in half and remove the stones. Grease the baking dish with butter and leave on one side until ready.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and fork through to break up any lumps in the cornflour and almond mixture.
Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, then add the caster sugar and continue to mix until well combined and slightly paler in colour.
Add the whisked egg and sugar mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well. Add the creme fraiche and milk and mix to make a smooth batter.
Pour the batter mixture into the greased baking dish.
Gently add the plums one-by-one, cut side up, rather than pouring the batter over the fruit (this will look prettier when it comes out of the oven).
Bake for around 45 minutes, until the clafoutis is golden and the plums are a lovely caramel colour. Leave to cool and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche, Greek yoghurt or cream. Bon appétit.
Homewares inspired by a summer palette
Gingham tablecloths, blue skies and sandy beaches are this week’s pinboard inspiration. Recreate a summer holiday feel at home with these gingham inspired plates, above, by Henry Holland Studio, paired with cotton napkins from the Conran shop. And if you should ever need a drinks trolley the midcentury rattan beauty above, from Granger Hertzog, is begging to be wheeled out at cocktail hour. Hang your sun hats on these attractive Pigeon hooks, by Beata Heuman. Made in Florence from unlacquered brass, the little birds will age beautifully over time.
And finally, mark the weekend of 19th & 20th September in your calendar for our annual Open Studio Event. Over 30 artists, designers and photographers, open their studio doors every year to the public. It’s a great event and even if you can’t join us, in London, I’ll be posting a new collection of decorative antiques and paintings for all to see in the September Substack newsletter.
Thank you for reading and if you’re new here thank you for joining Love Vintage etc. a monthly newsletter with extra editions on design, vintage, travel, interiors and anything else I think you’ll enjoy. Until next time, lots of love Michelle x
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Wonderful content as always, thank you 🤩
Adore all things Beata, so even though I loathe pigeons, I neeeed those hooks! And you reminded me how much I love Justine Tabak, too - I have one of her dresses and wear it without fail every single winter.