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Alice Grace Interiors Discusses Designing The Iris Headboard
I'm Alice Gaskell, a designer at Alice Grace Interiors and Alice Grace, our home wares shop which launched last year. For a long time I have harboured a burning desire to design home pieces, for both our collection and established brands, allowing my creations to reach a broader audience. I am delighted to announce the launch of my first design in collaboration with Love Your Home - a stunning headboard named ‘The Iris’.
The Iris Headboard
Collaborating with Love Your Home, a brand I’ve worked with and admired, felt like a natural fit. I have been including their pieces, not just in my own home but also within designs for my clients, from their beautiful chairs and sofas, to footstools and accessories, for a number of years. Their bespoke service has allowed me to be creative and design one-of-a-kind pieces using my own choice of fabrics from independent and renowned fabric houses as well as their impressive in-house collection, which includes some of my favourite go-tos.
Designing pieces for reputable brands has always been a dream of mine, as it is not only a huge passion, but comes naturally to me and something I have dedicated to making a career out of! I pitched my idea to Love Your Home and was thrilled when they agreed to work with me on the design for a new headboard to expand their existing range. It has always been quite a treat to visit their showroom in Godalming - a place where their pieces are beautifully styled and to be experienced. It goes without saying that they were the perfect partner for my inaugural collaborative piece.
From our design work at Alice Grace Interiors, I wanted to design something elegant, simple and timeless. Designed proportionally across all scales to work within any style and type of property. The inspiration of the headboard shape came from an antique mirror I inherited from my Grandmother. Its distinguished profile has inspired other shapes within the Alice Grace product range including our tray and console table and I wanted to continue to carry this into the Iris Headboard design.
A number of prototypes were made to ensure all elements of the design were perfected. We meticulously designed the headboard's height to allow for clever proportions - a number of pillows can be stacked without loosing the effect of the overall shape, whilst not being too overly grand. The soft and elegant angles make it suitable for children's bedrooms as well as guest or master bedrooms.
The ability to use up to three different fabrics within the Iris Headboard design has leant itself to be tailored beautifully to fit in any scheme and also - if desired - to have a little fun with. Adding a simple contrast piping or a different colour along the edge means you can be as bold or as subtle in your design choices as you wish.
The beauty of a headboard is its ability to elevate a room and completely transform the look with relatively little work and disruption, easily becoming the statement piece in a bedroom without trying too hard. It can present an opportunity to introduce a pattern to dictate the rest of the room’s palette, or simply blend into your existing scheme by providing a comfortable backrest for evening reading.
It is an easy way to update your room if it is looking a little tired and gives you the chance to introduce a new shape that could then be used in other places, like a curtain pelmet for example. Many people opt for divan bases which serve as an excellent way to add useful and clever storage to a room. The Iris Headboard can be independently added creating opportunity for a quick transformation; it simply rests on the floor without needing to be attached to the wall.
Within my own home, I designed a twin room for my sons, using two contrasting Love Your Home stain resistant velvet fabrics, paired with a complimentary stripe for the trim. This beautifully enhances the shape and I love the playfulness, the inversion of colour, brings. The palette combined with the two headboards, creates a timeless look that I felt would stand the test of time – nothing too bright or overwhelming which I hope will become heirloom pieces that my children’s children will use one day! That would be really special!
The Primrose Blanket box, upholstered in a playful Beata Heuman Stripe, serves as smart storage for cushions, blankets, or toys. I also used this fabric for the room’s radiator covers - a new design launching at Alice Grace in the Spring. Love Your Home’s blanket boxes are perfect for placing at the end of a bed or somewhere where they can be easily accessed. They are also a great way to introduce a contrasting fabric and you can never go wrong with a stripe in a boy’s bedroom in my opinion!
This collaboration has been a labour of love for us both and taking time to develop this design to be exactly right has been a joy for me. I can’t quite believe it is finally available for everyone to have in their own home!
I hope you find as much joy decorating your bedrooms as I did creating Iris Headboard.
Alice X
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