style scout
As summer arrives, our design magpie contemplates outdoor DIY oven disasters and the pursuit of garden furniture perfection…
I’ve lived in my house for almost seven years now, yet it’s only truly the last two years that we’ve been able to enjoy the garden. Having a garden at all is a real luxury in London, and ours is the reason we live further out of the city. It was on my list of non-negotiables when we were looking to buy a property – in order to find it, we had to cast the net that bit wider.
It took us a long time to get it into a state we were happy with. I had help from my friend Kitten Grayson, an expert in all things green. She patiently taught me the difference between an annual and a perennial and showed me where to plant things, but one thing I’d always dreamt of was an outdoor kitchen. My step-dad, along with my husband Jon, helped me build the DIY outdoor oven of my dreams, which, after not being covered correctly last winter, has collapsed.
Amazingly though, that has not been the biggest struggle. The thing I’ve battled with most is outdoor furniture. I wanted to find pieces that would be hardworking but also look good – and my husband has been even more particular about it than me. Who knew it would be such an odyssey to find a set-up we’d both be happy with? I’d previously sourced an amazing table from France through Instagram, just before Brexit. Since then, the hunt has been on for chairs that will suit the garden. I’ve been to antiques markets at Kempton, trawled my way through eBay and Facebook Marketplace, messaged countless sellers and saved hundreds of searches. Still, I was coming up empty-handed.
Hay’s iconic ‘Palissade’ collection can be found in every cool café and restaurant in Copenhagen, but it didn’t feel right for us, and I also wanted to be able to add cushions. Then I looked at Raj Tent Club, which I first discovered on a shoot with ELLE Decoration, but I wanted pieces that could be kept outside year-round. After o
