{"id":1623,"date":"2017-05-08T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1623"},"modified":"2021-02-21T14:43:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T14:43:58","slug":"illusions-of-grandeur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/inspiration-and-theory\/illusions-of-grandeur","title":{"rendered":"Illusions of Grandeur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today I want to talk about \u2018faking it\u2019 in interior design. I\u2019m a strong believer in using clever little tricks to create the illusion of a particular feature, style or trend. We\u2019re not all blessed with an endless supply of income and time, so faking it can sometimes be necessary. In fact, there are some areas where the imitation can be as effective as the real thing. Here are three examples:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faux Plants<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1618\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Faux-plants.jpg\" alt=\"Faux plants\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Faux-plants.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Faux-plants-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Faux-plants-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Faux-plants-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Image source: <a href=\"https:\/\/abigailahern.com\/collections\/plants\">Abigail Ahern<\/a><\/p>\n<p>House plants &#8211; particularly sculptural plants like cacti and succulents \u2013 are very fashionable at the moment. And it\u2019s probably because they look great in every space. But there are a number of reasons why someone might not want to fill their home with real plants. In this scenario, faux plants are the best solution.<\/p>\n<p>Designer Abigail Ahern has really raised the bar for <a href=\"https:\/\/abigailahern.com\/collections\/plants\">faux plants<\/a>. They\u2019re not those shiny, plasticky things of the 90s that give themselves away as fake at first glance. Her plants are the (un)real deal; so authentic-looking they might even have you second-guessing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tile Stickers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the tiles in your kitchen are a bit outdated but you can\u2019t afford (or particularly be bothered) with a full refresh, I\u2019ve got an excellent alternative for you. Vinyl tile stickers or decals are a cheap and cheerful way to update tired tiles.<\/p>\n<p>Available in all sorts of shapes, sizes and styles, there\u2019s bound to be a sticker to suit every taste.\u00a0 Most are waterproof and so can be used in both the kitchen and bathroom. They\u2019re also very easy to apply and remove, making them great in rented properties too.<\/p>\n<p>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notonthehighstreet.com\/home\/bathroom\/furnishings-fittings\/tiles\">Not on the High Street<\/a> for a large selection of tile stickers by a number of different designers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trompe-L\u2019oeil Wallpaper<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1617\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brick-Wallpaper.jpg\" alt=\"Brick Wallpaper\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brick-Wallpaper.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brick-Wallpaper-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brick-Wallpaper-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brick-Wallpaper-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Image source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debbiemckeegan.com\/collections\/faux-wooden-style\/products\/brick-panel\">Debbie McKeegan<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thanks to some very, <em>very <\/em>convincing wallpaper designs, it is now entirely possible to cheat your way to an exposed brick, tin-tiled or wood-panelled wall. You can even fake an entire library of books or a woodland scene. The trick to a really authentic finish is extremely high quality wallpaper \u2013 it\u2019s not cheap, but it\u2019s more cost-effective and much quicker than having wood panelling installed.<\/p>\n<p>Some of my favourite designers of faux surface effect wallpaper include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debbiemckeegan.com\/\">Debbie McKeegan<\/a> (pictured above), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mineheart.com\/\">Mineheart<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pietheineek.nl\/en\/\">Piet Hein Eek<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.muralswallpaper.co.uk\/\">Murals Wallpaper<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I want to talk about \u2018faking it\u2019 in interior design. I\u2019m a strong believer in using clever little tricks to create the illusion of a particular feature, style or trend. We\u2019re not all blessed with an endless supply of income and time, so faking it can sometimes be necessary. In fact, there are some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-and-theory"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1623"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623\/revisions\/2472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}