{"id":1686,"date":"2017-07-03T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2021-02-21T14:43:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T14:43:58","slug":"illusions-of-grandeur-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/interior-details\/illusions-of-grandeur-part-ii","title":{"rendered":"Illusions of Grandeur Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Back in May I wrote the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/inspiration-and-theory\/illusions-of-grandeur\">unintentional first part<\/a> of this blog series on faking it interior design. I say unintentional because I wasn\u2019t originally going to expand on it. Then I was asked by the lovely people at The Bath Magazine to write a full feature on the topic and part II was born.<\/p>\n<p>(You can read the article in full in the July issue of The Bath Magazine or you can <a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/mcpublishing\/docs\/the_bath_magazine_july_2017?e=3203830\/50568884\">read it online here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>In part one I discussed the merits of fakery, and cover three ways in which you can use quality products to imitate a particular style, trend or feature. This included trompe-l\u2019oeil wallpaper, faux plants and tile stickers. In part two, I just want to expand on those ideas with a couple more examples: wood-effect flooring and fake taxidermy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wood-Effect Flooring<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1684\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Wood-effect-LVT.jpg\" alt=\"Wood-effect LVT\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Wood-effect-LVT.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Wood-effect-LVT-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Wood-effect luxury vinyl tile flooring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amtico.com\/flooring\/latest\/2017\/come-dine-with-amtico\/\">by Amtico<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wood flooring is probably one of the most enduring trends in interior design. Has there ever been a time where beautiful timber planks <em>weren\u2019t <\/em>desirable?<\/p>\n<p>However, real wood flooring isn\u2019t always suitable. There are times, in the kitchen and bathroom or where a shallow depth is required, when a better option is wood-effect flooring made from vinyl, ceramic or porcelain tiles.<\/p>\n<p>Vinyl is an especially popular choice because it\u2019s durable (with anywhere between a 5 and 20\u00a0year lifetime), hardwearing and low-maintenance. It is also remarkably easy to install as the planks simply click together.<\/p>\n<p>Like real wood flooring, the price and quality of vinyl varies enormously so it is definitely worth doing a little research before committing to a particular brand. My recommendations include <a href=\"http:\/\/www.karndean.com\/en-gb\/floors\">Karndean<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amtico.com\/\">Amtico<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mandarinstone.com\/?gclid=CNmJurOE79QCFWoz0wodC34OxQ\">Mandarin Stone<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firedearth.com\/\">Fired Earth<\/a>, all of whom offer a range of vinyl and ceramic flooring effects including timber, metal and stone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faux Taxidermy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1675\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Faux-taxidermy.jpg\" alt=\"Faux taxidermy\" width=\"650\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Faux-taxidermy.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Faux-taxidermy-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Paper mache sculpture by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etsy.com\/uk\/shop\/MrPolskysMenagerie?ref=l2-shop-info-name\">Natalie Price on Etsy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For my final foray (for now) into faking it, I want to have a bit of fun with faux taxidermy. Taxidermy is very much back in fashion. You can\u2019t walk into an antiques shop without being stared at by a stuffed bird; but whether for ethical reasons or otherwise, real taxidermy isn\u2019t to everyone\u2019s taste.<\/p>\n<p>If you like the look of taxidermy but would rather not use real animals, there are some very creative alternatives. From ceramic skulls to paper entomology displays and timber antlers; you can indulge in this trend in a myriad different ways.<\/p>\n<p>I particularly like the breathtakingly realistic art of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shaunarichardson.com\/\">Shauna Richardson<\/a> who crochets life size animal sculptures. While the more obviously fake but enticingly colourful artificial birds available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk\/home-accessories\/birds.html\">Rockett St George<\/a> are equally as charming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in May I wrote the unintentional first part of this blog series on faking it interior design. I say unintentional because I wasn\u2019t originally going to expand on it. Then I was asked by the lovely people at The Bath Magazine to write a full feature on the topic and part II was born.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interior-details"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686","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=1686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2482,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions\/2482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairstrong.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}