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Home office style with Carl Hansen & Søn’s CH621 swivel chair

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[Advertisement – this post is a paid partnership with Carl Hansen & Søn, but all words and opinions are my own] Finding the perfect office chair can be tricky. You’ll be sitting on it for long periods at a time, so you’ll want something comfortable that won’t cause aches and pains or do any damage to your posture. You’ll want something sturdy and well-built, which can withstand hours of use day after day. And if, like me, you work from home, you’ll also want something stylish that fits with your décor and doesn’t look ugly or overly clinical. It’s a lot to ask from a single piece of furniture, but I’ve found one that ticks all the boxes: renowned Danish mid-century designer Hans J. Wegner’s CH621 swivel chair , which was first released in 1948 and has now gone back into production with Carl Hansen & Søn. Often dubbed the ‘Master of the Chair’, Wegner was responsible for iconic designs such as the CH24 ‘Wishbone’ chair and the CH25 lounge chair . But out of the more than 5...
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Home tour | A vaulted loft apartment in London

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On first glance, you might assume this soaring, cathedral-like space is some kind of purpose-built mansion on a huge countryside plot. It’s actually the top-floor flat of a Victorian house in Hampstead, London, which has undergone a total transformation thanks to Dan Marks and his team at architectural studio MATA . The property belongs to a family who live abroad but use it as their base whenever they return to the UK. They commissioned MATA to renovate it throughout, opening up the previously cramped attic rooms while extending it from two bedrooms to three to better suit their needs. Local conservation area rules dictated that any changes had to be invisible from the street, so MATA’s solution was to infill the valley between two parallel roof ridges. This created a new flat roof and substantially enlarged the internal space, while sitting entirely within the building’s existing footprint when viewed from ground level. Inside, the roof’s structure has been left exposed, creati...
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Stylish countryside hotels & pubs for cosy getaways in the West Country & Cotswolds

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I may be biased, but I reckon the West Country and Cotswolds are pretty hard to beat when it comes to relaxing rural breaks. My own corner of the UK has plenty of wonderful boutique hotels, countryside pubs and restaurants with rooms that are perfect for cosy stays, so I thought I’d share 10 of my favourites across Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, West Oxfordshire and Devon (I’ll cover Cornwall in a separate post). All combine great food and bags of character with the kind of understated, timeless interiors that I love, and they make excellent bases for long walks, visiting historic places or just curling up in comfort with a good book and a glass of wine. HOLM, Somerset HOLM, which is housed in a former bank in the pretty village of South Petherton, has long been one of my favourite restaurants – and now it has seven beautiful bedrooms that make it perfect for a restorative minibreak. The decor throughout is minimalist yet cosy, with layers of texture from lime-plaster walls...
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