Old Charm Blog

Aldeburgh Dining Table shown in our Heritage finish.

Spoilt for choice between six traditional Old Charm dining groups and two new Chatsworth dining groups..  buy a table plus 4 chairs and get 2 additional chairs FREE!

Old Charm demonstrates a nostalgic nod to a classic era in English history where furniture was stately and built to last. Handcarving, turning and a lengthy finishing process give the furniture a mellow and stylised look that is ideal for collecting.

Our Chatsworth collection is available in a new lightly antiqued straw colour which broadens the traditional appeal even further.

See our winter promotion for more details.

Here at Old Charm our designers have a tough brief to fulfil. How to make a piece of furniture appealing and stylish but also practical? An excellent example is the Library Bookcase OC 2083 pictured top right which is a beautifully proportioned bookcase featuring two adjustable shelves, leadlight glazed doors which help keep the dust at bay and a cupboard base for hidden storage. A little known fact is that it also contains a small secret tray for treasured possessions!
Another good example of ‘attractive storage’ is in the OC 2446 Games Table. Beneath the table top is a hidden drawer that houses all the chess, backgammon and cribbage pieces. As well as keeping clutter to a minimum, the handmade pieces immaculately presented within the velvet interior are indeed a thing of beauty!

Family business Jeves Furnishers is celebrating its 40^th birthday this November! Old Charm is proud to be a key supplier to Jeves for many decades and it boasts a large display of both traditional Old Charm and contemporary Hertford on its shop floor. Jeves services the south east in particular the areas surrounding Eastbourne. Why not visit their 6,000 square foot showroom on Green Street and see their seasonal offers – in particular the Old Charm winter Free Chair promotion starting 24^th November!

Jeves Furnishers of Eastbourne
Celebrates 40th Year of Trading

Old Charm Writing Desk against silver sheen wallpaper

If you're looking for a unique way to express your individual taste and personality there is no better way to decorate than by using wallpaper. You can take a simple room and make it look stunning and completely different in just a few hours. You can wallpaper an entire room, or just a feature wall.
When you use wallpaper you can also hide the conditions of existing walls that have cracks or other flaws. Wallpaper can take a room from boring to spectacular in a way that paint and other decorating techniques can't do. Wallpaper can make a room look bigger or smaller, which is another way that you can change the functionality of the room.
Different kinds of wallpapers can give different effects. Therefore, before starting out on a wallpaper buying trip it is important to decide the type of wallpaper that would suit your walls.
If you're decorating a small room that you want to give the feel of being larger you should pick wallpaper that has small designs or prints on it. For instance, if you're decorating your bathroom you might want to pick a pattern that has small pansies. This will make your small bathroom seem much larger than it actually is. Another technique for making rooms seem larger than they are is to use lighter colours rather than dark colours. Using large designs and prints in the wallpaper will make a room seem smaller and much cosier.

With wallpaper you can also make adjustments in the perspective of your room. For example , if you are choosing wallpaper for a room that has a low ceiling and you want to create the opposite illusion than you should choose a wallpaper that has either stripes or pattern that flows in vertical lines from top to bottom. Try it out to make your long and narrow rooms look much wider.

Our Hertford two door Sideboard and Mirror against a striped wallpaper

Remember that colours greatly influence atmosphere. If you'd like a room to seem warmer, choose wallpaper with warm colours like amber, gold, brick, and soft reds.
Hanging wallpaper isn't difficult and isn't too costly either. It's a wonderful tool if you're renovating or changing a whole look. There are many choices in wallpaper types. Choosing patterns and colours will depend on your own preferences and the intended look and use of the room. Any room can be wallpapered!

(09 March 2010 Metricon Homes http://www.studiom.com.au)

Medieval leadlight window 14th Century from Ightham Mote, England. TTaylor 2005

Leadlights or leaded lights are decorative windows made of small sections of glass supported in lead cames. Today lead lighting is often used in doors, windows, furniture and lampshades.

The term leadlight could be used to describe all windows in which the glass is supported by lead; but traditionally, a distinction is made between stained glass windows and leadlights, the former being associated with the ornate windows of churches and other such works of architecture and the latter with the windows of vernacular commercial and domestic architecture and defined by its simplicity.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries European stately homes and churches were the main buildings that employed lead lights or stained glass when large sheets of glass were unavailable. Traditionally leadlights were and are generally non-pictorial containing geometric shapes, squares, rectangles, circles or diamonds. Diamonds were considered the most effective shape as they gave greater stability than the other shapes and also were more economical as with diamonds there was less waste when cutting out.

Originally ‘broad glass’ was used which was around 1.5 to 2 mm thick and uneven, often with scars and marks on the surface where it has been 'ironed' flat, and often has a greenish tint. This was replaced around 1678 when ‘crown glass’ was first made which had a much better surface quality but also showed concentric ‘ripples’. This dappled effect is still demonstrated today where the ‘irregular glinting’ is evident across the individual pieces of glass within the leadlights.

With an increasing trend towards working from home, it seems the demand for home office is on the rise. Today, at least 1 billion people use the Web every week as part of their lives – and no wonder as we can now work, bank, shop, chat and see our friends and family, watch movies and manage our entire lives online from the comfort of our own homes! In 2010 a huge 82.5% of the UK population were online compared with 26% in the year 2000.

So why not design your home office to work for you? A comfy chair, spacious desk with ample storage, just add a roaring fire, a bunch of your favourite blooms and a large gin and tonic!

From the Old Charm collection we like the sumptuous OC 2798 Pedestal Desk and OC 2695 Office chair 

In the 16th century furniture pieces were adapted for the purpose of chess and other games. During this time chess tables and game tables were constructed of wood with needlepoint patterns for the game board. 

These game tables became further developed and detailed in the 18th century. During this time, card tables reached their peak of popularity and artistic detail. They were practical pieces made to fold, and were finely decorated in the Directoire style, which featured simple angles and hand painting.

The 2446 Games Table from Old Charm is an interpretation of a Tudor style occasional table complete with a hand carved bulbous pedestal base.

A removable and reversible table top features a chess board and a green baize card table surface while underneath is a backgammon board. Housed within the hidden drawer is a cribbage set, rosewood and chider chess pieces, matching backgammon counters, dice and a set of exclusive Old Charm playing cards.

Your  ‘home style’ says a lot about who you are and is a very personal thing.

Using lifestyle magazines and watching home shows are a good way of finding inspiration and can give you ideas about your own style and how to make your space work  for you. This year in particular there has been a lot of coverage about mixing old and new, traditional and contemporary – essentially collecting a variety of pieces that both make your life easier and hopefully more beautiful! Kerrie Kelly (houuzz.com/ideabooks) defines this look as ‘transitional’ and comments “Transitional style is a marriage of traditional and modern furniture, finishes, materials and fabrics. The result is an elegant, enduring design that is both comfortable and classic”

Follow our weekly blog on Jean ‘Jean likes..’, she is our very own agony aunt, here in our sunny Ware office.

Why not continue the conversation by following us on Twitter @OldCharmFurn and  liking us on Facebook.com/oldcharmfurn 

Jean is the arbiter of good taste in our office and we depend on her for practical advice in all things from weddings, what to wear, to entertaining and grandchildren. Who better to ask for tips and suggestions on a range of topics - whatever takes her fancy!

‘Virtual Jean’s character profile is that of a ‘glamorous granny’ who is a young-minded 50-60 yrs old. She lives by herself, is very independent, practical, and up with all the latest trends. She is a ‘silver surfer’ always on the web and has lots of grandchildren whom she sees regularly; plus she is highly sociable & does not like to miss her nightly sherry. Above all she is opinionated & likes to give advice whether one wants it or not.. hence the inspiration behind the post!

She may connect with you or she may not but will hopefully amuse you in the process!