Explore Zoffany Furniture with Living Interiors

As the Christmas season draws closer, many of us are already casting our minds to the comforts of home, family and celebration. Preparing for guests over winter can be rather daunting, especially if your home is in desperate need of a little interior rejuvenation. Sure, your kitchen may be perfectly equipped to accommodate the colossal task of Christmas dinner, but what about your living room?

After indulging in the riches of a yuletide feast, it’s not uncommon for family and friends to retire to the lounge for restful leisure. If there was ever a better time to invest in that additional armchair or sofa suite, it’s now. Living Interiors are proud to stock luxury Zoffany furniture – one of the worlds’ most widely revered leading fabric and wallpaper designers.

With Armchairs, Footstools and Sofas to choose from; it’s easy to bring the elegance and refined artistry of Zoffany into your home. With over 30 years of experience in specialist design, we have absolute faith in the Zoffany brand as well as the elegance, sophistication and consistency of their design team’s output.

Take a look at some choice picks from our online catalogue...

Tavistock Footstool

Tavistock - 2 Seat Sofa

Albany Armchair

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A Brief History of the Microsoft Wallpaper!

Think back to your first personal computer – what year was it and who made it?

Back in the early 1990s, the idea of owning a home computer was still considered a great luxury as people struggled to both afford a system and find a reason to bother using one. Sure, there was plenty of software on the market in the form of business programmes, games and such but the average home owner needn't worry. Then the internet happened and overnight, people were equally confused and excited by this baffling new form of networking.

One of the first Microsoft systems to beckon in the domestic web era was the Windows 3.1 but it was Windows 95 that helped the PC become almost as commonplace in the home as a Hi-Fi or VCR. One of the most resonant memories people hold of their own computers actually tends to be their desktop wallpaper – much how people remember childhood bedrooms and homes based on the interior decoration. For a little nostalgic fun, we’ve compiled a little historical tread through the last twenty or so years of Microsoft default desktop wallpapers and boot screens!

Windows 3.1 (1992)

One of the fancier pre-installed themes...

Windows 95

Very inspired...

Windows 98

What a boot screen!

Windows ME

The infamous Windows ME or ‘Mistake Edition’ as many call it...

Windows XP

Ah, Bliss!

Windows Vista

Welcome to the future! It’s very wavey.

Windows 7

Back to basics!

Windows 8

Dreamy, no?

What’s your favourite desktop? Let LivingInteriors know on Facebook and Twitter.

Top Five Bizarre Furniture Designs

While the furniture we supply at LivingInteriors definitely leans toward the more conventional side of taste, we are not averse to admiring the eccentric designs of others. A quick look on the internet reveals a ton of weird and wonderful furniture designs made for everything from serving wine glasses to... driving.

Check our top five oddball furniture designs!

• Human Furniture

Not literal human flesh - that would be ghastly. Instead we have a finely carved pair of stiletto heels holding up a circular table top with indentations to hold your wine glasses. It’s an ace design and one which could easily be carried around at a whacky dinner party!

• Edd China Breezy Sofa Car

Remember this? Clever chap that Edd.

• Slither Into Your Seat

If you happen to have a strange adoration of snakes and scorpions then you’ll be in good company with these intriguing chairs.

•   Tiger Sofa

No thanks.

•  The Infamous Cheeseburger Bed

This cheeseburger bed has made quite the name for itself over the years and despite being home made it ended up changing hands online several times.

Got a personal favourite you'd like to share with us on Facebook and Twitter? Let Living Interiors know!

Weird and Wonderful Wallpaper

Wallpaper is an essential part of contemporary interior design but it wasn’t always considered as such. In fact, the BBC ran a rather informative three part series titled ‘The Story ofWallpaper’ back in 2013 as part of its ‘Fabric of Britain’ feature on BBC4. Unfortunately it seems to be currently unavailable on iPlayer but if you happen to come by it, Living Interiors recommend taking a look.

Today, wallpaper often makes up a core focus of our homes, leading us to consistently chop and change design to keep up with the changing tides of style. With individualism at the fore, many people have let loose on their walls with a bold sense of the weird and wonderful. We’ve scoured the net for some of the strangest wallpaper designs set to stone... check them out below...

·         Set Nature Free

Astonishingly, a green wall is actually a thing and can really help purify the oxygen levels in your home. Your wallpaper will literally be a vertical garden in itself but as you can imagine, maintenance would be key. Here’s an image taken from a shop designed by Korean architectural auteurs Mass Studies.

Source: http://www.massstudies.com/

·         Bananas!

Potassium junkies, Andy Warhol and scratch and sniff fans rejoice! For only a few hundred dollars you can live in a domestic banana smelling jungle!

Source: http://www.flavorpaper.com/wallpaper/detail_in_cat/52/88/B-A-N-A-N-A-S

·         What Sharpie’s Were Made For

This might be the single most economically striking work of wallpaper art we’ve seen yet. For $10, Charlie Kratzer from South Lexington, Kentucky illustrated a plethora of vivid images across his basement walls to create a truly singular interior atmosphere. Check out this news story here and marvel at his work!

·         Piero Fornasetti Montage

This marvellous montage of Fornasetti images makes for a wonderful testament to the late Italian painter, sculptor and decorator. Visually appeasing for casual onlookers and art aficionados alike.  

Source: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/471189179734513890/

·         Can You Feel the Force?

... of this surprisingly tasteful Star Wars wallpaper?

Source: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/471189179734195483/

What’s your favourite oddball wallpaper? Let Living Interiors know on Facebook and Twitter.

Wallpaper Television... Surely Not?

Think back to your first television, or maybe the first widescreen set you welcomed into your living room. Bulky, heavy and let’s face it, probably not all that attractive but those days are long behind us (well, save for the odd few who refuse to upgrade). Modern flat screen models offer a seamless integration into your living aesthetic, often pinned to the wall or hidden behind an elaborate cover to mask their presence. Still, imagine if your television was a chimerical part of your actual wallpaper? Sounds like science fiction nonsense, right...

LG say otherwise, in fact, they’re so confident in their technology that they premièred a proof-of-concept prototype of their *hopefully* upcoming bendy wallpaper television which measures in less than 1 mm thick. Seriously, this beautiful OLED display weighs 1.9kg and is thinner than the width of your fingernail, better yet; it’s held up by magnets and can blend in perfectly with your wall display.

Prefer a bit of heft to your viewing?

The easiest way to understand this concept is to consider fridge magnets, except instead of sticking your TV to your fridge – you’ll be provided with a magnetic mat which sticks to your wall to mount the television on.

The OLED format display is hot stuff in the tech world and indicates a broad opportunity for televisual experimentation. Living Interiors are particularly excited about this development because it’s another bold step in reclaiming the living room from technological clutter. The television is no longer a huge eye sore taking away the attention from the beautiful wallpaper and carpet design you've put so much effort into. If the TV is disguised, what’s the problem? Bring on the future...

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The Cult of the Portland Airport Carpet

The things people manage to elevate to cult status never ceases to amaze but there was something truly charming about the whole Portland International Airport carpet affair.

For those unaware, the ‘PDX’ Carpet is quite possibly the most recognisable airport carpet of all time, building a strong emotional resonance with travellers since it was laid down in 1987. For many it signified adventure while for others it meant the familiar sight and smell of home.  Sadly in 2013, the carpet was finally stripped and laid to rest but for many its legacy lives on in the form of remnant cuts, tattoos and a bizarre range of merchandise.

The carpet is rather dated by today’s standards but it maintains a sense of late 80s charm with its dark blue lines, red and purple dots and light blueish-green floor colouring. As a means of farewell to the cult carpet, Portland Airport held a massive PDX Carpet festival within the airport as a global farewell. Over 40,000 people came together took ‘foot selfies’ of the carpet, which you can explore here. That bizarre merchandise we mentioned? Just take a look here; people seriously loved this naff old rug.

What’s the closest emotional bond you hold with a carpet or rug? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.

The 2000 Year Old Pazyryk Rug

Whether your aesthetic preference lays in tradition or modernism, there’s something universally alluring about the history of design. Persian rugs for instance laid the foundation for modern carpet design and carry a lot of historical weight both socially and artistically. One of the oldest Persian rugs to maintain its original condition is the 2000 year old Pazyryk rug which resides in St. Petersbury’s Hermitage Museum.

This beautiful work of antique weaving was left completely untouched in a Pazyryk burial mound located Serbia’s Altai Krai Mountain’s for two millennia. Excavated in 1949 by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko, the rug drew significant attention for its elegant design and it’s West Asian BC origins. An exact date that the rug would have been crafted is unclear but the quality of its preservation is really quite profound.

The design itself is rather fascinating with a series of griffins weaved into the border followed by another border inward depicting 24 fallow deer walking in single file. When the rug was discovered, it was situated next to a female mummy wearing an Indian silk tunic raising further questions about the rugs’ exact origins. Respected textile expert Ulrich Schurmann believes the rug is of Armenian descent while the Persians have stated it’s an artefact from the Achaemenid Empire. Regardless, the area of its discovery is well documented as a trading hotspot between China and Central Asia, so who knows where it may or may not have been?

It’s a beautiful piece of history and one that shows how deeply rooted our contemporary approaches lay in classic Persian design.

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