I was invited to attend the Amara Home Refresh Event in London last month. I usually have to pass on these invitations, as attending events can be pretty challenging with a full time job and living in the Isle of Man. But not this time!!! Amara was hosting three fabulous workshops and we also got to choose our goody bag from their extensive home accessories selection (*squeel*)! It was so lovely to catch up with the Amara team and meet up with some fellow bloggers too..

We had the opportunity to talk to the Creative Director and Founder Sam Hood, Amara’s very own in-house interior stylist Elle Taylor, and Huffington’s Post’s food writer and blogger Linda Duffin.

On the morning of the event, I was so excited but soon enough my excitement was crushed as I entered the Kings Cross tube station at 8:45am with the morning commuters.. *Gasp* I live in the Isle of Man… We have a steam train…

Once I [finally] got on the tube, I was praying I was on the right train! As I arrived at my stop (phew!), it took me a minute to compose myself and find my way to the beautiful venue. Surprisingly I was on time!! A coffee and a croissant later I felt right at home amongst the lovely bloggers and the Amara team, who I must say are the loveliest bunch!

The morning started with an insightful talk from Sam Hood who explained the design process and gave us some tips on how to do a room design from start to finish. It was interesting to hear that sometimes the thing you think is the most important actually can be the least important! Yes I am talking wall paint colours.. It makes so much sense, as it is so much easier to adapt the wall colour to everything else , isn’t it?

Elle’s class was particularly interesting for me as I sometimes struggle to style my items, it definitely is not as easy as you may think. It takes time to create the lovely pictures you see in the glossy magazines. Just take a look at this pile of random items, which Elle placed on the bookshelf ‘seemingly’ randomly..

As I was listening to Elle, I was thinking about the items I picked for my goody bag with the view of styling them later on. All I could think was how the hell am I going to style them?? They are so different and beautiful in their own right..

Here are my picks!!

(1) Phantom Frame in Black , (2) Chelsea Collection Trinket Tray – Navy

(3) LSA Polka Vase Gold – 11cm (4) Glass Vase – Gold – 35cm

Food demonstration by the lovely Linda was a perfect way to finish the morning off. Not only was the food yummy, the recipes were also easy to remember and recreate hopefully not in too distant future. I had the opportunity to chat to Linda before the class too, which was lovely!

When I got home, I started thinking about my items and remembered the things I learnt from Elle..

With all the amazing advice from the experts, how could I fail right…. EEK… On top of everything else, I picked the most awkward products to photograph!! 😀 the two vases are so gorgeous but a serious pain to photograph as they reflect everything!! Please be kind… I am not a professional…so this is what I’ve done… I think your job is safe Elle!! 🙂

I wanted to keep it simple so used the same earthy tones, some metallics and mixed them up with different textures and shapes. I mainly used glassware I already had at home.

I then substituted the round golden vase with an empty candle jar which I used as a vase

I paired the gorgeous Chelsea Collection Trinket Tray with some lovely glassware and a candle I had at home. I had some dried up hydrangae and lavander from the garden, which I thought complimented the whole look quite nicely!