Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: Things are piling up
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 09:49AM Jenn Hannotte: I've been noticing the floor getting a lot of attention by stylists recently. From piling magazines and books straight off the ground to create side tables, to using the surface to display art and objects.
It's a fast and dirty way to update a corner or a whole room, and likely won't cost you a penny. Now, I'm not a designer in any professional capacity; I'm a mother of two who usually writes these wearing a house coat and drinking coffee while the baby naps! But I do love design and I think there are a lot of you out there like me, so take a look at my inspiration shots below and how I styled it up in my own home in that last shot. I have a soon-to-be mobile baby, Beatrix, and an off-the- wall 5 year-old, Willa, so it wasn't practical to have things directly on the floor for safety reasons. Instead, I've taken a vintage low coffee table, stuck it in an awkward corner and used books and mags to give the lamp and other objects some practical height, but it also conveys that sort of super-relaxed, eclectic aesthetic that we see in those delicious inspiration shots. [Image 1: Dos Family. Image 2: Andrea Ferrari. Image 3: Manolo Yllera]
For more of Jenn's take on style click here.
Andrea Ferrari, Dos Family, Jenn Hannotte, Manolo Yllera, stylist in Jenn Hannotte, design, inspiration 
Reader Comments (3)
I love the sofa in the top image. Any idea where I can get one like that? Also I have made piles of my magazine archive in the hallway, but people keep asking me if I need a hand to get them to the recycling. How can I make them look more purposeful and chic???
Hello Blink London, Over in the UK that sofa style closely resembles a George Smith, but you can find similar styles - like Miss Clementine or Lady May - from Sofa Workshop. As for your giganto pile o' mags I would look at an idea like Arik Levy's Book Stool by ENO. They're sets of straps, or belts, that tie around a pile of magazines so you could actually use them as a stool if your fancy. You can find them here, but I think you could easily make something similar yourself.
Cheers, Arren
Thank goodness! My piles don't mean I'm messy, they make me stylish.