House Notes #4

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Today marks one year since I started this Substack newsletter. As I wrote in my previous post, prices will be increasing from this Friday, so if you have been considering the upgrade to a paid subscription, now is the moment to do so (for all those who already paid a reminder that your price remains the same for ever - the price increase affects new subscribers only). This month: I spoke to the fashion designer JJ Martin about her interior life. And news about my reopened online design store – 50 best of everything (max) WITH styling advice – I think it’s the only shop of its kind. House Notes is long this time, so dive in and out as the mood takes you. Are you sitting comfortably?

cane chair from Hadeda

HOUSEKEEPING: My month this month

A few years ago (deep in lockdown) I started an online shop. Now many people run online shops based on affiliate links, and my commercial model is no different. But the shop is. First of all it’s the only one I can think of that offers styling advice on each product. Secondly it is a tight curation of the internet. If you have ever wanted to buy a black T-shirt and been overwhelmed by 47 pages of the things, making you feel weak before you even start the scroll, this is for you. If you have ever wanted a terracotta cushion and found yourself confronted by a Google page of badly-made designer fakes, followed by a selection in pink, red and possibly even green, this is for you. If you ever wanted just to be presented with a curation of the best, I have your back.

Mad About The House Design Store is a collection of no more than 50 of everything for the home. Items are limited to 10 per page so you will never, ever, have to look through more than five pages. Not all sections have been fully restocked yet, but do keep checking as we’re working on this all the time.

Here is where you will find the best beds – each with an explanation of why I believe they are great. There’s a selection of table lamps – and what they are suitable for. There are armchairs, desks, side tables, tableware, accessories and more. The store is arranged room by room and there is an efficient new search function, plus “edits” of key product categories to help you navigate speedily. Shopping online has always been easy – this is about simplifying the decision-making process. And, of course, in return for this mammoth edit, if you buy something via the site I will make a small commission. About that commission - it’s usually well under 5% and it takes a minimum of three months to arrive and it doesn’t affect the price you pay in any way.

Do take a look, remember I’m adding new products every day and share with your friends if if you like it.

In other news this month, we hosted the second Interior Design Retreat in Italy and released the dates for next year. Places are already starting to fill up so get in touch if you want to secure your spot.

I was also interviewed about the house in Italy by my favourite property website, Inigo, so look out for that. I also wrote a detailed feature about lighting and light bulbs for The Daily Telegraph. I wanted to headline it (after the chapter in my book) “Watt the LED is a Lumen?”, but they didn’t go for that. My latest column for Red magazine also went online – coincidentally it’s also about lighting, this time planning your scheme.

MY INTERIOR LIFE: JJ Martin of LaDoubleJ

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is J.J. Martin, former fashion and design journalist and the Founder of La DoubleJ.

And your top design tip?

That contrary to popular belief (and the industry standard) there’s room in the fashion world for warmth, connection and that what you wear and how you decorate your home can be a tool to elevate your energies (colours and pattern have vibration raising frequencies, fyi).

What would you rush to save if your house was on fire?

My pug, Pepper, of course! Then, perhaps the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead that hangs above my bed.

What’s your (current) favourite Instagram account?

Half of the people I follow on Instagram are fashion and design profiles like @indrerock – who does an amazing job of breaking down the complexities of sustainable practices in fashion in a really accessible and informed way – or like @lakecomoweddings who always do magical things with our La DoubleJ homeware for their events. The other half are spiritual ones like @activationswithjj, or @awakeningthedivine, who’s my partner on the retreats through Egypt we co-host every year.

If I gave you £150, what would you buy?

The JJ Martin store in Milan - the floor is painted concrete

Perhaps a flight to Catania because I love that Eastern seaboard of Sicily. First, I would visit our store in Taormina, then I would head to the Golle dell’Alcantara, where I would do a cold plunge. Finally I’d go visit my friends Jon and Marco at Villa Tre Contrade and join them on a hike up Mount Etna with our amazing guide, Mirto.

What’s your favourite style of furniture/decor?

If you’ve ever been to my home, you’ll notice all the furniture and decor is from a different place or period - a pair of 1950s curved walnut Carlo Ratti chairs, white square Molteni office desks that I use as dining room tables, a Tibetan tiger rug and Chinese carpet both from the 1930s, a large mid-century Murano glass collection - I love to mix eras and aesthetic styles. The key for me is more whether the piece speaks to me on a creative level, gets my pulse racing, and creates balance within my home, which is really my sanctuary.

Tell us your most visited interiors websites/stores.

I’m more of an in-person buyer. I need to touch the item, see how it makes me feel before I commit to it. I prefer vintage stores and markets to big, commercial behemoths - the best ones in Milan are Madame Pauline Vintage and Nastri e Cavalli, or the enormous, very well curated antiques market held on the Navigli (canalside) in Milan on the last Sunday of every month. The only time I was ever really buying furniture online was in the early days of the pandemic when I had just moved into my new home and was sitting in this empty apartment – I spent a lot of time on pomona.it during that time.

What’s the best thing you ever bought?

A 1930s Chanel costume crystal necklace that looks like a diamond quarry.

Your cocktail of choice?

I don’t like hard alcohol, so if I’m not drinking wine I’ll have an Aperol Spritz.

What’s the soundtrack to your favourite room?

My favourite room in my home is probably my Meditation Room, the soundtrack to which is usually a mix of shamanic medicine journey songs as well as kirtan singing and yoga mantras.

Confess – what’s your screen-time total so far this week?

None! Truly, I’m on an annual retreat through Egypt that I co-host with my dear friend, Dee Kennedy. We’re currently on a boat sailing up the Nile, so besides checking my emails when we have wi-fi, we’re spending our days exploring ancient temples and sacred sites.

What do you wish you had designed, or could own?

I really wished I had designed an Egyptian dahabiya, the traditional boat that we’re aboard. Every single one I’ve been on I’ve wanted to redecorate – just to make it a little more DoubleJ with print and color, but keeping it very authentic.

What’s one thing you do for your mental well-being?

Just one?! I have a daily meditation practice that I do every morning, I seek out the energetic hotspots of Italy and around the world whenever possible, and I’m continuously taking spiritual and consciousness courses, whether it’s having one-on-one lessons with my teacher Lelama or having my weekly Egypt group class with Dee. I try to attend the weekly wellness activations in the Sacred Grotta (see above) below our Milan store - it’s one of the things we offer to our Sisterhood community as part of our mission at La DoubleJ to “Raise Your Vibration”. We recently launched a hub on ladoublej.com devoted to this - it’s got online practices from some of my favorite energy guides, a full Healer Book of my personal spiritual contacts, wellness events and access to our inner council of Big Sisters, our ambassadors for the project. It’s completely free to sign up - it’s our totally philanthropic arm of the brand.

What’s the ugly thing in your house that you can’t bring yourself to throw away?

Up until recently it was my dog Pepper’s bed that I just brought into the office to have re- upholstered in an LDJ fabric. It was pretty ragged...

Plan B. If this wasn’t your job, what would you be doing?

Well, I was a design journalist for a long time, which I loved - it gave me the opportunity to meet some of the most incredible artists, architects, designers and creatives in the industry, which is how I really fell in love with Milan and Italy. But, I’ve always wanted to have my own retreat centre in Sicily someday, a physical, connective, restorative place for people exploring their own spiritual journeys. That would be a dream.

JJ’s new collection, The Guardians, will be released this month

DESIGN DISCOVERY: Furnishing Futures

Autumn is interiors season in London. Following Focus at Chelsea Harbour comes Decorex at Olympia, where brands showcase their new collections, designers come to source ideas and everyone hangs out in the champagne bar, networking. In previous years I have attended to give talks and even been part of my own product partnership launches – my sustainable sofa with Love Your Home and my Quirky Bloom carpet with Alternative Flooring. I have already posted a Design Postcard on some of the best things I saw this year, but there was one other: Furnishing Futures. While businesses need a showcase for their work, this charity deserves to be more widely known, so I offer this less as a discovery and more as an opportunity to increase awareness.

Set up by former journalist Emily Wheeler, Furnishing Futures provides healing homes for women and children who have escaped abuse and been placed in empty social housing. Less than 2% of social housing is furnished, and those fleeing domestic abuse will often find themselves in a completely bare property. With their finances at maximum stretch, families must choose between living without furniture or taking out expensive loans.

Emily brings together stylists, designers and brands to donate furniture and homewares, which are then used to decorate and furnish new homes for these families.

Regular readers will know that I believe firmly in the connection between home and mental wellbeing, and Emily’s work is vital. I’ve included the link (above) in case you are able to help in any way – either as part of a brand which has products to offer, as a stylist who can work on a project, as a financial donor, or even (as I’m aware this is a UK venture), by raising awareness of the work Furnishing Futures does.

TRADE SECRETS: Be brave!

Trust your gut. If you are drawn to a strong pattern or colour, don’t immediately try and talk yourself down in favour of something more “sensible”. I’ve seen so many people row back from a dark navy or a strongly patterned marble in favour of grey and neutral. A few months later, once they’ve got used to their new design, they always wish they had been braver.

If it makes your heart sing when you first see it then you should find a way to use it. I have one client who is working on developing a huge building in Palma, Mallorca. In one bathroom we’ve gone for a really strong burgundy and white marble in the showers and on the vanity unit, but the rest of the room is pale creams and whites. She fell in love with that marble which is outside her usual comfort zone but we have used it as a dramatic element in an otherwise calm and pared back room and she loves it.

BEDTIME READING….

This is less what I’m actually reading and more what’s on the nightstand this month. You will appreciate that the two can be quite different! I got caught up in a crime series which distracted me from anything else for a few weeks and it was perfect while my head was full of design retreats and shop launches, etc. Now I’m looking forward to cosy winter afternoons reading. Here is what’s in my pile:

The Lives of Lee Miller – Starting with this as I read it after watching the recent film, which essentially covers one of her lives. This is the others and it’s fascinating. Written by her son, Antony Penrose.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult – I pre-ordered it so long ago I forgot about it, until an interview with her by Jojo Moyes popped up. I’ve just finished it. It’s brilliant and it’s really got me wondering…. If this appeals, you might also like Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, which I adored.

The Examiner by Janice Hallet, I bought this on the recommendation of India Knight, who seems to have similar literary taste to me. That said, I had read her earlier book and can’t really remember it, so this may not be the second one I turn to. I think this might be a bit like Miss Benson’s Beetle which I loved so much and feel quite cross that Rachel Joyce doesn’t write faster. I think it might be one of my favourite books.

Teddy by Emily Dunlay – Billed as the most glamorous debut novel of 2024 and apparently a perfect summer read. Here’s hoping it will be a good winter one as well.

Let me know if you have read/ordered/liked/disliked any of these yourselves.

ON MY RADAR: Houseof

I have been a fan of the lighting company houseof since it first launched. The owners were formerly from the lighting department at BHS, which was a sort of high-street secret for many interior designers who wanted affordable lamps and were prepared to shovel a lot of earth to uncover the gems.

houseof design and make everything themselves (with the odd guest collaboration) and are committed to being as green as possible: plastic-free packaging, carbon offsetting, low-energy bulbs, and each light guaranteed for two years with the promise of free repairs and spare parts for as long as the original remains in production.

Now they have launched Rehoused, a collection of vintage lighting sourced from across Europe and all repaired and restored. As with all vintage, the range changes constantly, so you need to keep checking back in to see what’s new.

AND A REALLY GREAT… Shower Caddy

Shower caddies seem to be fiendishly expensive and those ones that suction on to the tiles can be particular about what sort of tile they wish to stick to. The expensive chrome ones (SO expensive) mean drilling into tile, which is a scary thing to do at the best of times. The other thing is that there always seems to be more stuff to accommodate than you think. If you don’t have an en suite, or share with more than one other person, the chances are there are four different sorts of shampoo and conditioner, various soaps and body washes, razors, face wash… the list and the storage requirements are endless.

But this one looks brilliant. Spoiler: I haven’t bought one yet, but it’s definitely on my wishlist if not in my basket.

The Spot, as it’s called (i.e. the round frame), hangs over the shower head and comes with a large and a medium basket, a fogless mirror, a hook and a soap dish. That’s already solved most of our problems, but you can add a razor hook (yes please) a basket for tall bottles and – is this bizarre? – a toothbrush holder.

It’s about 46cm in diameter, made from powder-coated steel, and the strap is PVC.

A Quiet Town is based in California but does ship internationally. I will be adding it to the Bathroom category in my Design Store as soon as I have a moment.

If you have liked this post then do please like, comment and re-stack as that helps with visibility and allows more people to see it. A reminder that on Friday 1 November the price will increase slightly (there will be more content too) so if you want to receive these posts at the same price forever (£65 a year) then now is the time. You can always ask for it as an early Christmas present (whoops, I’ve said it) or give it to someone else. Thank you always for reading and commenting. Your support allows me to continue writing here.