PUTTY AND PAINT

 I have been chasing the new top fashion shades of taupe, pewter, porage, fawn, putty, beige, nude or whatever you like to christen them and I have just acquired a lovely batch of unbleached linen sheets in a perfect shade which should please those who are able to follow the fashions of house decoration.  I found this lovely picture of a French (painted?) bed which is exactly the same shade, now in the newly decorated home, Ven House, deep in the South West, of Jasper Conran.   I love its simplicity (see W.O.I. current magazine)

  My sheets will probably go to L.A. where they may be used to cover bespoke easy chairs and sofas often bought by the Hollywood crowd who are always wanting the latest must-have.  Recently it was deep leather chairs for the 'den', before that it was white linen, a luxury fashion that took a lot of washing and dry-cleaning, now it is linen and hemp in unbleached shades and next I hope it will be my wonderful striped sackcloth in bumpy texture woven in the Ukraine, and now piled high in my wine vault stores.   Here in England, decorators have been using hemp and linen in natural colours for ages but it takes the U.S. a little longer to get used to these rough and rustic vintage stuffs and, quite honestly , they are now a bit late on the scene - Hemp is almost finished and linens are going the same way, and the new, sold by top fabric design firms, are so very expensive and really not quite in the same class, as they cannot be hand-woven any more.   The Ukrainian coloured stripes are all in soft earthy shades which blend with any colour scheme and are a good choice for hard wear and a sturdy country house look.  I am very happy in my newly covered upright armchair covered with two Ukrainian grain sacks, and I don't think I will wear it out.  I have had two extra arm-pieces made which are easily washable and take up the dirt from my grubby gardening hands and if I have visitors I can whip them off in a trice!