I was thrilled to be invited by home furnishing giant, Crate & Barrel to host a masterclass at their Mall of the Emirates store this morning. The topic was styling your living and dining rooms with their new Spring/Summer 2019 collection – a colourful affair. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing some of my top tips and tricks with the folks who came to the event, and getting to chat with everyone afterwards.

Crate & Barrel’s new collection for Spring/Summer showcases rich colours, bold patterns and unique pairings of textures. The product range also leans towards a more functional lifestyle by introducing products that not only support a smaller footprint, but function well in smaller spaces, in line with growing millennial trends. One of the topics I covered was the use of multi-functional furniture pieces and how they can add so much to a space. Take the multi-tasking Eclipse Sleeper for example, a piece I’m personally in love with – it’s a beautiful daybed that functions as a two-directional sofa (ideal for open plan living areas) by day and transforms into a bed with a cleverly disguised trundle mattress that pops into place for impromptu sleepovers or weekend guests. Extra sleep space aside, it’s just a beautiful piece of furniture. Storage ottomans are also a great way to save space and have your furniture multi-task for you because they can assist with extra seating when required and make great, child friendly coffee tables too.

The team and I really enjoyed being able to chat to everyone who came out to see us and learn some simple home styling tricks. There were fabulous mocktails being served up by mixologists from Go Bar – a name I’ll definitely be adding to my contact list!

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Thank you to everyone who came out today and to Crate & Barrel for a great event!
PS: did you know that you can now buy online from Crate & Barrel in the region? My life just got a whole lot easier.

Event images by Marli Smith