Laura Ashley's "Bachelors Apartment in Brussels" from 1986

Detail of living room.

Detail of desk.

Where's the recliner?

Bedroom.

Methinks she meant confirmed bachelor.

Detail of bedroom (I've always wanted some of those toy soldiers).

Left side of bathroom.

Right side of bath.

Left side of kitchen (with said bachelor himself).

Right side of kitchen.

I know you want me to say I like it, but it's stuffy and pretentious and of course now very dated. It's also not very masculine for a "bachelor"

LOVE IT!!!

Think of the dusting necessary.

Dust is part of the charm..

Love it

I gravitate to that style, but not as fussy now. I like antiques and old houses.

What era does this refer to? Napoleonic?

It's kind of Edwardian, isn't it?

It just isn't a swinging pad.

I can’t help it, I love it.

What book is this in??

I have to have it!!

The only thing I’m confused about is the terlet.

Is that a real one or some kind of refurbished chair?

R22 - It was a regular chair until some cretin ruined it. Then it was repurposed.

It's a commode.

The problem is that people cannot make the distinction between Laura Ashley, the designer and Laura Ashley®, the brand.

^ Why don't you educate us plebs, Lord Prissy-Pants

In 1986 I had a bachelor lover who had a bourgeois apartment with 3 salons enfilade and in one there were 2 of this exact canapé facing each other. He didn't have fabrics draped over any furniture, however. Still, his dressing room was very cosseted, dripping with passementerie, and a wall was quilted, and I liked going in there and spraying on the delicious colognes. The hall featured decorative topiary, thonet furniture, and ostrich eggs.

R25 has it. The designer traded on a lighter, brighter English country house look. Sometimes it was okay, but she tended to get lost at one point or another on fussy feminine fabrics, and "soft furnishings" forgetting that all that fabric and upholstery and cushions starts to look like the inside of a coffin.

The Brussels bachelor's place would have been fine had L.A. stopped at some point. But she just kept going. It's not even that there is too much (though most would say that there is), it's that it looks like a designer did it and wall the furniture and geegaws were brought in and put together in two working days. There are no surprises, no contrasts,, no tension, no toying with scale, nothing that engages very deeply, it's just props from a narrative for a client: more and more and more of the same piled on.

Take half of the little cushions and bits and bobs out of the Brussels apartment, then introduce done peculiarities of color and scale and place of origin, etc. Its essiñybredcued as a good room without having to do more than weed out and introduce some contrasts.

L.A. the brand became interchangable with Holly Hobbies dolls: infantile, tiny pastel flowers on white chintz, sprigs, bows, useless piles of cushions each the size of a cat's head or a cupcake, ersatz Edwardian trophies from a poor man's version of the Explorers' Club, lamps with no weight to them, just pencil thin stems and the same shae every time. Topiary? Why not? It was the aesthetic of a Daddy's Little Princess bedroom, the bedding and curtains bought by the bag. A Garananimals approach ro decorating.

I loved her sheet sets. Like sleeping in a garden.

Love it! I could insert myself into that bachelors apartment without changing a thing. Could also insert myself into the bachelor

R22 that there is a commode, not a regular chair like what R23 says, no need to ruin a standard chair for that, commodes were common back in early Victorian times and before, and it wouldnt be hard to get hold of an old one even now

I’m envious of r27.

Are you a pro, r28?

I agree with all your points, but could never put it as well as you did.

Prefer Laura Ashley hotel The Belsfield.

Just looking at that Brussels apartment caused my sinuses and flare up. Think of the dust with all that fabric and bric-a-brac.

Laura Ashley is alright if country cottage look is up one's street I suppose.

LA is making a come back in certain British circles apparently.

R33 yeah thats pretty nice too, but I marginally prefer the apartment. Tough competition though

R35 yeah I wouldnt mind seeing Laura Ashley making a serious comeback. I'm fuckin sick of griege

Perhaps a remake of The Staircase?

[quote]R28 The Brussels bachelor's place would have been fine had L.A. stopped at some point. But she just kept going.

Yes. It would be nice if you just threw half the stuff away. And cut down the curtains!

She had a very interesting life. Quite the work ethic. She built her company from the ground up with nothing, hand printing scarves and tea towels in a small kitchen with her husband.

R37

If you're referring to that 1969 film with Rex Harrison and Richard Burton once was enough, thank you.