Clerkenwell: the home of loft living
Clerkenwell has become so achingly cool that the affluent young entrepreneurs who work in its creative businesses are desperate to live there, too.
The best new homes 2012
Here we showcase this year's winners of our London Evening Standard New Homes Awards - the capital's property Oscars.
Spotlight on Camden Town
The shops and markets clustered around the high street and canal make Camden one of the most colourful of London's neighbourhoods. The area's period homes and loft-style apartments attract a mix of homebuyers.
Move to St Albans and you get two cities for the price of one
Moving out of the capital doesn’t have to mean a longer commute or even a change of job.
My design London: Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Hurley reveals her latest design project; discusses friend Damien Hirst's artwork, as well as her favourite restaurants and design shops in London.
Find a rated tradesman
Want to add value to your property, make your house a home, or sell your place fast? With 1,000s of tradesmen nationwide, rated and recommended by previous customers, this is the smart way to find a reputable tradesman.
Buy of the week: high church
This former masonic chapel in Chiswick has been converted into a three-bedroom home (£1.175 million) with a 30-foot open-plan, double-height reception room. The kitchen is a black glossy affair, there’s a study, a cinema room and a decked roof terrace.
Swap of the week: Blackboys, East Sussex
Honeys Green farmhouse is a Grade II-listed pile that sits in a couple of acres and offers versatile living with an annexe and outdoor heated pool. Inside has character galore among four bedrooms and an attic room with pretty views.
Life-changer: South Petherton, Somerset
Willowbrook is a five-bedroom beauty (£1.15 million) with a 52-foot reception room and garages that could become a holiday apartment. Make a B&B business there and your guests could use the indoor pool and gym complex or roam your two-acre garden.
Spotlight on Tunbridge Wells
It may have temporarily lost its iron-rich spring but Tunbridge Wells has buckets of charm to make up for it.-
Buy of the week: high church
This former masonic chapel in Chiswick has been converted into a three-bedroom home (£1.175 million) with a 30-foot open-plan, double-height reception room. The kitchen is a black glossy affair, there’s a study, a cinema room and a decked roof terrace. -
Swap of the week: Blackboys, East Sussex
Honeys Green farmhouse is a Grade II-listed pile that sits in a couple of acres and offers versatile living with an annexe and outdoor heated pool. Inside has character galore among four bedrooms and an attic room with pretty views. -
Life-changer: South Petherton, Somerset
Willowbrook is a five-bedroom beauty (£1.15 million) with a 52-foot reception room and garages that could become a holiday apartment. Make a B&B business there and your guests could use the indoor pool and gym complex or roam your two-acre garden.
Property search
Designs trends: chandeliers
By Corinne Julius
Chandeliers are supposed to be spectacular. Originally produced to light large spaces, from churches to palaces, they have traditionally been made of brass, then crystal. Modern chandeliers are something else: several makers are experimenting with fibre optics, creating delicate forms like melting lattices of ice. LED lights make them lightweight and easy to combine with other materials for different effects.
1 Margaret O'Rorke's forms look like the curls of a wave or feathers blowing in the wind. Made to commission in porcelain, which is anti-static, they can be washed and blown dry with a hairdryer (01865 771653; castlight.co.uk).
2 Madeleine Boulesteix mixes "kitchenalia", from cutlery to cups, jelly moulds to jam jars, with crystals and pearls. Medium or large one-off pieces from £550; six-cup chandeliers from £735 (020 7737 8171; madeleine boulesteix.co.uk).
3 James Lethbridge's botanically inspired glass chandeliers include Starfire (pictured); Physalia, based on a jellyfish, and Serpentine, which draws on snakes and pollen balls. His prices include installation (07867521375; jameslethbridgeglass.com).
4 Aline Johnson is inspired by the leaf canopies of Hampstead Heath and by what she finds on Dorset beaches. She has a range of very art deco-feel lights made of delicate long fringes of glass, like Twenties flappers' dresses (07775 616868; alinejohnson.co.uk).
5 Stuart Haygarth makes dazzling chandeliers from unwanted objects. Spectacle is made from thousands of pairs of discarded prescription glasses, while Drop (pictured) is made from old bottles reclaimed from the Thames (020 7503 4142; stuarthaygarth.com).
6 Georgia Scott's designs, like gently waving fronds of clear seaweed, are made to order to any size. The LEDs give a gentle light, use little power and are long lasting. From £1,200 (07709 624244; georgiascott.com).
More articles
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Chelsea Flower Show 2012 preview
A spectacular 80ft tower - Chelsea's very own Shard of Grass - plus a glorious new Royal Jubilee rose and 18 show gardens will offer London gardeners inspiring ideas at this year's show.
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Perfect extensions
Londoners planning to extend their homes should follow a simple golden rule: go for quality, not grandeur.
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My home: Mark Christophers
Mark Christophers, who co-founded the West Cornwall Pasty Company, also had ingenious ideas for a tired terrace house, which he transformed into a jaw-dropping, light-filled home.
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Innovation: Clerkenwell Design Week
Fantastic fibre-optic and iridescent acrylic lighting forms one of the many dazzling displays as we preview this year’s design show in EC1.
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My design London: Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Hurley reveals her latest design project; discusses friend Damien Hirst's artwork, as well as her favourite restaurants and design shops in London.
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The Chelsea Fringe flower show
You many not have a ticket for Chelsea Flower Show but the hottest show in town is on the streets of London, and, for the most part, the Chelsea Fringe is free.
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Bargain news
Deals on wall stickers and quirky furniture, a garden hammock, shoe wheel, Chinese stools and timber folding doors.
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My design London: Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Hurley reveals her latest design project; discusses friend Damien Hirst's artwork, as well as her favourite restaurants and design shops in London.
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New: The Goldsmiths' Centre
Clerkenwell's new school for goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers is set to turn out world-beating graduates.
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Jubilee street parties and picnics
From vintage bunting to regal table settings and quirky cake toppers - we've found everything you need for a right royal knees up.
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