THE MUMDRUM MUMPRENEURS INTERVIEW

The Duck Egg Team was very fortunate this month to feature in a great website magazine called the MUMDRUM. Below is a copy of the article:

The Mumdrum Mumpreneurs: Ellie Harrington, Founder of Duck Egg

This month we caught up with Ellie Harrington, founder of the beautiful interior design company Duck Egg to discuss motherhood, her business and working with Kirstie Allsopp. If you haven’t come across Duck Egg already we’re sure you will be inspired by their beautiful fabrics, prints and vintage furniture.

Ellie Harrington, Founder of Duck Egg

Q. What inspired you to set-up Duck Egg?

Ellie: It was my family that really inspired me to start Duck Egg. After teaching Art for four years I realised I was keen to go back to practical art and with the arrival of our son I also wanted to work from home. It was our move to the country from London that provided us with the space for my business idea and the challenge of renovating our own cottage. I was unable to find a fabric that suited a male-dominated household, yet fulfilled my wish for pretty vintage fabrics. So I decided to create my own fabric prints. We also moved with little furniture so I started to shabby chic individual pieces and friends who came to the house started to commission me; Duck Egg was hatched!

Q. How do you juggle being a mum and building up your business?

Ellie: We had some very late nights in the early days and even now my working day often doesn't start until my little one is in bed. I learnt that the ironing can wait another day!  I have also learnt to prioritise and could not live without our enormous blackboard with all our planning scribbled across it. I think being a Mum and running a business from home means you have to be super organised, I learnt the hard way that the paperwork does not stay in the piles sorted on the kitchen table and after a few days of seeing invoices swiftly being posted through the floorboards I have come up with an organised filing system, very much out of reach!

Q. What’s been the highlight of setting-up your business?

Ellie: I have loved every minute of setting up a business and it has been a steep learning curve. We have met some fantastic people on the journey of Duck Egg. Social media has introduced us to some very talented artisans and the business has evolved through many of these exciting connections. We were also thrilled to take part in Kirstie Allsopp’s series ‘Kirstie’s Vintage Home’. Filming was so exciting and we loved every minute working with her and her production team. It was a dream come true to see our fabrics on screen!

 

Q. Do you have any top tips for other working mums?

Ellie: I think my top tip is to not be too hard on yourself, sometimes the housework can wait. And I have also learnt to delegate.

Q. What would your perfect family day include?

Ellie: Our perfect family day out would be a trip to the seaside. I always find inspiration at the seaside and it is wonderful to see our little boy running about and exploring. He recently found two starfish and was so thrilled, giving me a few more ideas for our prints! The seaside heavily influences my work, as it has such happy connotations of hazy, summer days.

Q. What’s next for Duck Egg?

Ellie: I am really excited about starting the next stage of Duck Egg. We will be expanding our furniture range and taking our ever popular toy boxes forward. We have new print designs to launch soon and we will be working on some interesting large scale projects, providing soft furnishings and sourcing vintage and antique items. We hope to expand further to make Duck Egg a one stop shop for all aspects of interiors.

About Ellie

Ellie trained for four years in History of Art, earning her BA at the prestigious Courtauld Institute before her Masters from the London Consortium in ‘Humanities and Cultural Studies’. Ellie’s love for print and art was further founded as she worked in galleries. After a return to studying practical art Ellie began teaching art. Four years later and a little rascal in tow she decided to turn her ideas for her own interior into a business, ‘Duck Egg’. Firmly leaning on her ever-patient and long-suffering husband Duck Egg created a brand that aspires to add a fresh, vintage touc

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Winston Churchill Poster - Never Never Give Up

Winston Churchill Poster

Our latest addition to our poster range comes thanks to an inspiring quote from Winston Churchill.

In 1941 Winston Churchill gave one of his inspiring speeches to about the having the resolve and determination to never give up even when facing extreme times. This expression is very close to us all at Duck Egg and the phrase is one of "Mr Duck Egg's" favourite quotes..... "Never Never Give Up". Our poster print is in tribute to the great man himself and very true saying that has helped us all by over the years. Hopefully it will bring some colour to any modern or vintage interior.

We hope this saying inspires you as much as it inspires us with our day to day missions. We are working card versions of all our posters and prints and hope to bring them out in the near future due to demand.

All Duck Egg Designs NEW range of posters and prints are available in any colour you want (we will colour match any colour). We believe these give any wall a unique, vibrant burst of colour, style and a bespoke finish.

A3 (Medium) Posters: £14

Below is a sample of colours we love but email us with your colour if you want a bespoke poster.



Please contact info@duckeggdesigns.com to discuss what colour you would like and size.

To order the poster click Winston Churchill Poster and looking forward to catching up soon.

Team Duck Egg

For more details visit www.duckeggdesigns.com or email info@duckeggdesigns.com


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How to Upcycle like a Pro

HOW TO UPCYCLE LIKE A PRO

Upcycling a piece of furniture is a really exciting process, but it can seem a little daunting at first. Ellie Harrington talks us through the basics, from how to choose the right pieces to decorative effects and adding the perfect finishing touches. You’ll be ready to go in no time!

MAKE DO AND MEND

Upcycling provides both piece of mind for the environment and an opportunity to explore and express your creativity. I started Duck Egg Designs with my husband partly because I wanted to customise a look for our home. After studying Art for over four years, I was eager to be creative myself and upcycling gives you a chance to experiment with customisation and develop your own taste and style with minimal cost (don’t forget you can generally paint over any mistakes!) I am a great fan of the ‘Make do and Mend’
ethos and transforming pieces can be greatly rewarding. Here I’ve put together some essential advice to think about when upcycling for the firrst time.



FURNITURE FINDS
When upcycling furniture you first need to decide what it is that you’re looking for.
Antiques fairs or car boot sales can be fascinating places to wander around but they are sometimes overwhelming, so if you go with a specific idea you can direct a more structured search. Our most popular items of renovated furniture at Duck Egg are chests of drawers. Customers come to us looking for an item with history, yet a more modern finish. Vintage and antique chests of drawers have practical storage, yet the advantage of interesting carvings, ornate details and elegant handles that distinguish them from some of the mass produced pieces of today.

Look for a piece with individuality, for example turned legs, scrolled backs and detailed woodwork. This does not mean that you have to spend a fortune, just take some time to thoroughly look over the furniture. Don’t be put off by orange stains or dark veneers; this can all be transformed by a coat of paint. Detailing will look really pretty and less overbearing once painted a lighter colour. Take a paint colour chart with you to inspire you!
Minor surface scratches may also reduce the price of furniture – as long as they can be sanded over you could pick up a good bargain. Most crucially with wooden items, you need to check they are sound. This is probably most important with woodworm. Look for out of the ordinary dust in drawers and tell-tale holes. Ask the dealer if they know if the piece has been treated if you do spot these signs. Look for damage that might be difficult to repair and be realistic about your limits with regards to renovation. If you wish to paint pine furniture, look for the darker or stained pieces of wood. Also keep in mind the finishing touches or the re-upholstery that you might be able to do to transform a piece.

PAINTING AND FINISHING
I love using chalk paints and customers often request these for a matt and chalky finish.
They also lend themselves to those new to upcycling. Once you have a smooth surface these are the perfect way to paint over a dark stain or veneer. They require no priming and give excellent coverage. There are also many different ways of experimenting with finishes.

Once the item has a smooth surface, apply two or more coats of paint, wax and buff the piece, then sand to add a distressed look. Sand in the areas that would generally see the most use – on corners or arms of chairs, for example. Once you are confident with applying the paint, be as creative as you can. Chalk paints allow for many different finishes: you can water them down for a streakier look, or add a crackle glaze to give the effect of an aged oil painting. Also try layering different colours which can be exposed when rubbed back. A bright white under a dark green or blue gives a fresh seaside appeal, or red will provide a warm, decadent look. If you want to use emulsion paint you will need to sand your furniture to provide a surface for the paint, prime with fine sand paper, undercoat and then use either an emulsion for a more distressed look or eggshell for a durable finish. Paint effects on top of your upcycled finds will add great charm and personalise them too. Items with carving or detailing lend themselves perfectly to gilding with a dust of gold leaf. For a more cost effective way of gilding, purchase loose leaves of brass rather than gold, which will add a rich....
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May 2013 Newsletter

Friends of Duck Egg,

Hope you are all well, having a lovely time and trying to make the most of this erratic weather (especially if you are a UK reader!).

We have been flat out with a number of projects and sourcing furniture for clients has been taking us all over the country and into Europe.

Lots of new projects to share with you so let's get started:

Bespoke Tables with reclaimed Victorian Tops:



Here at Duck Egg Designs we love our community and are big fans of social media, we meet so many talented, interesting people through it and more and more are leading to partnerships and giving extremely talented people a platform to showcase their talents.

We got approached by a talented carpenter who was as passionate about reclamation and vintage interiors as we are and we agreed on partnering up on his made to measure, bespoke Victorian Tables. To order contact info@duckeggdesigns.com with measurements and colour palette.

Duck Egg Crab Kitchen Splashbacks:



We are very excited about the launch of our Kitchen Splashbacks. This is the first one of the range which comes in made to measure sizes, colours and will be featuring more of our prints in the future, giving a bespoke, fresh, modern feel to a vintage interior or classic country kitchen.

Contact us directly on info@duckeggdesigns.com for more details.

Rocking Summer Deck Chairs:



We adore this gorgeous, stripy rocking deck chair, just perfect for the summer.

Not only is this chair easy on the eye but incredibly practical, with it's rocking motion it makes it easy to enter and exit the chair, perfect for an elderly or pregnant person still keen to enjoy the beach or garden.

The stripes are green and red pastel colours and blend in lovely with our garden.

The Deck Chair is easy to fold away, light weight and very durable (tested for hours by my husband!).

Price: £70

Vintage Weighing Scales:



As gorgeous as they are practical, no baker should be without these timeless kitchen scales. With a large and easy to read dial you will be able to measure up to 1000 ml in capacity and up to 3 kg. This sleek and stylish design with a  hint of retro inspiration is as much as a beautiful ornament for the kitchen as a staple part of everyday life. Perfect to have out on the counter and too good to hide away, this essential part of a kitchen collection looks the part in any style home and the soft Shutter Blue can be matched to other items in our range. Why not match with our storage jars or match to our bread bin?

Price: £20

Seed Box:

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Life of Pi Duck Egg Book Club Review

Book Review: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I am one of those absurd people who insists on reading a book before they watch the adapted film even though experience tells me that the films never live up to my expectations.  Several of my friends raved about how amazing the film ‘Life of Pi’ was and so, dutifully, I decided to read the book before watching the film.

Having done limited research, I have to admit that I thought the book was based on a true story and after becoming disheartened with the pace a few chapters in, finally reading around on the internet and discovering that it was entirely fictional, I almost gave up.

For those who don’t know, Life of Pi is the story of a young boy who is stranded in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific after a shipwreck in which he loses his entire family on their emigration to Canada.  Joining him aboard the lifeboat is a 450 pound Bengal tiger, an orang-utan, a zebra with a broken leg and a hyena.  It follows the adventures of Pi on his journey to be rescued.

I found the story incredibly slow-going.  I hadn't expected there to be such a back story about Pi’s religious affiliations, his life at his family’s zoo, the different animals, the teachers he respected etc etc before the shipwreck.  Once I realised it wasn't a true story, I actually struggled to see the relevance of a lot of it, so what if he wanted to be part of 3 different religious groups, how does that affect his ability to deal with a tiger coming at him?  Obviously, the skills he learned from his father about handling wild animals had a huge impact but this could have been condensed into a couple of chapters.  I'm sure it is almost halfway through the book before you get to the ‘good’ part.

As you can see, I was not overly enamoured with this story and am actually struggling to think of how to review it in a positive light.  I can see how it would be amazing as a film, the things they can do with graphics and how much detail Yann Martel goes into with the wildlife and fauna and sea creatures would make for fascinating watching I think but as a book it somehow misses the mark.  There is a lot of technical detail which seems irrelevant in a non-factual story.  To me, fiction allows a writer to explore the impossible, to stretch our imaginations and to cause us to wonder ‘what if?’…Martel does this up to a point with the story but then fills in the gaps with, frankly, mundane scientific details which then draw attention away from the fantastical side of this book.

Unfortunately, this isn't a book I would recommend unless you have a particular interest in the finer details of marine life.  The film, however, is one I am definitely looking forward to seeing.

Reviewed by our Superstar Duck Egg Book Club Editor - Jess.

To join the Book Club click here.

Next Book Club Book:



Until next time. x

 

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Easter Vintage Eggs

 

Easter Eggs

Last Year we blogged about the art of decoupage and carrying on that idea we started making papier mache eggs to decorate the house with this Easter. Whether you are creating an artistic collection of delicately painted eggs in a pastel coloured wicker shopper or in my case stringing up strange oblong looking shapes with interesting daubs of paint with the help of my little helper.

Creating these little decorations is very apealing. With the crazy British weather of the last week (snow/rain/sun/rain/blizzard/rain and more rain...) we have been confined to the house. With boredom creeping up we thought in a vain hope we would really celebrate this lovely long weekend in the face of failed bbq'ing attempts with forecasts, frosts that are to due to wreak havoc with the first seedlings we have ever planted and our enduring germs! So with bunches of daffodils in blue and white jugs and cherry blossom in clear vintage vases we are spreading our Easter Eggs around the house, and hopefully distracting from the lack of painting we have done recently and the torn gaps of wallpaper, which my decorator son has taken to stripping off the walls...

You will need some balloons, newspaper and/or tissue paper (depends on whether you want a background colour or not..) PVA glue and a brush...ooh and possibly a apron, which I needed rather more than my little man!

Decide how you would like to paint your egg, polka dots are fun and quick or you might want to paint it white and decorate with a beautiful intricate chain of flowers.

Blow up the balloon and tear long strips of newspaper about 3 cms wide.

Dip the strips into the glue and smooth over balloons. 3-4 layers should be enough. Leave to dry on a rack.

If it's sunny outside, leave to dry in the Spring sunshine.

(You can add an extra layer of tissue paper or white paper for different effects).

Paint the egg it's background colour, it might need 2 layers. Decorate how you would like and I think the more garish the better. We have started polka dot eggs, but now graduating to glitter, ribbons and finger painting!! For a more vintage look you could add vintage typefaces and prints to the outside.

Have fun and for more hints and tips come and visit us at www.duckeggdesigns.com

Any other tips on Easter treats then we could love to hear from you?
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Duck Egg Book Club - The Snow Child

The Duck Egg Book Club - Book Review: Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child is set in the 1920’s, and tells the story of Jack and Mabel, an childless, older couple who have risked everything and moved to a remote homestead in Alaska. The couple have moved to such a remote part of the world to try and get a fresh start following the stillbirth of their child. Mabel is clearly very haunted by the death of her baby and it has placed their marriage under considerable strain. At the start of the novel they are barely on speaking terms.

One night, a heavy blizzard starts and, in an attempt to rekindle the fun times of their courtship, Mabel persuades Jack to build a snowgirl with her.

Shortly after this a young girl appears on the edge of their homestead, Faina. Mabel is convinced it is their snow girl come to life as in a Russian fairytale her father used to read to her ‘Little Daughter of the Snow’.

One of the more interesting things about is this story is that you are never really sure whether Faina is in fact the snow girl come to life. At certain points you feel sure that she can’t be but then in the next moment your certainty begins to waver. I felt as though Ivey really kept the reader guessing right until the end.

Eowyn Ivey’s description of Alaska is beautifully haunting. I could really understand that it was such a desolate wasteland but such a stunning backdrop at the same time. Purely based on her descriptions I have added Alaska to my long long list of places I really want to visit. It was perfectly chosen for this part-fairytale, part-reality story.

The thing that frustrated me the most about this otherwise lovely tale was the ending. At several points during the story Mabel talks about how her life seems to be interlinked with the fairytale but then suggests that everyone can write their own ending, which hints that perhaps the story will not end in the same way. There is a twist, which makes a difference, I won’t tell you here as I think that would spoil it but essentially, Faina does disappear from their lives at the end. I felt quite disappointed by this ending and had hoped for more.

All in all however I think this is beautifully written and very enjoyable.

Review by the wonderful Duck Egg Book Club Editor, Jessica McGlynn.

To join the Duck Egg Book Club CLICK HERE

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