Pots of style

IF you want to bring some Scandinavian style to your home, C&C Interiors in Marske-by-the-Sea is a perfect place to start.

Lyn Cooper opened the shop, specialising in furniture and accessories, in the seaside town in 2011, offering everything from soft furnishings, glassware, lamps and mirrors to skins, clocks and quilts. While some of the pieces have a coastal New England feel, others have been inspired by French and Scandinavian styles.

“I tend to pick the sort of things I would like in my own home,” says Lyn. “Our look is very neutral with natural fabrics. The Scandinavian look is also getting more and more popular. It’s very stylish.”

Prices range from a small tea light holder for £3.95 to a glazed pine cabinet for £1,000.

The best selling item, however, is the range of decorative paint, Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan, which has become a huge hit among home interior devotees thanks to TV coverage.

It costs £18.95 a litre and was instrumental in launching the trend for painted furniture because it allows people to be creative. The shop has 32 colours to choose from, ranging from white and neutral shades to greens, oranges, reds and blues.

“It’s a decorative paint for painting furniture, walls and garden furniture,” says Lyn.

“Its unique selling point is that you can do different effects — you can paint a piece of furniture to make it look modern or very distressed and you can mix the colours together to make any colour you want, so you can make a very individual piece.

“The other brilliant thing about it is that it will stick to surfaces without any preparation or sanding.”

Lyn, who was trained in the different painting techniques by the paintmaker Annie Sloan herself in Oxford, has used it to revamp items of furniture both in the shop and in her home. One such piece is a 1960s retro sideboard which she bought on eBay and transformed and is currently on display in the shop.

Lyn has lots of helpful tips and can offer advice on everything from a small accessory to a full room scheme. She is also launching a series of workshops to show customers how to use the paint and how to get the best out of it. The first one will focus on essential techniques, demonstrating how to do a distressed look and different techniques with the paint, as well as teaching people about various colour schemes and which colours work best together.

“The paint is a chalk paint and has to be sealed with a wax to make it durable, so we show people how to use the clear wax. If you want to do a different effect, there is a dark wax which you’d then put on top to give it an antique or more aged look,” she says. Lyn is hoping to run two workshops a month, each lasting a minimum of two hours and costing £45 to £60.

Aside from decorative paint, the shop has a wide range of accessories and furnishings including reindeer, sheep and cow skins. They come in grey, white and neutral tones and can be thrown over furniture or used as rugs. “In summer, you can use them outside to put on a garden chair to make it more comfortable or on a chair in the house to give it a bit of interest and a bit of texture,” says Lyn. The collection includes sheepskins for £40, reindeer skins for £140 and cow skins from £150 to £200.

Also popular are the rugs, runners and doormats by Swedish company Pappelina. The runners, priced at £95, come in neutral colours and are made of plastic.

“They are very hard wearing, they don’t fade in the sun so they are great in conservatories and you can pop them in the washing machine or use them in a bathroom,” says Lyn.

Other brands include the ethically sourced Nkuku range, which does Christmas decorations, vintage glass, cushions and throws, and Voyage, which has sofas, armchairs, cushions and lampshades in linens and tartan featuring pictures of woodland scenes. “I like to use small companies that are a little bit different,” says Lyn.

There is also a selection of handmade glassware — ideal for wedding gifts, including champagne glasses, serving dishes and cheese boards by glassware company LSA International.

As much as Lyn enjoys revamping old pieces of furniture to fill her own home, she says her favourite piece is one that has stood the test of time — a 150-year-old antique dining table which she has had since she got married.

• C&C Interiors, 1 Redcar Road, Marske-by-the-Sea, TS11 6AA. T: 01642-493333.