THE BOOT ROOM

The furniture, colours and kit for our favourite room in the house.

FIDJI FABRIC

You don’t need to be dining with a cactus to feel summery. This hand-drawn shoal of fish is digitally printed to reproduce the fine brushstrokes. Bright and abundant – as we hope our days fishing will be this year – it is an antidote to the winter past and, hopefully, a taste of tropical things to come. Manuel Canovas at Colefax and Fowler

Price: £98 per metre, 100% polyester, 135cm wide Tel 020 8877 6400 manuelcanovas.com

SHELL FABRIC

Many have been feeling like hermits of late but Fermoie’s 100% cotton shell design is more inclined to inspire thoughts of nymphs than bearded isolation. The absence of a grotto folly in one’s grounds is no barrier to embracing the perennial fashion for shells in decoration and interior design, well documented since ancient Rome with peaks of popularity in the Renaissance and 18th century. Every selfrespecting pile had one.

Price £130, width 134cm Tel 01672 513723 fermoie.com

JAMB CONVEX MIRROR

Oeil de sorcière or convex mirrors have been popular since the 15th century and famously employed in art, such as Jan van Eyk’s Arnolfini Portrait, as well as being jolly useful for seeing round corners. This example, made to order by Jamb London, surrounds the ‘fish-eye’ glass plate with a simple, gilt-wood fillet and delicate mahogany frame that would hang comfortably in any setting. Available with an ebonised finish and sized to fit your space.

Price £3,800 (+VAT), diameter 29in Tel 020 7730 2122 jamb.co.uk