Story Of A Corner: British Model Olivia Arben

Though the clas­sic shelfie still holds un­de­ni­able clout on our so­cial me­dia feeds, re­cently there’s been a def­i­nite shift in the way we’re show­cas­ing our in­te­ri­ors on­line. It’s as if our fo­cus has zoomed out­wards a lit­tle: styl­ishly arranged and usu­ally fea­tur­ing some vari­ant of house plant, well put-to­gether cor­ners keep grab­bing our at­ten­tion. But are they as ef­fort­less as they ap­pear on our In­sta­gram feeds?

With this in mind, each week we’ll be ask­ing one in­flu­encer to talk us through the most cu­rated spot in their house. For our lat­est Story of a Cor­ner, British Model Olivia Arben has showed us how she put to­gether her favourite cor­ner of her living room...

The Inspiration

I share my house with boyfriend, and we both loved the interior styles featured on the TV show Mad Men, as well artwork and Art Deco styling. I have always favoured a maximalist style - I love the clashing colours and prints in Annabel's Mayfair and the Flamingo Room restaurant in Dubai where I briefly lived which both incorporate a jungle theme into the interior. I also took a lot of inspiration from an interior design blogger called 'The Pink House'. Nico, however, prefers a bit less going on - so we compromised on only one feature wall etc, I think it's working out!

The Colour Scheme

When me and my boyfriend first moved in, the house had a lot of grey features - walls, carpet, ladder and even our sofa. Grey and millennial pink is a current colour trend and I think the pink balances the masculinity of the grey well (and who doesn't love a touch of pink!). I bought the cushions from House of Hackney - I adore their furnishings and later sourced the wallpaper, 'Congo' from Holden.

The Accessories

My favourite living room item is my drinks trolley. It took me a while to hunt a circular one down, and I found this at Coach House. It's a perfect size and fitted nicely between my Mongolian fur director's chairs which are also from Coach House. The trolley is both a great staple piece for the room as a display feature, but also really functional when entertaining friends.

I knew I really wanted an ice bucket to sit on top of the trolley and I found this gorgeous and unique bath ice bucket from Drinkstuff. I was also gifted some cocktail making books which I put on the bottom to balance the look, along with the must-haves for a drinks trolley in the middle shelf: a cocktail shaker and champagne glasses!

The Artwork

The 'Kate Middleton on a Torpedo' painting is by JJ Adams, one of my favourite UK artists. I love his often cheeky portrayal of pop culture and UK icons. The Monkey painting, 'Duke Gibson' is from Mineheart and is actually quite deceptive - it looks as if it's in a frame but is actually just a full canvas with a painted on frame. Clever, right?

The Personal Touches

One of the things I really treasure in my living room is the Roman Bust at the top of the mezzanine level from OKA Home, because my grandpa gifted it to me as a house warming present. I was really struggling to think what would work there and it ended up fitting perfectly and completing the room. I also love the pink Wedgewood rug as it was given to me by my sister as a Christmas present and really helps tie in the wallpaper and cushions.

Follow Olivia on Instagram @oliviaarben