Tag Archives: decoration

Ten Quirky Terrariums

I was browsing and rummaging my way around the lovely Tynemouth flea market recently when I found one of the Holy Grail items of unnecessary but somehow vital purpose – an old terrarium.

What is a terrarium, I hear you cry! Is it a place for fish or reptiles to live? No. That’s an aquarium or a vivarium. A terrarium is a glass container for growing plants, which can be open or sealed (with a little door for maintenance).

The old terrarium at the flea market was swiftly bought (by me) for the end-of-day-clearing-up-time bargain price of £9. Now clean and with a small pane of glass fixed, it lies empty on the living room shelf, watching me mournfully, and hopefully awaiting my imagination to kick in and fill it with awesome quirkiness (which I’m thinking may involve cacti and dinosaurs, and will no doubt become another blog post). Until then, here are 10 quirky terrarium ideas that other people with a little more time on their hands thought of, to tide us over any lean terrarium-idea times.

Untitled

Continue reading Ten Quirky Terrariums

Design Envy – Made.com

If you live in the Northern hemisphere like me, you’ll be more than ready to throw off your winter blues, and with them your cosy, snuggly blankets and pillows, and let some Spring lightness and brightness in.

I’ve bought a couple of things from Made over the past couple of years – their designs are just so different to anything on the high street (that I could afford). Two years later and I’m still in love with the Pierre Paul Pariseau limited edition printed canvas which hangs in my living room:

20141209_164838

Continue reading Design Envy – Made.com

Five Bold Wallpaper Choices

Fortune favours the brave – and after years of dreaming and working, we are in the final stages of buying a beautiful house. Bizarrely, the two things which I seem to be excited about at the moment are 1) the round, glass-topped, 1970s coffee table I have stored in the attic (which I salvaged from our former MD’s office when my company moved buildings); now it can finally have a suitable home of it’s own (open plan kitchen/diner/living room + small separate lounge = two coffee tables needed, yay!). 2) I can finally have the downstairs loo of my dreams – by which I mean dark, dramatic wallpaper (funny thing to aspire to, I know – but hey, read the title of my blog). Hmm, which to choose? All advice welcome 🙂

dviwsw105black
Sanderson – Vintage Swallows, £34.74
fern_-_green
Little Greene – Fern, £66.50
genuine_fake_final_1024x1024
Abigail Ahern – Genuine Fake Bookcase, £185
palmeral-velvet-mid-blue
House of Hackney – Palmeral Midnight Azure, £148
pines_-_blue_pines
Little Greene – Pines, £66.50

Top Five Interior Design Destinations

5 imageOne of my favourite things to do when I have the odd five minutes (which can quickly turn into half an hour…OK, an hour) is to have a surf for interior design inspiration. I love the infinite possibilities and the fact that every new search brings up fresh ideas, such as how to rearrange clutter to become more artful and coordinated. I see this clutter re-arranging not as a battle between chaos and order, but as a mindfulness activity… so (I’m really stretching it out here) all that surfing for inspiration is actually good for my state of mind. In no particular order, here’s my top five picks for some interior design inspo. Continue reading Top Five Interior Design Destinations