Hi,
Just wanted to share this delightfully pretty illustration with you, courtesy of the lovely Waltz in Water. Her blog is full of cute illustrations like this – “Cat Shoes”, “Les Triplettes” and “Carrie Bradshaw Lied” are also fabulous!
Jo x
Her name is Catherine. She operates a small café in Montmartre, Paris. Note that there is no other place serving that much tasty french dishes in the neighbourhood.
A couple of weekends ago I took an afternoon trip to the lovely Wallington, Northumberland, a grand National Trust Palladian mansion with an interesting – and political – history. As the rest of the UK was gearing up for the General Election, Wallington turned the clocks back to the 1929 election, when the house’s owner at the time, Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, stood as the Newcastle Central Labour candidate for the second time. Through a series of installations and displays throughout the house and gardens, “VOTE” told the story of Charles’ political career and socialist aspirations. As I wondered around the house, I stumbled across a room entitled “Utopia HQ”, where Sir Charles’ former estate office had been transformed by the awesome November Club into his 1929 campaign HQ. Continue reading Utopia HQ
Hello! Today I finally finished upcycling my vintage 1960’s medicine cabinet! Did I need an extremely heavy 1960’s medicine cabinet in grubby condition? Err.. probably not. Did I want it? Yes. Can I imagine how cool, awesome and useful it might be once I upcycle it (if I don’t mess it up)? Hell yeah. Challenge accepted. Continue reading Vintage Medicine Cabinet Upcycle
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:
Hello! You know when you want to do something useful and creative but you have that lazy Sunday feeling? Here’a an easy 20 minute project to make something pretty with minimal effort.
I bought this little folding mid-century modern side table at a charity furniture store in Byker, Newcastle (note to British readers – yes, that Byker). At £4, it was a bargain, and I thought it would come in handy for occasional use.
This morning I thought it could use a little makeover, but nothing which would detract from it’s simplicity and clean lines. Then I remembered I still had a small amount of paint left over from my copper spray paint superhero post, so I decided to paint the bottom third of the legs as if they had been dipped in copper (Rustoleum Painters Touch in copper, £4.99).
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 🙂
A couple of months ago I did a Colour me Friday post on Copper Interior Design – and since then, I’ve become a little obsessed with it. But I’m currently buying a house, and don’t have any spare cash – What’s a girl to do? So I decided to combine thriftiness and a good old pre-move clearout to see if I could become a copper spray paint superhero…
Continue reading Copper Spray Paint Superhero!
This week’s Colour me Friday is inspired by House of Hackney’s Palmeral Green collection. I discovered this collection a couple of months ago when I suddenly decided that I’d like to have a botanical/tropical theme in the living room and since then, whilst I can’t afford to re-decorate the living room on a whim, I have become a bit obsessed with this colour theme. Continue reading Colour me Friday – Palmeral Green Design
Show some love for copper interior design… Continue reading Colour me Friday – Copper Interior Design
One 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
eclectic feel 