Tag Archives: modern eclectic

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.

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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:

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Continue reading Design Envy – Made.com

Vintage Headboard Upcycle

It has bugged me for ages that our double divan bed doesn’t have a headboard (I know, first world problems, right?). I had never really seen one that I loved, was of good quality and could afford, and I really love one-off pieces, so I decided to see if I could upcycle one as an experiment…

Step 1 – Find a headboard! If, like me, you’re fairly new to upcycling, you don’t want to spend  much (or any) money on your headboard. Unless you plan on wrestling one away from your sleeping granny, try Freecycle or Freegle. Failing that, Ebay or your local charity/thrift furniture stores. I got mine on the Newcastle Freecycle website. As a special lucky bonus, the couple who were giving it away had a pick-up truck, some free time and a lot of kindness, and delivered it to my house for free. It’s a 1950’s wood and velvetine French regency style headboard in peach and white, which, on first appearance, Chandler from Friends would probably describe as “a Reject from the Liberace House of Crap”. However, closer inspection reveals that it’s in great condition with high quality materials and workmanship. Perfect for my upcycling experiment. Continue reading Vintage Headboard Upcycle

Colour me Friday

I was just thinking about how much I love bright colours, and I thought what better way to celebrate a whole two days free of work (apologies for those who work weekends!) than with some beautiful, colourful art from artists I’ve recently discovered. Oh, and I might also manage to celebrate Friday with a little nip of my niece’s Christmas vodka.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to check out the links to these artists if you’d like an extra portion of happy colour!

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http://www.robertbohanphotography.com
surj z
http://surjartwork.com
Anna web
http://www.lauracallaghanillustration.com

My Four Week Blogiversary

Four weeks today! When I started this blog I was (and still am) recovering from pretty major shoulder surgery. I could hardly use my right arm (I’m right-handed) and could only manage short bursts of left-handed typing, timed to my painkiller intake. Fast forward a month, and I’ve had an awesome Christmas and new year, spent precious time with family, managed a bit of left-handed wild pony taming, and yesterday returned to work (well, every silver lining has a cloud). On top of this, when I combine my WordPress and Bloglovin’ followers I have 92 followers! To many of you, this may seem tiny, but to me, this is huge. Every new follower makes me feel proud and happy and “warms the cockles of my heart”! Thank you! Continue reading My Four Week Blogiversary

My two week Blogiversary

welcome to eclectic

My blog is two weeks old today! I have no idea what I was expecting, but so far I’m loving it. This year has been really challenging and I almost got to the point where I lost my relentless and “naive” (to quote one of my best friends) belief in humanity. Well I have to say that the past two weeks have really started to restore my faith in this regard – and that’s down to YOU lovely people!

thank you rollip

As a very tiny thank you I’m starting an occasional reblog of some of my favourite posts from my new-found blog friends. First up is Melba Sunshine. One of those people that you just know you’d be friends with in real life, I love her use of colour and pattern in the below reblog, and her travel posts actually make me want to visit the places she’s describing, even if I’ve never heard of them, such as Troyes, France, featured in “A very french road trip.” She was also the very first person to like one of my posts and follow me! Thanks Melba Sunshine!

collaborate typography

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

Modern Eclectic Life

Welcome to Eclectic Feel! It’s a celebration of the modern eclectic lifestyle – the simple pleasures of being different, of seeking beauty in the everyday and the unusual…of being who you want to be. My inspiration for this blog came when I Googled the phrase “modern eclectic” and found…not much, other than some brilliant articles on eclectic décor; for example houzz.co.uk has the following to say:

“Eclectic style is the great equalizer. It reshuffles the rule book, mixing and matching old and new, East and West, luxe and humble, showy and quiet. It invites you to fill a space with objects you love and unique finds that strike your fancy. Simply put, it’s you, curated”. Continue reading Modern Eclectic Life