My Weekend

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Monday 30 September 2013

I've been loving these past few perfect Autumn days we've been having - despite the overcast, slightly murky mornings, the days have developed into blue skies, bright sunshine, and a perfect balance of mild warmth and breezy freshness that has made being in the park with the little ones a real pleasure. This weekend was quite a busy one, with Tabby starting ballet lessons (goodbye Sat AM lie ins - the class starts at 9am!), a little family expedition to the big park, and swimming on Sun AM. If only I had the energy of my two, I might not need a weekend to recover from the weekend! I hope one day I'll be able to put my feet up again with the sunday papers, like the days of 2009 BC (before children!).  




Sam loves his buggy!





Have A Good Weekend

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Friday 20 September 2013

I love this photo of Sam playing with the Duplo at our local toddler group - he's not such a baby anymore but growing up into a real cute little boy! Now that Tabby is settled at nursery I'm trying to spend more one-on-one time with Sam and making sure I capture all these little moments with him while he's still small. I hope you've had some special happy moments this week - have a good weekend!
x

An Exciting Project - Update

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Wednesday 18 September 2013






I had my chair collected this week as it's going off to a professional to be stripped back and inspected. I wish I could renovate it myself but I really don't have the skills or knowledge needed to tackle it - the chair's ok to sit in but it creaks a bit and there's definitely some springs in the seat that need attention so hopefully a bit of TLC from a professional upholsterer will sort it out. The hardest part so far has been choosing the fabric for the recovering, I've been debating my options for what feels like ages... it's so hard to make up my mind!

At first I was definitely sure about going for pattern - I love bold, scandinavian style inspired prints and wanted something striking but in neutral tones that would fit in with my house decor in years to come.  Then I started to change my mind, thinking plainer was the way to go, like perhaps a nice grey wool or felt fabric, as I could always brighten it up with an eye catching cushion (or cushions!). Tricky huh!... But in the end I have gone full circle and have decided to go with Skinny laMinx's Flower Field fabric.

If it looks as good on my chair as on this chair above then I've definitely made the right decision - fingers crossed!


Fabulous Fashionistas

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Tuesday 17 September 2013


I've just been watching the Cutting Edge documentary Fabulous Fashionistas on Channel 4, and I really enjoyed it. I have to say I'm quite curious about ageing, and without sounding like a young, naive thing I often wonder about what I'll be like when I'm older - where life might take me (or more to the point what life might throw at me!) and how I might change inwardly and outwardly as I get older. It was great to see and hear from a group of such diverse and engaging older women (well, most of them, a couple were a little kooky!), and to believe that I might have the confidence to worry less about my appearance and lifestyle as I get older. I'd much rather watch a programme like this than the recent Channel 4 series How Not To Get Old!

My secret (ridiculous and totally unrealistic) role models for ageing are Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, as I love the aura of self confidence and style they exude, but on a more down to earth level I just hope that as I get older I will be able to adopt the same energetic approach to life as these women seem to have, it looks fabulous to me!




Images via channel4.com


My Weekend And Top Drawer

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Monday 16 September 2013


Hello! Well, what a weekend. The troops are back from Bexhill and I think Mec just about survived! It was a tough weekend for him I think as both kids have returned with colds (first week of nursery germs I'm guessing!) so whilst I'm rested and rejuvenated, Mec is in need of a weekend of recovery himself! I really missed them while they were away, the house was so still and quiet (I think Zoe, our 16 yr old cat was delighted!). And as if a peaceful weekend to myself wasn't enough of a treat, daddy and my babies bought me a little surprise from the De La Warr design shop (I love that shop!) - a De La Warr mug by People Will Always Need Plates. I have a yellow version already, so my new green mug will feel right at home. Thanks lovely family! :)

So, what did I do with my weekend then? Well Saturday I did a few bits around the house and then met a couple of my girlfriends in town for some tea, cake and a catch up (our fav place does amazing banana and walnut cake so it would have been rude not to). And then on Sunday I went up to London to look around the Top Drawer show, at Kensington Olympia which was a fair old trek but well worth it.

I've been doing a lot of brainstorming around my shop recently and I'm thinking I want to change direction slightly with the look and feel of the shop, as well as the stock, so I was looking forward to getting some much needed inspiration at this trade show. There was some really great stands there (as well as some not so great) and where possible I tried to snap a few shots on my iPhone to share...

The House Doctor stand was great - an amazing range of products, pretty much all of which I would love to either stock or have in my house!


I loved these Wooden/Metal hooks, and the canvas washbags were great too...

These coloured Wire Bowls caught my eye too... 

And these large canvas bags were fab - I love this "Carry Me Away" version!

Next I popped over to Rice. Their display was also huge and packed full of colour and textures. Not sure it's right for my shop but I do love their products. 

I love the green tin from this set, vintage inspired and very pleasing to the eye!

The Rice stand was very homely, as you can tell!


I took a break from the Home section to look around the Stationery stands - there are so many talented people out there, designing wonderful cards and stationery. This area was tricky to photograph as most people were pretty cagey about having their stuff photographed (understandably so I guess if you're livelihood is drawing, you don't want to get ripped off!) so I only took one at Louise & Lygo (with the illustrator's permission!) - I loved this range, in particular my favourite was this "You Are My Greatest Adventure" card, so cute.

So you'll have to take my word for it that the other stationery stands were good, and finally I headed back to the Home section for a final look around. My last few photos are of the Northlight stand - they represent so many great scandinavian brands (and Skinny LaMinx from South Africa) it was easy to spend a while browsing through their product ranges. 

Ooh, what to look at first!


The Littlephant stand was fabulous with playful homewares and great kids products. 

I loved the new Ikonik range from Darling Clementine - rubbish photo, sorry...

And one of my favourties, Skinny laMinx - her textile designs looked great in cushions, aprons and bags. 


A much needed cup of tea and a fruit and nut cookie before heading home! 


Hooray For The Weekend

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Saturday 14 September 2013


So it's been over a week since my last post and I'm not sure exactly where the time has gone! Tabby started nursery this week so that's probably where my head's been at - she was so excited to start at last, after a summer of us hyping it up in a bid to gear her up for this next step. As per usual though she's taken to it like a duck to water. The photo above is of her walking to nursery on her first day, carrying both her school bags upon her own insistence!

We've also been doing bits around the house, following a very productive trip to Ikea last weekend. We got an amazing new dining table for £35(!) which, whilst it's not about to set the world on fire, has turned out to be such a fab purchase as nothing sticks to this table... I'm not one to tempt fate but dare I say it's child-proof?! And we finally put up some much needed shelving in the kitchen too, which has been on our to do list since about April! (Apologies for the shockingly bad quality photos, my iphone is on it's last legs since I smashed the screen, I should really make the effort to pull out the proper camera once in a while).



Mec's taken the kids away this weekend to see their Grandma by the sea, so I'm all set for a couple of days of doing whatever I want and answering to nobody. Oh, and painting my nails! 

Hooray for the weekend, have a good one! x



Campbell's Soup Cans And Andy Warhol

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Wednesday 4 September 2013


Whilst flicking through this month's Elle Dec last night I was excited to read that Campbell's Soup are launching a set of Andy Warhol tribute soup cans inspired by the artist's paintings. They will be available in all main supermarkets from September 9th.

I'm definitely going to try and get my hands on a set - at 95p each for a bit of Warhol inspired art you'd be crazy not to! I think they'd make great little storage cans around the kitchen (once you've eaten the contents of course!), or cool little centre pieces with flowers in for a low key dinner party.

Do you like these? What would you use them for?



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