Giant Pencils

Today was a little pressed. Nothing to be stressed about, but still taxing on my emotions. I am juggling school holidays, decorators and a bricklayer! In my last post I mentioned that we are finally painting the alcove and bookcase, there has been a delay! So, I cannot help but feel oppressed by the Topsy turvy world of a room unfinished and surrounded in boxes. As I try to wait patiently for the end result and enjoy restoring order to our lounge. I have found myself thinking about how to display books and bits and bobs on the shelves. Reading through the blogs I follow, filled me with inspiration and calm. However it was the oversize pencils in this image from Studio Ilse that made me chuckle.

A weekend of samples!

This weekend was a hectic one. It felt like we had lots of chores, but we were not really motivated in getting them done. We did however get to try out some paint samples for the front door, bookcase and alcove. We finally agreed on Card Room Green for the Front Door, French Grey for the walls in the alcove, and shaded white for the interior of the bookcase and white for the exterior of the bookcase. (snapped at our kitchen table).

Fondness for Green

Shades of moss green, olive and sage are what I am thinking about. The above two images conjure up country living and english cottages. Both images are from Sandberg, I hadn't heard of the them, until finding them on the Skandium website.

Sweet Monday

Today is the official start to the holidays. After a morning of sticking and cutting, we had a little something in the form of a chocolate tart with berries! I really hope that this is a Monday ritual for the summer holidays. Oh, I forgot to mention we earned it, as we spent two hours gardening, mainly weeding!

Last Day, New Day!

LV May 09

LV June 09

CLJ-June 09

CLJ-May 09

Today is LV's last day at pre-school. On Monday we are off to get her new school uniform, she really feels ready for this, but am I? Today I feel very emotional, partially due to lack of sleep. Anyhow, I thought it fitting to post some photos of the girls pre-chicken pox and rainy days!

At home with Blue

It is the day after a glorious sunny day and once again my converse got soaked, we had a ten minute downpour! We have a plasterer booked in for next weekend to render our book case and chimney breast. So I have been trying to de-clutter the shelves and pack away bits and pieces.

I have been reading Shannon Fricke's book on Colour, so here is my blue group. Vase and bird- car boot sale find, Letter Rack from Liberty of London and framed print is by Lush Designs.

Photographer James Merrell

Confession: I should be cleaning the house, but I am not! Instead I am dreaming about painting our second-hand pine, planning our camping trip and visiting one of my favourite interior photographers website. Here is a little taster of James Merrell's work.

Friends are having babies!

Over the next few months, some of our close friends and family members will become first time parents. As you can imagine, it is such a precious time. Also I cannot wait to meet these little ones. Considering how fast CLJ's first year flew by, and it is not so far off until LV starts school, time with these little ones truly disappears! So I am on the lookout for baby gifts...currently I am loving these soft dolls. The links will take you to a recently launched linen kids website and an old favourite, mamas & papas. If you have any boy's soft toy ideas, please drop me a line....

Sweet things for a Sweet 1st Birthday

Sadly CLJ's 1st birthday has been postponed. She has chicken pox and it is 10 times worse than LV's! So today we remembered the first time we met her and had an afternoon of sweet things..

Shelf Life

Lack of storage, seems to be an on going issue for our growing family. We are blessed with a spacious home, but our storage space is yet to be realised. However my husband, thinks we have plenty of room, just a little too much for it...so he persuaded me to part with half of my Elle Decoration magazines, it was sad to see them go (2000-2004). So here is a photo I took of the most recent copies by my lovely storage boxes!

A hint of Mustard

We are still thinking of adding a dash of colour to our dining area and I am strangely drawn to the above images. I say this with hesitation, as I am not too fond of the colour yellow in living spaces. However, I am coming around to the idea of mustard colour walls, so who knows?

ps. Listening to Kings of Leon (again, as we caught their London gig last week) and waiting for our new cooker to arrive. Please click on photos for original sources.

Daily Dose

Today it finally rained! Actually we had a couple of downpours, so I have been sporting my rainmac and getting my converse fairly wet. In the last few hours it has started to brighten up, so I have been thinking about brighter things. Things like, compassion, kindness and acceptance. I have had one of those days, when I am so occupied with how I could be an example of the above to my girls. Anyway on a lighter note, this set of beautiful affirmation cards by Sparkle Power, may just add a little sparkle into someone's day...

Originally found on Design For Mankind and sold via Etsy

Small collection of Ladies

A couple of years ago, I bought the above Cameo from Ebay. Then a year later, I found two miniature's in a charity shop. So last week we thought it was about time that we put them up!

Darling Clementine

Still sunny here and we are making the most of it. It really feels like we are having a great summer. We have CLJ's first birthday coming up and as I was browsing for a card, I found some beautiful childrens' cards from an Oslo based design company Darling Clementine. Here are a couple of the cards I purchased! Also I couldn't resist this shot of their website front page - very vintage and homemade feel to it.

In Praise of Peonies

There are so many flowers that I simply adore. On my birthday I picked up some half price peonies, thanks to a Sunday Paper offer. The scented peonies, have graced our home for just over a week, so before they died, I photographed them in a vase I picked up for 0.50p!

A stool find in Lewes

A few weekends back, a friend and I went to my favourite antique shops in Lewes. Granted, some days you find some great items and some days nothing grabs you. However it was one of those days...when you find some lovely pieces to give a home to and not break the bank!

My first find was a lovely stool, that sits in front of my bureau downstairs. The other was a oil painting, which is yet to be photographed.