Stacked Neon

As you know from Matthew Williamson’s house, I do love a bit of neon, though I’ve got none in the house and I’m not entirely sure how I could get it to work in a turn-of-the-century craftsman (though it would be fun to try with the multicolored lamp below).

So I made a note to write about neon artist Roger Borg when I saw his lamps on Kanye’s blog (yes, I LIKE Kanye’s blog) and was delighted when the man himself then contacted me.

Here’s the person to call when you need a huge neon installation in your stairwell.

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Go Love Your Room – The Airstream Dream

I’ve always wanted to have an office in the garden and in my dreams that office is a vintage Airstream.  This month’s Readymade featured a young couple in Minneapolis who are living my dream with an Airstream they bought for $4,500. I wouldn’t mind the rest of the house either (with maybe a bit more colour and pattern in the main rooms).

What special things would you have in your dream house?  Mine would also have a a turret with a completely circular room.  And be in Provence not Minneapolis.

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Be My Valentine

These are the Valentines that were exchanged in the ‘mirrormirror’ household this weekend. I wonder if you can guess who got what.

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A Jean Pelle candlestick.  Sometimes dropping hints via your blog actually works. My vintage lucite owl likes it too.

 

The beautifully packaged Chocolate Pie Chart from Mary and Matt, perfect for the geek in your life.

 

A tee-shirt featuring parachuting Bambis from Etsy shop Circles and Squares. This is NOT the Husband.

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 A heart-shaped Hello Kitty pendant necklace with matching bracelet (I have no idea what has become of the bracelet though)

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Project Nemo – The Story of the Cake

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I  have to admit that the general concept for the cake was not original.  There are always loads of greatl ideas on Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com

I baked three separate chocolate cakes using the recipe for ‘Mom’s Chocolate Cake’ from the Macrina Bakery and Cafe cookbook. This is a superb chocolate cake recipe. It always comes out moist and, having used it for three different birthday cakes now, it seems to be very forgiving. (I just made the basic chocolate cake and not the vanilla syrup or chocolate frosting specified in the recipe). 

I didn’t have a small enough tin for the upper tier, so I just made two medium-sized cakes and cut one down to fit.

I was a bit nervous about making a tiered cake as it had to be transported quite a way up the freeway to the pool where we were holding the party, so the the Husband, thank goodness he’s an engineer, constructed quite a complex structure of wooden sticks and cardboard circles to make sure that the cakes didn’t sink into another or slide about.

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I then mixed up a large quantity of buttercream and tinted most of it sea blue – I found that about 2-3 drops of Royal Blue colouring to 1 drop of Leaf Green worked well.

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We then coated the whole thing, including the base board, with the buttercream; piped on some green seaweed tendrils and jaggedy coral; and then decorated it with the shells. I am so pleased with how they turned out as they made the whole cake.

We then sprinkled it with some blue sprinkling sugar (which you can’t see on this photo but which gave the icing the texture of bubbles) and topped it with Nemo and his daddy.  I cheated massively here and used some bath toys – the Minx thought this was an excellent idea as she got to keep a souvenir of the cake.

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And the kids were mesmerized…

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Project Nemo

We’ve hired a swimming pool for the Minx’s birthday party tomorrow (we’ve managed to get round to organising this only a month after her birthday, bad, bad mummy) and thought it appropriate to make a Finding Nemo cake for all the little swimmers.

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First step was to make a lot of colourful shells, using a Wilton shell mould and Wilton candy melts.  These things are amazing – just melt in the microwave and then pour into the mould, put them in the fridge, tap the mould to release and watch them come out all shiny and professional looking. The only downside is that they are FULL of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and other undesirables, but whatevs, it’s a birthday party.

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Go Love Your Room – Fatboy Slim’s Yacht

Or in this case go love your yacht.  I’ve realised that I don’t post enough pictures of rooms I find inspiring, mostly because I don’t come across them all that often. 

Everything about this boat though – which belongs to superstar (in the UK at least) DJ and producer Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim – is utter perfection. It’s even moored in Sardinia, of which, as you know, we are very fond.

The only teensy problem is the price tag, as it will cost you £20,000 (approx $30,000) to rent the four spacious cabins for a week.  Oh, and the name Barracuda, which now reminds me of a certain governor of Alaska.

For more details and pics, including what music they have on the fully stocked Ipod, go here. If you want to hire it more details are here.  

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{via the ever fabulous Style Files}

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P’kolino Little Reader

It’s been mentioned in the comments below, and for anyone with a pre-schooler at home, I can’t recommend our P’kolino Little Reader chair highly enough.

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It’s made of high-density foam and incredibly light weight and so can get carried around by the pre-schooler in question no problem (there’s even a handle on the back for the purpose); is covered in easy-to-wipe-clean microsuede; is very difficult to tip backwards (though the Minx has managed it once, but that’s the Minx for you) and has two side pockets for corralling books and the other random cr*p which seems to follow my daughter around. 

Apparently it’s good for one year olds but the Minx is now four and it still fits her fine and she’s quite tall for her age.  I suspect she will get at least another year’s use out of it.  And at $70 + Free Shipping on Amazon, it’s not even very expensive.

The only downside is that it comes in the usual range of startling colours which are great for kids’ rooms but not necessarily so good for adult rooms.  When will designers realise that it’s nice to be able to incorporate well-designed kids’ furniture into an adult scheme?

Case in point is the wonderful Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair below which we have in walnut and blends in fabulously with our dining table and chairs.

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Pink or Green? Or Something In Between?

I’ve been going through agonies of indecision about the paint colours for our main living room. I can’t tell you how many different sample colours I’ve tried out and rejected.

Just to bring you up to speed, we’re looking for a colour to replace the egg-yolk yellow walls in the downstairs living room. There’s a bit of a crazy colour scheme developing in here of chartreuse and white with raspberry sorbet, cranberry, dark brown and er, orange accents (see pictures below) and I need a paint colour to pull it all together.

And before you say anything, yes, I am well aware that this room needs lots of ‘editing’, though at least it is mercifully free of the toys which are normally scattered about with gay abandon.

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The sitting area is going to be a white, though a white which will pick out the mouldings and the white fireplace which you can see better here.  This white is TBD. However I’m looking for a colour to go above the panelling in the dining area.  The colour needs to be sufficiently bright to withstand the grey Seattle winter light; sufficiently deep to emphasise the panelling, but not so pastelly that it looks like a little girl’s bedroom in bright sunshine (the room has lots of south and east facing windows, so can get very bright).

After much deliberation I have narrowed it down to this green (Greenwich by Ralph Lauren) or a pink.  The pink in the sample is actually the pink of the sample board itself which I rather like, but I don’t actually have a paint identified.  I wanted your input before I go searching further though.

First up the green.  It is a beautiful colour and I think it’s the right green if we decide to go the green route. I’m just a bit worried that with green curtains and a green table runner and a green rug the room is just going to end up being rather er, green. 

Here it is in strong sunlight

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And here it is when the light is more subdued.  I’m pleased that it doesn’t go too grey.

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On the other hand here is the pink in strong sunlight

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And here it is when the light is more subdued which is when I like it best. Subdued light happens a lot in Seattle.

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Here finally are both colours in tungsten light. The green stands up well, but the pink goes a bit too ‘bubblegum’ for my taste. Sorry about crappy blurred photo – my little point and shoot doesn’t do well in low lighting conditions and flash would have defeated the object.  I do miss my camera!

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Anyway, shall I go for the green? Or keep looking for the right pink? If so, do you have any suggestions for pinks I should try? Or should I do something completely different entirely?  

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New In Store – Atelier LZC and Abigail Percy

Just a quick run down of some new stuff now available at mirrormirror .

Firstly we did get some Eiffel Tower bits and pieces from Atelier LZC after you were so positive about them before Christmas. And you were right, they’ve been selling well for us.

First up is this hanging steel Eiffel Tower cut-out in a delicious deep cranberry.

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Then two tea towels featuring iconic Parisian images.

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And finally double-sided greetings cards also featuring images of Paris.

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I know from our previous poll that these items are popular in the US and now that the pound has tanked against the dollar there isn’t a better time to buy them.  They’re also very light, so shipping will be super cheap. 

Just in time for Valentines Day we’re also got two new necklaces by Abigail Percy – a beautiful cut-out Anemone Flower necklace and another necklace featuring an internally gilded 3-D Silver Leaf and a cluster of Rose Quartz beads.  All non-sale jewellery is currently reduced by 10% until Valentines Day, so this is a good time to drop a hint via the mirrormirror  wish list.

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I ‘Heart’

Just in time for Valentines’ Day, here is a small collection of heart-themed pieces from British design company Deadgood for Barker & Stonehouse stores.

I’m trying to work out whether these are kitsch or cool.  Unfortunately I suspect the former, though I’m loving the shapes and the detailing such as the covered buttons on the chair and the beautifully executed heart-shaped joinery.

Thoughts?

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{Images via Deadwood. Found via ‘If It’s Hip It’s Here’}.

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