Father’s Day

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And off we went for brunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. 

The food was pretty average and it was a cloudy day, but still, there is something rather gently thrilling about being in a slowly revolving restaurant without being drunk. 

It seems such a shame that London’s only revolving restaurant, at the top of the BT Tower has been closed for nearly 30 years and will probably never be opened to the public again. 

The Minx and I worked hard to present the Husband with something appropriate to the occasion.  

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Much Rug Excitement

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Sometimes I’m really pleased I started this blog.

After I wrote my post about my Emma Gardner rug pipedream, the wonderful Patrick from the company emailed me and offered me a trade discount. And then I measured up and found that I could get away with a comparatively small rug, and that if we didn’t eat for a hundred years, we could just about afford it.

And then I focused on the fact that a silk rug really isn’t compatible with a small girl in the main living area, and that it doesn’t really fit into my mood board at all and decided to commission it for the small sitting area in our bedroom instead.  It should be ready in 16-20 weeks time and I am completely beside myself with excitement.

Do you think it goes with that Designer’s Guild wallpaper? From these images it looks like the blues are not quite compatible and that it might be altogether too much of a good thing.  But samples of both will be obtained for your consideration.

 

 

In the meantime, I think I’ve sourced a rug for the main room.  What do you think of this?

It’s an Angela Adams ‘Lulu’ rug – strangely appropriate some might say.  

I’ve only seen them in blue before but saw this online and think the colour and the contemporary curves would fit really well into the scheme below. (That’s what I love about mood boards – they make decision making so much easier).

The only problem about ordering this now is that I’ve still got a red fireplace and yellow walls and I think a lime green rug might be altogether a bit much. MUST.FIND.PAINTERS. 

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Felt Cookies

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Since, as you know, we are rather partial to a cookie round these parts, I was thrilled when I came across this jolly jar of felt play cookies on Etsy made by nanacompany who also make the most beautiful little girls’ aprons and other baby accoutrements.

Such a simple but pretty idea – they come all decorated with hand-sewn ‘sprinkles’ in a lightweight plastic jar, all personalised with her name on the top.

You have never seen a child so besotted.  I seem to spend my whole life at the moment being served cookies, pretending to eat cookies, counting cookies, discussing which cookies are most delicious, which ones have the prettiest sprinkles etc. etc.

Funnily enough we are not the only people who are having a felt food moment.

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Inspiration Board – Living Room

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So here’s my final version of the mood board for the living room.

Click to view large

Inspirations: Laduree macaroons; fruit sorbets; Hotel Costes compilations; Vanessa Bruno’s Paris apartment; mid-century modern curves, the Ile Saint-Louis and Piazza San Babila

Soundtrack:

Room:

I’m really pleased with how useful this has been in focusing my mind.

It’s really helped me work out the final palette for the room –  fruit sorbet colours ranging from deep plum and raspberry through lime and citrus, with jasmine white walls.

I’ve learned that I need some dark colours and funky furniture to stop it getting too girly.

I’ve now got some specific ideas – a curvy, acid-bright chair for near the fireplace (though probably not a Barcelona as they are so ubiquitous); a row of horizontal white pattern on white panels for above the sofa (difficult to see but they’re behind the black lamp above); a curvy coffee table (I do like those Metro ones).

Very intrigued to hear whether you guys think it works or not.

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Lamp work

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Picture from Remodelista

I’ve just discovered fab blog Remodelista, which is full of funky ideas for remodeling various corners of your home.  Through them I came across San Francisco light shade shop Meteor Lights which makes these gorgeous tiered retro-modern lampshades using the same materials and techniques as would have been used in the 40s and 50s.

Each one is hand-stained so you can customize your own from a gorgeous range of colours and patterns. I will definitely be buying one when I’ve decided the colour scheme for the main room.

I think their single drum shades (perhaps in one of those beautiful greens?) would be a great way to jazz up these Trio lamps from Target (also found through Remodelista) which are, of course, a total knock off of the classic and rather more expensive Tripode lamps from Santa & Cole.

It really goes against the grain for me to buy knock off anything – I don’t like to be inauthentic and hate repro stuff, but really those Target lamps are just too tempting at $49.99 for the floor lamp and $39.99 for the table lamp.  After all noone except me (and you guys) is going to know until the Minx takes it along to the Antiques Roadshow in fifty years time and realises what a cheapskate her mother was.

So what would you do?

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A Sky Blue Sort of a Day

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A blue top                                                 Forget-me-not

Sky

and sea, look good to me

A bright blue car without a top

A notebook from a lovely shop 

A pretty tin with chocolate in (for the manufacture of iced chocolate martinis)

We had fun.  My poem is done.

Ode to Whidbey Island, where we went last Saturday.

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Macaroon Chic

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I just wanted to point readers in the direction of Holly Decor8’s latest wheeze.  Send her a picture of a mood board you’ve made by June 11th and you could be in line for a fabulous prize. 

 

I thought I’d use the opportunity to create the mood board I need to help me progress further with the living/dining room.

So this afternoon while the Minx was napping I spent a very happy hour or so playing with scissors and magazines. Here’s my work in progress.  My inspirations so far are Vanessa Bruno’s Paris apartment (natch); Laduree macaroons and Hotel Costes compilation albums. 

I’m liking the colours of the above but it all feels much too bridesmaid-y at the moment and needs to be much more grounded and edgier and funkier. 

The Husband has just walked in, seen this and announced ‘it’s quite girly’, so I guess it needs a bit of work.

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Me and my expensive tastes

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Image from Emma Gardner Design

So I thought it would make sense to source a beautiful rug for the main room and take things from there, rather than deciding on a colour scheme and then struggling to find a rug to fit in.

And today I thought I’d found my inspiration when I came across Emma Gardner’s gorgeous rugs – especially the Spray design above.  Having searched online for stockists it appears that the only slight snag is the price at $10,950.  Come to think of it, the words ‘hand-knotted Chinese Silk on Tibetan Wool ground’ sounded a bit dangerous.

Can anyone suggest where I might be able to source a beautiful rug in the US?  Ideally I’m looking for sophisticated pastel shades (think Vanessa Bruno) with perhaps a contemporary floral design (oh, the above is SO perfect). 

And somewhat cheaper than the above would be helpful or else I’m going to have to sell the Minx.

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Toy Story

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Jessie Cat

I’ve been inspired by the fabulous photos of kids’ toys at Will It Look Good Over the Sofa to take some portraits of her favourite toys for the Minx’s room.

Jessie Cat had a special bath before sitting and proved herself to be an outstanding model –  absolutely no fidgeting, backchat, diva-ish behaviour or cocaine – though a smile would have been nice and might have made her seem a bit less sinister.  

I’ve bought a trio of frames from Ikea and will take a couple of portraits of favourite other toys to make up a triptych.  

We haven’t printed it up yet, but even seeing Jessie on the computer screen has made the Minx utterly ecstatic.   

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Diptych

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Here’s a post for friends and family only.  I put this together for a family portrait I’ve commissioned and thought the pictures worked really well together.

More about the family portrait when it’s completed.  I’m VERY excited though.

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