brinylon design blog

Big style teeny price

2011-06-24T16:24:00.002+01:00

Browsing the new Matalan home ware I was impressed with the new colourful accessories. They may not last forever, but for a quick injection of some summer fun colour, you can't beat these for value. My personal fave is the bright bathroom bin - cheer up your bathroom for a fiver!

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Show some love

2011-02-10T15:08:00.002Z

Sagaform Heart Bowl with Ladle, RedBy John Lewis £35 Visit mydeco.com

Button Heart in Red - A4 Giclee PrintBy Dig The Earth £18 Visit mydeco.com

Le Creuset Cast Iron Heart Shaped Casserole…By Heal's £99 Visit mydeco.com

Bacio candleBy Selfridges £95 Visit mydeco.com

Jan Constantine Love Small Cushion, 35x26cmBy John Lewis £58 Visit mydeco.com

A peacock inspired living room

2011-02-08T16:05:00.000Z

adlers by naki1

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Huntin', Shootin', Fishin'

2011-02-04T11:40:00.012Z

Personally I'm not sure about the traditional hunting, shooting, country house look - but my friend Daniel has a penchant for pheasants and curated this lovely collection of game inspired accessories.

Game birds by mydeco_daniel

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This got me thinking about the trend for antlers (on the wane? I thought so but Graham and Green have recently brought back their popular white resin antlers and deer and stag heads). Now, I love an antler accessory as much as the next girl but I think it's time to give it a modern spin.

And that's exactly what my two featured artists today do. I discovered Rachel Denny via Designmilk, and immediately fell in love with her humorous, beautifully crafted take on traditional hunting trophies.

Snow white, by Rachel Denny.

Four Points, by Rachel Denny.

Red buck, by Rachel Denny.

Her 'domestic trophies' collection is gorgeously fabricated from cable knit wool and cashmere in vibrant colours, but what is so beautiful to me is the lifelike poses she creates - each animal looks like it is alive, happy and ready skip off your wall and into your living room.

In addition to wall mounted trophies, Rachel has recently created adorable life-size angora rabbits.

Rachel creates work on commission, and if you are visiting Arizona, USA any time soon, make a trip to catch her current exhibition at the Mesa Contemporary Arts centre, until March 6th.

My second pick for modern hunting lodge style with a twist is Donya Coward, a British artist who creates tile taxidermy' - tongue-in-cheek sculptures using crochet, knitting and sequins. Instead of a deer head, how about a French bulldog for your wall?

Donya is based in Nottingham, and can be contacted through her website.

Happy chic inspired by Mr Adler

2011-01-26T15:52:00.001Z

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My take on Hollywood Glamour...

2011-01-26T15:49:00.003Z

Inspired by Kate Schintzius's bedroom by mopsylouise

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Inspired by the Hollywood Glamour of the bedroom posted below, I thought I'd have a go at recreating the look.

Hollywood glamour

2011-01-26T15:43:00.000Z

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Design delights under £100

2011-01-25T15:57:00.003Z

It's the end of the (allegedly) most depressing month of the year, but it's pay day tomorrow and it feels like we should cheer ourselves up just a little bit, with something beautiful but not bank-breaking.

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Seriously sexy shoes

2010-10-01T10:30:00.001+01:00

My shoe cupboard is a disgrace. A proper, heart-sinking-every-time-I-open-the-door type of mess with all manner of shoes and boots rammed unceremoniously into the bottom of my wardrobe. I say wardrobe, it's actually a small cupboard with a hanging rail. But that's by the by.

Even with the full knowledge that I do not have room for any more shoes, sometimes you find a pair that you Just. Can't. Live. Without.

Hetty Rose designs shoes that fit this description.
Hetty Rose: 'Yumi'

Hetty Rose: Megumi

These are mine. While hoofing it around East London with my fiend Danielle last week, we 'stumbled' (ahem) across a shoe sample sale by designer Hetty Rose. Her shoes are hand-crafted masterpieces made of vintage kimono fabric and leather. She makes her shoes bespoke, moulding the leather to the exact proportions of the lucky wearer's feet, using hundreds of measurements. Luckily for me, either someone had rejected their custom shoes (although I can't believe that could possibly the be case) or she also makes a few samples in standard sizes (never has it been a blessing to be size 5 before!)

Anyway, these beauties were reduced from their normal price of £350 to something much closer to the amount I would normally consider acceptable to spend on footwear. And they are breathtakingly beautiful.

I'm going to buy a cloche to display them under, and wear to exceptional parties. If you have any coming up, please invite me (even if just for my shoes).

LDF roundup: design from Down Under

2010-09-30T18:18:00.000+01:00

On my trip around East London for London Design Festival, I made it to Matilda, an exhibition of 13 Australian and New Zealand designers brought together especially for the festival. The group exhibition - backed by venture-capitalist-with-foresight Damon Reeve - puts the Antipodeans squarely on the design map, and will hopefully find a permanent home in London to expand to 30 designers in time for next year's LDF.

Maybe it's something to do with the sunny climes and the laid back lifestyle that we attribute to the Aussies, but the whole vibe at Matilda was a happy, colourful one. From the bright-but-delicate lamp from Marc Pascal (above) to the cheery (and deliciously tactile) Husque bowls (below) to the amazing orange wire stools by Brian Steendyk that I now have a serious crush on, I felt like anything from here would make my home just that little bit more cheerful.

Macadamia nut bowls by Husque.

Dove 44 stool by Brian Steendyk.

Oh, and more lights... Watch Out pendant by Luxxbox.

LDF round-up: Lights!

2010-09-27T18:39:00.007+01:00

So many events to see, so little time... When I came to writing up this post from the brilliant-as-usual London Design festival, I realized that most of the things I took pictures of were lighting. Having just curated the mydeco installation of over 70 lamps at The Dock, it may well be that I have lighting on the brain...or perhaps I'm just naturally drawn to lights at this time of year with the weather being Autumnal and the days getting shorter. Or maybe they were just the best things at the festival. Either way, there was lots of lovely lighting on show.

First up are Scott Rich + Victoria at Tramshed; the Unita24 collection of shades (above) are laser cut from 2 sets of alternating parts, the folding element and the curve. The shades fold flat. I am slightly in love with the floor lamp (below). A much more interesting take than the now-everywhere Pixar-style giant anglepoise.

The 'Filament' lights (below) look amazing in the flesh. Unfortunately, Scott told us they would probably only be available to trade and commercial, because replacing the filaments means replacing the entire light more or less, and they can't find a way to do this for retail customers. Boo! Go on Scott, I'm sure you can do it if you try hard enough... I'd buy one!

Also at Tramshed, these beautiful hand-blown glass bubble chandeliers from Bocci. Available singly or in hexagonal clusters (3, 9, 19? I forget), each bubble is unique, and they do look stunning together.

Finally, Lee Broom's new showroom and exhibition space 'One Light Only' didn't disappoint. His new cuboid lights (part of his new collection for Heal's) are Tom Dixon-esque with gold interiors. They look lovely together, but both the small and the large size looked like they would work well alone.

I've seen many 'quirky' lighting ranges recently (jelly molds, wine glasses...) but Lee's decanter lights are beautiful, and still manage to look novel. Personally I love the cut glass range, but if you're into bling, the gold version would look pretty special lined up above a kitchen counter or bar.

I couldn't mention Lee Broom without mentioning the neon strip... I suspect he might be bored of the theme by now, but stand-outs were the classic french bar chair (below) and the awesome Louis style desk, pimped to within an inch of it's life with some serious neon and a DJ no less. Party perfect.

Walking in a rainbow wonderland

2010-09-24T11:29:00.002+01:00

Working in design during London Design Festival means the week where some of the most exciting design events to take place all year happen on your doorstep tends to pass in a blur... But I did get to see Stuart Haygarth's 'Framed' installation at the wonderful V&A yesterday.

It was just as beautiful as the artist drawings indicated it would be - and although the framed staircase is only short, and is stuck round the side of the museum, it is just like walking through a rainbow. Made me smile.

Weekend Makeover

2010-09-01T21:15:00.004+01:00

Oh I do love a bank holiday weekend. Obviously my ideal way to take advantage of the extra day holiday would be a chic city break somewhere, but in the absence of a European mini break, a weekend of DIY comes a close second. I especially love getting stuck in to those jobs which give you a nice big, immediate satisfaction pay-off - and that's exactly what I got with my quick weekend bathroom makeover.

Bathroom before: boring bare window, ho-hum shower curtain.
Bathroom after:
I made the roller-blind following the instructions on the rather brilliant DesignSponge DIY tutorial here. The roller blind is a cheapo Ikea blind, and I just replaced the fabric with fabric from Ikea. I cheated on the DesignSponge tutorial a bit and didn't even sew the blinds, just used iron-on hemming tape to hem the edges and it worked fine.

A love of lattices

2010-08-16T18:04:00.007+01:00

I am having a real Kelly Wearstler moment. I have always loved the graphic lattice patterns she uses so often, but looking again at these gorgeous images (all images courtesy of the Kelly Wearstler, Inc website http://www.kwid.com/) I noticed for the first time how she uses punches of yellow in so many of her interiors - a bit like Miles Redd always includes a splash of bright red.

Yellow wouldn't be in my normal palette for adding a shot of colour - but I might have to re-think that, based on these lovely designs!

I'm surprised we don't see more fabric companies producing similarly punchy graphics here in the U.K. when they get replicated by retailers like West Elm in the US.

However, on a recent trip to Ikea I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of really great (and cheap!) fabrics, and a couple of black and white graphic patterns caught my eye as being pretty Wearstler-esque.

More Wearstler loveliness...

Boutique B&B

2010-07-19T22:23:00.003+01:00

If like me, you love boutique hotels but (alas also like me) you don't quite have the budget to stay at one every trip, rejoice in the 'Boutique B&B'! Why is it that B&Bs in some of the country's most popular areas are usually so drab, chintz-filled and fusty? I always seem to be reading about some uber cool young couple who have dropped out of the rat race to open and run a fabulously chic guest house, but never seem to find them when I'm looking for somewhere to stay.

However, I did find one this weekend in Blackawton, in the South Hams region of Devon. The Normandy Arms has 3 bedrooms (all situated on the 'Normandy Landing', ha ha) which are individually designed and beautifully and comfortably furnished.

Nick and his wife say they spent a long time choosing mattresses, and it shows - very comfy and perfect for a good night's sleep in stylish surrounds. Not a chintz pillow in sight! Beautiful willow wallpaper and I love the pale green colour scheme in this room.

Bathrooms are large and chic. I've never seen waterfall showers in a B&B before, and it makes you feel like you're in a luxury hotel!

The restaurant is great, and Nick's cooked breakfasts the finest I've tasted in a long while. Blackawton itself is teeny tiny, but close to Kingsbridge, Salcombe and Dartmouth - some of the prettiest places in arguably the loveliest part of Devon. More chic B&Bs please!

Cotswold chic

2010-06-21T19:23:00.003+01:00

Not new, but Barnsley House in the Costwolds (famous for it's essentially English gardens created by Rosemary Verey in the 1950s) is inspiring for its simple yet chic and comfortable interiors.

I really love the way they hang their art on ribbons vertically hung from picture rails, and the twig 'edging' in the bar is genius!

Love the way these pictures are hung - arty without being stuffy or formal. You could use different colours and widths of ribbon for different rooms.

I am really craving a wingback chair....

Possibly the coolest cocktail table ever?

Violet Rain

2010-06-11T14:44:00.003+01:00

One of the dreams I have on my "what-would-I-do-if-I-won-the-lottery" days is to open my own art gallery supporting emerging artists. Until my numbers come up, there is Etsy. And actually, I think even if you had all the moeny in the world, it's more fun to collect REAL art from talented young artists who aren't well known than walk into an art gallery and have someone tell you why you should buy something that's already acknowledged as a masterpiece.

My latest discovery is Natasha Newton. She's hardly undiscovered talent (with several solo exhibitions under her belt she's got a show coming up in Dartmouth), but her work is unique and affordable. You can't have the 'Violet Rain' above though, 'cos I've already bought it :)

Large patterned cloud.
Flying Bird 2.

Original 'House in the clouds' painting on wood block.

Beautiful biccies

2010-03-30T20:56:00.003+01:00

Our lovely friend Viv bought us these incredible biscuits to celebrate us getting engaged in Paris. I've never seen such amazing biccies, the tin is fantastic, and will sit proudly in my kitchen for many years as a reminder of a wonderful weekend - and a wonderful friend!

The biscuits themselves are just amazing - tiny little works of art, depicting Paris landmarks!

My uber fave is the pink permed poodle - what else? think I'll have to eat him last...

The kitchen is finished! (honest...)

2010-03-23T23:04:00.003Z

The final result! The wooden bannisters and old window frame look so much better painted white!

Thanks Mum and Dad!!

Check out the funky under cabinet lighting and splashback. And the paint spatters on my sweatshirt...

Lovely new window (finally stripped of the plastic covering)! The units look all shiny without their plastic wrap, and the boiler is finally boxed in - woo hoo!
All guests welcome for dinner any time, starting now.

Patrick Jouin at the Pompidou

2010-03-23T22:44:00.005Z

In Paris we were lucky enough to see a really interesting exhibit at the Centre Pompidou about Patrick Jouin 'The Substance of Design', showcasing 20 years of his design team's work. I particularly loved the designs made using 3D rapid prototyping, like chairs and table above and the expandable stools below - and the cool 3D video they showed with Patrick and his team explaining their work virtually, in the exhibition!

This lamp is awesome, it opens out like an umbrella!

A funky stool, all made out of a single piece of plastic, which can be collapsed to save space.

and the happy couple!

Paris chic

2010-03-23T22:12:00.004Z

We went to Paris last weekend and had a fabulous time (obviously!) and stayed at a very cool hotel near Saint Sulpice called Hotel Recamier. All the rooms were very stylish, made me want to move to Paris and live a charmingly chic life of striped breton shirts and baguettes. Tres chic!

I want a wing chair! Especialy in a cool fabric like this.

The bathroom mirror was hung on the wall with a leather strap, and looked antique - will have to scour London antiques markets for one similar.

The wall lights in the bar were amazing - resin antlers! Love them.

How cool is this leopard print carpet? Looks like a set from Domino magazine!

Ikea Kitchen Squad

2010-03-12T10:31:00.001Z

Too-wit too-woo!

2010-01-11T19:22:00.002Z

I first spotted this funny yet cooler-than-cool umbrella stand on the lovely decor8 blog. Then I spotted it on Design Milk... but I still can't find it to buy in the UK. Have scoured eBay and I'll keep looking!

Deal of the year

2010-01-06T15:24:00.005Z

I have long lusted after these beautiful lamps in this cool Scandinavian-looking kitchen, so I was thrilled to bits to find a genuine Norm 69 lamp shade in my local charity shop last weekend! The one I snapped up is the 'X Large' size (60cm diameter) so a bit too large to hang in the kitchen above a dining table I think, but it should look great hanging over our stairs in the hallway.

Maybe the previous owner got bored of the 'do-it'yourself' construction of the 79 leaves...but they kindly had finished putting it together, so all I need to do is find a way to attach it to the ceiling!

My lovely Norm 69 light ready to be hung, after a good clean. Hooray! As I always say, one person's trash is another's treasure and all that...

Danish delights

2010-01-04T17:55:00.003Z

You know how exciting it is when you find a shop, magazine or website that stocks stuff that is just SO YOU you feel like the owners must have personally selected every piece with your home in mind? And you want to buy EVERTHING immediately? Because it's all just exactly what you've been looking for! It is such an exciting feeling I sometimes almost feel a bit sick. Good thing it doesn't happen too often, then. But a VERY bad thing when it happens and none of the items are available to purchase in your country!

Such is the case with the fabulous housedoctor.dk. I adore everything in their beautiful catalogues - from the cute kitchen accessories to the gorgeous rugs, furniture and even ribbon and wrapping paper. I want it all - but I can't find any UK retailers who sell it!

If you know anyone who stocks these wonderful things in the UK (or even ships to the UK), please let me know! For now I will just content myself with salivating over the catalogue.

Last minute crafty decorations

2009-12-23T15:28:00.003Z

If you're snowed in and haven't been quite as organised as you'd planned, it isn't too late to decorate your tree/house/table beautifully for the big day. Our tree's stylish silver and white decor scheme has been immeasurably improved by a few multi-coloured, splodgy and very glittery decorations handmade by my 17 month old niece. Here are some of my favourite decoration ideas, found on Etsy. The best bit is, they give you a good reason to sit inside and not venture out into the sleet.

Decorations made from old comic book pages (above).

Bird garland made from newspaper stuck onto cardboard, strung onto kitchen string or ribbon.

If all else fails, write on some citrus fruit with a felt pen and stick them in a big bowl.

Or decorate some eggs - who said this was only for Easter?

Happy Christmas.

Kitchen is finished!

2009-12-19T14:00:00.000Z

Well, almost... finally we've got all our appliances installed and working, and we're using our lovely new kitchen. We definitely learned a lot along the way, but I am very happy with it overall. My only regret (maybe) is not going for a standalone fridge freezer... but then, those aren't very big and we do have a monster amount of space for chilling things now, which is fantastic.

Alternative Xmas tree

2009-12-18T10:00:00.000Z

This is a cool alternative Christmas tree I found over on Houzz. Perfect for those who don't have space for a real tree, can't afford decorations or are simply not feeling too Christmassy...

Wonderful wreaths

2009-12-17T18:07:00.004Z

For our Christmas party we had the lovely Annabel who has her own bespoke floristry business, teach us how to make lovely Christmas wreaths. And it was surprisingly easy! Having made a 'real' wreath I'm totally over making a bauble wreath... but I will be posting a step-by-step guide to making your own wreath tomorrow so stay tuned.

Jenna and Danielle get stuck into foliage and decorations.

Finance manager Steve is pretty proud of his creative efforts.

Our efforts turned out surprisingly well for first timers I think you'll agree.

Ho ho ho

2009-12-10T14:00:00.000Z

I finally decorated the tree. Having sat naked in the corner of the living room for almost a week, it's now happily baubled-up and shedding needles all over the floor. Needs more baubles perhaps??

How to start an art collection

2009-12-10T10:50:00.003Z

Buying art is a passion of mine, but I don't know much about it - or what to collect, other than what I fall in love with. I've never tried to collect with a view to 'investing', but a couple of the pieces I own have turned out to be good investments. I bought a small painting at the Affordable Art Fair a few years back, by a latin American artist who had had some good solo exhibitions as well as group shows in Argentina. A few years later, the same artist's work seems to be selling for at least four times what I paid for my painting. Not that I'd ever sell it...

One of my other favourite painters, Jimmie James is holding a sale of his works which means you can pick up an original for the bargain price of $100. Check out his list of paintings for sale here. You can't have these two though, 'cos they're mine!

Here's a good video on how to start an art collection:

Say it with personalized stationery

2009-12-05T10:00:00.000Z

It seems to be a peculiarly American thing to stamp your initials all over your tote bag/pillow cases/boxer shorts - which is a little too much for me - but I really do love the idea of personalized stationery. At Christmas it's especially lovely to make your card stand out from all the others which plop onto the doormat (if anyone is sending real paper cards anymore, that is).

So today I've been looking at personalized stationery. My favourite is Fabulous Stationery, whose cards are exactly what they claim to be. Last year I ordered some of their holiday cards and they were great quality, and not too expensive. They have tons of graphic, slightly retro designs which definitely get the festive season off to a stylish start. (See above and below).

Those personalized family cards with photos of smiling/gurning babies don't always do it for me so if you prefer to play it safer, you can't go wrong with a beautifully stylized portrait of your family like these by Etsy-er Saratams.

Another favourite is Moo cards. You can either print from your own images, or choose from their range of designers; currently featuring very cool illustrators like Rachel Cave

and Jo Askey. I've ordered customised post cards from Moo this year as our holiday cards - great for the environment too, as they use 60% less waste to create then normal cards, and NO envelopes!

If even that is a bit too saccharine for you, how about some classic initials? Fancy but not too blue-blood, these cards by Etsy-er DingbatPress would work at Christmas or any time of the year. After all, even in the age of email we all love getting a card through the post, right?

Dear Santa...

2009-12-04T11:57:00.003Z

We decorated the office last night and now I'm in the festive spirit, so I thought I'd put together my wishlist of all the things I'd love Santa to bring me this year.. hint, hint!

And what do you know, it turns out I'm obsessed with birds and organising things! I swear, these were put together with no theme in mind but it's interesting when you see them all together in a moodboard like this... perhaps we should all make moodboards to determine what's on our sub-conscious mind :) Happy wishlisting!

To see details fo the products, and where to buy click here.

Fabulous DIY fabric headboard

2009-11-27T16:53:00.002Z

This gorgeous headboard idea comes from design*sponge this week. I've love these fancy headboards but covering them in funky fabric like this takes it to a whole new level of loveliness. I have been looking for a way to make my own headboard for the spare room which doesn't currently have a headboard on the bed. This seemingly simple DIY could be just the trick.

Fabric wise I think I'll go for a pattern to contrast with the plain walls. Here's a good (simple?) step-by-step guide to recovering a headborad from eHow.

Decorating diary - week five

2009-11-27T14:00:00.000Z

It's nearly over! The kitchen is practically done, and now that we have a work surface (white Corian, mmmmmmmmm) it's really looking like an actual kitchen :)

The Corian (well, LG Hi-Macs to be precise) worksurface was not cheap, but I think it is worth it; it looks so much better than laminate, and it's lovely and warm and soft feeling to the touch. I might have to restrain myself from just sitting in there, stroking the counter top all day long :)

Remaining bits to do include fitting the ceramic hob, installing the downlighters and finishing the fridge freezer door - oh, and re-painting the splashback. But I am loving the electric blue. Counting down the days 'til we can wash up and even COOK in there!

Stylish Christmas decorations

2009-11-20T18:46:00.005Z

Christmas decorations can easily stray into tacky territory, but I found these fantastic ideas while strolling through Flickr today. This beautiful Christmas tree by ATLITW is perfect if you don't have enough space for a real tree in your living room - and I love the way it uses up all those pretty-but-I'm-not-sure-what-to-do-with-it bits and pieces you know you have stashed away waiting for a time to use them. Oh wait, is that just me?

I love this non-traditional Christmas tree and stocking set-up. What a great way to decorate a mantepiece.

I often think Christmas trees look a bit boring in traditional green/red and white but a hodge podge of bright colours can look tacky, so kudos to Boopsiedaisy on Flickr who has made such a fun, candy-coloured display. Love it!

See more of her Christmas pics here.

Finally, the talented swallowfield has inspired me to make this stunning bauble wreath. I really like the slightly clashing red and pink colours. To make the wreath I'm going to start with gardeners oasis wreaths (about 12" diameter) and then thread the baubles onto wire and push them into the oasis in a circular pattern.

I'll post pics to show you the steps if it works out!

Decorating diary - week 4

2009-11-20T11:00:00.000Z

Slowly but surely, it is definitely coming together! After a week or so where nothing much seems to have happened to the kitchen, it feels like we're making progress each day again. We painted the walls white last weekend (Charlie's first attempt at painting above!), the rest of the units have been fitted and the splashback has been painted bright blue.

When they fitted the cooker hood, they fitted it at what seemed to be a ridiculously low height - the kitchen fitter claimed this was 'standard' but I kept hitting my forehead on it (and I'm 5'4"!) and Charlie could look down on the top of it, smashing his chin on it!
Thankfully this week they have raised it up to a more normal height.

I'm now wondering if we should paint the bannisters blue too - or maybe that would be too much?

We have an oven!!! How exciting...

Free advent calendar from Mibo

2009-11-19T16:59:00.002Z

I have mentioned striking Mibo graphic products before in this blog, but I can't help mentioning them again! They have just launched this gorgeous advent calendar, available to download from their site for FREE - what a deal!

Download it from the Mibo.co.uk website.

Decorating diary - Kitchen units are in!

2009-11-18T10:00:00.001Z

It's really starting to look like a kitchen... bit worried I won't be able to reach the top wall cabinet shelves, though! Oh well, I just need to find a stylish step I guess. That's what happens when you're only 5'4".

Decorating diary - week 2

2009-11-16T10:30:00.002Z

Oops, there goes another wall...

Hit a slight snag in the kitchen renovations this week... having measured the room three times the kitchen design wasn't quite right once the wall actually came down, so we had to knock another wall down, too! Hey ho, whats a stud wall between friends? The benefit will be an extra window in the kitchen, and more space. I think I'm beginning to understand what they mean by "a money pit"...

Cute Christmas

2009-11-13T15:00:00.000Z

Yesterday I blogged about the luscious new Mibo calendar. Today I couldn't resist sharing these cute little Christmas creatures from Mibo too - a nice throw back to the days of 'make-it-yourself' decorations. These would make such a great project to make with kids over the Christmas holidays. Get that pritt stick out!

Ready for new year

2009-11-12T11:00:00.000Z

I love calendars and cool stationery so was extra pleased to get the news that the new Mibo calendar for 2010 is available. The monthly illustrations are so beautiful, you'll want to frame them when the year is over and for less than £3 it's an absolute bargain.

Decorating diary - week 1

2009-11-11T10:00:00.001Z

Week one we knocked down the chimney breast load-bearing wall in the kitchen, and started to move the plumbing for the sink and the boiler.

Say it with beards

2009-11-10T20:27:00.002Z

An oldie but a goodie. Who wouldn't want to speak beard? View the full alphabet font at Design Milk.

Gorgeous greys

2009-11-10T10:35:00.003Z

With a whole flat to decorate (yippeee!) I am suddenly totally stumped by paint colours. You'd have thought after reading Domino and Living Etc religiously for the last 5 years I'd have it all planned out, but somehow the reality of actually having a real room to plan is a bit overwhelming!

Until today that is, when I saw this stunning 'sneak peak' on one of my fave design blogs, design sponge. The shades of grey in this beautiful home are exactly what I had in mind (sub-consciously)... now all I need to do is find a UK equivalent paint colour to the lovely shades in these pics.

Decorating diary - Renovations start here!

2009-11-10T10:16:00.005Z

We finally bought a house! Well, a flat - but it has it's own front door which in London is something of a luxury. It's an Edwardian maisonette in Chiswick, nice and spacious with a garden at the back. The things which sold it to us were the greqat big windows in the kitchen looking over a park, the high ceilings and the SPACE! The downers (there's always some, right?) are the fact that it's on a main road and the kitchen needed totaly renovating.

We've started renovating the kitchen, and I'll post pics of the transformation as it happens...
Kitchen before!

Bedroom with Jimmie painting by mopsylouise

2009-08-18T12:57:00.001+01:00

I'm really proud of this 3D room I deisgned - using one of my favourite artist's works on the wall as art!
Bedroom with Jimmie painting by mopsylouise

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Separated at birth

2009-08-06T19:21:00.004+01:00

Well I never, I just took a quick look at Door Sixteen, one of my fave design blogs and what should I see but a photo of Fritz who looks REMARKABLY like my own four legged friend Coco. Not that she's mine, you understand, she just works here (and sleeps over occassionally).

They look like they could be brother and sister (except Fritz looks a little slimmer. And Coco has more of an underbite).

More silhouettes...

2009-07-30T18:22:00.009+01:00

I really do have a thing about silhouettes. And as always, I found a whole bunch of fabulous things I now cannot live without on Etsy. First on the list are these customized greeting cards from Chickprint.This is a really original silhouette carved in birch bark from the Catskill mountains, by Jennyleefowler.

If you have pets (even if you don't!) what could be cuter than this little silhouette print of a dog by FireHydrantPress.

Super cute customised cards - from prPictorial.

Lastly but not leastly, my very favourite. If I ever marry the man of my dreams, I'd like someone to buy me one of these as a wedding present please (I'll even send you the profile snapshots first if you like). From yourockbaby.

Memory pear tree

2009-07-30T18:21:00.000+01:00

Memories grow on pear trees with this lovely print from Almost Sunday Designs on Etsy. I bought this for my brother, sister in law and baby niece for their joint wedding/naming ceremony and it's beautiful. Lovely colours and a gorgeous reminder of a special day.

The writing's on the wall

2009-07-30T09:19:00.001+01:00

I was inspired by this fantastic image from the Livingetc gallery this week - which uses photocopies to liven up a plain painted wall. The photocopied sheets are just normal photocopies made on a normal office copier in black and white, and they are only temporarily attached to the wall using push pins or blu-tack. If you live in a rented flat, this would be a perfect way to transform your boring walls without upsetting the landlord!

While the black and white photocopies are quite calming (and have the advantage of giving you somehting to read on the wall if you get bored!) I'd like to try this with some brighly coloured glossy magazine images. Imagine making a whole wall into an ever changing mood board!

Silhouette style

2009-07-27T19:14:00.000+01:00

I don't know why, but I have a thing about silhouettes recently. I really want these melamine plates from Thomas Paul at Supernice, and the bird cage tea towel is just fabulous, and less than £10!

Clockwise from top right:
Silhouette mirror from Amaroni, £358.22

Coat Tree wall sticker from Mode twentyone, £65

Birdcage tea towel from Ferm Living, £8.95

4 melamine plates from Supernice, £26

Bird cushion from 95% Danish, £59.95

Thomas Paul Profile cushions from Supernice, £70 each

Pretty up your drawers

2009-07-23T19:01:00.005+01:00

How adorable is this? Such a simple way to make a plain set of drawers unique. And you could use scraps of any old ribbon you have hanging around - the less coordinated, the better!

Graham & Green do a great selection of crystal drawer pulls like this.

I'm still in house buying hell, so I don't like to torment myself with fantasies of what I'd do in my own flat, but this is so achievable, I think it would work just about anywhere. All you need is an old chest of drawers, some white gloss paint, some funky drawer pulls and some ribbon.

My poor boyfriend (let's call him DIY-challenged) once attempted to change the knobs on a chest of drawers we bought from Ikea. I spend twice as much on the new hardware as we had spent on the drawers themselves, and then he accidentally screwed the knobs on 2 of the drawers onto completely the wrong section. So now we have a set of drawers with 4 drawers in perfect alignment, and then two which have knobs about 3 inches closer together than the others! It looks faintly ridiculous, but it was cheap and it's not coming with me if we move. A second hand version painted ina nice colour would be a much better bet.

Or if you're feeling really creative, you could cover it in thin fabric or wallpaper like Bryonie Porter. Her bespoke covered furniture is just to die for.

Fornasetti wallpaper covered chest, £800, Bryonie Porter at mydeco.com.

Before & After: Ikea Billy bookcase

2009-07-23T18:54:00.005+01:00

I finally got around to doing something with my boring beech wood Ikea billy bookcases. I painted two of them glossy white, with a hot pink interior back panel and they look much snazzier now.

Before:

After:
Am I sad for arranging my books by colour?

Oh to have a hallway

2009-07-23T18:48:00.003+01:00

I don't, but if ever I do, I'd like a big gilt frame housing a memo board like this lovely one, from Living Etc.

Juicy July bedroom inspiration

2009-07-23T17:58:00.003+01:00

So I'm trying to buy a house at the moment, and goodness knows, that's not an easy thing to do in London. I'm trying not to look at too many lovely interior managzines or blogs until I actually have a place, so I don't get all excited about my room plans only to have them dashed again (we're on offer number 12).

But I couldn't help this one - it's just such a lovely room, who wouldn't want to end the day relaxing in this bed? Bedroom, Haymarket hotel.

Organising your home office

2009-05-20T18:00:00.005+01:00

Ah, the dream of no more commuting! Every time I get stuck on particularly unpleasant tube I fantasize about working from home. Of course, my dining table and crummy printer table wouldn't cut it, I'd need to re-decorate my home office...

If I had this charming mouse mat on my desk, I'd be so organized....

There's a great article on how to create a home office here - even how to create the perfect 'green' home office!

I am a bit of a stationery and organization geek, and as such I love teh US site SeeJaneWork.com for their stylish office accessories. Does anyone know of a good UK site which sells similar beautiful desk accessories?

My new barstools - how to update your kitchen on a budget

2009-05-18T14:42:00.006+01:00

I am longing to give my kitchen a complete style makeover - but in these credit crunch times, I'm resigned to living with it for a couple more years. HOWEVER I have afound a few sneaky ways to get the modern look I'm after just by changing my kitchen accessories. I painted my dated cupboards white and changed the pulls, which made a big difference, but the best thing I did was to buy four of these sleek barstools in bright orange which have really brightened up the space. They look amazingly modern, and at just £69.99 each, it made a big splash for little cash!

I found tons of barstool ideas - if I'd had more to spend, I would have gone for the seriously chic Coco barstool from Danetti (£335 each).

Or take a look at these gorgeous red stools - just £68.99 each, and they'd make a real statement in your kitchen!
A guide to buying the right barstool is really useful, click here for the best range of barstools I found.

Make a moodboard

2009-02-20T15:50:00.003Z

mydeco (http://mydeco.com/) have launched a tool that enables you to quickly create a good looking 'virtual' moodboard for free. It's fun and actually pretty cool - I lost a good hour or so creating a few moodboard masterpieces. My favourite so far is this cheery design for a kitchen. You can upload your own photos, or add an image from anywhere on the web as well as their database of products from hundreds of home furnishings retailers.

Try it, you might like it! mydeco moodboards tool.

Perfect prints

2009-02-02T22:59:00.003Z

I am a sucker for cute, original prints so I'm very excited to have discovered the excellent 'print & pattern' blog. They showcase great, unusual prints (on greeting cards, posters etc) by lots of different graphic artists - definitely one to watch. I love this owl print card by 'tc designs', a print and illustration company based in Manchester.

Orange you lucky patterns

2009-02-02T22:21:00.003Z

Just stumbled across Helen Dardik's blog with her amazing design patterns - how cool is this scandinavian-meets-russian-folk design?

Orla Kiely collection for Target

2009-01-26T20:21:00.004Z

Found out about this one from a lovely twitter-er today... Orla Kiely is launching a home collection at Target on Feb 1st. As a longtime devotee of Target, I am impressed that Orla Kiely is the latest name in a long string of fantastic designer collaborations they have brought out at great prices. $2.49 for this gorgeous tumbler? Insanely jealous of my Stateside pals, moi?

Start shipping to the UK - purlease!!!

It's all Pollocks...

2009-01-26T20:11:00.004Z

Jackson Pollock's homepage is very fun - you can create your own masterpiece. Wish they would give you the option to save your artworks though... I'd like to make mine into placemats or maybe just a screensaver to express my jumbled state of mind.

Birdcage lampshade from La Redoute

2009-01-26T19:55:00.003Z

How fabulous is this lampshade? Designed for kids, but I can see it in my hallway. I'm buying it, even though I don't yet have a single pendant lamp in my house. But hey, I'm renting... some day I will have a hallway. And then, won't it be lovely to walk through the front door and see birdies welcoming me home? Exactly.

Knitting is the new hobby for rebels

2009-01-16T16:25:00.005Z

Apparently, accoring to this article in The Independent yesterday, kniting is new crack. I would have paid more attention to Granny if I thought I could have knitted something even half as cool as this knitted cowl from Knittles available on Etsy.I love this adorable sock puppet from 'sweidebie' on Etsy. Makes me wonder what the appeal of those horrible plastic toys is. I guess I'm not five, but I hope if I ever have to buy for a five year old, they'd apreciate such a classy sock friend.

Thrifty finds for the new year

2009-01-16T15:58:00.004Z

We're all feeling the pinch, but life (and your home) can still be beautiful. Beautifully illustrated by these gorgeous lights found on the fab designersblock blog

If you want to feel like you're doing your bit by recycling and recovering but you've got money to spare, the recovered furniture by Squint is amazing.

Read more fab ideas for geting crafty and saving those pennies...

Daily lust list...

2009-01-16T15:52:00.002Z

I found this cool widget that updates with delicious new products every week - I like the surprise element...hmm, what will it be tomorrow?

My new Rex Ray

2008-12-09T20:47:00.003Z

OK I need to gloat just a little bit... very excitingly this is my new Rex Ray which I'm collecting from Chicago this weekend. I can't wait to put it up in my living room. Thank you to the lovely helpful staff at Jonathan Adler, Chicago :)

Some of Rex Ray's beautiful collages are available in the new 2009 calendar which is also on my wish list.

Squirrel topiary - who knew?

2008-12-09T20:42:00.002Z

Where has this amazing squirrel topiary been all my life? How has my balcony survived without it? What an amazing Christmas gift for a gardener!

Squirrel topiary frame, £12.95 mydeco.com

mydeco Design Box

2008-12-03T19:24:00.001Z

Hot Dog!

2008-11-28T18:22:00.009Z

This has to be the cutest picture I have seen in a looong time. It got me inspired to look for daschund related objects of desire, and it's amazing how many I found! Check out my most recent lust list below.
Mulberry tartan draft excluder, £95 from mydeco.com.

Cath Kidston draught excluder, £25 from mydeco.com.

Pablo Picasso poster from Easy Art, £13.95 at mydeco.com.

Toy dog 'Nara' from The Conran Shop, £58 at mydeco.com.

Fabulous Moschino shop window in Milan

2008-11-25T22:11:00.002Z

The Italians may be fashion obsessed, but you can't say they don't have a sense of humour. This is a great window display I saw in Milan, love those mice!

Come Alive! November is Sister Corita month

2008-11-18T22:26:00.006Z

November is Sister Corita month! Sister who? I hear you say. Sister Corita King was a religious revolutionary artist (an actual nun!) who brought her unique brand of Jesus joy to the art scene in California during the 1960's. I discovered her screen prints alive with spiritual sentiment on a trip to the St Ives Tate last year, and was completely won over by the sheer joyfulness and colour seeping out of her works and into your pores. Some of her prints are overtly religious, others are witty, subtle and all of them make you want to sing. If you're in NY this month, check out the exhibit at Exit Art until November 22nd (Corita's 90th birthday).

If you want to know more, I highly recommend this fab book 'Come Alive! The spirited art of Sister Corita'.

Santa Monica Rex Ray

2008-11-13T21:01:00.003Z

Just got sent this great display of Rex Ray artwork from the Jonathan Adler store in Santa Monica, CA. As well as fab ceramics they are now the only place you can buy Rex Ray artwork (that I know of). This is what I aspire to for the walls of my humble flat in North London. Sigh...

Planning a US shopping spree...

2008-11-11T11:11:00.006Z

Despite the lagging strength of the pound, I've booked a trip to Chicago to see friends and of course take advantage of the fabulous US home and design shops! Since leaving NY I have really missed a few of my faves; West Elm and Crate & Barrel in particular. I have my eye on this cool mirrored side table from West Elm, but I might be restricted to what I can fit in my trusty suitcase. In which case, I'm making a beeline for this lovely candelabra from West Elm and this hurricane tea light from Crate & Barrel.

Christmas lust list part 1

2008-11-11T11:00:00.005Z

'Tis the time to start seriously thinking about what you're going to buy all the difficult people on your list. Personally, I am feeling much less stressed by the thought of gift buying having discovered the best set of Christmas gift lists I've seen. This simple but very stylish nut-cracker will be perfect for a gourmand relative on my list, and they might just get the gorgeous spoon set below too. Except I want them both for my Christmas table too... At £20 each they look way more expensive than they really are, which is always the mark of a great gift.

Jingle jingle...

2008-11-06T22:45:00.006Z

Ooh Christmas is on it's way and I am loving the stylish decorations out there... I might even be able to banish the tinsel to the cupboard this year. I love the idea of these slightly trad, slightly kitsch decorations hanging from my tree. I love love love this retro stocking.

I was going to just include a few more links to the Christmas gifts and decorations on mydeco.com's cool Christmas interactive magazine (oooh, just flipping through those virtual pages has put me in a festive mood!) but I got totally carried away with the fact that they've collected fabulous Xmas decorations by style! I have never seen this anywhere else before; you can buy a whole Christmas look to suit your taste whether it is retro decorations, romantic decorations, classic decorations or modern decorations.

So here are some of my fave decs that will be gracing my tree and table this year...

Classic Christmas bauble from Heals:

Romantic hand-painted baubles from Not On The High Street:
Modern white bauble from Heals:

Chicago's fabulous bean

2008-11-05T22:57:00.000Z

Chicago is a great city. Two of my best friends live there. But also because, they have the coolest public sculpture in Millennium Park I've seen in a long time. 'Cloudgate' is the official name of the reflective bean by Anish Kapoor. The way the city reflects in the curved surface is just beautiful.

Welcome to brinylon...

2008-11-05T21:48:00.000Z

Blogging is intrinsically one person's ramblings, so I'm not going to pretend this will be anything other than a totally subjective lust list of all the things that I fall a little bit in love with.

My big loves are art (contemporary, abstract) and design (mid-century modern and a little bit kitsch), so I hope you like some of the things I post here as much as I do. I'm starting with my favourite artist, Rex Ray. His collages never fail to make me happy - just look at those colours, I want to LICK them!

All photos are copyright Rex Ray. I particularly love his resin panels, but the paper collages are pretty damn fabulous too.