Conversation Pieces

Ok, so it wasn’t that long ago I was bemoaning the end of Summer but I really do love Autumn. Mainly because it’s nearly time for Halloween, Bonfire Night and, oh yes, my birthday. (Whoop!)

So when a very charming Helen from Most Wanted got in touch to ask if I could come up for a few things under £50 for their Autumn Styling Challenge, I thought it sounded like fun.

So here’s my Autumn adds that I would pick to brighten up my home if I had a few more pennies:

1. This gorgeous owl cushions from Roddy and Ginger… partly because most of our cushion are dressing our for sale flat. I miss having funky cushions to recline on – or to hide behind when I’m watching Dexter!

2. Pretty coloured light flexes from Rockett St George.co.uk… because a little pop of colour on a grey day or a dark night can’t be a bad thing.

3. A Pet Sounds tea towel from To Dry For… because it matches my hall wallpaper (and because you can’t dry your dishes with wallpaper!).

4. A wee mountain (or two) by Hilary Grant to brighten up my white duvet cover.

5. This gorgeous screen print by Nikki Williams which reads “A house full of teacakes is a happy one”… because it makes me smile.

6. This amazing Squirrel Tea Cozy from Fuzzy Logic Felt… because it would not only keep my teapot warm but co-ordinate with my green tea!

7. This Sleeping Foxes print by Dee Beale… because doesn’t it make you feel cosy and snuggly?

8. A Snail Plate from Welcome Home… Why? Because I have no doubt that this (complete with a cupcake) would make me grin from ear to ear on dreich, blustery day (there’s a few of those in Scotland!).

9. More fairy lights from Habitat… to make our place sparkle a bit more when it’s dark outside. Currently my favourite ‘string’ is wound round the top of our yellow 4 poster bed which makes it look like our little den.

10. And finally (breaking the rules here!) if money was no object, I would get one of these…

… a Donna Wilson House blanket! (Hint: this costs a quite a lot more than £50!) I have one her mini blankets at home and it’s fab for putting over you when watching TV but a bit too small (perfect for the cats to cuddle up in though!). So this one would be extra cosy and you can put it over a clothes horse to make a house… amazing!

Have a lovely Autumn weekend my dears x

First pic via here

It’s been a rather unexpected week. It started out so so happily (as you may have noticed!), then went a bit crappy (a close relative managed to be not so nice about my lovely engagement and other half) and then it got good again as the people who do actually love me rallied round and showed how much they care – with a pizza muffin, some parsnip cake and yellow lilies! (Pizza muffins may be my new favourite snack!)

Anyway, in place of having a random rant (which Wednesday and yesterday I was so tempted to do), I’ve decided to share some very lovely unexpected things that also make me smile. I hope they make you smile too.

1. White Rabbit Lamp from Caravan
It’s a bunny and it’s a light… random, yes, but also rather delightful in an Alice and Wonderland kind of way. (The other half thinks it’s a tiny bit creepy though…)

2. Butterflies in the Stomach Necklace from Tilly Bloom
If only being nervous was this pretty…

3. Gather (Square Moss Ring) from Adorn Jewellery
I’ve never had a ring that needed watering and pruning… I’ve also never had much luck with growing things but surely I could manage a ring’s worth?

4. Ninja vs Pirate Mobile from Salty and Sweet
Ah the age old question who is better… ninjas or pirates? For a very cool baby indeed (though don’t be surprised if they grow up to want to be a pirate or ninja!)

5. Le Petit Dej’ Breakfast Tray from APlusRStore.com
Just because…

6. Ears Cup with Saucer from MomaStore.org
Exactly the kind of cup you need for a girlie catch-up perhaps?

7. LightBulb Candle from SpoonSisters.com
Love this idea… a lightbulb candle you can ‘plug’ into a lampbase I’m thinking you’d never be able to use lampbase again but maybe it would be good for old vintage ones that are too dodgy to rewire (that’s if you can bare to get them covered in wax)?

8. Clutch Light by Scott Jarvie
How fab is this light made of straws? (Yes straws!) So pretty – whether it’s on or off.

P.S. Have a lovely weekend everyone xx

P.P.S. This is what my pizza muffin looked like…

5, 6, 7 and 8 found via Point Click Home

One whole week and no blogging… I had hoped to return with tales of bathroom bliss and renovation harmony but we’re not quite there yet. We’re currently a week, a weekend and a day over schedule (mainly due to an AWOL plaster) but fingers crossed all the tradesmen should be done tomorrow. After that me and the other half just have to paint the walls, the new windows and door, do some wallpapering, hang a mirror and a cabinet and then we’ll be done (can you guess what we have planned for this weekend?)

So in lieu of some bathroom pics, how about a few pretty (and random) things from my current Etsy wishlist…

1. Perfect Match Necklace from Yellow Goat
I’ve had my eye on this for ages… it’s just the perfect combo of quirky, sophisticated and a little bit of romance.

2. Yellow Melmine Cup Set from Post Road Vintage
I may have just bought a vintage yellow tea set at the weekend (will take pics once I’ve cleaned them all up) but it doesn’t stop me wanting this one too. You can never have too many cups right? (I know that’s my reasoning on everything…)

3. Bears in Love Under Glass from kgrandey
Bears hugging under a bell jar… what’s not to love?

4. Coat Hangers from Pamola’s Nest
These are so sweet – I’m bookmarking them for a future crafting project (once the renovation is over!)

5. Kitty and Dude Gun and Wing Cups from Velvet Boutique
When I got my first flat, I really wanted to get these gun cups… there’s now a wings version too and you can have them plain or decorated in the patterns below – whatever you prefer. Which is pretty cool it has to be said!

Aside from all that, I also wanted to say thanks for all your lovely supportive comments and emails – you really are the sweetest lot of people I have never met!

Wish tickets from A Little Much

The other night (in my sleeplessness) I was exploring the US Urban Outfitters and I came across this print by Enormous Champion. Isn’t it lovely? Part of me is thinking that it would look perfect in that blank space on the bedroom wall (which is almost exactly the same colour as it is here… that’s my bedside table too… spooky huh?)

The only thing is that with pillows that say ‘love’ already is that too much love for one room?

They also do these gorgeous little wooden animals… Which will hopefully be available at their Etsy shop soon. I’m loving Squirrelly Love!

I’m not really but it does feel like I’ve been posting a lot of bubble-related items recently (ok, there’s only been the glass bubble necklace but it does feel like a lot I swear!) Anyway, my ongoing quest to find a ‘conversation piece’ of a kitchen light has grown into a quest to find one for the bedroom too. I really like this one from Jean Pelle – but the cost of shipping from the US, not to mention its chances of surviving the journey definitely rule it out. Anyone seen anything similar? (She asked hopefully…)

Not feeling that great and can’t sleep so I may not be feeling my sanest right now but have come to the rather swift conclusion that I need these pillow covers (well, not these exact ones but ones with mine and the other half’s initials). Aren’t they great? Only thing is that they’re from the US version of Urban Outfitters… damn them and their lack of international shipping!

P.S. How cute is the puppy??

P.P.S. Eagle-eyed readers may be aware that these pillows are so so similar to my LOVE pillows from Lush Designs but I do tend to get a bit obsessive when I like something

Found via She Can’t Decide via Design * Sponge

Is that true? I’m sure there might be a limit to how many you can have – perhaps when you can’t get onto your sofa as it’s got too many cushions on it? Regardless I’m having a bit of ‘I need new cushions’ moment (too much time spent on the sofa playing PS3 has led me to doubt the cushiness of some of our cushions). So I was thinking of trading our old Ikea cushions for some nicer, better quality ones. These are my current favourites… they might be too good for leaning on while playing Big Little Planet though!

1. Vintage Union Jack Cushion from CushLab

2. Love Cushion from CushLab

3. Love Tattoo Cushion from Rockett St George

4. British Isles Cushion from Plumo

5. Bulldog Cushion from Graham and Green

6. Donna Wilson Fox Cushion from Thorsten Van Elten

For what feels like months now I’ve been pouring over design mags trying to figure out how to turn our not-so-pretty blue bathroom (see the previous post) into something that’s a little more us. We had tons of ideas so it’s been hard to whittle them down to what we’ve finally chosen (work starts in around 2 weeks!). So here are some of references for the ideas we had (we have loads more cut out of the mags but our scanner died some time ago)…

1. Green
Something about having bought a Japanese-style tub made me want to put green in the bathroom. We looked at loads of green tiles but in the end decided they were a bit too full-on for the space we have. We’re still planning to put some green in… just not using tiles!

2. Mosaics

I love love the World’s End Tiles you see in magazines – but they are very much beyond our budget. And most of the mosaics we saw in the tile warehouses really weren’t our style to put it politely…

3. Glass splashback
After going to too many tile places, we decided we’d developed a loathing of tiles and wanted to get a glass splashback instead. But in the end the practicalities got us on this one… Maybe next time!

4. Wood
This idea stayed in the running for quite a while… mainly because it felt in keeping with the bath but in the end neither of us were sure we would like it long term.

5. Wallpaper
Due to our budget (and growing dislike of most tiles) I started thinking about putting some statement wallpaper in the bathroom – which allow us to buy plainer (and therefore more budget-friendly) tiles but still feel impactful. The wallpaper we want is a lot more subtle than these though…

Anyway think that’s more than enough bathroom stuff for one day. Hope you all have a lovely weekend – and get to enjoy the sunshine. See you Monday – we’re meant to be doing flat stuff as you might have guessed but if the weather stays like this I think a picnic might be in order! x

Photos via Iff Cool, House to Home and Living Etc.