My next project - dining chairs

This is my 'new' best dining chair (apologies for the photo - from auction).

I adore old balloon back dining chairs but haven't seen a set go below $500 ever so considered them out of my price range. Until today.

I found this set of 6 for $20.. and that's 20 New Zealand dollars (and that's nothing). Now either everyone else was too busy with Christmassy stuff to see them - or noone is as ambitious (read:stupid) as me. See, this one is the best with it's worn upholstery. The rest of its family is a motley crue of broken backs, springs and legs - I have to say I have my fingers and toes crossed that they'll be better than I think they will be (I pick them up this morning) but I'm not holding my breath.

eek.
x

rule britannia

Now, I'm honestly not much of a raging patriot (perhaps because mostly I largely feel like a bit of a nomad). But lately the sight of a Union Jack has got me all nostalgic - not Union Jack ala the Spice Girls circa 1996 but rather domestic celebrations of (in my opinion) a rather stunningly beautiful flag. Here are a few of my favourite pieces - but be careful to use in moderation, it's easily overdone and might scare the neighbours.
Prices are in sterling...of course.

GREAT BRITISH UNION JACK BUNTING

BY ZIGZAG BUNTING

£19.50  from zigzagbunting.com

6 metres long. 

Perfect for that summer tea (or pimms) party.

BESPOKE UNION JACK STANDARD LAMP

BY BEAUVAMP

£540 from notonthehighstreet.com

Reclaimed lamps with handmade shades, bases can be painted red, cream or navy. 

UNION JACK CAKE TINS

BY EMMA BRIDGEWATER

£27 from EmmaBridgewater.com

UNION JACK CUSHION

BY HELKATDESIGN

$49 (ok, not sterling) from Helkat design on etsy

Faded brown and duck egg flag printed on a luxury herringbone weave linen. 20" feather filled pad.

Oops, sorry if you are living in the snow right now, I realise my choices are quite summery - a hazard of living upside down.

the beauty of decay

There is a real beauty in things that have been abandoned, and left to decay. Rooms that hold secrets and lives within tattered walls. Rooms and objects that become organic beings in the absence of beings.
The silence, the fear, the mystery is so intriguing and hauntingly beautiful.

 

by These are only words

by 32 bit wonder

 

by Romany WG

by Vagabondando

teapottery

Zero (Bee House) Teapots made in Japan

They're only dinky (350ml or 450ml) but they're the perfect combination of modern and past influences - the return to the ritual of tea in a well designed and beautifully coloured vessel.They come in oodles of gorgeous colours and would make a sweet gift. 
                           

by Miss Merv

If you live in the U.S...

Go and buy this Luna Sofa by Edgar Blazona for True Modern so that I may live vicariously through you. It comes in pewter (pictured) white, khaki, chocolate and charcoal and will cost you $1,499US (if I had it I know I would love it forever).

beautiful. gorgeous. perfection

Even though I was totally spoilt for Christmas I still can't help lusting over it. I go back to it again and again and I feel confident in saying it is the most perfect sofa I have found yet. That shade of grey, just enough buttoning, those sleek legs, the prortions..everything adds up to right. Except of course I live in entirely the wrong part of the world.

I have tried to find some sort of Lunaesque replacement down here in this land barren of selection and often style - but so far the best I've come up with is this Knoll 'inspired' 3 Seater which, really, and sadly isn't even a slight patch on the Luna. In fact - the more I look at it - the more I see it as a stodgy old office waiting room bench and it would set me back $2,488NZ.
The limited selection and quality of products NZ has available especially in the home interiors realm is seriously depressing.

 

awful. sorry

So if anyone has a large boat willing to transport it for me to NZ or an australiasian alternative please, please let me know.

Oh and if you are a person fabulous enough to have one, or something similar I'd love to see it in situ. x

back to reality

So Christmas is over (sort of), and hope everyone had a lovely one. I've been hugely absent here, sorry - family time is exhausting! But now with the festive season drawing to a close and with a couple more weeks off work my thoughts have quickly turned to redecorating and my priority is our bedroom.

It has lovely high ceilings, wooden floors and a big sash window but right now it looks like more like the spare room you wish you never had - its boring - ugly even and it doesn't feel right. I know, I know - I will take some 'before' photos!
So, as my first stepI've decided to wallpaper the wall behind the bed - afterall it's my bedroom and I can do what I like and I shall. I'll reveal my wallpaper choices soon - I'm still collating them and it's stressing me out.

Anyway, for now (while I go to yet another family meal - with board games :-s) - I'll leave you with some of my favourite bedrooms - in no particular order and not particularly for any reason - just rooms I think I would sleep well in...

via ooh_food

I never find time to read anymore and that makes me sad - I'd love a cosy corner like this to lose myself in the afternoon or to snuggle down on a winter night. 

 

Mikkel Vang via Decorology

 Everybody needs a bit of everyday princess. Oh, and of course I can't ever get past white floorboards (even though I'm banned from painting my own)

 

by I heart napa

A bedroom that feels like you've slept in it everynight of your life - soft and nostalgic and totally peaceful.

by Lutterlagkage

A bit mad, but light and whimsical - who needs a bed anyway?t

Only 6 more sleeps

 From L-R, My mother, Teddy the 11 Month old Deer Hound, Jasper the 2 1/2 yr old Italian Greyhound, Harry the 2 yr old whippet and Bonnie, the baby 9 month old terrier x.
I took this photo for my Mum, with the collective family hounds - and Bonnie, the honorary hound.
It was so incredibly difficult to get even a half decent shot like this _ i have a lot of respect for anyone who works with animals.
Two of my sisters will be working at the SPCA on Christmas Day this year which is really sweet of them. <3

Martha's gift wrap ideas

We always make an effort with our Christmas gift wrapping. Each year we have a new colour scheme, a new idea and we spend a lot of time (and usually money) wrapping our pressies.
This year however I've been feeling kind of stuck - it feels like we've run out of colour schemes and I haven't been able to come up with 'my idea' yet. 
So, in vain I turned to the internet and was surprised to find myself trawling through Martha Stewart's Christmas Workshop - 75 gift wrapping ideas. To be honest I'm usually a bit sceptical of Martha - everything seems a bit too perfect and/or contrived to be attainable but I actually found a few ideas I really quite liked (see below).
I'm still not entirely sure what I'll do - but I am feeling slightly more inspired.

Doilies

Faux Bois

Monogram tags

Acetone transfer

and more

by tahnijoy

by charming liisa

by amy-rose king

by madeline bea

christmas love

With only 10 more days to go - I've finally got my Christmas spirit.
These gorgeous photos from Lisa sPark's on flickr make me feel like snuggling in front of my tree and cutting paper snowflakes (if only it wasn't so hot outside :-s)

True Christmas Love!

ximena escobar

While trawling flickr I was stumbled upon the work by young columbian designer and illustrator Ximena Escobar. Ximena did an MA in Textile Futures at Central St Martins.

What first struck me about Ximena were her wonderful wallpaper designs.

I oohed and ahhed over them for a while before checking out some of other work... and then guess what I found. Ximena has done an entire series of experimental screenprints using milk and chocolate in place of traditional inks. She has screen printed on to fabric, papers and even bread (infact she has a whole other series of work around toast). I think it's inspired and yummy.

Check out more here.

gift idea: Cloudy Collection

Just today I discovered Cloudy Collection and i'm completely smitten.

Cloudy Collection was begun and is run by David Huyck, an illustrator and designer with some wonderful connections and an even better idea. 4 times each year Cloudy Collection releases a limited run of 100 sets of 7 gorgeous letterpress prints by different artists.
It gets better,  because all Cloudy Collection prints are printed by Boxcar press, an entirely environmentally friendly printers run completely by windpower and using only vegetable-based inks. Cloudy Collection further benefits the environment by donating a percentage of profits to The Nature Conservancy.

'Repeat/Repeat' by David Huyck

I would have thought all this would have contributed to one ample price tag but I couldn't have been more wrong. Each limited set of 7 x 6"x4" prints is available for just $35US (until stocks run out of course) which includes free shipping within the USA & Canada. (International shipping is $10).

The current collection is called 'Repeat/Repeat' and features illustrations by artists, Will Bryant, Dustin “UPSO” Hostetler, David Huyck, Mike Perry, Heather Ross, Julia Rothman, and Bob Staake.

And, if 7 prints aren't enough for you, there are still a number of the previous collection 'The Scarlet Lettering' available as well with works by  Marian Bantjes, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Ray Fenwick, Ray Frenden, Linzie Hunter, David Huyck, and Nate Williams.

This has to be the most perfect gift - thoughtful, charming and special. And of course, it would make a pretty lovely gift for yourself too.

it must be christmas

Today we finally got our tree. It's about 7 1/2 ft but it's a bit skinny. I went with a very traditional red and gold this year and I even (shock horror) bough tinsel even though I had previously declared tinsel eternally tacky. I think I finally gave in, and decided that I shouldn't be denying myself sparkle this year.

Please excuse my mess and odd arrangement of furniture!

I love christmas trees and seeing how others decorate theirs - a home never looks better than when it has a lovely tree in it.

I'm feeling very festive - i even made a wreath (photos to come)

wallpaper wants

Following on from my new found swan 'thing' (see below). I've found this Sylvana Swan Lake wallpaper by Nina Campbell and I want it so badly. I can't quite decide where I would put it. I think probably on the wall behind my bed though it would seriously upgrade my bathroom. I can't decide on the colourway either - though I'm leaning towards the lighter grey or blue.

It's 48 sterling a roll from Nina Campbell.com

Weekend thrift finds

I got a good haul from the sunday markets this week and am quickly filling up my little house.
(apologies for the rushed photos - I'm graduating tomorrow so I figured if I didn't post this now - it would probably be never!)

I'll start with my new pride and joy....
I couldn't believe my luck when I dug out this framed Hans Christian Andersen poster from a big pile of ugly. It was originally designed as a promotional poster for the Danish town of Odense by Illustrator, Viggo Vagnby in 1955. It was sold to me as a frame for $10nz but no way am I taking out the poster.

If you love it as much as I do you can buy a reproduction here.

I also got this cute glass lamp and (seperately) yellow shade. This picture does not do it's colours justice - but its kitch and a bit trashy and I like it.

And then, just because I love lamps - I also got a wooden standard lamp for $10.

My $2 magazine rack (and my younger pup, Bonnie).

I'll have to get some better 'in situ' photographs though as these are fairly shocking.

But there, now I've shared my weeks bargain hunting. x

from the homestead

My darling mum recently redecorated her bedroom in this beautiful Sanderson wallpaper. Its so peaceful, I love it. I also love this chair (one of a pair) she found last week. Jealous!

(couldn't resist letting Jasper model again - he's just so good at it)

jewellery giveaway bonanza

Head over to one of my favourite blogs - Modish. 
If the fact that it's a source of general lovelyness isn't enough Modish is hosting a week of jewellery giveaways (1 a day). Head over now while you still have time to enter Day 3 - a divine necklace from cursive design.

i'm excited about

image from Architectiral Digest

the Florence Broadhurst pop-up shop opening on Saturday!
So if you're in Auckland, go along to:

5-13 DECEMBER 2009  WEEKDAYS 10am - 6.30pm WEEKENDS 9am - 4pm

THE AXIS BUILDING, 91 LOWER ST GEORGES BAY ROAD, SUITE 1.4

PARNELL,  AUCKLAND

hosted by Signature Prints - owners and guardians of the entire Florence Broadhurst design library. It promises to have all sorts of fabrics, wallpapers and products available - it won't be necessarily cheap but I know it will be entirely gorgeous.

from Design Boom

 

from Habitually Chic

from Design Boom

from The Age

Broadhurst is an absolute enigma, with a dubious past as colourful as her designs. So, even if fabric isn't your thing - I highly recommend the biography on her by Helen O'Neill if you're starting to think about a holiday read.