First Christmas...

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and managed to relax and enjoy some time off.
We received some gorgeous decorations for the tree, from family and friends, for Sebastian's 1st Christmas...which was lovely! They will, of course, now be annual fixtures on our family tree. Can you tell which ones were sent from Australia?

...Enjoy your Hogmanay celebrations and I'll see you in the new year! x

Love from Lebanon

Beirut design company, Bokja is made up of Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri. A passion for classic furniture and textiles from countries along The Silk Road results in these beauties! Although the company has existed since 2000,  I first came across them in Merci, on our trip to Paris last year. I'm a sucker for a modern classic but in these patterned woven fabrics?...yes please!

images are from here and here

Late

Those who know me, know my incessant inability to be anywhere on time. The consequences were worse for the unicorns...

Via here
UPDATE: I found the source...if you'd like to buy this or view the other very funny cards available visit Sapling Press on Etsy

Primrose Hill Drawing Room

As promised in yesterday's post, here's one of my favourite interior projects by Retrouvius. It may only be one room but the textures are never ending. Raw concrete, irridescent tiles, grey painted floorboards, velvety upholstery and neon accents. Cold, but oh so hot!

Oh, and I'll be needing that chair...thanks.
Images from Retrouvius

Retrouvius

Retrouvius are a London based architectural salvage and design company. Their work is clever, inspiring and beautiful not to mention, sustainable. The other night I spent so long looking at the design projects and salvage items for sale, on their website, that my tea went cold.
Using reclaimed flooring as wall panelling is evidently a favourite and recurring method for them, and features in many of their projects. Here are a few awesome examples. Rustic versus polished; different finishes can give very different (but equally beautiful) effects.

Tomorrow's post is one of my favourite interiors from their recent projects.
images

Sparrow & Co.

Being from Glasgow, I jump at the chance to showcase home-grown talent so, say hello to Sparrow & Co. who opened their online doors to the public yesterday.
With just one visit you'll be ready for winter; mustards and greys, textures, patterns and scents. Done.
It's just the beginning so bookmark it and keep popping back to see new arrivals...I will be...

Sparrow & Co. via @IgorJosif

My Kitchen

We got a new kitchen fitted about five years ago. We had the tile splashback applied in July of this year. It's easier to make quick decisions, as an interior designer, when there's a deadline and you're spending someone else's money. When it comes to my own home, little decisions take approximately five years, evidently. It doesn't help that I'm a Libran. Anyway, I love the result. Here's a sneaky peek...

Photography by me

Black & White

This monochrome combination is a classic. Here are a few bits and pieces to add to that Santa memo.  Unless, of course, you've been bad this year...

1. Marimekko for Converse 2. Lee Broom's stag to be auctioned for homeless charity Centrepoint 3. 'I Love The Shit Out Of You' print 4. La Sardinia camera Domino 5. Strap mirror 6. Herribone cushion 7. Arne Jacobsen cups 8. Tuxedo onesie 9. Anna Black carpet

Ochre Lovliness

I don't think there's anything I don't like from Ochre...and in September they brought new nuggets of pretty to the market.

Yes, please. That's all.
Images from Ochre

Naked Nursery

When I was pregnant I wanted the baby's nursery to look something like this. 

 I still LOVE this look but now that Sebastian is 4 months old, his response to bright colours is incredible (and exciting considering his daddy is colourblind!). So far his nursery is still a work in progress...not that he even notices...and we are slowly collecting colourful bits and pieces, including these, and this to add to the pale gray walls we finished just days before he arrived (we're fly-by-the-seat-our-pants types). I'm so looking forward to the day it's done...if it ever is...
P.S. Still want the white rocking sheep!
Images from Smallable Christmas catalogue

Francis Cadell

Edinburgh artist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell was quite a character. He had a great sense of humour, was confident, flamboyant and charming, and had a great many friends who adored him. He was homosexual, at a time when it was illegal, and lived life to the full, spending outwith his means and socialising with high society. When times were tough his paintings paid for a roof over his head.
He painted landscapes (most famously of Iona, where he spent a lot of time), portraits, still lifes and my favourites of his works, grand interior spaces. I find it hard to believe that his paintings of the interior rooms in his George Street studio (my favourite; below) and Edinburgh Newtown townhouses were painted in the early 1920s. Some of the interiors look contemporary even by today's standards. He was fascinated with reflective surfaces, carefully placed objects, and liked the composition of a room beyond a room through open doorways.

 Last Thursday my parents were invited to a private viewing of the exhibition at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with Alice Strang, the author of F.C.B. Cadell; an emalgamation of all the research undertaken for the exhibition. Sebastian and I tagged along. It was fascinating.
The exhibition is Cadell's first solo show since his death in 1937. I recommend you go along and have a look. It's on till March 18th 2012.
image via here

Bathroom Envy

...where else would you keep your filing cabinet?

scanned from Living Etc. October 2011

Unlikely pairings and bold classics...

...at Reiss.

...LOVE the neutrals with a splash of bold colour...could you pull it off?

Colour with Grey

No doubt you all saw The Selby's visit to Abigail Ahern's fabulous home a few of weeks ago. Well, I thought I'd post a few pictures of her sister Gemma's pad; obviously with a little influence from Abigail...unless the love of dark walls and splashes of acid colour is genetic...which it may well be.

Could you be bold enough to plunge into a world of grey ?
images from here

Home to Roost

I was introduced to this incredible food blog last week via A Cup of Jo. Coco from Roost takes the most beautiful photographs of the specially adapted food she creates for her and her husband, who suffers from Crohn's disease. As I got closer and closer to licking my monitor whilst browsing through the images, I came across these photos of the couple's gorgeous new home in Alabama and had to share them with you...

I recommend you make yourself a cuppa and have a browse through the photos and recipes...you may be some time.
All images from Roost

Bah Humbug

That's right...two brown leather (again) bags in one post! Lucky you...

 Humbug tote and clutch from Kurt Geiger

Me and Mrs Jones

Another gem I came across at the Homes & Interiors Scotland Exhibition last Friday was Glasgow based, Niki Jones. These kantha quilts are made from the most beautiful vintage saris. These photographs don't even do them justice...in the flesh the colours are vibrant and the cotton super soft and lightweight yet snug. The only reason I don't own one yet is because I'd have to decide which to go for and my Libra brain can't take the pressure...

 

...the cushions and rugs are pretty special too.

see the Autumn/Winter 2011 catalogue here

West End Wonder

Check out this hallway. It's the grand entrance to a flat in Kelvingrove in the West End of Glasgow.
I came across the designers on Friday when Sebastian and I took a mooch around the Homes & Interiors Scotland exhibition in the SECC. Rehab's two interior showcases were among some little nuggets of tremendousnes at the exhibition. This hallway doesn't even represent their true style (new and retro furniture restyled & upholstered in awesome colours and fabrics), I just love the architrave detail.

Don't you think that when a space is dressed with a pair of matching table lamps it immediately looks 'grown up'...?
the pics are from here

Blue Hues

One long space. Sleeping space-bookshelf partition-living space-glass paned partition-work space. Combine that concept with funky furniture, beautiful blue hues and some traditional architectural features and you have a pretty perfect pad.

Not sure how much work I'd get done with that slightly distracting canvas on the wall...hello.
From Elle Decor Espana

Cacti

Every time I visit iiiinspired I click on this post and stare...what a space!

I once heard that, according to feng shui, cacti in your home, can cause jaggy arguments...I wonder how their chi is...

via iiiinspired

Wary Mears Wares

I've blogged about this creative couple before. Wary Mears are an upcycling phenomenon! Their projects are pretty awesome...
If you happen to find an old canoe or an Eames chair in a skip, why not give it a wee spruce up with a pattern, hand painted on, inspired by British textile designer, Celia Birtwell?
'Naturally', I hear you say...

...whatever you do to them you probably wouldn't expect them to look as cool as this...and you'd probably never think to hang them from the ceiling in you Portland apartment...well, I wouldn't anyway.
Found on Wary Mears' blog

Toasty

You'd expect to see warm cosy images in catalogues come the Autumn but I love the cool palette in the Autumn/Winter 2011 Home collection from Toast. It seems mild mustard yellows, fetching frosty greys and cool teal blues are where it's at...

Check out the rest of the catalogue here

All wrapped up...

...with it's own bow!
It's my birthday next week. Just saying...

Kate Spade's Bow Bridge Kennedy Bag

Bold, Busy and Beautiful

This space may have light, colour, furniture, and pattern in abundance, but the architecture makes it...I'm a sucker for symmetry.

by Edward Duarte

Amanda Wakeley Bridal

After falling in love with 'Look 3' of the Desert collection when I was on the hunt for my wedding dress, I always like to keep an eye on Amanda Wakeley's Bridal collection. The latest is 'Morocco' and it's gorgeeeooouuussss...