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

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

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

To Dry For

Dry dishes or frame it and put it on your wall?? There are some very cool printed tea towels out there and todryfor.com is where you can get them. This 'storm in a tea cup' print is my favourite...

but I 'm loving these retro scottish illustrations by Gillian Kyle...'Glasgow Breakfast', 'Tunnock's' and 'Spam'

availiable from todryfor.com

Actual Abode {Volume I}

I have a group of girlfriends...there are 6 of us and we became close in the last few years of secondary school. The years when things got heavy. We shared a lot of teen experiences and did some major growing up together. At the time, we thought we were cool but there's only so much you can get up to in suburban Glasgow in the mid 90's...
Whilst down in London recently to celebrate one of the girls' last weekends of singledom, we realised that actually our teenage years were far from 'rock 'n' roll'. Yes, we would go into town and try to get into bars and clubs, but we spent a lot of time at each others parent's houses (when they were out), with boys, watching Four Weddings and a Funeral and Lost Boys, listening to 'vocal house', smoking, drinking vodka and tequila, eating chinese food...
One of these houses belonged to Vivienne's parents...I think it was the most effortlessly stylish house I've ever been to and I still remember every room. It was not the kind of house where you have to take off your shoes or feel like your messing it up just by standing still but a real home, with real character.
I think some people have a real talent for placing objects- furniture, artwork, trinkets, souvenirs- where the outcome looks ripe for an interiors photo shoot, but far from contrived.
It seems this talent is hereditary, as the flat Vivienne shares with her boyfriend, Joe, in south London is bursting with objects, beautifully and effortlessly arranged. Some objects are souvenirs of the couple's travels, some are heirlooms or gifts and even the collecton of correspondance on a pin board looks good!

It has to be said that Vivienne has been a bridesmaid an amazing 7 times! Above is one of her dried bouquets hanging in the hallway.
Cowboy boots waiting to be worn.
And what a lovely surprise it was to see one of my own sister's photographs hanging in her hallway!

Gorgeous smelling flowers sit on top of an mini rustic cupboard in the living room.
I love the painted wooden zebra table...

A very fitting 'Queen Of Scots' plaque sits above the window in the kitchen.
In the dining area hangs a beautiful little canvas by Vivienne's very talented sister Rosalind. Rosalind's collection, coincidentally and somewhat spookily, is a study of the 'social construct of the domestic ideal' (I feel a future blogpost coming on).
The living areas and kitchen are all open plan but each area is well defined. Photos of them with friends and a vintage soda bottle stand on a very cool extending table bought by Joe's grandparents when they first moved to London. They bought it from a student at the Royal Collge degree show!!

Shelves with organic veg and a pin board with all their invitations, cards and correspondance stands between the kitchen and dining area. You can also see the MUJI flying swallow postcard I got for Vivienne.
Only a few of Vivienne's many pretty toiletries arranged in the bathroom.
The gorgeous little round vase, was a gift from Joe's mum in Spain.

The amazing upstairs bedroom has a pitched roof and porthole window. The floor space spans across the majority of the flat.


On each side of the bed is a low shelf. Vivienne's side has another bridesmaid bouquet, photo of her and Joe, her family and black and white photos of her grandparents, along with artwork, and of course some bedtime reading...

I plan to do some more real homes or 'actual abodes' of people I know in the future so I hope you like this one!

Photos taken by me on my iphone (forgot the memory card for my camera...ooops)

MUJI

When I was a teenager there was a MUJI store on Queen Street in Glasgow. Now...this was quite a long time ago but I remember it well...I think it could have been my first real life experience of minimalism!
As I was in London last weekend I made a point as i always do of visiting the Oxford Street store and stocking up on stationary and notebooks and having a good nose around.
I got one of the swallow 3D flying postcards for a friend and now wish I had got a couple for myself...there's always the online shop



Also, how cool are these 3D box cards?! There's one for London, Paris and New York...


www.muji.eu

The Glasgow Boys

'The Glasgow Boys' were a group of young painters who rebelled against impressionism in the late 19th century. James Guthrie, E A Hornel, George Henry, Joseph Crawhall, John Lavery and Arthur Melville all had studios in Glasgow and were great friends. Their work was rejected by London and Edinburgh art circles, as they painted real people in rural scenes, and experimented with symbolic art (before Klimt etc), although the Glasgow Art markets loved it.
The exhibiton is at The Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and shows some never-before-seen paintings from private collections.
This sort of work may not be what you'd expect to see on my blog but 'The Glasgow Boys' were revolutionary in their time, and I'm a patriotic Glasgow girl so I plan on going along next week. My parents have already been and thoroughly enjoyed it! Who's keen?

Hard at It (1883) by Sir James Guthrie

The Druids – Bring in the Mistletoe (1890) by George Henry and EA Hornel

From April 2010 till September 2010.
Click here for ticket information, and go to The List for more on The Glasgow Boys.
Images from TheGuardian.co.uk