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