rocking chair

When we discovered we were expecting our second child I knew I wanted to get some kind of rocking chair to help me through those LONG nights!

We kept an eye on Freecycle, and when a rocking chair was offered we snapped it up with out even seeing it.  

This is the chair after we picked it up.  As you can see it was pretty tired, worn and scratched.  

What was lovely was that the gentleman who we collected it from said that he had bought the chair for his wife when she was expecting their first child.  

The actual cushion pads were in ok condition, it was just the fabric cover that needed to be replaced.  

The wooden frame really needed to be sanded down, and I decided to paint it white.

Now when I chose the fabric to cover the cushions, I was going through a bit of a phase thinking I was going to have another boy, so it was covered in this stripy fabric from Ikea.  I must also add this was the first time I had used a sewing machine since school, and I had never covered cushions before, so the quality is definitely not great!

Once Elsa arrived and I started to sort out her nursery, things took a very definite girly direction!  I think that happens after you have had a boy first, you really embrace the pink and the flowers and all things pretty, well I certainly have!!

So the stripes started to look very out of place.  As a temporary measure I have wrapped the cushions with a sheet and draped over the woolen blanket my grandmother knitted for me when I was a baby.

The lovely cushion was a present from a friend, and the painted  roses chest of drawers was from 

GB Antiques on a previous visit.  

I will do another post about this place as we visited last weekend and I picked up a few lovely pieces, and took some photos while we were there to illustrate what an Aladdin's cave it is!

When I have the time I would really love to recover the cushions, possibly in this gorgeous fabric from 

Ink and Spindle.

Birch Forest in Robins Egg

Apologies for the poor photographs again!  But here it is. 

It really has been the perfect nursing chair.  The perfect height, really comfy, and has seen me through A LOT of nights! 

(My daughter didn't think it would be a good idea to sleep through the night till she was 14 months!)

If anyone could recommend a good camera I would really appreciate it.  

I have persuaded hubby a camera would be a fantastic birthday present! 

I am thinking some kind of digital SLR but I really have no clue so any help would be appreciated!!

Thank you!

birthday boy!

Today my beautiful boy is 4!

This is an image of the card I made for him.
It has turned into a bit of a tradition in our house for me to make birthday cards with the number made up of images of that year.  I really love the evenings looking through all our photos (believe me it takes a LONG LONG time looking through hundreds of photos!)  Remembering all the good times, laughter, mischief, and mayhem!  It always amazes me how much they have grown up in just 1 year.  They will be really lovely to keep and look back on when they are much older, and I will really enjoy his 18th birthday card when I think I will have to use images from all his cards, not just that year!

George has had a wonderful day.  His big present from us was a trampoline, nothing to do with trying to tire him out so he actually sleeps!  He loved it though and was out there first thing this morning in his pjs!

His party was at a soft play centre near us.  We have been to so many of these, but he loves them, they do everything apart from the cake for you, and the mess is not at our house, wins all round!!

We then spent a glorious afternoon having water pistol fights in the garden!

I can not believe my little boy is 4!

Happy birthday my beautiful boy :)

touches of yellow

As you can probably guess from my blog, I love yellow.  

I am coming out of my "beige phase" and starting to embrace colour again.  (To recap I spent my teens in the 90s and really feel for me that era was full of beige, hiding away from any colour or pattern.  When studying architecture I really embraced the minimal, white aesthetic, with touches of raw materials, but again I shied away from colour)

Now I am not saying I would paint every room in my house a different colour, I am definitely no Zandra Rhodes, but I feel touches of colour can really enhance, enliven and evoke different emotions.

I prefer the more mustard yellows rather than neon yellows, but 

for me yellow is just happy.  

Whenever I see it, it makes me smile :-)

I thought I would record some of my favourite images that I have found on Pinterest this week.

Mini Moderns fantastic Festival porcelain set, due to be released soon. I can't wait!!!

This image is from a Danish Artist's Flat from the blog, My Scandinavian Retreat

This image is pinned from Louise Rastall's Blog
From a sneak peak at the little Greene Paint Company's new paint colours

This beautiful group of chairs was pinned from Nathan Michael and The Archive

I love the yellow chair, I want a yellow chair!
This image was pinned from MidCenturyHome

This image was pinned from erigutt photostream on Flickr

This image was pinned from retromoderni.blospot.com

These Fabulous shoes, which I would never be able to walk in, are pinned from Next

This sliding barn door certainly makes a statement, pinned from apartment therapy

What are your favourite colours?  

How does yellow make you feel?  

How do you feel about colour in design?

Would love to know!

beautiful bags

Spot Saddle Bag, Cath Kidson

I thought I would show you a bag from another prominent British designer, Cath Kidson.

Now I am not the biggest fan of her floral bags, but this spot print bag is perfect!  I love the colours, and who doesn't love polka dots!

It is big enough to hold all my crap, sorry, vitally important items!  It is made of oilcloth with beautiful contrasting leather trims, which means the inevitable porridge, yoghurt, and countless and probably unmentionable spills can easily be wiped away!  I love in the blurb it describes it as having, "plentiful pockets" - a girl can never have to many pockets!  The adjustable strap again would allow me to wear it across my body, leaving my hands free to grab escaping children!

Lovely simple design with a fun twist with the spots!

(By the way my mention of Burberry last time didn't work :-(  )

end of an era!

Today was my little boy's last day at Nursery!  

George ready for his last day!

George ready for his first day back in September!

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone, and how in September he will be starting SCHOOL!  

I am so proud of how well he adapted to nursery and how much he has learnt, grown and enjoyed this year, especially as he still isn't 4 yet.  

It will be a shock for us all in September, going to nursery in the afternoons meant our mornings were generally relaxed, eating breakfast slowly, getting ourselves ready slowly! 

 In September we will all have to be out of the door by 8.20! 

Wish me luck! 

ooh and another reason I am so proud of him today, we went to the dentist.  The first time George went he was very nervous and wouldn't let the dentist anywhere near him.  Today he was really looking forward to going, practically skipped into the dentists room, LOVED the ride on the chair, and was quite happy to let the dentist look in his mouth and count his teeth!  

He does not take after me in this!!

do you recognise this bowl?!

Every time we go to visit my parents or my husband's parents in Lancaster we ALWAYS try to visit GB Antiques Centre.  It is a fantastic place full of anything you could imagine!!  I will do another post about this place later as we are hoping to visit again soon.

Anyway last time we were there we picked up this beautiful salad bowl, perfect for summer salads, picnics in the garden, and brightening up our table on days like today.  (It is meant to be summer now right?!)

The outside of the bowl is a vibrant orange!  

A simple stylised flower design lines the inside rim of the bowl.

This is the underside of the bowl, I have tried to find the bowl on-line, but can't find anything.

Can anyone help?  Does anyone know anything about this bowl?

lost

I started writing this blog for me.

An outlet for me to be me, to say what I want, and to work out exactly who that is.

I feel I haven't found my voice yet, which frustrates me.

Then I came across this wonderful film on the Craft Blog UK, and it really struck a chord.  I love both the sentiment and the performance of the message!

So I wanted to post it here so I could refer to it whenever I am feeling lost.


I will get there!

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Pinterest and me

I have just discovered Pinterest, and I love it!  I think I am addicted!

It is such a useful tool, especially when you are interested in visual subjects such as design, art, craft, and interiors.  The fact that it is so easy is a very big plus point for me too!  At the click of a button I can save an image, share it, comment on it, reference it, and group it with other similar images.

I love (I'm sorry I know I will use this word a lot!) that you can follow other people's boards, and see what they are pinning, what images they find exciting, and love.

original image from Skinnylaminx here. pinned to pinterest
I love the style of this wooden sofa, and the beautiful prints in the cushions

I have mainly found myself quickly scrolling through vast quantities of furniture and home related images, from anyone who is pinning an image on these subjects, only pausing when something really grabs my eye.

original image from here. pinned on pinterest
I love the simple wooden chairs with miss matched fabric on the seats
the birds on the wall are fun too!

I have always been a really (REALLY) indecisive person, and would like something, but not be sure if I really LOVED something (husband and children obviously not included in this!!)  I have felt a bit lost for a while about what kind of style was really me, what am I really interested in and not sure how to rectify it.  By only stopping when something grabbed my eye, it was like the image was grabbing something deep inside, making my heart do a flip, and making my stomach turn.  I wasn't consciously thinking about "should" I like this design, or "is this on trend" or "would this work in my house".  I was able to finally let go and just go with my instinct.  By pinning an image you are not buying something, you are not committing yourself to redesigning your house there and then, therefore allowing this freedom to release any inhibitions and allowing my gut instinct to express itself, to me!

original image from here. pinned on pinterest
I love the shape of the wooden side pieces, simple arms into legs
teamed with a great printed fabric

By reviewing my boards of pinned images all together a pattern was beginning to emerge.  One that I hadn't quite expected!  Quite a few of my images were of painted furniture.  I knew that.  I enjoy giving a piece of furniture new life with a lick of paint.  But I was surprised how most of the images showed furniture that were mid century in style.  Colour,(I have always been very wary of after growing up in the beige 90s), really plays a big part in images that I enjoy, as does pattern.  By acknowledging this I have been able to really embrace what I really LOVE, start to find out more about it, I think I will write another post soon on what it is I really like about mid century design and this style. 

.......I wish I had won that Euromillions jackpot so I could totally redesign our house!

original image from here.  pinned on pinterest
beautiful colours
beautiful desk

You can follow my boards by following this link.  Please leave me a comment and share with me your boards, I would love to take a look!

Thank you!

x

today's to do list

Part of my morning routine is to write my to do list for that day. 

They are a huge part of my day.  I love to cross items out, how good does it feel?!  I seriously put some things down, like "get up"  that I know I will be able to complete ;-) just so I can cross it out! 

These lists tend to take many forms.  Some are long, some are short, some are beautiful, some are not, some have little doodles, and some are annotated with little notes to myself.  They are written on what ever piece of paper I can get my hands on.  I thought it would be interesting to document my lists. 

So here is today's, apologies for the poor photograph. (will have to work on that!)

charlie brown

Do you remember the Charlie Brown cartoons, with Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy and all the gang?

I used to love them. 

Now my daughter is standing, whenever she wakes up from her nap she is stood leaning on the cot just waiting for me to come, reach down and pick her up.

Do you see yet what I am seeing?

Its the arms! 

Those chubby little arms that have been so perfectly captured by  Charles M. Schulz!

all Charlie Brown images from http://free-extras.com

lazy sunny sunday

beautiful bags

After my last beautiful bags post I was not expecting to show you a beautiful Orla Kiely bag that I actually bought this week!

Ok the bag in question was not a blow the budget, guilty purchase, from a elite boutique. 

It was in fact only £4, from my local Tesco!  Orla Kiely has designed a range of reusable shopping bags made from Juco, a material technology that combines the strength and natural properties of jute with the finishing and texture of cotton fabric.  Far from being a guilty purchase, these bags are also raising money for charity.  50p from the sale of each bag will be split equally between the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent and Orla’s personal charity, the Royal College of Art, which funds bursaries for textile students.

  

A few months ago I got my hands on the first in the range, featuring the scribble pear design.  This bag normally sits in my kitchen collecting all the recycling before I take it out to the recycling bin.  Not a very glamorous job I know but it means it sits on a stool, out where I can enjoy it, all the time!

This new design (I'm not sure what the design is called) is in different tones of grey, in a pattern of circles and lines.  I really like the geometric design, and have enjoyed using it as my shopper of choice on the back of my pushchair!

I think next week I will be back to imaginary bag purchases, but you never know! (Will mention Burberry now just in case!!)

NB. I apologise for the awful photographs, I really need to work on my photography, and I really need a new camera but I doubt I will be getting one anytime soon!