Inspiring places:: Light and shadow

Light and shadow, originally uploaded by Lillian Day.

Cutypie tiny chickens in this kitchen corner in the home of super talented Lillian Day.

House doctor :: Bedroom nearly done

I just realized it has been ages since I last showed you the progress on our bedroom. I think I got stuck posting about it in the phase of painting the floor. Well, now the bedroom is nearly done! The only things still need change are:

1) the blinds: the striped ones that are there now are still there from the previous owners, it's a bit dirty and they don't work as well as they probably used to when they were new.
2) the built in closet needs redoing on the inside
3) the mirror and ceiling lamp need to be fixed
4) the current curtain (which was actually made for the living room and is still destined to end up there) has to be replaced with a new one, which will be in transparent white cotton fabric.
5) we will stick window foil to the windows, because now our neighours can look right into our bedroom...













In the photos you can see:

1) A lovely new Orla Kiely fabric pillow, made by HandmadeOrla on etsy
2) A pale brown metallic pillow from HEMA, got it as a present from my sweet sister last year
3) Frames on IKEA frame shelves, most of them described here
4) Cotton curtains in IKEA fabric
5) A 22 year old sheepskin on the floor, I got it from my grandparents for my first birthday
6) A vintage sewing machine used as night table
7) A vintage church chair at the bed end
8) Vintage porcelain vases, blogged before here
9) IKEA bedlinen
10) Antique colonial hanger
11) Square chrome garbage bin from GAMMA
12) Bed lamps from MASSIVE
13) Curtain rail from IKEA
14) My guilty pleasure: reading romantic novels :)

Inspiring places :: Alabaster in North London

Alabaster in North London 1, originally uploaded by Rosenatti.

Designer Paul Massey's home. Via Rosenatti's flickr stream.

I LOVE the side table, and the coffee table. The wooden table top and metal wire frame are an amazing combination.
I'm so exited to know we will have a white wooden floor in the living room very soon as well!

Paper Flower Girl @ decor8

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paper-flower-girl/4117165496/, originally uploaded by souvenirs du passé récent.

This morning I received an e-mail from the lovely lady behind IvyStyle33, to let me know my blog was featured on decor8 yesterday as 'blog of the week'.
I could not ever be more honoured then to be featured on my ever favorite interior design blog!

I want to thank Holly of decor8 for featuring my blog, home and shop and I want to welcome all the new readers who found me trough her wonderfull post.

Shop news

It's been quite a while since I last gave you any news about shop updates and the like, so I thought it was getting about time!

I just sent new stock to the lovely Rachael of Hannah Zakari and she got it all online yesterday. It is a small new collection in cold wintery tones: silver, pale blue, grey, light pink. Elements used are vintage ribbon, bow shaped findings, religeous medals and vintage compases. I hope you will like it :)

Inspiring places:: Black chairs

, originally uploaded by JanelleGrace.

I've been spotting a lot of black dining chairs around the internet lately, and am totally in love. now I'm contemplating painting the charis we bought a while back black as well. When painted black they would better match the dining table. but it would also be sad, because their natural colour is a lovely mahogany wood.
What to do: paint the chairs, or find another table? And what to do with the upholstery of the chairs? The fabric is now dirty and spotted, and I don't like it, but I'm not sure what to replace it for...

Any ideas?

Dining area

This is the current state of our dining area. The photo is taken from the living room. The door on the right leads to the kitchen.
The walls are now freshly painted in a soft greyish pink. The new lamp we found in IKEA for 25 EUR, the table is a piece handed down to us by my father, the small desk in the front dates from the 40's or 50's that we inherited from Mr. B.'s granddad. The lamp on the desk is a vintage lampfoot with a new greyish pink velvet shade, the fruitbowl next to it is a piece I got for my birthday last year.
The new chairs (we thrifted these in a local thriftshop) still need new upholstery. I'm not sure about the fabric yet.
The curtains still need to be hung (they will be in a white cotton fabric). And we are probably going to change the floor: now we have an ugly laminate flooring in the living room and dining area, in the kitchen and the hallway. At first we thought putting in a wooden floor was going to be too expensive, but we found a good solution for a very very reasonable price. So, the new floor will be solid wood, painted white or off-white in the living room, dining room and kitchen, and black in the hallway, so that it will have the same colour as the staircase.

It's so much work to get this place to look just as I want, but it's also so rewarding to see it evolve.

Inspiring places :: Light shed bedroom.

, originally uploaded by JanelleGrace.

Another amazing bedroom, found via JanelleGrace's flickr stream. I love the brown and white bed spread and the assymetrical bed side tables. Oh, and the stack of magazines providing a place for the bed lamp!

Inspiring places :: Nautral and mustard bedroom.

bedrooms, originally uploaded by * d a a n *.

Another great bedroom this is! I found it on *daan*'s flickr stream (you find a link to her stream just beneath the photo). I love the headboard in mustard dupioni silk and the grey bedspread in the front of the picture.
I was at habitat (http://www.habitat.net) earlier today, where they have some amazing 100% wool bedspreads. I didn't buy one though, I'm totally running out of money.

In class

I don't think I have already told you about my new studies in textile coneservation and restauration. We are a class of nine students. We bake cake or pie at least once a month to eat during breaks, we make tea, we listen to the radio while sewing, dyeing, and documenting, we talk and laugh, and we have a lovely studio. With amazing old industrial sewing machines. LOVE!

Inspiring places :: Cream and white bedroom.

photo by Atlanta Bartlett, originally uploaded by Beautymist.

I love the natural tones and the industrial lamp. Last weekend a trip to our local IKEA resulted in buying some bed linens just like the ones in this photo. I'm coveting light earthy colours in the bedroom right now, together with wintery fluffyness: wool blankets at the bedend and sheepskin on the floor!
Fluffy things are my winter comforts. And hot tea. And reading in bed.
What are yours?