Cleopatra wall sconce – £135
Can we talk about this wall light from Graham and Green? Warm gold. Just distressed enough. Little ball light pull?! Come on. With all the grey in my house I need this to warm up my Pavilion Gray walls. Yes I do.
Ever since I was a little girl, spending my pocket money on Windsor and Newton inks in every hue from my local stationery shop, I have been in love with Calligraphy. Back then, the books taught you how to do old school, medieval-style, script and I struggled to get my feather ink pen, or scratchy fountain pen, to get the right style. Thankfully things have moved on since those days and a more modern approach to calligraphy is now all the rage.
On Monday, after years of wanting to return to this beautiful way of writing, and in my new personal goal to expand my learning, I attended a workshop event hosted by Sheerluxe and A-laise at the Hoxton Hotel and had my first introduction into modern calligraphy.
After 2 hours our hands ached but I was hooked, all over again!
Here are a couple of my beginner attempts…
Bit scratchy but I’m loving the practising and hope to show you a more professional looking calligraphy soon!
xx
Ever since I was a child the colour emerald green has always held a fascination for me. It is the colour of pine forests and deep sea water, shimmering beetles and exotic emeralds.
Unlike forest green, emerald green has a luminescence – whilst forest green is earthy, dark and warm, emerald green is it’s brighter, cooler, shinier cousin.
As this is an interiors-based blog I should look at where this gorgeous colour can be found and best used in your home.
Maybe a touch of green for a monochrome bathroom
Large marble tray £42 – House Doctor
A pop of colour for a dining room
A show stopping cut-glass crystal jug
A touch of industrial for storage
Or as a great first impression
House Doctor green marble shelf £65 Graham and Green
Emerald leather bed. Yes!
This would be my sail boat!
A bunch of green foliage, a cushion or a coaster can bring this luscious colour into your home. If you pair with brass it warms up or mix with dark colours for a pop of colour.
xx
A beautiful mum from Jack’s old nursery has set up an interiors company and I went along a few weeks ago to check out her first home sale.
The Small Home is about style and substance, carefully chosen artisan products that inspire your space. They are not perfect, mass-produced replicas. They are about inspiring a feeling and telling a story.
Before I went to see for myself I wondered what could they offer that hadn’t already been done before but I soon understood when I stepped into their space. It’s hard to explain it but there was definitely an atmosphere – a feeling of calm and of connection. This wasn’t just another accumulation of random bits and bobs to buy, things you don’t need and probably won’t use. There was a feeling of emotional well-being. An antidote to city living. A link to those who had created the pieces and to the places where they had been made. An intimacy that can only be created by a small home.
Those gorgeous giant candles on my mantlepiece:
My new metal star:
Now that the summer is heading into it’s last sunset, we turn our attention to chillier nights and crisper days. I actually like Autumn better than any other season – it brings with it beautiful natural colours, cosy jumpers, snuggly throws and clearer skies (what a grey and rainy summer we british have had!!). I much prefer the autumn colours of earthy chocolate, burgundy, amber, sienna, caramel, ochre, sage, and moss to the bright summer splashes of loud, bright, colour.
The high street comes alive at this time. After the mainly holiday shopping of the summer, with it’s mark downs and stock clearance, the stores present their Fall ranges to a hungry public and there are a lot of exciting products to check out.
I’m starting today with an old favourite – West Elm
(I promise I don’t get any commission from anyone!)
x
Last weekend, to celebrate my daughters 8th birthday and to see an old friend who moved back to Denmark a few years ago, I went with stella, her best friend and her friends mother, on a city-break to Copenhagen. It was our first time in this beautiful city full of beautiful people and beautiful buildings!
We ate at the canal side with the children on the first night and on the second, we got a babysitter for the girls and headed to the amazing Geist which served, amongst other delicious local, seasonal fare, a giant lemon flavoured candy floss that accompanied the bill – here it has already been demolished by us!
We had a few post dinner cocktails at Ruby:
The next day we visited the Danish Design Museum which was has the most wonderful collection of art, textiles, mid-century danish designed furniture and lighting.
We took a boat tour around the city and saw some incredible architecture – not least the stunning marble clad National Bank of Denmark designed by Arne Jacobsen:
The Royal Opera House:
The old stock exchange:
I have to say that I struggled to find the nice interiors shops that sell ceramics and textiles and home accessories that I was looking for. Most of the stores we went into had the same danish designer brands and pieces that we can see in the large interiors departments of London department stores and places like the Conran Shop (Hay etc). It shows how easy it is to get danish design now in the UK but I’m sure there are a few little gems of original pieces that we missed the opportunity to seek out and the danish antique stores were closed when we got to them on Sunday. So that means there is definitely an important reason to return to this charming place 🙂
We absolutely loved this city and will definitely be returning soon!
further reading:
the national bank here
x
An exciting update on our house renovation – I have been looking at cornice for our ceilings for awhile. We have very high ceilings in the house and they need finishing and refining a bit so I went to check out loads of samples from the classic cornice company:
I settled on this one called egg and dart.
It is going in the entrance hallway, the first floor hallway and the three bedrooms on the first floor – the children’s rooms.
I want a uniform for the house – in other words a consistency of style – and that was helped by choosing a cornice to use throughout the house (the top floor cornice will be fitted at a later date when we redecorate the whole floor).
Here is the brilliant Dean fitting the first cornice in my daughters room:
I’m sooo excited about this! It’s thumping a load of character into the house that, up to now, has been very plain in feel, both inside and out. I like clean lines but I do believe that in a Victorian house you should celebrate the buildings heritage as much as you can but without compromising on modernity by keeping it fresh.
At the moment they are unfinished plaster which is a lovely dusty salmon pinkish colour but will dry to be paler. We will see what shade they turn into and then decide on painting but a simple soft white emulsion might be the way to go.
What do you think??
x
Ever since we lived in Miami, and before then actually, I’ve always been drawn to the majestic palm tree with it’s fanfare of fronds, it’s iconic shape and infinite variety of style. Palms add grand architecture to skylines, a verdant greenery to hot climates and help shape their tropical landscapes, both in forest environments and in sweltering cities where they provide much needed shade. I often admired their form and billowy gracefulness during my time in Florida where they pepper the roadsides like proud sentinels.
As a reward for working myself stupid the past few weeks I thought I’d treat myself to a bit of reading material in the form of Martius. The Book of Palms by H Walter Lack. I came across this book, in giant tome form, in Selfridges last week and searched for an affordable version online.
How beautiful is this book?! These photos don’t do the images justice (they look better on Instagram!).
*sigh*
More palm-inspired favourites:
I know I’ve said it before but I’ve been impressed with this US store’s online stock updates over the time they’ve been trading in the UK and I think their website is always worth a peek (I don’t get commission from anybody – this is just me being a shopaholic!).
Simple and timeless.
x
French Connection has being doing homewares for a couple of years now and they have slowly been increasing their offering and expanding their furniture and lighting collections as well as home accessories.
Here are my favourites from their latest collection:
xx
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