Apologises

Have just looked at my new post and noticed the font has gone a bit weird which under normal circumstances I would look into but there is a courier bashing on the door, Maud my puppy is tearing up the bin and the phone keeps ringing non stop. The drunken light (we house a series of drunken pieces of furniture in the store) has obviously had one to many over night and fallen completly off the table knocking over everything in its wake! I want to go home and start the day again.

Ramblings

We are producing our own line of lighting which I am incredibly excited about but to say it’s been one of the hugest learning curve of my year is a smidge of an understatement. I wanted to get our lights produced in the UK as opposed to China and beyond but that meant far higher production costs which worried me. It also meant if we produced locally we could guarantee a far superior quality as I could easily whiz up north andmicro manage every step of the way should I need to (being a total control freak this appealed greatly)! And now we have our poodle lamps made by a small ceramic studio in Stoke and I have to say I am so glad we didn’t go down the mass market route. Being handmade there is something intrinsically beautiful about them – ok they are not cheap and therefore not easily obtainable but I think they have an inherent individually that you wouldn’t see if they were mass-produced.This in the most rambling intro ever got me to thinking how like my lamps we want everything in our homes to mean something to tell a narrative. And so below – a few spaces that marry handmade objects with vintage finds. God save good taste even if it means sometimes we have to bash it over the head, knock it sideways and revamp it a smidge with the odd kitsch yet beautiful poodle lamp.

 

Below Julianna Moore’s NY pad which marries hand crafted with vintage with modern – just beatiful.

Planning your space

With the holiday season fast approaching why is that we (I should say I) look over our homes with a most critical eye. We are hosting Christmas this year and suddenly everything looks shabby and half finished. The whole house needs a fresh coat of paint, the ground floor needs to be transformed into a library, the hallway into a cosy little gallery. The bedroom needs to be relocated to another floor and the office to another room – my oh my I am exhausted just thinking about it. Mentioning such plans to my husband over the weekend was not met with the kind of response I was hoping for. Hey ho as they say – will keep working on it. First up on the revamp plan is the study more out of necessity than anything else since we have come to the conclusion that we simply cannot work together in the same room.  Graham is a clutter bug with heaps of mess all ovcr the place (breakfast bowls, papers, and god knows what else). I on the other hand cannot function in such clutter I need my scented candle, a fire flickering in the hearth and some jazz on in the background. So on putting together a mood board for myself I came across this image which I thought would make a very sweet home office. Its cosy not clinical and I like its rustic charm. Whether I can convince hubby this is exactly what we need is a whole different matter!

From drab to fab

Before I start yabbering on about design I must mention that my publishers have just told me that my book is being translated into German, French & Spanish so am incredibly excited about that – thank you Germany, France & Spain – that has brightened up my thursday morning no end.

So onto the business in hand – creating a stylish retreat takes a bit of work and a big dose of creativity but the good news is it doesn’t have to cost a load of money. By hunting around thrift shops and flea markets you can piece together some fabulous unique finds that make you want to hang out at home and never leave.

Suddenly I find myself really into signage and letters – I love how they transform walls adding instant personality. Old letters and signage are quite easy to hunt out on ebay and at flea markets. My sister used some old bus roll signage on her bedroom wall which I adore and I have also just come across a design by Nate Burkus which surprisingly I am rather liking. Mr Burkus’s style is a little too uptight and structured for me but I find myself drawn to the image below. The  painting totally transforms this room and I totally love  the black and white link between the floor and the artwork. Now if I could just paint the walls a colour and unstyle those cushions would totally move in!

My sisters bedroom and her bus roll signage which she has used as wallpaper – clever, clever, clever (lets not tell her that)!

Photography Graham Atkins Hughes

Giftable rabbits

Love this time of year – deliveries are coming in literally every day transforming the store for the holiday season. One of the biggest surprises for my sister and I were the success of our rabbit money boxes – we played it safe and ordered merely a hundred of them first time round and within a few weeks they completely sold out. More are being delivered as we speak but have just found out from the supplier that they are not making them anymore so we have the last 68 left in the world and 20 people are already on the waiting list – which means I only get to have 20 or so in our store and 20 in our concession at Bluebird yikes!

Here they are cool hey!

Love Your Home

This is a super early post for me (I should be at the gym right now pounding the treadmill) but tuesday mornings are Bluebird mornings whereby my sister and I leave at the crack of dawn to go and replace and replenish our concession at the Shop At Bluebird.

“My home is my heart and soul. It visually and physically expresses exactly who I am. I hate leaving the place”. So says Anita Calero – photographer and former stylist. Anna lives in Manhattan loft which she has cozied up transforming it into an interesting eclectic space and I totally empathise and love her quote.

Its funny because in an interview recently I had expressed to the journalist how often at times through, my working day images of my home will flash thru my mind and I long to be transported there. I thought it was me being overly sad and obsessed but now I read in British Elle Dec how Anita at times spends whole periods of time in her pad without going out!

I love love love how our homes can give us so much joy. For me it’s all about  surrounding myself with things I love  so that’s a whole hodge podge of rugged and imperfect bits and bobs that are both humble and luxurious. And of course a puppy called Maud and a husband who (it has to be said drives me crazy at times with his optimism) but has believed in me throughout and worked harder than anyone I know (without I hate to admit complaint) – very much unlike me –  to make this business work.

Below Anita’s pad – she has surrounded herself with things she loves and its beautiful

Hallways and making them fabulous

I came across the apartment of Marcelo Lucini not so long ago – it has a real sense of old glamour about it which I am rather loving.

I am thinking of revamping our hall and have been somewhat inspired by Lucini’s glamorous yet non-uptight approach. Halls are a hard one to get right – being such a transient space they often get overlooked, and yet they set the tone for the rest of one’s scheme.  My boring hall houses an oversized mirror and a few hand hooks and that is it. Appalling I thought to myself at the weekend, what an earth have I been doing with my time!   I want it to be a space to linger – a space I can hang art salon style (higgledy piggledy in other words), a place I can display books and mags and other bits and bobs. So this weekend’s plan is to revamp the whole space (sorry honey I know its our weekend off but how could we possibly enjoy it when the hall is migraine inducing)!

One of the room’s in Mr Lucini’s apartment  which has inspired me to revamp my hallway to similar effect.

Rita Konig’s new pad in NY – her kitchen is actually in her hallway. Loving the way the space doesn’t feel  anything like a hallway.

I have used this image before but am not apologising as I think its such a fabulous idea for long narrow halls such as mine – can’t wait for my revamp to commence!

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New Products, Shabby Chic and other things

Apologises for the lack of posts this week it has been beyond crazy. New products arriving every day have swamped the store and it’s been a bit of a battle to keep up with it all. Having said that we have some incredible beautiful pieces in store – my favs include a beautiful little collection of mouth blown glass bud vases that look really vintagy and are perfect presents being priced at between £12 and £20 depending on the size, oversized gold leaf ladles from a collective in Berlin and some beyond beautiful textiles. I will take pictures and post for you guys if I ever get my act together!

Onto today I was just reading the NY Times on line and was surprised to here that Shabby Chic had filed for bankruptcy due to an expansion programme that was not sustainable which saddened me as I know only to well how scary it is. We had been asked about a year and a bit ago to open a retail store in the basement of the Plaza Hotel in NY – at the time the Plaza’s retail outlet was being touted as a European hip collective of cool stores and we were beyond close to signing. As more and more European stores pulled out of the deal we decided (after many tears on my part) to do the same. As awful as it felt, as I am so desperate to have a concession or store in the US it felt like a good thing to do – and in hindsight it was (a month later my husband was made redundant). Fast forward a year and Graham is fully ensconced in the business – it has been our best ever year and one day I know my dream of opening Stateside will come true. In the meantime Rachel Ashwell, owner of Shabby Chic has brought back her business and is opening three stores one in London and two in the States. So here’s to Rachel – wishing her  the very best of success and below one of her iconic sofas. Rachel made shabby, wrinkled lived in sofas chic – and I take my hat off to anything that’s a bit wrinkled, lived in and scruffy!

Textiles for after dinner lounging

First up this tuesday morning a big thank you to Casa Sugar for such a lovely review of my book http://www.casasugar.com/5497389 – beyond appreciated.

With a chill in the air I have started to think about cosying up my pad. I might sound like an odd bod but I happen to love winter – dark evenings to  me mean roaring fires, candlelight, stews on the stove and a big dose of jazz. I want to snuggle in my armchair with an extra soft throw (I think Maud my puppy thinks that what she is and she has taken to curling around my neck whether i’m in my armchair or in my bed)! I am super fussy with textiles (when we first moved into our house it took me a year to save for a throw that adorns my bed – 10 years later its still there and still much loved). Cheap throws and cushions look cheap I think so its worth saving up for.

We stock a beautiful array of textiles from a collective in Italy – the cushions are hand woven from the finest merino wool, hand dyed and some are intershot with silk. Yes they are expensive but in my mind its better to have something that you love and will cherish for a very long time than something that you buy year on year and then chuck. Below are some of the texiles that we have in store and of course I have sneaked a few home!

Photography Graham Atkins Hughes

Roaring fires, a big helping of apple crumble and a good book – coupled with textiles for after dinner lounging – perfect!

Photography Graham Atkins Hughes

Atelier Abigail Ahern & Bluebird

Two posts in one day is I know rare for me but I have just come across the blog weebirdy.com and they have taken a couple of fab images of our new concession at The Shop at Bluebird which I wanted to share x