Great craft fair - West London this weekend

If you happen to be around the Notting Hill/Portobello Road area this weekend be sure to stop in the Homeworks craft fair - 20th Century Theatre, 291 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2QA.

I visited on Thursday evening and wished I could have bought something from every stall!! I did pick up a plate from Lou Rota's stall (who I mentioned in my previous plate post) and some gifts from Petra Boase - I could have spent a lot more on her stall!!

Find out more about the fair on their blog - I hope to featured some of the designers in future posts, so if you can't make it down this weekend, look out for those posts next week! :)

have a great weekend! xxx

Plate Collecting

Along with my search for the perfect prints & artwork for our hallway, I also hope to add a little collection of pretty plates to the wall... I love some of the examples of this I've seen on other blogs...

via design sponge

via Design Sponge

sorry, not sure where I found this... :(

I've started off the collection with this one, which I actually picked up in TK Maxx for £2.99...


these are a few others I've got my eye on, although it could make for an expensive plate display!!

These are so pretty and delicate and have the sweetest messages on them, from mudpuppy on Etsy.... they are $35 which isn't too bad I guess... ;)



and then of course I have to include a gorgeous Lou Rota plate! I've wanted one of these for ages, I reckon they could be a bit of a collectors item one day!

I think a few really special plates bulked out with some vintage market finds will work a treat... China Search do a set of 6 mixed side plates for £10 which would fun to not know what you are going to get!

xxx

Papercuts from Tina Tarnoff

I was scouring Etsy today looking for new prints for our freshly decorated hallway and came across these lovely papercuts....

I think I have a bit of a bird/birdcage obsession taking hold....


This one reads: "Dance like no one is watching, Sing like no one is listening, Love like you've never been hurt and Live like its heaven on earth" -Mark Twain-

This one is just so sweet, I love it.

I'd really love a vintage typewriter, although not quite sure where I would put it, so might have to settle for one of these prints instead!

To see more of Tina's designs, visit her shop here.

books... Storage Style

I don't know about you, but one of my constant battles at home is storage - there is just never enough space or places to put everything! So when I seen the Country Living book - Storage Style by Lesley Porcelli I thought this is perfect for me! It is a lovely book full of gorgeous photography and seems to focus mainly on open storage - so rather than shoving everything in a cupboard and shutting the door, trying to organise all your things and looking good at the same time!

One idea which I have adopted myself is stacking piles of books, originally as we didn't really have much furniture, I used a stack as a bedside table! As in this picture it can look really great....

I love these quite chaotic but organised rooms which use all the space to display and store essentials...

There are lots of ideas for quirky containers, and your best bet is to keep your eyes peeled for vintage items that could be used for storage, like these....


I recently found a similar vintage trunk in a charity shop for about £25, which is great for towels and linen you don't use regularly, or your out of season wardrobe....


and if you're lucky enough to have space for a dedicated laundry room, how great is this dolls house shelving!?!

Images courtesy of Jacqui Small

Inspired by nature....

sorry I haven't been around here much this week... we started decorating our hallway, and I am seriously knackered!!
Also this week I have done a little guest blog post at a relatively new blog - shopaholic.become.co.uk - I have written a post about nature inspired home accessories called 'Outside Inside', which you should check out here - it features some lovely items, most of which are on my own wish list!!

Here are a few other lovely bits which I couldn't fit into that one post but I love just as much!!

Butterfly Garland - £12 - Cox & Cox

birdcage mirrors - from £60 - An Angel at my Table

Butterfly print - £17 - Graham & Green

These stag cushions are gorgeous, but not cheap....

Enormous Stag cushions - £125 - Pedlars

or why not try your hand at a bit of needlework?! buy a kit from Felicity Hall
kits start at £60, and come with all the bits you need - perfect little project for a winter nights beside the fire!


xxx

Rachel Whiting - Photographer

Today I just wanted to share with you the work of a photographer's work I really like... Rachel Whiting.
The shoot that caught my eye initally was in Homes & Antiques earlier in the year... see the top 2 pics. This is kind of the look I'm wanting to go for in my house!

Se her website for more.

the next thrifty chair makeover!

So those of you that may have seen my last chair makeover may be excited to know I've now done the other one! As planned, it is completely different from the Cath Kidston oil cloth one AND it cost me absolutely nothing! not a penny!
To remind you what the original chair looked like.....

and now she looks like this.....!!

what do you think?! do you prefer this one or this first one?!
here's a few more closer pics....

Luckily I managed to find some pots of paint in our shed left behind by the previous owners, so I just painted one coat of this ochre colour - kind of a light grey / green - and then I gave it a rub with sandpaper in a few areas to give it the good old 'shabby chic' look! For the seat cover, I had a batch of Ian Mankin fabric samples knocking around that I knew I'd find a use for one day, and I just stitched them all together on the machine and re-covered the seat with it! Voila!
I think I've definitely found a new passion, it is so satisfying bringing something back to life!

xxx