labour & wait

I left Tent London on Friday feeling a bit confused, apart from a few old favourites I am not sure if I was very inspired by the design on offer. I sought refuge in Labour&Wait, now relocated to trendy Redchurch Street (along with the Story Deli, home of the delicious frilly pizza). Every humble household item for sale in Labour&Wait looks beautifully designed but probably wasn't, it has just stood the test of time. I fell for an orange enamel teapot/kettle, a lovely thing at a not very humble price, I blew several weeks charity shop budget! 

Now obsessed with enamel ware I spotted this big blue jug with iconic stem print pattern in a charity shop in Newcastle this weekend, somewhere to keep my melamine collection.

out of chaos

Well, I put half of it back and it looks a lot better, the catherineholm pot stays (sorry lou!) but the green paint may go. It's London Design Week and there is an overwhelming amount to see in a very short space of time, so today I am getting my dose of cool and heading off to lurk around Brick Lane for a bit and take a look at Tent London.

too much stuff

I had to clear my kitchen today for a shoot, this is just a tiny bit of it.... it's not going back!

Some new postcards arrived yesterday, rather a lot of them, all on recycled stock so kind to trees.

A huge thank you to Sandra from Germany who emailed to let me know that I had the measurement wrong on my wallpaper shop page, making it seem to be the most expensive wallpaper in the world. Yes indeed, it should be £52.00 for a 10metre roll not a 1metre roll.

And many thanks to Irene from Bloesem who featured the wallpaper in her new Mondays quick start slot.

apples and pears

I have been avoiding charity shops lately (too much stuff!) But I had to bring home this giant glass pear to go with my giant glass apple. It's a funny thing but I only ever see these giant glass fruits in charity shops, I don't know what they are for but they seem like a good place to keep apples and pears. Actually these are quinces, my quince tree is leaning over with the weight of fruit this year which fills me with a slight feeling of doom, all that chopping and stirring, plus I have a membrillo/jelly backlog from last year, I need some new ideas!

happy corner

Just around the corner from colour makes people happy is sparkle&spin (this is a very cheery corner of Southeast London, also home to local stationery cupboard heroes present&correct) Sparkle&spin is a tiny treasure box of a shop selling beautiful Danish designed children's clothes and selection of colourful and creative toys, I have my eyes on this money box.

A while ago the girls at sparkle&spin featured me on their blog which was lovely. Also thanks to arthur&martha for a mention on their site full of lovely things that don't cost a fortune, and huge thanks to bowiestyle for a feature on the fabulous print&pattern today. Blimey!

colour makes people happy

Colour makes people happy, I can't argue with that! It's the name of our local paint shop run by Simon March who sells a range of eclectically named family friendly paints from Holland under his brand name of Siecle. This inspirational shop and extensive workshops are so long that the front door is in yummy East Dulwich and the back door in trendy Peckham. Simon displays his fabulous range of colours on painted wooden clogs and among other attractions he has installed a huge spinning paint splattering machine so that you can make your own giant paint splattered painting. The colours for my wallpapers are selected from the Siecle range so that you can match walls to woodwork.

mellow yellow

The moss yellow wall paper has arrived and is in my shop now. Although this came last in my mini survey
it's my favourite and a colour that crops up all over my house. Very difficult to photograph and describe, is it an olivey yellow? or a yellowey olive? or the colour of unripe quinces or ripe pears? It's a mossy sort of yellow so that's what I have called it.
It is best seen as a sample which are available if you contact me here.

it's here!

Wrapped and ready to roll, the first two colours of Logpile wallpaper have been delivered and they look fantastic. I organised the label printing from afar so unable to proof read it comes complete with minor typo. Well, I think 'anging instructions' adds a bit of South London flavour!

Lucy, my home grown PR girl has found time in an incredibly busy summer holiday to organise press releases and hi-res images - all the stuff that usually lurks at the bottom of my to-do list. Our first mention is in the Ideal Homes mag October issue, exciting!

The wall paper and cushions to match are in my shop now.