Fabulous Fabrics

I spotted this fabric in the recent issue of Living Etc magazine. It's by Sandberg a Swedish Textile and wallpaper company and is called Laurent, it's available in two colourways Black and Light Turquoise as seen below. I love the kid's party feel of the pattern, it would look great in a little girl's room, mind you I think it would be great in a kitchen, makes me hungry just looking at it. There are a few UK stockists that stock their textiles and wallpapers so take a look

All Images from Sandberg

Whiteboard - an alternative to Blackboard Paint

I don't know about you but I'm really keen on painting part of the wall in the kitchen in blackboard paint. The only thing is it might be hard to live with once it has been written on a hundred times and starts to look messy. So I was considering painting a large MDF board instead and wall mounting that, so it's not so permanent.

However, I may have changed my mind again as I was reading the HomeShoppingSpy Blog, I noticed this very cute Whiteboard Write Board available from The Contemporary Home. It is even styled to look like a notepad of lined paper and includes a black marker. At 50cm square it is a really good size for note making, I need all the help I can get as I never notice notes left by my husband.

Image from The Contemporary Home

Alternatively a set of four 20cm square boards in different paper styles (lined and graph paper) is available from Rockett St George

Image from HomeShoppingSpy

Decorate, it's here!

Images from Decor8 and Amazon

I have previously blogged about a fantastic book Decorate created by Holly Becker of Decor8 fame. It's an inspirational book crammed full of ideas for the home, and thankfully unlike other books it makes sense of a world that often scares people, by looking at your home creatively.

Well I have finally got my own copy and it is a truly beautiful book, with hundreds of interior images. I think I would like to use every idea somewhere in my new house. That's probably not possible but I might give it a damn good try!

The book explains about planning your space, use of colour and decorative pieces and even how to make statements of your favourite pieces of furniture or architectural features you have in your home. I can't wait to get started on using it.

So if you fancy an interiors book with a difference check it out.

A wonderful weekend back home!

I hope you all had a good weekend, even if the british summer has officially ended!

My husband and I spent the weekend with old school friends in my old stomping ground of Rutland and Lincolnshire. On Sunday we cycled round Rutland Water, a man-made reservoir near Oakham. The full route is 23 miles including the Hambleton peninsula so we just did the 17 mile route round the main reservoir. Of course, stopping at a few pubs on the way round.

Image from Hambleton Hall

If you are ever in that area it's well worth a look, even if it's just for a picnic or to walk the dog. If you do the cycle ride, make sure you stop in the beautiful village of Hambleton and either have a drink at The Finch's Arms or if you fancy something smarter, check out Hambleton Hall (this is where we got married so I love revisiting it).

Image from Hambleton Hall

Then on Monday my husband was taking part in a 10K multi terrain race on the grounds of Grimsthorpe Castle. A couple of friends came along with their beautiful Beagle Bella and we pottered around the Grimsthorpe festival for the rest of day easting Ostrich burgers and fantastic home-made fudge and cakes. So much for diet!

Image from Grimsthorpe Castle

Orla Kiely Charity Bag for Tesco

Back in December I had posted about the Orla Kiely shopping bags sold in aid of Clic Sargent at Tesco stores. Well I finally managed to get my hands on not one but two of the designs. My friend Mel who lives in Somerset managed to get them in her local Tesco, for some reason I could never find them up this way. As far I know these are the designs that have been released so far.

Inkodye

I was reading Jessica's How about Orange blog this morning and saw her most recent post about Inkodye, a light-sensitive dye for textiles, wood and leather. They had sent her a sample of this brilliant and she decided to test it out. It's a bit like Batik but much easier and less messy (I seem to remember getting wax everywhere when I did it at school)

You simply brush it on evenly with a foam brush onto your fabric of choice (has to be a natural fibre). You then place items/shapes of your choice on top of the fabric and lay it in the sun for 5-6 minutes. The colour will deepen and where you have placed the shapes will remain bleached out. Immediately after removing the shapes from the fabric, to avoid the dye under the shapes from developing, rinse the fabric in the sink and wash with fabric detergent.

Below are a few images of her test, for more examples of how Inkodye can be used check out the website here.

All images from How about Orange

M&S and Conran

I was thrilled to hear about the recent collaboration between Conran and Marks and Spencer. Over recent years M&S has been trying to improve it's homewares offering, making it more modern and contemporary so this collection makes complete sense.

Images from Marks and Spencer

An exclusive preview collection is available from mid-September. It will include everything from rugs to the sofa pictured above in classic mid-century hues and timeless shapes, making them collectors items for the future. I recently bought the Ideal Home magazine and it included a free M&S catalogue containing the rest of the collection, so go take a look!