We are about to complete!

I can't actually believe it, as we speak the final stages of the completion on our new house (Well it's not really new it's well over 100 years old) are taking place. We are picking up the keys this evening and cracking on with cleaning and decorating straight away. So I think it might be a takeaway for dinner and some much needed champagne to celebrate that we are finally in (it's only taken a mere 5 months).

It needs quite a bit of work but we've got plenty of time and family members who are kindly helping out. I will post some before pictures soon

Tent London 2011

Apologies for not posting yesterday or Monday but I was feeling a bit under the weather so had a day under the duvet and now I'm playing catch up.

On Sunday we visited Tent London at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, East London. I try to go to at least one London Design Week event a year and Tent is becoming my favourite, especially now as I'm decorating my own house (Just to let you know we have now exchanged on the house so it's all go for the completion on Thursday, getting seriously excited)

Anyway back to topic of the post, below are my faves from the Exhibition that I thought you might like to hear about, enjoy:

1. I couldn't go to an interiors and furniture exhibition without encountering the ever popular Ercol. They were showcasing two new prototypes of chairs, a new bar stool and stacking chair in collaboration with Russell Pinch. The colours used on the stand are a good indication of the new hues for Autumn/Winter in interiors. Loved the use of orange with royal blue.

2. Zoe Murphy was exhibiting her wonderful array of up-cycled mid century furniture again this year. Every time I see her pieces I get so excited, I really would love one but I think they might be a bit out of my price range. However, she does do commissions, so if you have a piece of retro furniture you really love but needs some updating, she's your girl!

Images from Zoe Murphy

3. Ary Trays new products were also really exciting, my husband and I particularly liked their Alabasta Folk Stripe range designed by British textile designer Asta Barrington. They were displayed on foldaway stands to create fantastic occasional tables, they would look great in the garden.

Image from Ary Trays

4. London Timepiece had a great stand. They deal in a huge range of vintage and retro clocks with everything from Industrial to traditional styles. My husband took a fancy to a few of them, maybe a birthday pressie possibility.

5. Famille Summerbelle was possibly my favourite stand of the day. The company is run by husband and wife team Simon Summerscales and Julie Marabelle. Julie is the very talented artist of ridiculously intricate, personal and lovely papercuts of their favourite cities, London Paris New York and San Francisco. She studied Fine Art and Theatre Set design at St Martin's College in London and her inspiration comes from bringing up their young family between London and Paris. The original papercuts have been vectorised into prints and laser cuts that you can purchase in limited numbers in particular colours. They also produce Paper banners, family trees, cushions and wallpapers all with Julies signature illustrations.

Images above from Famille Summerbelle

6. Bluebellgray by Fiona Douglas is a company I have posted about before, but she had something new and exciting to show at Tent this year. She has now released her signature prints in fabric that can be bought in panels. Simply beautiful!

Image from Bluebellgray

7. Finally last but certainly not least is Mini Moderns. As well as being nominated for an Elle Decoration British Design award this year for Best British brand, their stand was one of the best on show. Showcasing their ever increasing range of wallpapers, cushions, fabrics tea towels and much more. My husband was particularly taken with the Whitby Wallpaper below, featuring a wonderful pattern of waves and boats in the Lido colourway, a lovely mid century Turquoise tone. 

Image from Mini Moderns

Personally I'm a big fan of their Festival Wallpaper in concrete below.

Image from Mini Moderns

Decorate Book Tour - Anthropologie Kings Road

Images from Decor8

Holly Becker of Decor8 fame is in London for Design Week, where she is holding a book signing of her bestselling book Decorate and talk about moodboard how-to. She will be joined by designer Abigail Ahern and stylist/photographer Leslie Shewring at Anthropologie on Kings Road on Sunday 25th September. It starts at 1pm and you need to RSVP: rsvp@anthropologie.com if you would like to attend.
I bought this book a few weeks back and it is by far the best interiors book I've got. It's simply laid out with fantastic photos, floor plans, colour ideas and gives you suggestions on how to decorate on a room by room basis, it really gets the creative juices going. So if you happen to be in London on Sunday, get yourself down there to meet some great creative peeps.

Brita Sweden Rugs

I am in love.....with rugs. Since spotting this image on Pinterest I have been trying to track down a UK stockist of these wonderful reversible soft plastic rugs by Brita Sweden. The only place I have found close is the Scandinavian Design Centre based in Sweden who will ship to the UK. They would make a great runner for the hallway, and because they are plastic are really hard wearing.

All Images from Brita Sweden

Pinterest Home Board

I have been a member of Pinterest for about a week now, and I'm still loving it. There is so much on there in terms of inspiration I've already collected quite a few pins. Check out my Home Board here.

This site is going to be so much help when I come to doing moodboards for the new house, can't wait.

Speaking of the new house, we have an update. The sitting tenant has now moved on, and we managed to get in yesterday to check it all out before we exchange. It's so weird seeing it all empty, we can actually start to imagine what it will look like with all our furniture in. Still lots of decorating to do, nut manageable. So hopefully we should be exchanged by the end of this week and completing on next Thursday, exciting time people.

Autumn at Rifle Paper Co

One of my favourite stationery companies Rifle Paper Co based in Florida, have come up with some lovely greetings cards, invites and place name cards for Autumn. Many are for the American market with Thanksgiving being a big theme, but the Halloween and autumn foliage designs  are great.

Fall Foliage Card

Halloween Lineup Card

Trick or Treat Invitations

Halloween Monster Card

Thankful forest place cards

Love the little squirrel on the Place cards above.

Norfolk Living, Burnham Market

Image from Norfolk Living

If you ever find yourself on the North Norfolk coast and you are in need of a bit of retail therapy check out Norfolk Living in the the lovely town of Burham Market. We took a trip on Saturday to the coast because my husband was taking part in the Round Norfolk Relay so while he was busy running, I was busy shopping (for the new house of course). This shop is a fantastic emporium for everything you could ever need for the home and garden, including lovely giftware if you are stuck for a birthday pressie. I managed to come out with some imitation white hydrangea stems (seriously realistic) and a lovely Grey/Blue vase to put them in. If you fancy a treat after your shopping, head to the Hoste Arms for afternoon tea!