Oozing inspiration...

PHEWWW! What a day...besides me driving a 2 hour round trip to Harrogate to visit the BCTF (British Craft Trade Fair), I'm pretty sure now, sitting here writing this post, is the first proper real sit down I've had all day - and it just feels lovely! (I'm easy pleased aren't I, tell that to Craig won't you!)

Despite feeling slightly yawny right now, today has been a good day! 

So we popped in to Harrogate for a quick whizz around a few fave spots, ( Two actually, we're slow OKAY) before heading on up to the show ground to visit the BCTF. I did manage to pick up a few bargains on our little journey...

James Brindley Interiors is just DIVINE, if you get to Harrogate soon get in here as at the minute they have some really good pieces on offer with good discounts too! I swiped this gorgeous vase that was previously £70, for just...wait a sec...£30! I couldn't resist it's beautiful shape.

I also picked up this lovely 7 piece set in OXFAM for only £4.99. I mean come on, no body has the right to serve up good coffee in awful pots with steals like this kicking about!

ANYWAY, lets get back to the REAL reason I was there. 

So the BCTF is basically a curation of beautiful craft that has being going strong for more than 20 years, showing off more than 500 exhibitors ranging from ceramics, fine jewellers, artists, textile makers, lighting designers THE LOT.  

I was really impressed with the level of talent and it was great to see whats going on in our industry and also to chat to the makers themselves and gain an insight and advice. There are LOADS of talented people at these things and I did manage to buy a directory so no doubt I will drip feed you some information from the loveliness I saw today over the coming weeks, but for now I'm going to share with you my favourite few.

Nicola Elks was a lovely lady who shared with us loads of advice and the thoughts behind her unique textiles all inspired by touch!

Swag and Tassel are a handbag label that I have spotted during my research, I didn't manage to get much from the stand as they were busy but their stuff is just lush!

 Lauren Scott is the one to watch I reckon! She makes amazing textile sculptures of birds and animals  from completely recycled, vintage fabrics and materials. Her attention to detail is STUNNING and is probably what gives her creatures their mystical, intriguing personas! GORGEOUS!!! Give her website a heads up, she's starting up a blog too! :)

And of course, Joanna Coupland! Whom we had the pleasure to with with through uni. Amazing whimsical work thats just irresistible. Theres no way you could walk away from her products without smiling!

Heres a few snaps I captured at the show of Joannas Stand...

Hopefully I'll be there one day, maybe as a buyer or maybe as a maker - who knows!

XOXO.

(All the images are taken from artists own website/ Facebook unless stated that they are my own.)

Is your house...

Happy Monday bloggers, I hope you've had a fabulous weekend and are feeling ready to take on the week ahead!

We had a pretty chilled day yesterday with a morning of cleaning and a visit from the family, plus a walk to beach and back but we did manage to squeeze in a little trip to the new Barker and Stonehouse store at Teesside retail park.

OH. MY. DAYS - it's simply DIVINE! 

I was in total awe from the minute we stepped through the door. The place is SO COOL, quite different to how I remember visiting it as a child (I've vivid memories of being dragged around by our parents!)

For me, the brand has always sold 'different' stuff, but it really is excelling itself now, it seems as though its had a slight rebrand which has brought it right into and beyond current trends. My fave picks were some of the one off, bespoke items that had been hand selected and shipped over from different countries, little additions like this make it a special place to shop in comparison to your run of the mill mass produced high street items. They also make it worth visiting on a regular basis knowing that their stock will most probably change often.

I literally wanted EVERYTHING, and was quite disheartened to leave with nothing however I did settle for the visitor experience, feeling this was quite enough to hit my Sunday afternoon pleasure spot.

I managed to stop drooling and capture these few snaps of some of the 'Timothy Oulton' lighting, they were taken on my phone so please excuse the quality, but you should get a feel for the vibe...

 This image is a little dark but there was two AMAZING chandeliers hanging over a suspended dining table and chairs, which all hung low over a staircase - a fab bit of visual merchandising right there!

 I NEEED these in my life ^^^

It really wasn't just the stuff in the store that was lush, but just as much the visitor experience and visual merchandising of the whole place. I didn't get a snap but my fave bit was several vintage typewriters hung on the wall in rows - ingeniously cool and so simple! And next time I'm definitely hitting up the Chadwicks coffee bar on the top floor!

It's really refreshing to see something as high end as this pop up in Teesside, we get a lot of bad rap and we are a little bit behind in terms of design up here so its nice to finally see some cutting edge, exciting stuff going on. 

If you're local and haven't already, give it a visit, it definitely got me fired up to rethinking my home furnishings.

XOXO.

Heres a few snaps from their free spring brochure, which again matches the high end quality of the store and products. They've pulled together looks and inspiration to make your shopping easier. Happy days! If your house isn't already a Barker and Stonehouse, it soon might be!!!

 I ADORE this aviator clock below...

Sunday morning bloggin' ; a blogger worth bloggin about...SARAH AKWISOMBE

Good morning you lovely lot, I've woken up nicely fuelled after half a bottle of wine and a good old sofa slouch last night - just what the Doctor ordered!

This morning I want to share with you a blogger who I'm pretty new to, but honestly she is one fiesty lady!

Sarah Akwisombe is an award winning blogger and freelance stylist based in London. It sounds like she has a gutsy 'no messing' approach to life and is hitting me up with loads of big time inspiration at the minute! 

Not just the fact that she had the balls to quit her day job and pursue her dreams in making it big in the interior styling/ design industry, but just simply for the FACT THAT SHE CUTS THE BULL SHIT.

This lady really says it how it is, which is highly admirable to see in the field as I'm quickly learning it can all be a bit pretentious.

My fave post of hers at the minute are

this one - mainly cos it links pretty strongly with where my heads at right now

and

this one - this is exactly the no nonsense approach to interiors that I'm talking about, she really ditches right and wrongs and makes it clear that a home should reflect its owners - which I totally agree with.

CHECK her out, I reckon she's the type of lady we all need to take a leaf from!

Oh and 

Get all over this list she's curated 

You'll thank me for sharing this with you I can guarantee!

Happy Sunday

XOXO.

P.s how cool is her home??!!

ALL IMAGES FROM http://www.sarahakwisombe.com

What a difference a knob (ahem drawer!) makes..

Thought I'd share with you guys a little post on another small home project. I painted this dresser about two years ago now when we first moved in so please excuse the paint job as it's ready for a touch up. However I have finally gotten round to sprucing up the drawer knobs, and what a difference they make, just goes to show that the little (inexpensive) details can truly transform a piece...

BEFORE...

F.Y.I. The knobs were bought from a local Alladins cave of a shop in Skelton, Cleveland called Signz interiors, the smaller were £3.99 and the larger £5.99 -  cheaper than most crystal ones I have seen online ;) They had a good selection of colours too!

XOXO.

House reno. PART I...

Sorting through some photos on my mac I came across some 'before' snaps of the house. So for those of you who don't know, we've been busy renovating our house - its not been lots of major, structural stuff but still its been a bit of a long haul. Seeing these pics makes me realise just how much we've done, it definitely feels rewarding. We are almost there so more pics will follow, but in the mean time here's the living room and conservatory snaps...

The living room before we started, when we moved in we stripped a load of bright pink flock wall paper, and paired it right back. we opted for paper on one wall to compliment the natural colour of the  original fireplace. We ripped up 13 year old Karndean flooring and lived with painted floor boards for the 1st year, which I really quite liked at the time but looking back it was all a bit pale.

Then after about a year we made the decision to add a log burner, the house is pretty cold and with the conservatory being all glass its almost unusable in the winter. After a few domestic tifs about where the burner would go and getting past the complications of the glass roof , I finally got my own way and we decided to go for a through and through burner (means it is open in both sides), and we knocked through from the living room into the conservatory. My advice to anyone doing anything similar would be question the obvious. To me, this comes pretty natural, I question EVERYTHING, but my husband wasn't getting it and I was starting to feel a little ganged up on by men to say the least.

STICK TO YOUR GUNS. Yeah it cost a little more, but to me if I couldn't have it how I pictured then it wasn't worth having at all. Both my husband and the fitter were making faces when I asked if it was a possibility, but as soon as I heard him say "It's more difficult, but yeah", I snapped it right up! Don't just do things cos' it's the norm or cos it's all that your workman is capable of, if you visualise something in a certain way, PIPE UP and don't settle for less until you know that it's absolutely IMPOSSIBLE.

A stud chimney breast had to be built on the lounge side in order to create room for the chimney to be diverted away from the glass roof and out to the house roof.

We (I say we...Craig), knocked out the brick under the window, when we had new windows fitted through the house, we opted for French doors here. The idea here is that one day we will build a balcony along the back of the house...one day!

DRUMROLL....TA DAHHH!!!!....

 In the conservatory besides the log burner I'd say the game changer has been painting the mahogany woodwork. It's really lifted the space as well as modernising it at the same time. The walls look so bare on these photos and were crying out for a coffee table or ottoman in this space but I'm holding out to find 'the one'.

So were obviously not totally finished, the most important touches are still yet to be added but like Craig keeps telling me, we can collect those over the years we plan to be here. Like the conservatory the lounge walls still feel so bare and we definitely need some rugs going on. And like Abigail Ahern keeps on telling us, there should be way more lighting in this room- we do have a dimmer though so that's a bonus ;) Keep reading for updates on our very own house reno. and please feel free to comment ;) XOXO.