lazy cozy

tuesday treasures

2012-02-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

after starting the day at the dentists (horror!),

today was a very enjoyable and productive day off...

local charity shop finds so i can indulge in some (more) world pattern mixing craziness at home and in dress a la the fantabulous Justina Blakeney (formerly of Compai)

oh yes, and a suprise shed find by mr l.c. of a tord boontje garland which we bought with our wedding gift vouchers seven years ago

a baking and cooking fest of sweet potato falafel, two salads, hummus, navajo flatbreads, a giant batch of sugar cookies AND the above banana muffins for our breakfasts this week

i also did a new faaan-cy manicure and customised a dress into a skirt and little jacket that are trimmed with flouro pink stitching and TASSELS!! (more on that tomorrow!)

PHEW!!

washi tape manicure

2012-02-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

this is the way to fill a sunday evening...

nail varnish, washi tape, craft knife and spare time equals

super lazy cozy manicure (on horrible flaky hands!)

sunday supper

2012-01-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

a healthy vegan supper for the new year

onion bhajiis with carrot & cucumber salad

onion bhajiis

white onions

gram (chickpea) flour

ground cumin

podered tumeric

ground black pepper

salt

water

sweat onions, spices and seasoning in oil.

whem onions are soft, mix into thickish batter with the flour and some water.

shallow fry on highish heat, turning once, and trying not to maim yourself with splashes of hot oil.

salad

carrots

cucumber

parsley

lemon

olive oil

salt&pepper

grate carrots, dice cucumber, chop parsley.

mix into bowl with a small amount of s&p, lemon juice and olive oil.

serve with chilli jam. mmmmmmm!

(full disclosure: before we ate this, we ate a large pack of serrano ham straight out of the packet, like pigs, cannibal pigs eating other pigs)

oh, sad day

2012-01-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

i always hate the when the day comes every year to take down the tree.

we went with pompoms and popcorn this year

our poor living room looks naked.

happy new year!

2012-01-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

and happy new lazycozy!

after a stressful and difficult 2011, 2012 is a year of fresh starts and creativity in the l.c. household, so lazycozy is back.

christmas was all about extreme re-couperation after the annual retail (and merchandising) hell. it was low key and lovely.

we have been working on many projects over the past year, including the black hallway and a bargainous new ercol daybed for the living room, both of which need a few final tweaks and fixes.

(if one looks closely one can see the double sided tape that has failed to keep tthe fabric trim under the picture rail on, and cat scratches on our home made indian "silver" dresser")

there will be many lovely updates on our decorating to come!

we have started the new year with healthy strawberry and banana smoothies, and i have started it with new blond hair!

the photo makes it look ok, but in reality it is a weird orangey colour until i can bleach it again tomorrow.

the snazzy bandage on my hand is a result of a bad fall in november.

by far the worst event of 2011 in the l.c. house was the death of poor little mew mew, but now these two have come to live with us, mr clyde being very co-operative and photogenic, and miss bonnie being almost impossible to tame!

here's to a fantastic new year!!

wedding invitations, and bad photography...

2010-08-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

i have been working on stationery for my cousin-in-law's (its a thing!) autumn wedding.
she wanted a simple, typographic theme, and i'm pretty happy with what i've come up with...

not so happy with my photographic skills, much visual merchandising related tiredness is not helping!

neither is the fact that i have been fighting with my (very expensive) printer which is not letting me print envelopes (the envelope above is not meant to be just blank, oh no, i have special plans for the envelopes!)

i got them!!

2010-08-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

ooh, look what i own...

i think i will mount them on a lace-y paper platform in a shadow box for now, but i may also make a white paper baba-yaga house to go on the top of them...

baba-yaga is a witch in russian fairy tales who always impressed me as a (slightly odd) child.

strictly speaking her house has chicken legs, but crows legs are so much more creepy!

also...

2010-07-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

ebay

cute and cozy, whilst also really strange and disturbing. perfect!!

today i am coveting...

2010-07-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

an antidote to the granny-ness that has overtaken me of late.
i really, really,really want some of these - the start of a deceased menagerie if you like...

beloved & co, etsy

tophattaxidermy.com

and i am totally and utterly head-over-heels in love with these...

good ol' ebay

for some reason the dis-embodiment makes them so much better!!!

things i may someday make...

2010-07-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

like an old lady, i am now searching out favourite yarns! i bought some gorgeous multi coloured Rowan wool in Liberty on a trip to London last summer, and am coming close to finishing it (NOOOOOO! must hoard, must hoard!).
as well as lovely (and expensive!) yarns, they also have a free projects section on their website, which might even get me to learn to knit more than plain stitch...

LOVE the plaited necklace, and i could actually make the top one as it is crochet, though deciphering the pattern might take some work!

such a cute tea-cozy, and its called the 'hug' cozy!

i want this whole outfit, but may have to ask my knitting meistress mother to knit this sweater for me, for my up-coming birthday!

its not an addiction!!

2010-07-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

i have been crocheting cushion covers obsessively for the last month...

when i should have been doing something much more constructive and profitable like designing and printing cards.

now i just have to make the actual cushion covers up, make labels, decide where the best place to sell them is (and actually get around to doing so), and price them so that i am not working as slave labour and so that people don't think they should be made of pure gold!

thank you, and ooooh look!

2010-07-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to all the new lazycozy followers, and amazed thanks to louise at the lovely australian blog table tonic, full of stunning interiors eye-candy!

table tonic is also a superb emporium of lots of my favourite things; mr l.c.will be glad we do not live in the antipodes, as i want ALL of these!

vintage suzaniis...

ikat cushions and embroidered mexican bedspreads...

moroccan leather pouffes...

and, oh!, look at this blue moroccan wedding blanket; we have a gorgeous traditional one which we bought on our honeymoon, but now i want to go back even more so that i can get one of these!

a little picture...

2010-07-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

and a lot of bravery! i did a quick sketch of mew mew the other night, because i really want to be able to draw and i have to start somewhere...

it is in no way anatomically correct, but its the first drawing i have done for years and years that i am at all happy with. trying to draw correctly makes me (actually) feel like crying so i'm going with picasso, who said he spent his whole life trying to unlearn how to draw - lucky i don't have years of training then!

it also made me very happy that mr l.c., my pop and my sister all - independantly of each other - said it looked a bit warholesque - my ultimate illustration hero, and, y'know, not that bad of an artist all round!!

pink-slaw, geodes and turbans

2010-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

my mum and dad have been staying with us for the weekend, so we thought we would treat them to our new favourite recipie, pink-slaw, made with beetroot and turnip (from our garden) and red cabbage (from the supermarket!), and just a little bit of mayonnaise...

mmmmmm, pink-slaw and roast chicken!

my pop pays good attention and brought me a lovely little geode from the shop at the ulster museum...

and my maw, in her creative genius, brought a turban from a performance of a mini-play she wrote, which i nabbed as i think it looks rather fetching in a little edie type way.

no, i don't think it makes me look like a crazy at all!

on the subject of bathrooms...

2010-07-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

in my search for images for a project at work today, i came across these two vinatge 'vent-away' toilet ads with a perfect but somewhat bizzare visual concept...

via dads vintage ads

via adclassix

i particularly like yellow one, coloured bathroom suites surely must be due for a revival!

my goodness me!!!

2010-07-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

the bathroom floor got on apartment therapy!!
i think i might be speechless!!

bedroom plan, and some coveting

2010-07-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

our spare bedroom is currently being used as mew mew's bedroom, she basically has her own bed! as it's bigger than our current bedroom, we think we'll swap, so we plan to get started on decorating it soon (tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow!); we will be putting up a picture rail and skirting boards (to be painted white) and painting below the picture rail in this turquoise-y beauty ...

i have had the curtains i plan to use in the wardrobe in our room for about two years, bought from a charity shop (of course!) and lined with turquoise! (it's quite a big scaled pattern, i think it looks like it should be in a large english country house, or maybe even a bit palm springs-y)

this picture from the car boot sale down the road, which i masked off and sprayed the frame of, will be featured somewhere...

the following two items, from a very nice antique shop, are in the fantasy design of the room, as the fabric - which i would use on a chair - is not for sale (boo)...

and the ridiculously gorgeous venetian glass mirror is £220 - waaaay out of our budget. but i LOVE it so much it makes me want to cry...

well of course!!

2010-07-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

i decided to have a t'internet free long weekend - haven't even checked my emails - i get on ikea hacker and also have a busy comment weekend on lazycozy!!
sorry to anyone who thought i was being ungracious or rude!!
and as to the question of the booze bottles in the bathroom, they hold our bath-creme and shampoos! i hardly ever drink, but i do like to try and retain the veneer of rock'n'roll, and bombay saphire is most definitely my booze of choice, ooh or hendrick's cucumber gin - i do like gin!!

today i am coveting...

2010-07-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

all this thrifting isn't just glamour thrifting, it born of actual pauper-ness, so today i decided to go anthropologie fantasy shopping...

i love these geode-like coasters and hope the geological mini-trend of the moment lasts a while - i really want some crystal clusters and wish i still had all the rocks and minerals i used to collect from the museum when i was a kid.

i do like a terrarium, and i love the seafaring theme of these, they make me want to sing sea-shanties!

as for the cat plate and the shower curtain, these are fantasy shopping even if i had the money, as they are just too girly for mr l.c. to live with (even though he actually wanted our pink fridge)!

perfect dress by proxy

2010-07-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

ok, its not the PERFECT dress, but it is a very nice dress, and it was only £9 in tkmaxx, and now i won't have to yearn so much for the cath kidston one...

for me a pretty white dress is a wardrobe staple, and i can't wear my lovely antique one as i bought it when i was teeny-tiny and now my well-fed arms are ripping it when i try to move!! i still look at it every day though, hung up in our bedroom...

oh well. i shall be wearing the proxy dress with black tights, black slip and my dead man's brogues which i got in a charity shop for £5...

..like a fatter, older alexa chung!

thank ebay!

2010-07-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

ebay blessed us with five sets of these lovely blue ceramic doorknobs (for £11!).

mr l.c. remains to be convinced, he needs a bit of help to see past their 80s-ness, he has asked me to explain and justify my design process. i hope i don't have to build a 3D scale model like i did when i was planning the bathroom. (yes, i really did, i spent a whole afternoon in my old office job doing just so - oh for a husband with no design opinions!!)
i think the hallway plan can rock them, and as there are only five and we have six doors, the rooms that blue won't work in can have different interior handles. (the graham and green ones!!!)

more bathroom stuff!

2010-07-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

mr l.c. and i have been busy refurbishing some of our spoils which we got in the "dead people shop" - so called by my beautiful, clever, talented, younger and only sister (contractual obligation!!) - a house clearance warehouse paradise!

this is the cool little stool in its original state - it was deee-sgustingly filthy and the seat fabric was almost totally worn away. i cleaned it up, spray painted the base, and upholstered the seat.

now it looks like this (!) and it even has a little basket under the seat for us to store our stuff that doesn't look good with the booze bottles!

mr l.c.'s contribution to the refurbishment of bathroom goods was first the cleaning of our new, non-crappy-plastic, scales. unfortunately the cleaning led to them not working, so he took them apart, figured out how they work, and fixed them! (i am so proud!)

now we have real vintage scales which even have a little light at the face, much better than the p diddy ones!

2010-07-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

i have lots of excellent saturday spoils and related projects to share, but i will split them over the week, as i am kind of good for nothing today, due to the fact that my digestive system has finally broken under the strain of the lazy cozy diet of treats as staple foods!

i did make this while feeling sorry for myself on the sofa though...

i'm making myself use my hoarded materials, this used some gorgeous wool by kaffe fassett (again! - i really like his use of colour). it is backed with a deep green felt and i think it looks very at home on mr l.c.'s sofa (we have one each, we don't share!!)

fancy bathroom blind

2010-07-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

no more peep shows!! as budget did not allow for a fancy custom printed blind, i decided to cobble together a custom patterned blind myself. i used a fantastic kaffe fassett fabric from my hoard, so now i can look at it every day as opposed to looking at it neatly folded in a cupboard!

i started with an ikea cheapest ENJE roller blind and my lovely, lovely fabric...

i measured the length that the blind needed to be when fully rolled down in situ, and marked this length plus 5cm (so there would be no way that we would see the abrupt end of the fabric)...

i then weighed down the fabric and measured it against the blind, leaving about 10cm extra to wrap over the back. (the champagne was a congratulatory bottle for a visual merchandising competition this time last year which is still to be drunk when i and my glamourous assistant get together for dinner - it was the heaviest thing i had to hand!!!)

i used my new favourite adhesive product (and i do like adhesive products A LOT) to stick the fabric to the blind...

i spread the pva on in about 20cm sections and smoothed the fabric on using my metal metre rule (this was suprisingly effective, i only had to unpeel it a couple of tiny bits, due to small creases in the middle - i should have ironed them out first)

then i just had to adhere the remainder to the back of the blind, cut a straight edge...

and trim the along the edges (my fabric was only slightly wider than the blind, so i didn't need to cut the width before i pasted it).

then mr l.c., with his superior diy skillz, kindly fitted the blind, et voila...

a very stylish addition even though i say so myself, with the plus side that my neighbours no longer can be ambushed by the sight of my what would very kindly be described as rubenesque flesh anymore.

more quirky ceramics!

2010-07-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

the word whimsical could have been invented for Bjorn Wiinblad's mid-century ceramics...

i love the stripe and pinwheel design on this (even though her eyes are a bit scary!)

the april showers and the october apple harvest are particularly sweet highlights of the romantic year in this series of mugs. my aunt has a really pretty little plate with a couple in a paris scene that i have always loved, now i may have to make a purchase of some of these mugs from luna.

knobs! (so,so sorry)

2010-06-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

we finally have our full retinue of doors, all attatched to their respective doorholes! after a couple of years with various doors missing, mr l.c. finished the last door today, so now we need to buy some fancy doorknobs to replace the mismatched and ill fitting assortment we now have (although i wouldn't mind a selection of different styles, just nicer than horribly nicotine stained and uncleanable bakelite and aluminium.)

these are my ideals...

i love these classic glass faceted ones from graham&green, particularly the green, and i also really like these glass ones with painted flowers, they don't seem to be available anymore, but i think i may have to decorate whatever doorknobs we end up with in such a manner!

so pretty - this may just be a step to far for the mister! - so on a more sober note...

these (very, very pricey) victorian ones from ebay are just georgeous, and just look at the little details on the backplates. i think we are in for a long search!

saturday spoils!

2010-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

three car boot sales and a couple of charity shops later...

a very pretty bird print in a nice simple frame, and three little silver plated urns for flowers etc...

a really crudely modeled fake jasperware plastic umbrella stand that i love the colour of, and also kind of love for it's crapness...

a set of two smallish wooden shelf/brackets which i will use in the back bedroom for little bedside tables (i have had this plan in mind for a couple of years now!)

a really cute little thistle pot, a discarded holiday souvenir as evidenced by the blurry lovely stamp on the bottom (i have a bit of an obsession with off register and messed up print, i think the demand for and pursuit of 'perfection' is a social illness!!)

and a seventies staffordshire ironstone steak-plate - i have wanted some of these since the 90s when they cost A LOT in london vintage shops, the style reminds me of jamie hewlett - i wonder if he ate a lot of steak in pubs growing up!

mew mew also seems to like it so i might have to buy some more!

weighty issues

2010-06-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

i need to lose weight, so i need to weigh myself, so i need to buy scales. i'll buy the cheapest i can find, but these are the fantasy, lovely bright yellow seca medical style for about £70 (for bathroom scales that i am destined to despise!!)

these scales,however, are a sign that all is not right with the world...

24carat gold, real white leather foot plate, the (P) Diddy of the personal weighing world. £650, really? really??

...although the more i look at them the more i think i might kind of like them.

the PERFECT dress

2010-06-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

oh why can't cath kidston just reduce this to £25, so that i can spend days of whimsy just like their model.
we even stock the spotty windmills in work, so i'd be ready propped!

i know, i know, the dress to end all dresses is from cath k. and i aspire to whimsy- so rock n roll, so edgy!

important research!

2010-06-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

i have been working on some wedding invitations and , on a quest to find the name of the classic border style with squares on the corners, have fallen into a wee bit of an invitation internet gawking addiction! (martha stewart weddings has a lot to answer for!)

utterly stunning hand drawn calligraphic genius by none else than rifle.

pretty whimsy, lovely colours and lots of little dots (!!) by the indigo bunting (a martha stewart art director!).

oh my goodness! pink candy stripe paper bags, yellow and pink, vintage fonts, indie calligraphy, punched paper and LETTERPRESS!!

thoughtful day has included most of my very favourite things in these last invites (and an ex jonathan adler designer too!!)

saturday spoils!

2010-06-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

i am so happy i actually made the effort to walk the mile to our local car boot sale this morning, not only did i bring home these lovelies, but i got to appreciate the blue, blue sea and the rare event of a totally cloudless sky...

two beautiful (possibly ivory - hopefully very old) inlaid elephants. pretty, elegant and traditionally patterned, what more could one ask!...

soft, soft tan leather short cowboy boots with stars!! they are also fully magic and make my very muscular calves look positively slim, and were FOUR pounds!!!

i also nabbed these from a neighbour's hedge and will try to propagate it so i can have a pretty wild rose hedge myself some day, for now they look good in a glass in our kitchen!

bokja!!!

2010-06-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

when i gain my inheritance from the kindly benefactor to whom i unwittingly did an act of kindness in my youth, i shall be purchasing some if not all of these beautiful bokja pieces to furnish the home also kindly wished to me...

the floral fabric makes me feel the way homer simpson feels about donuts, and mixed with the missoniesque zig-zags!!!!

i do love me some eames, especially when reupholstered with abit of pretty/ sophistocated ethnic (i think ray and charles would have approved!)

i love the suzani sun/flower motif, and what great legs

lovely legs again, and the mix of colour and pattern of course appeals!

i shall lounge in artfully mismatched dries van noten and missoni on this, and read south american experimental fiction...

and i have to believe that this will be mine someday, not just the picture on my noticeboard in our study that has taunted me for over a year!!

bedroom dreams

2010-06-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

at some point in the nearish future i will be painting our bedroom the colour on the paint chip here (pinning it to the wall was supposed to motivate me, it hasn't worked!)

i crocheted -what is the past tense of crochet?- this blanket about six months ago, in preparation for the new yellowness.

all the pictures currently on the windowsill will be going on the wall above the bed, along with the glory that we got on saturday, and i will be replacing the mirrored doors on the wardrobe with a white and embroidered patchwork-y curtain (still to be made!)

i also need a new quilt cover. i MUST have this now that we can get urban outfitters homewares (a paltry selection though) in europe...

saturday spoils!

2010-06-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

mr lc brought these lovelies home from the car boot sale this morning...

a duck and reed embelished beveled edge granny mirror, along with two others to add to the ever growing collection, which is yet to find a home...

and a super fabulous 50's floral print which will be very at home in our bedroom (more on which next week). i love, love, love, love the colours in this!!

today i am coveting...

2010-06-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

continuing the illustrated ceramics with weird cute little faces, i really wish i had a spare £235, as these donna wilson staffordshire dogs would be very at home in the new (as yet fantasy) hallway...

but which colour?!

oh goodness me!

2010-06-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

just look at the loveliness of these ceramics by stoke-on-trent illustrator katy leigh...

what weird pretty little faces!

i do love a cute salt and pepper shaker set, especially ones that have matching teacups!

and what a beautiful early-picassoesque naked lady and what a lovely POMPOMED blanket.

just like her ceramics, her website is simple, quirky and stylish; the contact page being particularly charming. i really love her style of illustration.

all images from www.katyleigh.co.uk

lovely stripey paper bags

2010-06-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

when i grow up and have a wonderful emporium of my own, these are the bags i shall use (i shall also have matching rope handled carriers!) ...

i think i may just have to order some from carrierbagshop.co.uk (you would never have guessed that's where these photos are from!) just for me to hoard, i think they will make me very happy!

a natural pallette

2010-06-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

when i hear the phrase 'a natural pallette' i usually think of boring, dreary, dull, depressing autumnal colours, or kountry krafty browns.

i like vivivd, pure, bright colours that skip the eyes and go straight to the sinapses.

we went to the garden show BLOOM in Dublin yesterday and i got another of many recent doses of amazing plants.

there are so many colours and colour combinations in plants that just look like they cannot possibly be real or natural colours. i like my plants to look like they are chemichally dyed (but most certainly don't like them actually chemically altered in any way!!)

oh look at the vintagey yellow and super purple in these lupins!

the lilacs in these lilacs! (and the contrast with the pure green)

i LOVE begonia leaves, imagine these clours and patterns in a kilim type rug!

i have no idea what these are, some kind of special french (poisonous?) berry that grows at Versaille, but i love the slightly cold lavenderish shades. even the brown of the branch looks good beside the pretty!!

Oh hydrangeas!!! i can't wait for these to be in bloom in our garden again! all those shades on one plant!! our other bedroom is going to have this kind of pallette (eventually!)

ahhh, pink and yellow, never should one be far from some pink and yellow!

delphiniums just make me feel like i've stepped into another dimension, how can they be just so blue!!

i really do love colour!

all images by me.

my fancy bathroom floor

2010-06-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

look! look! a post about something i have actually done in the house, not just am planning to do or idly dreaming about!

lack of funds and creative fussiness on both our parts led to an experimental and untested idea for our bathroom floor. there are no before photos, as for nearly four years, it was plywood painted with purple fence paint and spattered with various paints and adhesives as we very slowly made progress with the walls (unphotographable!).

mr lc wanted a green and white tiled floor like in the crash rooms in ER, i wanted to get some kind of patterned real linoleum, so we compromised and i screen-printed the floor!! my parents had covered a kitchen table with brown grocery bags and varnished it in the past so i figured along those lines and if it didn't work i could get my linoleum.

i have been using this pattern in black and white for years and we both love it, it is featured in a few places around our home already.

first i papered the floor with thickest lining paper and waterproof PVA, then tiled with the screen-printed thick art paper, and 3 layers of the PVA. we may need to put a coat of boat varnish over the PVA as it still goes a bit cloudy when it gets drops of water on it, which does tend to happen a lot in a bathroom.

it does look ACE though!! now i just need to get a blind or some kind of "window treatment" so i can stop giving the neighbours a peep-show of an evening!!

when life gives you excess amounts of mint...

2010-06-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

one of our mint bushes multiplied massively when we weren't looking so as i love mint soda i decided to make mint cordial! recipie? pah!! i prefer the challenge of figuring it out as i go along...

two large salad spinners full of curly mint, with a bit of peppermint and apple(?)mint thrown in for possible balance of minty flavour

a litre-ish of boiling water and frightening amounts of caster and unrefined sugar (even for me!)

reduce down for probably not long enough (until it could just about be described as syrupy)

decant into bottle and label with nice ricedk wrapping paper (mr lc says i only made it so i could make the label!)

it does look like dark chicken stock but it tastes good!

The Hallway Plan (yes i'm back)

2010-05-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

I can't stop looking at these hallway photos MFAMB posted today, don't know where it's originally from, but think the wallpaper is Farrow and Ball...

We already have an even nicer but similar mirror by our front door but i want a hall like this! Now I really do have to act on my great idea for our frankly very boring hallway, it involves blackboard paint, white woodwork and ceilings and this Vivviene Westwood wallpaper...

So I just need at least £100 for wallpaper, about £80 for paint and to convince Mr LC that a mainly black hall will be FABULOUS!! At least boys are usually seduceable with a bit of punk related history!

LOVE!!

2010-03-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Love all the colour and pattern all together! Especially love the lampshade and the pretty coloured plastic hangers and do always love the use of an Aqua Panna bottle - its the styling 'b-side' of S. Pelligrino!

Am assuming this is something to do with Anthropologie?

Image David Meredith via Desire to Inspire

All About the Contrasts!

2010-03-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

After all the sugar... Black! I recently had a large wall in work painted with blackboard paint and it looks GREAT! My Favorite and My Best had some georgeous black painted summerhouses last week, and Yvestown posted about starting to use black in her house, maybe black is back?

I loved the kitchen blackboard wall trend of a few years ago, but Mr LC said no, I say it may still happen!

I never got my black bedroom as a teenager, parents said no and then landlords resoundingly said no!

Black does look good in a bathroom!

Oh I just need that bear!!! I would contrast it with something pretty though, maybe a 50s floral still life?

I think, though, that the black wall is going to be the wall behind my desk in our study, I can scrawl on it in chalk and pretend to be a theoretical physicist!

Images: Apartment Therapy, Domino, AT, AT, Desire to Inspire.

Some Sugary Treats

2010-03-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

I am led to believe that we no longer refer to pastels, but to sorbet shades. That's OK by me, because by my reckoning I can now add rasperry and blackberry to the classsic spring-y pallette. As WorldFreeze is still in full effect, despite the illusory sunshine, I shall indulge my yearnings for Springtime colour in some pretty interiors to cure the Monday blahs.

(not an interior, but pretty cool anyway)

Apart from the last two, which I know are Vanessa Bruno's Paris apartment - frome Elle Decoration - I haven't a clue where I found the rest of the images, they are part of my hoard of pretty picures, lazily saved and not referenced!

What!!!

2010-03-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

Mr LC has just informed me that thre is "tons of silver dinnerware" in his mother's attic (this sounds so much grander than the reality!) but he told her we didn't want it.

Either he is joking or insane. "What use would we have for silver dinnerware?". Every bloody day use that's what!

I shall be rescinding his refusal and setting some stunning tables for baked beans and cheese on toast!

Toasty Goodness

2010-03-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

I have been tring to avoid the new Toast catalogue and convince myself I'm not interested, but just look how they sucker you in...

I have wanted one of their lovely 50s style swimsuits for sooo long, but as I neither swim nor want to inflict the caffine addict thighs on the general public, it may stay in fantasy land along with the verdant pool!

These pajamas and STUNNING kimono would in no way stay as indoor wear.

These boots fulfill the cowboy, workboot, biker requirement to a tee and look like they would fit my 'muscular' calves. I would make them work with everything!

I want this whole exact outfit, (do people actually buy kidneys?) and most especially the headdress, which I will shortly try to duplicate and I swear I will not wait for an occasion to wear it. I will wear it to work, on a Tuesday!!!

Just Because I Didn't Post Yesterday...

2010-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

I thought i would just share this stupendous Polly Wreford image which has been on a couple of the blogs recently,

and then checked in at Casapinka (who posted the pretty flowers as well) only to see this beauty!

Wowee!! She made this dress from lovely Amy Butler fabric, and how stylish and gorgeous does she look!!

Like a living embodiment of the flowers photo!

Glorious Home Offices

2010-03-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Oooh!

Ahhhh!

Gasp!!

Wow!

Hmm, thats a prettily styled and organised shelf.

Arrgggh! Zoom out to mess, no curtains and one end of the table unpainted (it used to be agianst the wall).

Not too bad you say? There are now about ten boxes of stuff in our living room which need to be organised into here. they are covered with a blanket at the moment, if I don't look at them they don't exist!!

This WILL BE ADDRESSED at the weekend! (Before the weekend of celebrations - Mum's birthday fishy themed meal and sister's engagement party at future in-laws!!)

I shall just think of the above. This is why we have inspiration files, perhaps they should be renamed motivation files!

Offices from Making It Lovely (two!), The Brick House, Living Etc, Kathryn M Ireland via just about every blog in the world last year and then me (can't you tell!)

The List of Projects Starts Today!!

2010-03-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Well... the actual projects start at the weekend.

Having come across this lovely image again (via My Favourite and My Best, I think, had a bit of a blog binge on Sunday!) I am itching to finish the recovering of my sofa cushions in the BARGAINOUS Icelandic Poppy fabric which I scored last year on one of the online discount fabric warehouses. It was under £10 per metre, down from £98 per metre (there are not enough exclaimation marks anywhere for this bargain!)

Yes, there is the roll of fabric beside the sofa, and only two of the cushions are actually covered, and yes, the Picasso picture wall is only half done. I really will miss my vintage floral covers, but they are so vintage they are falling apart. I would love to cover the whole sofa, so it could look a bit like the perfect,perfect sofa above, but even at that super-bargain price it's only gonna be the cushions. Eventually.

Now I just need to find out what is wrong with the sewing machine...

The First Day of Spring!

2010-03-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

I was going to start Spring with my list of things I need to do to get the house looking like it does in my head, rather than the shambles it is in reality, but...
Today was neither freezing (just!) nor raining (almost a miracle!) After a winter of being shut in by sub-zero temperatures and snow and rain, rain, rain, Mr LC and I were able to go somewhere, so we went to one of our favourite places. A beautiful place with a distinctly unbeautiful name, Portmuck, on Islandmagee, not far from us in Co Antrim.

The light was amazing, it was such a clear day that we could see buildings across on Scotland. I love that on the Antrim coast beside you is Scotland then there is nothing to the North until Iceland.

Going here makes me remember that I live in a spectacularly beautiful country, and that I live in such a small city,as frustrating as small places can be. I'm not totally content and serene though! Portmuck makes me want to add another item to the never ending wish list - a wide angle lens so I can do justice to the view of the Glens of Antrim from here (or rather the promentories of Antrim, because you don't see the glens).

It really frustrates me that this is the best I can do, why can't the camera just take a picture of what I can see with my eyes! (I am familiar with the phrase "a bad workman blames his tools"!!)

Although I am pretty happy with these two, the light was just SO clear.

Tomorrow the projects start!

LOVE!!

2010-02-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

Look at the wallpaper!!!

The whole room is just perfect!

Lisa Fine's paris apartment, via maybe my very favourite blog casapinka.

Tenuous Links

2010-02-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is nearly Valentine's-tide, but i'm in a Day of the Dead type of mood (although really, when am i not?!)

Oooh, sugar, papercraft, flowers, skulls and dead people, whats not to like!

Boozehound skeletons!

Cockfighting, everyones favourite sport!

Mr L C and I have been together for ten years today and we got married on Hallow'een, so its sorta kinda appropriate!

Although, seriously, any excuse!

Sugar skulls and papier mache from http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/ .

Papel picado from a great entry on the bibliodyssey blog.

The Rickety Shed

2010-01-31T13:31:00.000-08:00

A bit of this

and a bit of this

Shed Chic

and a talented and willing (to work with my exacting demands!) craftsman ends up with this:

I commisioned Mr L.C. to make this for my work and it is exactly how I wanted it! I only had to wait a week from the original idea until it was finished and in the shop. I love it!

Visual merchandising? Art? Weirdness?

2010-01-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

How cool are these photos? I love multiples of objects and slightly strange itemisation.
There is something a little creepy and sinister to the spaces...

The cubicle of chairs is just really, really cool, and the piles of phones look like an artwork.

It is actually how a Salvation Army shop near Palm Springs in California, which is partially located in an old office building, is 'merchandised'. I genuinley can't figure out if it is just really terrible and odd, or if the person who did it is seriously and bravely talented.

I think the way its photographed makes it look like a conceptual interiors magazine feature. I stumbled across the excellent blog the-brick-house, which as well as great photography of her various finds and stupidly cool abode, is very amusingly written. I am a fan!!

A little lazy cozy

2010-01-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

'Lazy cozy' is my interpretation of the scandanavian concept of hygge. It means something like homely, comfortable, content and spending time with loved ones.

Here are some very important lazy cozy elements!

Striking yarns and a crochet hook.

An ever growing collection of interiors references and journals.

( serious works these, very educational!)

Making pretty things, for nice people.

and of course, blueberry cupcakes with maple buttercream and bacon sprinkles!

Lazy cozy may not be for those who wish to stay slim.

All images by me.

well hello there!

2010-01-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

After -yes- procrastinating for far too long, here's my first post!

I just couldn't resist the perfect combination of craftiness, upcycling, indulgent food, whimsy and best of all stationery geekiness with a ladylike heart which i came across today over at poppytalk.

Oh me oh my! Bunting and stamps and such pretty colours.

I'm not usually one for wedding cakes but this is so simple and understated.

dsharp make very pretty celebration notions and letterpressed cards (oh how i want a letterpress), and just look at their eiffell tower candy holder, it combines at least three of my favourite things, paper, sugar and the 'iron lady' herself!!

Back soon!