The fabric

Now very exciting to me was the message that our fabric order for the two bedroom chairs was ready to pick up at lunch today. So of course round I went to John Lewis (great fabric selection btw) and waited and waited and waited. I got a bit nervous there had been some terrible mistake, but the nice salesperson then appeared with a large roll of fabric! YAY! It appears to be double sided one side very blue and one more neutral....not sure which side we'll use so let me know what you think.

An update

While we were off enjoying the delights of Val D'isere and trying to deal with the mess of the volcano in Iceland we did have some good news. Everything appears to be sorted out with the flat and we should complete on the half sale on Friday 23rd! So exciting. This means that with the six weeks the builder needs for the stairs we should be getting started the beginning of June. Hooray!

In the meantime there'll be plenty of small project updates now that the weather is nice and we're getting closer to D(estruction)-day. First up some chair recovering and shelving in the kitchen (pictures to come soon). Did I mention that the fabric for the chairs is coming from The Designers Guild (see old post). I'm so excited because I love their stuff and it's this really nice blue and cream/tan striped fabric. They are just hte two bedroom chairs we have, but I think it'll make such a difference. Once these are done we're going to save up and get the dining room chairs done. Don't know if it's even worth getting those until the work is done, but we'll see.

Most exciting of course is planning the garden and what we're going to do. So far it involves replacing all the fencing with a brick wall/fence mix, new paving, man cave (shed) and who knows whatelse. I just can't wait to have my first glass of wine in the sun!

Also, a big congrats to my lovely brother and sister-in-law who closed on their house last week and have moved in! Hope you have as much fun with yours as we have had with ours.

Check back soon for more...

A touch of inspiration

Well we figured out today that with a little bit of shifting things around we can move our next round of home renovations from August/September to April. I can't tell you how exciting that would be. So with this in mind and dreaming about all the nice finishing touches (hey it's a dream not a nightmare I'm gonna skip all the construction part) I looked at all our stuff and wondered with the new open plan layout where we would put everything. Then I saw this.....

Now the rug's not my style, but love these boxes and the floor is pretty much bang on what we'll be doing. The best part about this is we can make it quickly and easily while also being able to make the boxes as big or small as we want them. It's the little things that do it for me! Will put the plans up so you can see what we're thinking of doing soon.

First post of the new year

Well Happy 2010 to everyone and happy it's almost February! YAY! Can't say I'm a big fan of January with all the snow and miserable weather and early evenings we're having. However, there is one thing that I can't help but consider a bright spot on my commute home. That's this piece of beautiful hardware..part functional and part piece of art:

Now if I hadn't already bought all of my stuff for the kitchen and redone it I would seriously be considering taking out a third mortgage to pay for this. It looks even more impressive through the window of the kitchen showroom.

This is the Kitchen Triflow by Zaha Hadid and the website doesn't say how much it is, translation way more than any sane person would ever pay for a kitchen tap. However, I must say though if you are looking for a focal point in the room and have a sink on an island/breakfast bar you would be hardpressed to top this. Definitely an investment piece, but like many investment pieces it's worth it.

Draft plans for the next massive possible if we ever go crazy and win the lottery project for the house have been drawn (thanks hubby) so might put them up soon.

Thanksgiving debate #1

Well Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and the debates are starting up in our house. How many people can we have? Who has to clean the house before? That type of thing.

My general feeling on the holiday is that it's much more about family because day to day I'm very thankful for my friends. I also feel like you can invite as many people as you have supplies for. This doesn't just mean how much food, but how many plates, forks, glasses and more importantly tables and chairs you have. Now we're pretty standard with a dining table for six. Now considering that we normally feed a small army of 13 it's always a bit of a scramble to find enough space without reverting to the camping chairs.

This year I'm determined not to end up using my in-laws rickety card tables that have to be put onto books in order to make them the same height as the main dining table. After all there really isn't a kid's table at ours yet (that is unless you break some of my china which will automatically land you with paper plate and plastic fork). So I've been on the hunt for something that can solve our space problem and stick hide away quite well for the rest of the year when we don't have these massive gatherings.  Even better would be something that we could use as outside furniture when summer comes around in about six months.

The basic list is pretty short: wood, space saving, not too expensive, comes with chairs. Here is what I came up with

John Lewis £190

Ikea £89

I also found a table on Debenham's website which is £151 with six chairs.  You can see it here http://www.debenhams.com

Although these are all pretty good options knowing us we'll just end up borrowing my brother in law's table and chairs for the day. For a small rental fee in turkey and sides of course.

A throne is just a bench covered in velvet

Now Napolean Bonaparte may have said this (or something close to it in case I have quoted it wrong), but he probably wouldn't have turned his nose up at a lovely pillow or two to cushion that "bench" he sat on while attempting to take over Europe. While looking for throws I came across some great pillows that I would love to buy if I had a home for them in this house. Judging by the fact that House to Home claim scatter cusions as one of the top 10 things men and women fight about I'm just about ready to strap on my armour for these ones.



These are all from John Lewis and range from £18-£45. Now I for one will say that I was very surprised by all of the great pillows they've got. I know that they are the gold standard for quality and I am minorly obsessed with their kitchen and china department, but I never expected all of the great stuff they have. In fact, if I'm honest there is so much I liked I would have to put the entire selection up there and take out a second mortgage. So the above is just a small sampling. Anyone else I should check out?? Let me know!

Fall in with a roar

It is only November 3rd and the weather has taken a surprisingly chilly turn. Now this may seem like a perfectly good time for it to turn autumnal for most of you, but considering I'm still waiting on Summer to show up... This is not to say that I don't enjoy the fall weather. In fact, I really like it and find the changing scenery quite pretty. I'll try to put up some pictures of our local park in all it's pre-winter glory soon.

The cooler weather did see us turn on our lovely gas fire place (see post inspired by a fireplace for pictures) and cuddle up under a blanket on the sofa. Since our blanket is a free fleece one from PayPal I decided to see if I could find something nicer. Here are a few options I came up with.
£59 at John Lewis£90 (on sale) Fabiia
These three images are from what is fast becoming my new "crush" site. It is the Designers Guild and while they can be a quite pricey and I doubt I would be allowed to have these in the living room because of being quite girly I think they are simply stunning.
£250
£90
£90
If you want to check them out yourself you can find them on: http://www.designersguild.com/