The Chairs!

Ok so not exactly the catchiest title in the world for a post, but I just wanted to share a few pictures of my newly recovered chairs. So excited about them. In fact I was so excited that I haven't even sat on it yet...just been oogling them lovingly. Hooray! Here's the before and after shots.

Before:

After:

Adventures in Green

The other night while eating dinner I was looking around and trying to imagine what the dining room will look like when it is all finished and opened out. In my mind it is light and bright and most likely green. I know most people think of deep reds and other similar shades when thinking of a dining room, but our dining room is going to be too small and the only thing I like red about my dinner is the center of my steak.

Our hallway in our flat was green (check first post for an image) and we're probably going to go for something similar in the upstairs landing. Since the dining room is open to the stairs it make sense that it's the same color. Feeling particularly grand I started browsing the Farrow & Ball website for possible options (both green and a few not green).

What I love about Farrow & Ball is not only that it has really lovely historical colors with many based on 18th and 19th century wallpaper and paint colours, but they also have the best descriptions. For example: "Colour No. 81. This colour is lively both by day and candlelight." Candlelight? Was this brochure written pre-electricity...I now demand only candlelit dinners because it makes my walls look good. I digress

Here are some of my favorite options (love the names):

Vert de Terre

French Gray                              Pale Hound

And if the room was bigger:

 Breakfast Room Green                   Cat's Paw 

Getting in the summer spirit

Well spring has sprung here in London and then promptly fled for the hills as the cold weather came back! That hasn't dampened my determination to actually use my back garden this year as something more than a builder's dumping ground (much to my husbands dismay). So there goes my sudden obsession with bright colours and outdoor furniture. As you may know I'm a big entertainer and love nothing more than filling my house to bursting point with friends. 

So I've started to look around for a stylish table and chair set that will let me entertain lots of people while also being stylish and an addition to the backyard not a space absorber. Here are two that I love:

I really love how the seats form a circular banquette which gives it a very different feel, but also means that no one is out on a limb and it's space efficient. Definitely a plus when you are having friends and family over and you have a city garden. Plus with what looks like space for eight you can definitely fit plenty of people around.

The second option I totally love is from Crate and Barrel made of nice sturdy aluminum. While I'm much more of a wood person myself I really love the colors. Seriously enough to brighten even a slightly cloudy afternoon. Plus I think it has just enough of the girly touches to please most without having to resort to bribing the other half to allow it to live in the garden.

Now I just need to find something that won't break the bank!

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.