In Bloom

I love Christmas and the weeks leading up to it--the ornament making, cooking baking, tree decorating, shopping, wrapping, Christmas music, seeing family and friends, food, food and more food--I love it all. But I'm equally over it almost as soon as 25 December passes! I'm ready to put all the decorations away, clean out closets and cabinets and think of things I want to accomplish in the new year. I don't make resolutions as such, but I often make a list of things I want to get done around the house and goals I'd like to achieve. This year some of those include ordering many photo books and yes, I've made a long list of them. Lois is now 7 and I've only been meaning to to that for all of those 7 years! (Only just today I uploaded her 5th birthday photos to an album online.) I want to organize and clear off the 2,000+ photos on my phone and about a bazillion on my computer, which I have a hard time keeping up with regularly. I want to keep challenging myself with new sewing patterns. Though I still haven't knocked out the quart coat it's next on the sewing table, yay! Ah, there are really so many things on my list! I'm sure it would be a bit boring to hear me rattle on about too many more of them, but one crafty thing I'd also like to learn is how to make beautiful paper flowers, and I think it would be a fun activity to do with the girls as well. I've made some basic paper flowers in the past but never detailed, intricate or particularly life-like flowers.

The Perfect Beach Tote

We're at the beach having a great time in Florida with my family. I was a little worried about the weather before we got here. It was looking pretty bleak. A dark and stormy beach forecast did not make for ideal visions of beach bliss. But it turned around quickly and we've had great weather every day! Before we left I was on the lookout for a new beach bag. My boat tote has seen better days and I've been wanting something a bit more hardy that can stand up to the wear and tear of general life dragging (mostly spilled, dripped, crunched kid) stuff around in a bag. And that made me think of Susan Hoff's tote bags made from recycled sails.

Beautiful Things

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. More of a slump than a funk, but something that went from relieved to be finished with my book to sad that it is officially finished. It's not often that I have such a big project in my lap at once. It seemed to go from full speed to stop in one day. I'm still very happy it's finished and am looking forward to another big project. In the meantime, I've been up to the usual stuff... sewing, housework (seriously, how is there always so much laundry to do? We need less stuff!), reading.... And I'm looking forward to going to the US next week to visit family and go to the beach, yay! I'm also daydreaming of having our own house one day and what it would look like (just a tad pricey to buy a house in our current neighborhood, so we're not sure when that will happen or where it will be). I've been eyeing my pinterest for inspiration, which I haven't looked at much in months. Some of my favorite images are of colorful interiors.

A Bright New Year

I hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year! We had a wonderful time visiting family in the US. I tend to post everyday pictures regarding what I'm up to on Instagram, much more so than on my blog, so if you're interested in seeing more of our daily lives, feel free to browse my Instagram feed. I have some pictures from our recent trip to the US there. It's always hard to come home after the holidays. I think I'm fortunate in that I love my family and love being around them, and I miss them even if I've just seen them. So when I know I have to come home, living so far away, I always like to have a few things to look forward to. One of those things this time was finishing up our house re-arrange and buying some last pieces to complete our colorful sitting room downstairs. I've made some good progress since we returned home because I was able to bring home our new Lulie Wallace painting that I had shipped to my mom's (it's the floral painting on the right in these photos.)

Shades of Green

We decided to re-arrange our house a bit and so there's been lots of moving furniture, painting walls, and buying new things here and there to make it all work. It all started with a conversation about our dining table. Our dining area was quite cramped, with a dining table against our stairwell wall beside our kitchen. It's bothered us that we don't have a very good place for a kitchen table since we moved here, especially in winter because we can't eat alfresco when it's cold and wet. So we decided to make our downstairs lounge a dining room AND sitting room within one room, which meant moving quite a few things around to make it work.

The Old Haberdashery

During our food styling workshop in East Sussex, we had planned a pub lunch at The Bell in Ticehurst, which was a really nice lunch though service was quite slow for our large group. But before lunch we had a few minutes to take a peek into one of my favorite shops, The Old Haberdashery, which is on the same street as The Bell. I actually hadn't been before that day but knew I'd love the shop from seeing The Old Haberdashery stall at the Decorative Living fair last year and from a wonderful article earlier this year in Country Living. I'd like to move in there! It's filled with everything I love.

Cottage Hideaway

This morning when I woke up, I was scanning my Pinterest for a few minutes before I knew Lois and Ellie would wake up (a rare occurrence for me to be up before Lois). Lying in bed, I was looking over at our desk and the area around it in the corner of our bedroom, which needs a lot of work. I wanted to look at some office inspiration photos while looking over at the desk, but of course it's Pinterest so I got a little sidetracked and found this adorable cottage hideaway on the Isle of Wight instead.

Inspiration in Bloom

(photo above, Henri Matisse "Bouquet of Mixed Flowers" and all photos below from the Saipua blog)

Ah January and February, I love these months. Some people hate them, especially January, I think. It's a month that often begins with post Christmas blues and resolutions, many of which are just reminders of last years' resolutions not kept. I've had my share of blues in the winter months but in general I love January and February. I see these months as a good time to declutter and freshen up around the house. Clean out cabinets and closets, move pictures or furniture around, that sort of thing. The post Christmas-decoration-pack-up always helps jump start that phase for me. And lately I'm feeling especially inspired. I went out into our garden last week to check for any signs from the tulip bulbs I planted last autumn and saw peeks of green spiking up out of the ground, eep! I planted more than tulips but can't actually remember what, so I'm excited to see what comes up. I love having fresh flowers around our house. We splurge about every two weeks for flowers, but I'd really love lots of flowers and plants around the house all the time. Unfortunately I'm not too creative when it comes to flower arranging and I don't have much of a green thumb.

I think it's art to make an assortment of flowers look rustic and natural in a vase. I have daydreams of going to the Little Flower School in Brooklyn, NY and learning to arrange flowers like I see on the Saipua blog. 

Mollie Makes Home

I love getting good things in the mail, especially my favorite magazines! I'm looking forward to getting the second edition of Mollie Makes Home later this week. I can tell this issue will be filled with interior eye candy galore, and I'm also super excited that Caroline from 91 Magazine and Patchwork Harmony was the editor for the issue! I'm always interested in seeing how designers, crafters and creative shop owners live, and even more so when it's a collection of people carefully chosen by Caroline and the Mollie Makes team. Here is a peek below.

Inspiring Clothes for Little Ones

Lately I've had the bug to make more wee clothes now that I've finished one pretty nice dress for lil' Miss. I want to make so many things! I wish I could read French. Then I'm sure I'd buy some of these Citronille sewing patterns. Maybe I should attempt to translate a pattern. They have a few patterns in English, but it's some of their patterns that are only available in French that I especially like, like this one. So cute! And I really like so many Oliver + S patterns. I have a lot of sewing inspiration on one of my Pinterest boards. And more wee clothes inspiration on this board. I just like looking at designer wee clothes for inspiration. One line I came across on Pinterest is Pala Mino (top shown above). Adorable! I love the mix of fabrics and the vintage modern vibe that her clothes have. So cute. Now I'm going to go get lost on Pinterest for a few minutes. I have a new rule: No looking at Pinterest before bed. I get too jazzed up and then can't sleep. Inspiration overload!

And Speaking of Decorating a Child's Room...

So finally, here's a peek into Ellie's room! First, I should say that I was going for a softer, lighter look than Lois's room. Her room as always had bold, primary sorts of colors. You can see her room here. That was her room in our first place in London, so it's not her current room, but she has all the same items but in a different configuration. Also, for Ellie's room, since I was working with little to start with, I decided to consult Pinterest (of course!).

Seeing In Color: Bright!

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts! It is soooo cold here lately that I'm having a hard time thinking straight. I think my brain is going into freeze mode. Layers of wool, fleece, and down can't even keep me warm the last few days! It has me longing for spring. The daffodils are starting to peek up in the park, and I can't wait till they bloom. In the meantime, I'm thinking bright, spring thoughts. I've been having fun adding some colorful inspiration to my pinterest. The image above is now on my "makes me happy" board. Don't you just love pinterest? 

Good Reads: 91 Magazine

The last few days I've been flipping through a wonderful new online magazine called 91 Magazine. It's the latest project from one very talented Caroline Taylor, who also writes the lovely blog Patchwork Harmony and who runs an online boutique by the same name. She also has a full-time job! I can't imagine being able to accomplish so much, and so well. The premiere issue of 91 Magazine features inspiring interiors, unique craft projects, a helpful guide to vintage in Surrey, and it also includes a great article on the history of marmalade.

This week I've been sick and soooo sluggish. My head feels like it's deep under water. I just want to ball up in bed all day with a good book, which is what I've been doing when I have time. Right now I'm reading Jane Eyre. I know the general story, but I've never read the book. I'm loving it right now. I don't have a beautiful hard bound version, like these Penguin classics pictured below, but I would like to have that collection one day. Meantime, I'll daydream I'm in this bed above reading the lovely hard bound Jane Eyre. I could use some of that natural light too.

Seeing in Color: Fall

The leaves are turn, turn, turning here, and it looks very beautiful outside lately. Lois and I collected leaves for her first homework assignment. How cute is that? Her first homework assignment! I received an email from her art teacher titled "homework" and thought, what could it be?!! Leaves. Easy homework. Beats calculus. I always like to look at fall leaves closely. They are soooo pretty. The photo above is with my iPhone, using Instagram. And the chill in the air makes me want to cozy up.

In Bloom: Saipua

Homemaking is made better with flowers, don't you think? On the weekends Andrew often brings home flowers from the farmer's market, and they usually always last a week, sometimes up to two weeks (if I'm good about changing the water, etc.). I love having flowers in the house. Wether we have flowers in bloom in our house or not, I also love the Saipua blog, where I can see beautiful photos of flowers every day.

Seeing in Color: Purple

Purple has never been my favorite color, although I've always liked deep, dark purple, like eggplant purple. But purple is a color that's grown on me, especially lavender. Andrew bought these flowers above at the farmer's market last weekend, and they've opened my eyes to more purple around me, like these pretty images below on pinterest. 

Images found here: shutters, bedroom, ribbons, doorknob. 

Hatching Ideas

It looks like we'll be moving soon! I haven't said a peep because it's not totally official yet, but it looks like it will be next week. We're just moving across town, north of the river, but I'm soooo excited. The neighborhood is great, and I'm excited to fool around with decorating a new place. We've been in our current place for a year, but I still haven't quite figured out what to do in certain places, so I just haven't. Instead of seeing it as a challenge, I've though of it as a drag, blah. It hasn't been too fun. One issue is choppy walls--walls divided by a lot of doorways and windows, which is the complete opposite of our last place. I just don't think I have the right stuff to work in the right places, if that makes sense, and I haven't taken the time to hunt for the right stuff. Ah, well, I don't have to worry about it anymore. Our new place is sort of boxy like our apartment in San Francisco, with two big, long walls in the living room. I felt sort of over that by the time we left San Francisco, but I'm looking forward to it again. I understand how to arrange my things better on walls like that. I'm also thinking of color. Our last place had neutral, beige walls, but I'm thinking of a very pale robin's egg blue. I love the way deeper colors look against that shade of blue--rusty orange, reds, navy, green, golden yellows, etc. Deeper, darker colors look really good with that color to me. Lisa has blue walls and I love the way all of her things stand out against it. Here are a few pictures I've come across for inspiration. These shades vary, but I think my favorite is the second one, just below. I like that it is a touch grey compared to the others. I've put them all in my pinterest, where you can see links to the sources. 

Color Me Happy

Lately I've been thinking in color. It has been so dreary here these last few months that daydreaming of bright things has been the best way to chase my grey day blues away. Today though it's actually sunny, finally, and so nice outside! I went out for a stroll earlier to see the blue sky and get some much needed vitamin D. I'm also thinking of random colorful things to keep my spirits up. To start with, tulip fields in the Netherlands, and...

Color it wallpaper. 

A door in Mexico. 

Balloons.

Norway.

Dresses.

Gee's Bend quilt.

The Bahamas.

Patchwork sweater throw (it is still winter after all). 

But I'll think of ice cream instead. 

Think happy. Be Happy.

Sources are in the links. 

I like Pinterest

My new favorite thing (fairly new to me anyway) is Pinterest, an online inspiration board of sorts where you "pin" favorite images. I'm not totally sure of all the ins and outs of Pinterest since I just recently joined, but if you love online image eye candy and are like me and have messy folders on your desktop of random saved inspiration images, you will LOVE Pinterest. When you pin, it credits the source of where you found it (though often that's not the original source of the actual image, and I imagine this could be an issue for pinterest at some point, hmm). I hope source issues don't cause too much trouble because I really like the service. Here's the link to my boards. Right now I've just focused on pinning images of interiors, but other folks have boards of so many other things. Below are a few things I've pinned to my board this week. All the sources are linked to the pins on my boards. (The image above, "things I like" is by John Derian--possibly my favorite designer, one of the few whose name's I can even remember!)