Chinoiserie, shoes and news...

I've had these antique shoes for years now, and I always wonder how they came to arrive in England as they originate from New York! They are handmade and inside in gold writing it says "Sommers inc, 27th W, 50th Street New York City. In tiny scripted handwriting inside it says the customer's name and order no!
They are pink satin, with gold kid heels and straps, but the double buckle is the prettiest part-it is studded with tiny amber jewels all the way round. Imagine having these shoes specially made to order in the 20's!

Another thing I am really fond of also originated from the States! I love vintage Turquoise Navajo jewellery, and have been given a few bits for presents which came from America. The 3 stone bangle is a vintage stamped one, as is the ring, and the 9 stone bangle with the rope edging is a newer piece by A. Jake who I think is a working Navajo silversmith. I love turquoise jewellery!

Lastly, a photo of the new Laura Ashley wallpaper I've just ordered. It's called Elveden and is part of their new collection which I don't think is in-store yet. You can order it online though and weirdly all their wallpapers were half-price last week, even the new collection! So it was £17.50 a roll instead of £35, and this week it is only reduced by £10 in their winter sale! Very strange! I ordered two rolls which is enough to do a feature wall, although part of me would love to paper the top half of the bathroom, above the grey wood panelling. It does say it can be used in kitchens and bathrooms, but I will wait till it arrives before deciding. I know I'll use it somewhere. It comes in 4 other colours, and I love the pale yellow, although yellow is a colour I never use or buy for some reason. I think it's a really reasonable price for a nice Chinoiserie style wallpaper from their Archive collection, because some other ones I've seen are about £87 a roll.
Anyway, enjoy your Sunday everyone xxx

Fairy lights and frames....

If ever I go to an antique fair or shop I always look out for old crumbling gilt mirrors and frames. I don't mind if the gilt is damaged and dulled by age, in fact I often like it better that way. I think you can still find good bargains if you look about-the OH just bought me the lovely giltwood Rococco frame you can see right at the front of the pile of frames. He bartered it down to £20 from £40 in an antique barn. It's still got the paper price tag on it-I always like to keep these on whatever I buy tucked out of sight-it reminds of what I paid for things! I'm going to put the old print of Cupid and Psyche inside it once I get a piece of glass and a mount cut to the right size.

I also just bought the new mirrored LED fairy lights that I've draped around the gilt mirror. They are meant to be for Christmas but they look so pretty I may leave them there all year round! The good thing is that they are battery-powered so you can hide the little switch behind the back of the mirror out of sight. They look like mirror-encrusted twigs, and are bendy so you can twist them into any shape!

New Rachel Ashwell collection coming soon...

Hello everyone! Sorry to have not been blogging recently but work is really really busy at the moment.

Just had to post the exciting news about Rachel Ashwell's new collaboration with House of Fraser arriving in stores in August. The range encompasses bedding, furniture, cushions, lighting, homeware etc. Here are a few preview photos-apparently the in-store concessions will be set up to resemble Rachel's shops! I really like the styling of Rachel Ashwell's homes and shops as of late-her style has evolved and is a bit less sugary and is more elegant and eclectic. Rachel says that she has broadened her colour palette and has introduced what I think of as tougher elements, with distressed leathers, and weathered dark woods to contrast the pale pastel colours she is known for. I think it's a much more grown up look, and works really well. I can't wait to see the new collection-I love the bedding hanging over the armoire and the grey French style tea and coffee canisters! If you follow the link to the House of Fraser website, type Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic into the search engine box and you get another link to an interview with Rachel. It's been such a long time since Rachel has collaborated with the British highstreet- I think the only foray was her lovely bedding collection with M&S about nine years ago. I'd better start saving now.....

Pale & Interesting...

Today I've been tidying up and putting my new Laura Ashley duvet set on my bed. I really like all-white bedlinen at the moment, and I've liked this new bedding set for ages-it looks really French and antique-y, with its ladder stitching, embroidery and deep frill all around the edge. But it was a bit too expensive, until the 40% reduction sale! It's called Almarie
and is still available in some sizes.
It was really hard to get the detail to show up in the photos, so I lightened one to almost black and white. The last photo is the Laura Ashley website one-it looks a bit more ironed than mine!
The Pale & Interesting book lives up to its name. It's the sort of book that immediately makes me want to pare down my possessions, paint all my floorboards white and get rid of all my clutter-much like 'The White Company' catalogues do! It's very eclectic vintage/antique chic, with lots of quite empty rooms that have the odd gorgeous piece of furniture thrown in, alongside something quite industrial. The cover says it all really! Actually all of the upstairs bedrooms do now have white painted floorboards, and downstairs they are all stripped pine. So much cheaper than carpet and it looks so much nicer in my opinion! And a blessing if you have cats....

Part 2....things I like...clogs and cane...

Just a continuation of things I like from yesterday, although clogs and cane is a weird combination that has nothing to do with the other!!

The first photo is a still from the set of 'Marie Antoinette'. I know it's old news, but I love the colours in this photo, from the gilt and duck egg, to the faded Aubusson rug and pink peonies. I especially like the salon chairs!!
The second photo is of Kate Forman's cane Bergere bed. I love this bed-it's of the same age as my bargain chair I posted about yesterday, and is of a similar condition. Although I would never swap my pink brass bed (a present from the OH), if I were to, it would be for one like the ones in the photos. I haven't seen many though at the antique fairs we go to, although the OH says he used to see them all the time when he was antique dealing in France and Holland. They're not really his cup of tea though-bit too girly.

The fourth photo is of the clogs I've just bought on Ebay. I got them in the chocolate brown colour, although I was tempted by the red pair underneath (the OH thinks they look very 'Little Red Riding Hood'!!!). Clogs are quite trendy at the moment, especially Swedish Hasbeens which can be seen in the last three photos. SJP is a devotee and wore a few pairs in the last SATC movie, and here in the UK, H&M have almost sold out of their range of Hasbeens (which are really expensive on Ebay). I wanted a pair of not too high, closed-toe ones because I hate my feet and don't want to show them off!!
So I was pleased to find this clog-shop seller on Ebay, who handmakes your clogs in any colour for £32 buy it now! I found it so hard to decide which colour-red, chocolate, tan, taupe, pink, pale and dark green, black, navy, turquoise, gold, silver, patent.....
I decided upon the chocolate brown because then you can wear them in winter too with wooly tights! The Swedish Hasbeens version are very similar, aren't they, apart from the £70 difference in price-they are £102!! In fact, I prefer the ones I've bought, as I'm not too keen on the slits in the Hasbeens, and I prefer the darker stained wooden soles and the chocolate colour leather!
So this summer I'll be clip-clopping around while the OH laughs at my feet!
If anyone wants to join me I'll post the link!!
***By the way, Sarah-I've tried and tried to log into your blog, but I can't-but your new curtains look Fab!

Things I like....

Hi everyone-hope you've all had a good week. I've just seen that people have left me some kind comments, so I shall attempt again to try and visit you all, although please bear with me as Blogger is barely letting me log in!

The little French gilt salon chair is my latest find-I bought it yesterday, and already the fabric has been replaced (badly by me, as you can see) with a scrap of my favourite grey 'Sophia' by Kate Forman. It's such a pretty, delicate chair-I'm amazed the cane bergere seat is still so strong. It's at that lovely stage of wear where you can just see the red peeping through in places under the gold leaf gilding, which is all worn smooth with age. Best of all it was reduced to £23 in a local antique shop!!! I couldn't believe the price-normally antique giltwood furniture is a lot more expensive than that! I think that's my favourite type of furniture-pretty gilt or grey French and Gustavian stuff, the more distressed the better. What I always think is funny is that the reproduction copies of it are always so much more expensive than the originals!

Saying that though, the reproduction radiator cabinet is something I'm coveting and trying to talk the OH around to liking. I have looked for antique ones but they are few and far between. We have the ugliest radiator in our bedroom-and it's so visible as it's been put on the chimney breast wall where the old fireplace would have been. Feasibly, I can see why it's been put there-there isn't really anywhere else it could go, but I hate it. I wince everytime I look at it.

The OH says he is going to make a cover for it, but I really love the one in the photo. They come in different sizes and colours, and I know the OH could repaint it grey and distress it and make it look like a real French antique one. But he thinks it's a waste of money and is too fancy for our bedroom, as we're not after all living in a French chateau-just a terraced house!! I'm still working on him though-don't you think it looks good with my new chair......

Lastly, I love these charcoal drawings by Degas-the background colours are so gorgeous. They remind me of sugared almonds or French Fancies. I prefer his charcoal sketches to his finished paintings anyday. Wouldn't they look lovely in shabby gilt frames or just pinned up on the wall? Another project to be done...

Stars and stripes...

Hi everyone-hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Today I am procrastinating, fiddling about doing everything I can not to get round to the work I should be doing having left it all till last minute!

Just a photo of the corner of my living room-I love the original wooden french doors that lead out onto our conservatory. We installed the red etched Victorian stars above them though as they were missing. I bought three of the stars on Ebay, which were original Victorian ones, and bought a reproduction one to make up the fourth. I love those etched stars-that was one of the first projects we did when we moved in. The repro stars are such a good copy-you can't tell the difference. They come in all sizes, designs and colours, although red is my favourite.

The stripey Murano lamp is another recent project, although not finished as I'm looking for a better shade that's slightly larger. I just fancied having a Murano glass lamp, although in Laura Ashley they are so expensive-£80 just for the base, and then £40 for a shade! So in good old TK Maxx I bought the huge vase for £14, a lamp bottle converter kit for £3 on Ebay (these are brilliant-specially designed to turn wine bottles etc into lamps!) and the shade in Wilkinsons. Fit the lamp kit into the neck of the bottle with cork and it's done! I like that the colour of the lamp and the lilacs pick up the colours in the Gustavian grey walls.

The vintage Hermes perfume advertising sign is french and it still lights up when you plug it in. I had my eye on it for ages in an antique shop window but the owner would never sell it. One day he must have been in a good mood because he did! Lastly, I couldn't find anywhere else to put my little Aubusson rug, so I just laid it over the big one. I quite like it like that, and it makes the floor even softer for yoga!
p.s. I just wanted to say thanks to the kind people that left me a comment-I have tried to comment back but I keep getting the error message that my cookie functionality or something is disabled-well, I have enabled it but it is still very temperamental, so please don't think me rude if I don't comment back!! I will keep trying!

Craving for pared back style...

Just thought I'd post some inspiring images from one of my favourite designers Kate Forman.
I love her designs and always really look forward to each yearly publication of her new catalogue.
Sadly I do more browsing than buying due to my little budget, although I have quite a collection of her cushions now, which I've collected over the years.
You can choose your style and design and the cushions are made out of a lovely thick linen. The ruffles are doubled and all the buttons are picked out in a contrasting colour. It's a bit like a bespoke cushion service!
My favorite designs are the classic 'Roses' in red, which I have in both sitting rooms, the ticking stripes in pink and green, and 'Sophia' in grey and pink, which can be seen in the last few photos. All her designs are inspired by her collection of antique french linens, and I really like the soft, muted colours. If I had a lottery win I would paper my bedroom in grey 'Sophia', alas as it costs £33 per metre..... I'll just have to make-do with having some 'Sophia' cushions instead lol!
The catalogues are mainly shot in Kate Forman's own house-she must have such fun as the rooms are often re-decorated to display her new designs. I really like the pared back styling of the rooms-the style is antique, but not too heavy and cluttered, and doesn't come across as fussy and chintzy if you know what I mean.
In fact I'm going to look through all my old catalogues to pick up some tips; it's funny but as of late I've been hit with a real urge to clear out a lot of my clutter and try and simplify all the rooms in my house. It started with the bathroom, then the kitchen and the bedroom, and already I'm thinking about re-painting my conservatory and its dresser in a soft Swedishy colour...the grey bug is catching!! Does anyone else feel the same?

Auction Aubusson rug

Hi everyone-hope you are all well.
We've still been really busy here DIY-ing and tidying up. Now that we've finally got the oven and all the wood for the kitchen out of the dining room I put down the Aubusson rug at long last!

I bought the rug at a local auction a while ago and it's been rolled up ever since. Well, I finally unrolled it and got a shock at quite how large it is!
I was going to put it in my bedroom, but I think the colours are better suited to the dining room, so I'm going to swap and put the little Aubusson rug in my bedroom that was previously in my dining room.
The dining room is actually at the front of our house-we haven't got a dining table in it though! I think it was originally meant to be the front room, but we use the back room as our sitting room as it's much bigger and leads onto our conservatory and garden. So the dining room never really gets used much which is a shame as it's so sunny. (We plan to knock through the kitchen and conservatory one day to make a kitchen/dining room/conservatory.)

But lately that's all changed since I unravelled the rug. I've been using it to do yoga in, and it's perfect as there's such a large space to spread out in. We have floorboards everywhere in our house, and doing yoga was a bit uncomfortable and drafty before!
The rug is an antique one made out of wool, and has a few spots here and there, but it all adds to the character. I might try and get them out with Vanish mousse though. It's so large it fills up most of the room and was only £75 if I remember rightly. Quite a bargain when you compare it to these prices!
The last photo shows the view I have of the chandelier when doing yoga on the floor. It looks like a snowflake and the ceiling rose a wedding cake doesn't it? I read in a book that Victorian ceiling roses were especially designed with those holes in them to catch the soot from the coal fires and gas lamps. What a clever idea-I thought they were just for decoration!
By the way just in case anyone is curious, the Yoga DVD's are all by Maya Fiennes. They are cheapest on Amazon, and are based upon Kundalini yoga. I really like the soundtracks (created by Maya set to classical music like 'Clair de lune') and if you buy the 'Detox and De-stress' one you get a free cd of the music- a real bargain for about £8 I think. Mind you Kundalini yoga took me some getting used to, but it's really relaxing.
Enjoy your bank holiday weekend!