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!