Loving...

Seriously, how totally gorgeous is this home? I really love it...prepare for lots of photos as I found it very difficult to pick just a few! From Stadshem (real estate site in Sweden - visit the site, heaps more beautiful homes to drool over!).














Oh, and Happy Bloomsday! One of these years I am going to take the day off work and enjoy all the lovely events that take place in Dublin on this day!

Printed tea-cosies ....

Hello...came across Maxine Sutton's little online shop via Elle Decoration's November issue. Maxine makes these really cute and sweet hand printed tea-cosies and lavender-filled spoons and hearts. If you fancy making your own, you can purchase one of her little crafty kits...

A happy find...

I came across this lovely online store at the weekend...Isak...I really like their small collection of homewares...here is a little sample (love the little bags that come with their trays). I am especially fond of the blankets and well... that wallpaper is too cute!! Hope you had a lovely weekend :)

Nice images...

From Atlanta Bartlett's site - she is an interiors stylist....not everything to my taste but I quite liked these images...











...like the curtains in the second image but not that chair and how it is "trussed"!! My favourite is the first...the little punch of green with the pink is sweet :)

Beautiful blankets....

I have been drooling over these 2 crocheted blankets by SiMakery (at Etsy) for weeks now and am planning to buy them and use one or both in my newly sorted out study/snug! Aren't they beautiful? Also will be buying 2 of these pretty white armchairs from Ikea (well probably one for starters!)...

Stylish space...

Am really liking this beautiful Brooklyn Brownstone featured in the September issue of Living etc...owned by J Crew's Creative Director, Jenna Lyons...love the bright yellow sofa (which looks much brighter in the magazine) and the grand entrance to the bathroom (from bedroom). Just one thing tho...I am seeing a lot of these mounted antlers around design/interior mags...I am not so sure about this as a decorative statement...bit creepy? Any thoughts?






images from Living etc

More Ikea...

Our house, as you may have gathered, is small (maybe bijou?!) ...when we visited Ikea recently to get our hallway sorted out we also bought a Billy bookcase...we were running out of storage space in our wee kitchen so bought this cupboard which now sits just outside the kitchen and holds a bunch of stuff that was really cluttering up the worktop space...it's made such a difference and it fits in very nicely...am pleased! Cost E45.

What styling!!

I love this ....check out more shots on Emma's Design Blog

I like...

These are cool..."based on the original 17th century Dutch canal houses", storage boxes..."white on the outside so you can decorate it yourself in order to make your own little street with the inside printed in bold colours." I think I would leave them white...3 for 23quid...might just have to make me a little purchase.



from Dutch by Design

Back to Reality!

Back at work today (boo!) after a wonderful holiday that really seemed to last forever...had a fantastic time :) We arrived in Dublin on Friday evening and as we had a bank holiday yesterday, we had a nice long weekend to get back into the swing of things! Made some brownies (a last hurrah before I start trying to lose the few pounds piled on whilst away!). We also went to IKEA which just opened recently in Dublin. We were very focused and knew exactly what we wanted so were not too bothered by the teeming throngs of people and managed to get in and out quite quickly! So, I mentioned before that I needed to do something with our hallway. It is very short and narrow and it was a mess...see before and after below. Am very pleased to have all our shoes and bicycle gear neatly tucked away now!



Hall before...



Hall after...




And just because I really like this picture of Oscar and Sadie!

Scandi Style....

I found this link after having seen some gorgeous images on the lovely Deco Detective blog (you must check this blog out if you haven't already!).

Here are some more images...again it's the bright white with gorgeous punches of really bright colours...I am totally loving this vibe right now...my heart actually fluttered when I saw the images first (sad but true!!). I would strongly recommend having a look at the website...I am waiting to hear back from them as to whether they ship to Ireland or not...fingers crossed :) I noticed that they have products from Rice, Tinek and Greengate all of which I posted about here some time ago!
















I would love a couple of the little armchairs and the sofa (armchair for our bedroom, sofa and another armchair for our "snug" project - more about that later!)and I really like the bureau/drawer unit...would be perfect for that nook I posted about a few days ago!

Dream Cottage...

Hello! I am sure I will post about this a lot over time so bear with me! Both myself and my husband yearn and long for a cottage in the countryside (maybe me a little more than he as I am a country girl at heart!). I constantly check property pages and websites to see what's out there and right now there are quite a few lovely places which have come WAY down in price ...unfortunately, the value of all houses has fallen so the equity we had built up has been reduced somewhat too, therefore, our dream cottage is still just that (for the moment...must remain positive!!).

Anyway, I mentioned the photographer Christina Wilson in this post some time ago and have now found another beautiful property on her website - a fisherman's cottage in Whitstable - which she has fixed up beautifully...it's for rent and I certainly wouldn't mind spending a week there off season...maybe October some time! Some of her own shots of her little cottage showing her wonderful sense of style below ...totally the kind of simple design aesthetic I would aspire to in my cottage :)

Smitten from the first shot...



Beautiful little kitchen...



Loving the larder cupboard (think it's from Habitat) and adore the small Smeg fridge...



View through to living area...



Very pretty pot belly stove (I prefer an open fire but love these stoves too!)..



Gorgeous, light, white, tongue and groove clad bedroom...sigh...



Another bright and pretty bedroom...



I don't have enough superlatives...the bathroom...



The little back yard...enough space for a small deck, table, chairs and a little seaside garden....



Local beach huts....



Seaside nearby...




Isn't it delightful? I can't wait to have my own...hope you liked it too! Christina is a great photographer I think :)