Pale and Interesting

My mother-in-law gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. She asked what I'd like, and I told her that I have a ton of books on my wish list and that I'd love to be able to pick a few out from the list. Recently I read about the shop Pale and Interesting on My Black Book. I loved the images and went straight to the shop to see what they had in store. They have great linens, cushions, furniture, and so many beautiful home accessories, and I love the styling and photographs of their products. And I read on the site that they have a book as well. It's going in my shopping cart, and I can't wait to see more. 

All images posted here are from their site and appear to be by photographer Polly Wreford.

Garage Shopping

I love digging through my mom's garage! She's a junkin' junkie and always has fun stuff in her garage. I always want to go shopping in there. Here are a few things that caught my eye today... buttons, fabric, books, old frames, and a run-down doll house that we're going to try to spruce up. Her garage is also home to some other really great things in her etsy shop, The Carriage Trade. 

Make a Wish

I love birthdays! Mine was on Tuesday. I just didn't post my cake in time! I love this cake, which I saw on The Savvy Crafter (and I think it's originally from Marie Claire Idees, as she mentions in the post). Here's to having your cake and eating it too, or trying to anyway! 

Gone Home

I'm in Atlanta with Lois for the next few weeks visiting family and friends. Andrew will be here for part of the visit too, which will be great. It was a bit of an adventure to get here, but we're here now. I've been chillin' in my mom's yard today with a stack of magazines and books while Lois plays with her cousins. Heaven! More soon from down south.

Wildflowers

At the playground near our house there's a patch of wildflowers. It used to be grass, but now it's wildflowers. They're not exactly wild, because they were planted there. I remember when the landscaping men dug up the grass to plant the seeds. But they are so pretty! And just because they're pretty, I thought you might like to see them too. 

Before and After: New Chair!

So we've had our first piece of furniture re-covered! We've had this great chair for a few years now but it was covered in a burnt orange velvet (you can see the before in the last image), and I've finally had it recovered. I chose black and white ticking because to me it's timeless and looks classic and modern at the same time. I LOVE it! Thanks to MN who referred the upholsterer, Romano Falchi. He did a great job and at a very reasonable price. If you're in the London area and need something re-upholstered, contact Romano. He even sent me images of the new chair in progress! I think I will paint the legs a coral color, at Lisa's suggestion. I couldn't decide what color would look best and that's what she had in mind and I agree. Love, love the chair now!

Laundry Day

A while back I saw THE cutest tea towels at Anthropologie. I usually like their embroidered and appliqued tea towels, but a few laundry themed towels really made me squeal (you can see them here and here). I wanted to buy them, but then again, I thought it might be fun to make something like it. And I'm kind of cheap when it comes to things like this. I don't know why, but I am. I'm okay with digesting a great $100 meal with some nice wine if I get the chance, but a tea towel for $20ish, something I could potentially use for years? I think twice and decide to spend 8 hours making one instead! I actually made this a few weeks ago. I had grand ideas of making a little tea towel series, but after laundry day, it was tea time, and I stopped there. I stopped for now anyway. They are fun to make. Of course any craft that involves tiny clothes is fun. Laundry day started with cutting out tiny clothes...

And cute liberty print underwear... (you see Lois was helping me hang the clothes)

Can't resist vintage button flowers...

Laundry day is over... now it's tea time!  

I finished tea time and gave it to my sister-in-law.

Room to Sew

You might remember that when we were looking for a new apartment last winter, one major draw to our current place was an extra room. I say "extra" room because our place isn't technically a three bedroom, but there is a small third room next door. It's more of a utility room in that it has exposed pipes and wires, and doesn't have a bathroom, but it does have pretty nice wood floors and heat, so I decided to make it into a guest room / craft room. Initially I thought I would make it an office for Andrew and try to give it a masculine vibe, but he thought I might use the room more than him and suggested I let it be a room to sew. He does like to work in there as it is though. He thinks it's pretty cozy. The daybed that used to be in Lois's room is in there, and our old bar, turned potting table, is now my sewing table (and desk), and my bike lives in there too. It was a lot of work getting it to this point. Do you remember what it looked like before? Like this (scroll down), ugh. My sister helped me so much at first when she was visiting, but then for a while I was stuck. There were so many things in there that we wanted to keep like camping stuff, old baby things, Christmas decorations, etc. Every time I'd go in there I felt overwhelmed. And when I'd start to unpack and sort it out, for a while I ended up just making a bigger mess. But somehow I got it to this point. Behind the curtain all our storage stuff and my craft supplies, fabric and whatnot, is stored in bins and stacked almost to the ceiling. I still have some work to do in there--one wall (across from the daybed) has a ledge that is holding a bunch of random stuff right now. But it's a good start. Now I just need to get busy stitching! 

Some Recent iPhone Favorites

It's been a while since I unloaded the photos from my phone, but I got around to doing it over the weekend. Instagram is still my favorite photo app lately, and I really like that they've added tiltshift as an option. Here are a few favorite instagram photos over the past month or so. 

I'm also experimenting with larger photos. I wish there was something between the blogger "large" and "xlarge" settings. They do look huge! What do you think? Do you like so see larger photos or is this too big? (Update: they just looked too big in xlarge to me! So I went back to large for now.)

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's not exactly hot here in London, and we won't be going to a lake house for the 4th, but a girl can daydream. Here's what I'll be doing in my daydream: having a great meal at this lakeside table with my friends and family, going for a dip in this amazing bathing suit, eating a big o'l mound of that strawberry shortcake, and then taking a nap in that cabin. 4th daydream complete! Hope you enjoy your holiday.
Sources: Top two images from a very old Country Living (late 90's), suit, red house. 

Makover

You may have noticed my blog has gotten a little bit of a makeover. Thanks to Rachel at Ironwood Design Studios for sprucing it up! I've tried in the past to give it a bit of a re-do, but I usually just make it look all wonky, so I decided to call in a professional. What do you think? I wanted it a bit wider, with the ability to post larger photos, and have the categories cleaned up a bit. I've been in a blog funk for a while now, but I'm ready to refocus and get to posting more often with more regular features. I'll still be writing about shops I like, places I visit, crafts I make, flea markets I visit, along with inspiring interiors and our home sweet home (which is always a work in progress), but I'm aiming for more structure in my posts. I'm still touching up a few things, so be patient with me, please. I'm re-labeling a ton of posts so the appropriate posts will turn up in the individual categories' lists, which will take a while. But do let me know if you like the new look!