Jan
30
Interiors Induced Insomnia
Filed Under Affordable Interior Design, Inspiration, bedroom | 5 Comments
Having recently re-painted and re-carpeted our bedroom, instead of relaxing and enjoying the calm grey and white sleep inducing space that we have created, I find that I am now spending hours lying awake at night thinking and deliberating over the rest of the decor. I have a fair idea of how I want it to look and what I need to get that look and it basically involves acquiring some cash. Quelle surprise! So, sadly for me and more importantly, for those around me who have to tolerate my grumpy tired self, it looks like there will be a lot of sleepless nights ahead. What I am planning though is a wallet friendly trip to IKEA (yes I will be wearing a blindfold and obviously a trolley is out of the question) so that I can install some shelving above our bed and artfully display some stuff as artfully displayed in the images above.
Images via Skona Hem, emmas design blogg and My Scandinavian Retreat
Jan
22
Delightful Bunting Surprise
Filed Under Gifts, Handmade, My Home, Shop Stuff, Wall decor | 4 Comments
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose… this beautiful bunting that’s what Bill! While going through the new arrivals of bespoke bunting for some customers the other day, I stumbled across this pretty piece with my name on it, both figuratively and literally! And there was a note from my lovely friend Aoife who creates this bunting by hand, wishing me a belated happy birthday. She is so sweet and so is my new bunting, which is taking pride of place above my office desk and it gives me a little lift every time I look up. It also reminds me that spring is just around the corner, yippee!
Jan
14
House & Home Magazine – Irish Hot 100
Filed Under Shop Stuff | 9 Comments
Hot diggity dog, check this out! I am absolutely thrilled that mabel & violet have been included in this feature compiled by Dara Flynn for this month’s issue of one of my favourite magazines – House & Home. What an honour it is to be included in this Irish line up of design start-ups, vintage furniture companies, design bloggers and new online businesses; big up Ireland! I am very proud indeed and very grateful to Dara for including us; I think it’s fair to say that I’m just very very happy about it. *dances a merry little jig around the room*
Jan
12
It’s a Giveaway…
Filed Under Gifts, Shop Stuff | 6 Comments
but it’s not here it’s taking place on the other side of the country at Pretty Far West, so pop over there and say hi to Mise if you fancy your chances of winning either one of these pieces of booty from the shop…
Who can resist a rosy tea cosy?
An oh-so-elegant toiletry bag in plush grey velvet.
Jan
11
Our Trip to the Wee North
Filed Under Inspiration | 2 Comments
We celebrated our first wedding anniversary over Christmas by taking a trip to the wee north to see the Giant’s Causeway, something we have talked about doing for so long. We stayed in the nearby village of Bushmills, yes that of the whiskey fame and another very good reason to visit, and managed to book a room in the perfectly quaint Bushmills Inn, right in the heart of the village. Having worked in the hotel industry for many a year, staying in hotels can often turn into something of a disaster as I unwittingly scrutinize every detail, running my index finger along every surface, checking under the bed for debris and analysing the form versus function aspect of each animate and inanimate object occupying the room. Quite scary stuff, expecially for himself as he watches me navigate the room, with a glint of fear in his eye and then breathes a sigh of relief when he remembers that he didn’t book the hotel and can’t be held responsible if it doesn’t meet my impeccably high standards! Anyway, the good news is that this one passed with flying colours and we barely ventured out the door for the whole two days we were there.
I just loved what they had done with the bedroom we stayed in. The bed was huuuu-age and super comfy with gorgeous linen and more pillows than you could shake a stick at. It had a ye olde-worlde feel without being too traditional or pastiche with roughly plastered white-washed walls and just the right amount of florals and colour without being too co-ordinated. Told ya I was fussy!
I fell in love with the bathroom with it’s mix of contemporary sanitaryware and country styling in the form of tongue and groove panelling. The subway tiles added a lovely retro touch and the off white and olive green colour scheme worked so well that I immediately wanted to leg it home to wield a paintbrush to our own newly completed bathroom.
The deluxe rooms are all situated in an extension, which is newly built, despite looking like it has always been there and surrounds a pretty courtyard. I was unable to get pictures of the bar, which was definitely another highlight and not just for obvious reasons! It is full of lovely little nooks, featuring real open log fires, gorgeous antique furniture (they even have a big old weathered chesterfield – be still my beating heart) and is illuminated by gas wall lights. It’s basically the perfect place to spend a cold winter’s evening a deux or with a gang of friends sipping hot whiskies and downing pints of Guinness. These words of mine really don’t do it justice so I would really recommend that you take a look at their website to see the images of the bar.
Oh and the Causeway was alright too.
Jan
9
Today I’m mostly…
Filed Under Christmas, My Home | 2 Comments
mourning Christmas and saying a long goodbye to our big, beautiful, bushy first Christmas tree. Sob.
Jan
8
Bathroom Evo-loo-tion!
Filed Under Bathroom, My Home | 7 Comments
I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I started this blog and, shame on me, I haven’t posted very much about our apartment renovation during all that time. After many long, arduous months of re-decorating, our home is finally metamorphosising into exactly that – a home. To say that it has been a slow process would be an understatement and as with most of these things it has been fraught with problems from the outset. But, I can finally reveal some of it to the outside world without hanging my little head in shame, so here’s the first of the before and afters…
Before
Just to clarify, the bathroom was tiny as you can see in the picture on the left above so we knocked down the wall between it and the walk in wardrobe in the bedroom, pictured right, to create a much more appropriately sized main bathroom. The wallpaper was peeling off the wall due to a leak from a corroded pipe on the roof – the main reason that our re-decorating took longer to complete.
After
Now it’s all a bit matchy matcherson in my opinion but it was designed to satisfy the wants and needs of many so my own creative whimsy was put to one side along with the notion of a free-standing bath. The white porcelain tiles were a great little find in B&Q, until we discovered that a) they’re not white and b) they come in many different shades of not white. It turns out that B&Q don’t have batch numbers on these particular tiles and it is impossible to match shades, especially under the UV lights of their shop floor. So, after weeks of to-ing and fro-ing to various B&Q shops we gave up on ever finding the shade of “not white” that we needed to complete the bathroom so we have resigned to living with a strip of tiles that are just one shade different than the rest of the wall. See if you can spot it!
As expected, the tongue and groove has moved a little since it was installed and needs to be touched up with another lick of paint but, I must admit, I like that it’s not perfect because it gives the bathroom a slightly aged look. You see, in my strange interiors obsessed little world, I love newly decorated interiors but I don’t like when they look like newly decorated interiors. I like a home to look worn and lived in, a bit rough around the edges, not untidy or unclean, just with added character.