Sep
1
More Tolix Love…
Filed Under Furniture, Inspiration, Interior Design, Vintage | 1 Comment
Sorry, I simply couldn’t resist posting these images of Tolix chairs that I came across since my last post just the other day about these French beauties. How is it possible to love furniture so? These are just one of my massive chair crushes, there are others that I’m saving for another post. Gasp!
Is it completely necessary for me to point out that I also LOVE the shelving and the light fittings?
By the way, I saw Inception the other night and I was pretty enthralled by the whole thing but especially the architecture in the dream thingy. Did I mention that I’m also a film critic? Anyway, it just reminded me of some of the dreams that I have because I mainly dream about architecture and interiors. (really random useless) FACT!
Images from vt wonen via Delight by Design
Aug
29
House Doctor Moments Autumn 2010
Filed Under Danish Design, Furniture, Inspiration, Shop Stuff | 3 Comments
I received the new House Doctor Moments catalogue a few weeks ago and my copy is very well thumbed at this stage. I had been looking forward to its arrival for weeks and it did not disappoint as I well and truly devoured it, repeatedly. To say that I want to order EVERYTHING for the shop is a slight understatement. It’s so difficult to choose a few select pieces when their styling is this good…
House Doctor are based in Denmark (you know I’m such a sucker for Danish design!) and they produce two collections every year. The Everyday catalogue showcases their new collection, which is updated annually and launched in January and Moments is then released in time for Autumn and consists of more new products and Christmas decorations. I’m chuffed that Mabel & Violet is the only online shop in Ireland currently stocking House Doctor, so if you are looking for something from the range that we don’t have in stock you can get in touch with us here and we will do our best to get it for you.
Aug
25
Location, Location, Location!
Filed Under Inspiration, Interior Design, Shop Stuff | 1 Comment
Ok, so when Mabel & Violet is big and all growed up, not to mention rich and famous; I have earmarked this bijou little spot for one of our photo shoots or maybe I could just move in…
I just love that it’s nearly falling down and full of peeling wallpaper, crumbling plaster, ornate furniture and chandeliers and other intriguing little details. Divine!
Images via Shoot Factory
Aug
23
Tolix Chairs and Stools
Filed Under Furniture, Inspiration, Vintage | Leave a Comment
are my latest obsession as well as all things with a vintage industrial feel; yes I am a dedicated follower of fashion.
Images via Living Etc, Skona Hem and My Scandinavian Retreat
Jun
28
A Tiny Victorian Cottage
Filed Under Inspiration, Vintage | 5 Comments
I was browsing some of my favourite blogs earlier and this just stopped me in my tracks. It’s the most romantic cottage I’ve ever seen, fit for a fairy princess! The owner did most of the work herself, using salvaged and flea market finds and she uses it as her own personal retreat. Her husband also has his own retreat on another part of their property. That sounds like the key to a very happy marriage…
Images from The New York Times via {this is glamorous}
Jun
21
Copenhagen Living
Filed Under Danish Design, Inspiration, Shop Stuff | 2 Comments
I’m pretty obsessed with Danish design, which is why you’ll find some of my favourite Danish brands in my online boutique. Lately though, I have also been obsessing about Copenhagen and I really look forward to visiting this beautiful city some day soon. I always think that the best way to see a city is to go native so I’ve been looking at rental properties (one of my favourite pastimes in the whole world!) while I save up for the airfare.
One of the things that I love about Danish design is the simplicity. It is so evident in their homes, even the homes available on the rental market. Everything in this apartment is pared back so that the beautiful plasterwork and feature windows take centre stage. Not a single magnolia wall or ugly old carpet in sight. Irish landlords, please take note!
Images via lejebolig.dk
May
22
Colour Coded Book Shelves
Filed Under Banter, Inspiration | 5 Comments
And further to my last post, I just want to show you that people do actually colour code books on shelves, so I’ve provided this example below. I’m guessing that’s the chick-lit section in the top right hand corner? This is only the beginning though, there’s a whole Flickr pool dedicated to this literary rainbow making thing.
Now I love a bit of organisation and there’s nothing quite like a pretty shelf display but this makes my IOCD (interiors obsessive compulsive disorder) look a little mild. Although I do wish I had a book collection like this one and perhaps I wouldn’t mind if someone else took the time to colour coordinate it on my floor to ceiling shelving. I suppose that wouldn’t be so bad. What do you think – magic or manic?
Image via Flickr
May
20
Car Moebel
Filed Under Furniture, Inspiration, Uncategorized | 4 Comments
I have learned a lot during my recent tenure here as Vice President of Shelving and Storage Solutions (while also moonlighting as Senior Sofa Manager at Pretty Far West). Mainly, that one can never have enough storage, or shelving for that matter, but also, and perhaps much more importantly, that placing items on a shelf in a haphazard manner and failing to colour co-ordinate said items is a major misdemeanour in interior design circles. Apparently. I, for one, constantly live in fear of being caught with mismatched ceramics or a rogue black book stashed between the yellow and orange ones.
Short of hiring a stylist to perfect my sorry artful displays, or vignettes as they are known in the bizz, I have been scouring the internet for storage and display inspiration. This in turn led me to the website of Car Moebel and they just seem to have the whole storage/shelving/display/vignette, whatever, thing down pat don’t they?
Perhaps it’s just my white floorboard obsession that makes me love these images so but I have become a big fan of their furniture and really wish that they would deliver to little old Ireland for in or around a tenner. Thank you please Car Moebel.
All images from Car Moebel
Apr
26
Ace Hotel New York
Filed Under Inspiration, Photography, Travels | 2 Comments
The jetlag is beginning to subside although, to be perfectly honest, it is quite difficult to distinguish it from my normal unrelenting capacity for sleep. Eight hours a day? Pah, I laugh in the face of eight hours sleep per day. I’ll see your eight and raise you four more.
While we’re on the subject, I thought it pertinent to show you where I got my twelve hours a night while we stayed in New York. It has already been blogged all over the blogosphere and featured in every magazine worth its salt but we stayed at Ace Hotel. This place is so cool, even by New York standards. It’s always a little disconcerting though when you feel intimidated by the staff. They’re not snooty, they’re not supermodel beautiful, they’re just really bloody cool, dressed in their casual uniforms of jeans, converse, vintage style waistcoats and tipped-to-the-side trilby hats.
The rooms were pretty small but then we did book their smallest room type and we were in Manhattan. They had everything we needed though, including the best stocked minibar and snack tray that I have ever seen and not to mention a frickin’ amazing view of the Empire State Building two blocks away. And just like the staff, the decor was just really bloody cool. Oh lordie I’ve just used the word cool three times, my sixteen year old self would be very proud. Seriously cool though. Sorry, it’s the jetlag.
Mar
18
Yellow Belly Accent
Filed Under Danish Design, Inspiration | 3 Comments
Did I mention before that I’m a Wexford woman? That explains the less than mediocre title for this post then. I’m told that I don’t have a yellow belly accent but I have recently developed a bit of a penchant for a yellow accent. Now there’s a seamless link for you! Following the reaction that my last post about yellow received here on the blog and on both our Facebook and Twitter pages, I thought I would share these images of this Danish home via Katrine Martensen-Larsen’s website. It is a perfect example of how yellow should, in my humble opinion, be used as an accent colour. Once again those pesky (and by pesky I mean uber-cool, extremely talented, hideously attractive, incredibly creative, dangerously efficient and really rather likeable…grrrr) Scandinavians show us how it’s done!