Sunday Six

Amazing wallpaper; the perfect antidote to all those chintzy florals

Terence Conran chair

A great way to add colour to a room

Gold ring stack

"Interlocking Forms" by Karl Benjamin, 1959

And finally some banana dogs

Wow that week went by in a flash! Am I the only one who suddenly gets a lot more productive once the seasons change? Without the distraction of a barbecue or a pub garden I seem to get a lot more done and  more projects k seem to crop up. Have any of you had any exciting projects recently?

Sunday Six

I really want to have a go at making these 

ahhh what a wonderfully productive week; I've managed to get lots of boring but necessary things done and now I'm chilling with my two guys after an incredible roast dinner. My website is re designed and my cards are all ready to go to print, which is very exciting! Here's my round of lovely things I've seen this week.

New Pencil case season

Pencil case from Howkapow

I love autumn; I love how there is change in the air and an excuse to wear tights, eat stews and cosy up near a fire. It seems engrained in me to get myself sorted, organise and tidy things up  at this time of year as well. I call it ''new pencil case season''. It's that time of year when as a kid you would get your new stationery, try out a new handwriting style ( was I the only one who did this?) and get some shiny new shoes.

Marvellous Monochrome

Our lovely dog, photo by Noel Deasington

Even though I'll always be hopelessly devoted to bright colours and unusual colour combinations I still love a bit of black and white, it can look both classic and timeless as well as  edgy and bold and who can resist that?

Sunday Six

Please someone give me this

Do you ever see something thats just so right for you that it feels unfair that you don't have it? This Serge Gainsbourg brooch is one of those things.

Longing for Colour

 

The longer I live in a rented flat the more I am chomping at the bit to PAINT SOME WALLS. I do really love that very Scandinavian look of wooden floors and white walls but now that I have that I am longing for any sort of colour on the wall; even light grey would do.

 I'm slightly worried that when I do finally have my own house one day I will go slightly colour crazy and have wallpapered walls and decorative floors. For now I will just have to carry on painting furniture and dreaming of having some golden yellow stairs and mutli coloured cupboards.

Lemon Haired Ladies

You can't go wrong with anything yellow in my book ESPECIALLY something yellow that goes with gin.

Freshly Painted Houses

Lovely Photo series of Freshly Painted houses by Jeff Brouws, those colours are a bit delicious aren't they?

Sunday Six

Some lovely things to finish off the week!

See the full story here

This lovely photo story about an abandoned house that's been taken over  by wild animals

Pattern Play

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Some wonderful patterns for the weekend, I'm becoming increasingly addicted to harlequin prints.

Katrin Korfmann

Sorry it's been a little quiet this week, Juggling freelance work with other work can sometimes leave you with a few days when not a SINGLE moment is wasted.

Anyway this week I found these brilliant aerial photographs by Katrin Korfmann, they show how small differences in communities can make a huge impact in an image, they also show how much more powerful an image can be when taken from a slightly different angle.

Enjoy!

Sunday Six

A quick round up of jolly lovely things I've seen this week 

Find Momo

Can you find Momo the collie in the picture? This lovely blog is not only a bit addictive but also very beautiful. Perfect for anyone who fancies a game of ''where's collie?" (ahem).

Compass Ladder 

The Compass Ladder designed by danish studio Gamfratesi for italian furniture company Casamania. Great for drying your clothes in style.

Tatty Devine

This is a bit delicious isn't it?

Champion Studio

Lovely bit of saucy graphic illustration

Lovely colours and some excellent models 

Wonderful Manicure 

Happy Sunday!

A Bigger Splash

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How can you not love David Hockney? His work has been really influential to me and many other illustrators I know of, in the last few years he has slipped into the role ''national treasure'' but I still find his work fresh, exciting and joyful. 

Seeing his last exhibition at the Royal Academy last year was a wonderful experience, he is a obviously a hard worker who just can't help but paint and I love how he is still clearly excited by getting out in the world and painting, also the way he has embraced new technology is really refreshing even if you prefer his painting-paintings to his ipad paintings.

Here are some lovely bits and bobs that are inspired by his iconic painting ''A bigger splash'' and a WONDERFUL image of him by the wonderful design duo Craig and Karl ( if you haven't seen their work I definitely recommend taking a look)

One day....

Tetra shed 

These tetra sheds are a bit good aren't they? At the moment I can only dream of having a studio that's not a desk in our bedroom but I think this tasty shed is the sort of garden studio I should aspire to!

Turquoise love

Lenny looks pretty great with turquoise too. Photo by Noel Deasington

My heart will always belong to bright yellow, it seems to instantly attract and please me. But the other day I realised everything in my bag (including my bag) was yellow; I own yellow coats, yellow dresses, yellow jumpers and my flat is full of little flashes of yellow. I felt like I should try and break up this one- colour- pony silliness and  broaden my colour choices.

I recently painted the knackered old chest of drawers above in this shade of Annie Sloan turquoise paint ( ''Florence'') and since then this delicious shade has been my new addiction and has even featured in my own work! Here are some other lovely turquoise things.

One of my wrapping paper designs for Lagom design

Spicemode by Isabela Rodrigues

Justina Blakeney's fabulous kitchen

Wall sconce available here

By Yusuke Yonezu

       How lovely are these chairs?

So what's your new colour addiction?

Eames Inspiration

Ray and Charles Eames

Me and Noel watched ''Eames: the architect and the artist'' recently and I can't stop 

thinking about how inspirational this couple were.

Aside from loving the bits of furniture I had previously seen, I didn't know much about Ray and Charles Eames. Clearly they were great visual communicators but aside from that it was their view on work, life and pleasure that really inspired me. 

Eames Chairs and House Bird

They saw work and pleasure as connected and intertwining and they didn't think pleasure or design was something frivolous but something that should be taken entirely seriously. The playfulness and joy present in their work is invigorating and so inspiring, you can actually SEE their enjoyment in presenting their version of the world.

Eames toy and the solar powered ''do nothing machine''

It gave me such encouragement as it can be very tempting when you have a job that's creative and fun but also unpredictable and lacking in stability to give up and look for something more safe but boring. The more I think about it the more I feel that for me it's worth giving up the 9-5 working hours, stable salary, frequent holidays and trinkets to live a pleasurable life and enjoy what I'm doing, also I think having enjoyment in your work makes you work much, much harder and I was always brought up to work hard. 

Saying this, doing something enjoyable comes with a large dose of guilt, I entirely agree with Charles when he said ''It makes me feel guilty that anybody should have such a good time doing what they are supposed to do.'' I hope I'll always be lucky enough to enjoy my work, even if I always have to work my bum off and have a part time job as well!

I'm off to go and buy many books about this marvellous couple!

Portugal

We got back from Portugal late last night from a very short and sweet trip (and a wedding). We were lucky enough to be staying in an absolutely magnificent house in Mortagua where the wedding took place and we spent a couple of days there helping getting everything ready as it was a proper DIY wedding. The wedding itself was incredible; a wonderful setting with a fantastic people.

Here are some details from the house we were staying in, it was the kind of house where everywhere you turn you see something more beautiful than the last!

Tropical Delights

Photo by Max Wagner 

I'm off to sunnier climes (Portugal) on Thursday for a wedding and I'm very excited seeing as I haven't been abroad for a while so heres a pick of Tropical delights that are getting me MORE excited.

Flower ice cubes recipe from Whole Kitchen

If only I had a freezer

The utterly amazing garden of Mario Lafrenais

Wallpaper from Fine Little Day

 Lovely artificial parrot from iota bristol

                                                            Illustration by Charlotte Trounce 

                                                          Toucan Shoes by Kobi Levi 


                                So what's the most exotic wedding you've been to?