Tree Fall

I loved the way the girls room used to look, but unfortunately it quite quickly became impractical. The biggest problem being a lack of storage, for both their clothes and their toys. Resulting in a constant build up of piles. So to speak.

We knew that we would have to change things around once Lily was out of her cot, but to begin with we assumed we could make it work without resorting to bunk beds. I had this totally unrealistic plan of having two matching white antique style wooden beds, side by side (I was obviously picturing a much, much bigger room!) and figured that we would just fudge the storage issues somehow.

We pretty quickly realised though that the only way to go was bunk beds and that storage was the key issue if we wanted the room to be at all practical.

Because our budget was so small we were restricted to this Ikea bed. Which was cheap but pretty depressing. So we painted it white and hung bed curtains made from the Cath Kidston fabric that was previously their bedroom curtains.

The bed curtain has dual purpose. As well as prettifying the bed it also helps block out the light, so that Lily isn't woken too early by the summer sun as well as making the whole bed thing a bit more fun for her.

I decided straight off to just run riot with the floral theme. There was never going to be any pretending that this room was anything but a girly girls room, so I figured that I might as well embrace it. Big time.

 

So when we bought a huge Ikea wardrobe carcass to store all the toys in I decided to continue the crazy floral theme. First we cut our own doors out of MDF, because I wanted to stop it from being a solid wall of doors and have two open shelves so that the girls could have their dolls house in particular out on display. Then I papered the doors with a couple of different wallpapers and patchworked the open shelves. It's not quite finished yet, but it's pretty much turned out how I hoped it would. And it's a godsend when it comes to storing all of their toys!

The room still has their all important reading corner, but we had to get rid of their art table. As much as I loved how it looked, we've found that they both prefer drawing and painting downstairs on the kitchen table and that with Lily getting so big it was too much of a squeeze for both of them to work at. So instead they have some more practical art supplies storage and a wall full of prints.

 

I'm pretty pleased that we've managed to make the room pretty and practical, as well as seemingly creating a whole ton of extra floor space. With the combination of bunk beds and the toy cupboard, the majority of the floor space is now freed up so that the girls can get out train sets and jigsaws or dance around (or do cartwheels, as was the case tonight!) easily and happily.

And I really love the playmobil shelf! We they have so much fun with it!

So the room has definitely changed, but for the better I think, because it now works for us all. We can keep it tidy and the girls can mess it up. The perfect partnership!

So after all of that, this morning we all woke up to a tidy, calm home. I had really underestimated how much difference it makes to walk around the house without being constantly bombarded with jobs that need starting or finishing or even planning. What a lovely relief it is to know that everything is in its place and to be able to finally just get on with living here. 

The night before the shoot I made new cushions (apart from the stripey one of course). The black, white and yellow one is a Nani Iro print on the front with a yellow silk on the back and I got both from here. It's the first time that I've ordered from RayStitch and I have to say that the service was excellent and the order arrived really quickly.

The yellow/grey floral next to it is a Designers Guild print that I was lucky enough to pick up at a fraction of the normal price (and I really do mean a fraction)and is backed in an Ikea yellow and white stripe.

And the orange circles cushion is made from some linen that I printed last week. I backed it in a really gorgeous mustard yellow wool that I picked up over a year ago and have been saving for a special occasion.

Honestly, I waste so much time procrastinating when it comes to simple things like making cushions, that when I finally get around to doing it I feel like a bit of an idiot for having left it so long. Especially when something so simple can make such a big difference.

 

We've had a bit of an exciting day today. After weeks of preparation, the very talented and lovely Holly Jolliffe visited us to take photographs of the house for Ideal Home magazine. And the equally talented and lovely Louise Rastall came to style the shoot.

Even though I have a horribly sore throat (and the silliest of voices) it was all extremely good fun. Louise and Holly made the whole process so easy that I was more than a little sad when it was all over.

The shoot lasted all day, with Louise styling it all so that the house looked so much better. And with me spending as much time as I could trying to hide all the junk that I can just never find a home for. That said, I'm quite relieved to say that it really was a case of fine tuning, rather than a complete restyle! I was a little nervous that when Holly and Louise arrived they'd be disappointed by the place and need to change everything!

Even though we've spent quite a lot of time over the last few weeks sprucing the place up and finishing off as many of those unfinished jobs as possible, I still ended up cleaning and decorating the rooms right up until Holly and Louise walked in to them (and whilst they were setting up the shot at one point!). And it goes without saying that I was still sewing right up to the wire too! Not that I needed to worry, Holly's photography skills are so good that I'm sure she could make a cowshed look good.

I'm not sure how pain free Holly and Louise found it, with 6 of us crammed in to a small terraced house, especially when 2 of those people were inordinately loud and over excited, but I certainly enjoyed every minute of it and would happily do it all again.

It was so very much worth all the work and of course the added bonus is that we actually now, for the first time in years, have a house that is almost finished. And almost clean!

I'm not sure what the girls thought of it all though, except that Bella is very excited about the fact that she's going to be famous!!

Unfortunately she's going to have to wait a while though, as it looks like the piece will be in the January issue next year.

By the way, check out Holly's vintage shop - it has some lovely bits and pieces in.

A sneak peak.

Quite possibly the girliest bedroom. In the world.

Ever.

Inspiration on the streets of Leeds.

I love these doors.

Bella recently received a certificate at school for being able to recognise patterns in her environment! She's a girl after my own heart.

We're child free for the next day and a half, courtesy of my very generous parents. And we have big plans.

Unfortunately all of them include paint, sandpaper, rollers, gloss, drills and jigsaws.

We're attempting to finally finish the house before a photo shoot scheduled for Wednesday and this is the third weekend in a row that we've built shelves, painted walls, cleaned carpets, sewn curtains and written lists and more lists.

I'm not sure the house will ever be really finished, but I'm quite excited seeing it all come together. And in particular I'm excited about the fact that the girls bedroom is finally looking good again.

I think we've done most of the big things, so this weekend is about finishing off all those jobs that just never get done, as well as trying to pull it together with new cushions and artwork etc.

And if we're really lucky, we may even get to sneak out to watch a movie!

It was a bit of a shock to those around me when I suddenly decided that I loved yellow a couple of years ago. And it was an even bigger shock when orange started to creep in (thank goodness Jim is in colour synch with me). But this? This I did not see coming. 

I mean, really? Pink? Pink?

Obviously I have been living with it in one form or another since Bella could start voicing an opinion. But it's always been confined to her bedroom and her clothes.

It's not that I don't like pink (although I didn't at all before having Bella) and I think some fabrics are wonderful. Like this Paul Smith stripe that I picked up last year and finally used this week, when I made this skirt for Bella and an exact replica for her friend.

It's just that up until now I have had no interest whatsoever in using any form of pink in my interiors.

I'm not sure if it's because I've been noticing colour a lot more since I started screen printing, but suddenly I'm finding that I'm loving much brighter, stronger colours. And in particular, magenta.

For Bella's sake more than anything, I decided to print some magenta deer the other day and as soon as I saw the results I was hooked. And in particular I really love this orange and magenta combination.

I was never a fan of  the light pink that was so popular a few years ago (and teamed with brown in particular) but this is different.

Of course there's a sneaking suspicion that it's just the whole 80's revival tricking me in to thinking that magenta and orange (and even yellow, for goodness sake) go together, but what the hell, I'm happy to roll with it.

Just someone please save me if I start wearing odd neon socks and thinking it's cool again!

I get pretty nervous when I post about a new design. Whilst I try and take the best photo's that I can of my work, I'm always so aware that I'm putting it out there, open to comments without it actually being seen in person. It's quite a strange thing to do really. And yet I've been doing it now for 5 years and pretty much don't think of a design as finished until I've blogged about it.

I started making these cuffs a couple of weeks ago after making my brooch. I had intended to just make some bigger brooches but realised that I liked the way they looked on my wrist more than I liked the way they looked pinned on.

I'm a big fan of cuffs. I prefer them to bangles or bracelets because they don't move around, and it drives me a bit crazy when bangles jingle about. I also like the way a cuff can add a solid hit of colour to an outfit.

I made these cuffs using three layers of wool felt (not craft felt), some looped elastic and a vintage button. I had a more costly and complicated fastening idea, but in the end I decided that a simple loop and button would work best, especially as it allows the cuff to fit most wrists.

I found the whole process of drawing the circles, cutting them out and working out the colour combinations really relaxing and just really enjoyed working with felt.

 

I've been wearing my cuff (yellow and grey of course!) for the last couple of days, and even though it's been pretty muggy and humid, it's been really comfortable. I was worried that the three layers of felt would make it too warm or scratchy to wear in the summer, but that just hasn't been the case. 

I don't usually work with felt in the summer, it tends to only really appeal to me in the winter months but the bright colours and the fact that I could sit in the sun whilst drawing and cutting out the circles has meant that I've suddenly become a little obsessed with it.

These cuffs (and some more pincushions) are in the shop right now.

I made this topsy turvey doll for Bella a couple of years ago. She liked it, but it was never top of the play list. It's pretty hard to compete with her American Girl doll or her Baby Annabelle.

The same however, can not be said for Lily, who has recently claimed her as her own. She's fascinated by the fact that the doll can be both awake and asleep and spends a lot of time 'waking' her up (which in all fairness consists mainly of shaking her as hard as she can!) and then telling her to go back to sleep (she's a pretty strict mum!).

A family friend made me my first topsy turvy doll when I was tiny, which I still have, and have always loved. And I made my first one a few years ago, when Bella was tiny.

I love making these dolls and have been wanting to make more for a while now. And after being spurred on by Lily's love, I've finally just started a couple of new ones that I'm hoping to put in the shop soon. Assuming Lily will let me of course!

I was lucky enough to get hold of this wonderful dress by the equally wonderful Skinny laminx  couple of weeks ago. As soon as I saw it (via another designer that I'm a huge fan of) I knew that it was perfect for Lily and had to have it.

Heather ( the talent behind Skinny laminx) is quite literally one of my favourite textile designers ever. And I'm not alone in my admiration. In fact, just a couple of days ago my neighbour, who is herself a great designer (and is soon to be featured right here!), listed Heather as one of those designers that make you want to give it all up. And I totally agree. Her designs are clever and beautiful and emminantly useable.

Anybody who owns a Skinny laminx tea towel will tell you that they are the best quality tea towels that you can buy and that not only do they look amazing, but they also dry incredibly well. Seriously, once you use a Skinny laminx tea towel (not that you'll want to at first, because it seems almost sacrilege) you will not look back.

Heather is based in South Africa and works out of her studio in Cape Town where she designs and (along with a number of other talented people) makes her gorgeous tea towels, cushions and napkins as well as printing her amazing fabrics. On top of running her hugely popular Etsy shop, Heather also writes her uber inspiring blog, where she explains her design process and keeps us all up to date (and salivating) over her new designs.

And as if that wasn't enough, Heather is also the editor of the Elle Decoration, SA blog!

I can't hide it. I'm a passionate (some would say argumentative, but they're plainly wrong) person and I am particularly passionate about talented people and Heather makes me want to shout from the rooftops. Not that she needs me to, as it's not exactly a secret that she has an amazing talent.

And just in case you weren't convinced...when Lily saw her new dress, her exact words were 'Oh Wow!".
And that girl knows what she's talking about.