Spring has sprung

With all the moving in, sourcing furniture and bits and bobs for the flat, the blog has seriously been neglected. I'm glad to say that we finally have a dining table and a bench and some outside seating...

Still awaiting on a few keys bits, so no photos of the inside just yet, so I'm just going to leave you with this lovely image of what I can see from my balcony... and some pictures of blooming spring blossoms

New flat time!

So... after the disappointment of a few months ago, when we were gazumped and failed to exchange on a lovely little flat in South West London, we've managed to find a new place in South East London!!

We exchanged around a month ago, so were just waiting to get a completion date, which we got yesterday! So if everything goes smoothly, we will be able to move into the flat on the first week of the new year! New year, New flat! I'm so excited!!! :)

If there are any lovely people out there looking to buy us any moving in presents, these are always welcome, from my previous post, but I've found a few more things that I'd love in my new home:

My obsession with all things faeceted has not decreased! I'm especially in love with these set of 3 herb plant pots.

As we have quite a large outdoor space, we are thinking of having lots of lanterns to give it a Morrocan vibe.

And I fell in love with this stool the moment I saw it:

As I love my tea so much, this mug/bowl would be great in the morning:

Of course.. anything from Anthropologie is always welcome like this trivet:

Oh and Happy New Year everybody! I hope that 2012 brings everyone plenty of happiness and love. Will be blogging pics of the new flat once we move in...

Arrival of my curiosity box...

Firstly, I'd like to say, what a great idea this has been and I've loved being a part of it. I can't wait for the next one. Since the first Christmas boxes have been posted, I've been eagerly rushing home after work to check whether my box had arrived. This morning (Saturday), I was relaxing in bed as it was much too cold to get up and I hear a knock on the door. I didn't think anything of it, so my boyfriend went to answer the door, and lo and behold, it was my curiosity box! The postman asked him if he was a curious person and as he was still semi asleep, he didn't say much, but the postman handed him the box anyway.

As soon as he came through the door, I was very excited to see a cylindrical parcel wrapped in brown paper in his hands and he announced 'your curiosity box is here!' I madly scrambled to get my camera before tearing open the box (with some help of a pair of scissors as it was so well wrapped up!). On the envelope, which was addressed 'Hello Curious Friend' and at the bottom was written 'Can boxes come in various shapes and sizes? Maybe not, but enclosed is my gift for you'

As I will soon be moving to a new flat, my curious friend sent some carefully chosen things to help me:

1. A winter wonderland Bath bomb and bath salts 'to aid relaxation after a long day moving, decorating or... whatever!'

2. Some homemade Christmas bunting to add some festive spirit!

3. A small pocket of inspiration- to aid future crafty projects

4. Sunflower seeds- a great addition to any home be it in the garden or a single pot

5. Balloons for the house warming party

6. Chocolate coins- why not!

7. A beautiful Indian bauble from Bath Christmas market

8. A pretty tin- top hold whatever you wish

Thank you very much my curious friend! I can't wait to move into my new flat so I can plant my sunflower seeds, fill my colourful tin with homemade biscuits, relax with the bath bomb and put up the gorgeous bunting... in the meanwhile, I'll be munching on the yummy chocolate coins!

Here is the link to the box I sent, which was gratefully received by my curious friend...

http://thecuriositybox.blogspot.com/2011/12/curious-christmas-box-13.html

Decor8 Book launch

 As I am was on the edge of buying my own place, I recently got into looking at design blogs for the home as well as for fashion. When Holly Becker from Decor8 announced that she was coming to London for the launch of her book, I was very excited!

It was held in Liberty on the 3rd floor in a room dedicated to crockery, kitchenwares and decorating books. A perfect site! Holly and Sania Pell decorated a very Summery table using fabrics and bits found in the store, so you could recreate it in your own home.

There was even a video taken and if you look closely- you can see me wearing my khaki skirt and cream beret standing in line to get my book signed.

Holly was great and chatted a little to everyone as she signed copies of her book that she has published along with Joanna Copeland.

Premature post

Typical… I may have tempted fate with my last post as I’ve just heard today- the day we were meant to sign the papers and finalise the dates to exchange keys- the seller has decided to pull out and doesn’t want to sell.

Oh the bad things I want to do to him won’t translate well into words and if I would put it down on the page, it will probably get me banned from blogging!

I think it’s more the fact that our dreams and ideas about the place have just gotten dashed rather than feelings for the physical property itself. Just little things like- ‘lets get a lovely reclaimed wooden table and benches for our dining table’ and ‘lets have a map of the world and pictures of us showing all the places we’ve been to together’.

What’s frustrating, is that we couldn’t have done anything different- it wasn’t our decision or our fault that it didn’t go through because we weren’t in control.

Leaving you with a cheery pic of flowering rhododendrons in Windsor Great park on this wet muggy day….

setting up home....

As we’re sooooooooooo close to exchanging on our first flat together, I thought that I’d post about things that I’m coveting for it! I wasn’t a bit interested in interior design (even though now I do work for a retailer that predominantly sells furniture and homewares) until I started looking at buying my own property. Then I scoured the web for ideas, blogs and images that I could store and use to decorate my flat to be.
I came across a whole plethora of blogs and images, which has helped me in establishing a few ideas, but has also left me with too many design ideas that just won’t all fit in my plans! Oh well... I’ll just have to stick to one and go with it!
In the meanwhile, until we get the keys, here are a few things I’m coveting:



These candlesticks and the plant pot are etsy finds, the ‘hive vases’ are from an American company called ‘west elm’ and they all remind me of when we went to the science museum and had a peek at the mathematics and geometry exhibit...

I also love the marriage of lace and ceramic pieces on a softer, girlier note!




And cake stands... I’ve been baking like mad recently, every week I’ve found an excuse to make cakes, and I’ll blog about them soon, but they would look amazing on these stands that I’ve found:
Unfortunately, the bf says he’s getting a bit of a ‘podge’ (ie his belly is starting to expand!) so I should stop baking sweet things for the time being... :(




And just pretty things:

On a more practical note, here are a few things we need....
A great curved reading lamp, I’ve seen so many different versions of these around at ridiculous prices, but this one from M&S only costs £85, bargain!

A lovely simple casserole pot, I can imagine making nice hot steaming hearty stews and bringing this to the table straight from the oven:

Finally, a nice big comfy sofa to slump on after a long day's work...