Can't stop looking at . . .

Each week, I'll be sharing with you something that has caught my eye. It may be a picture, blog, product or website.

In recent years, my style has changed. A lot. I used to veer on the side of the traditional - at one point I could have ordered the Laura Ashley catalogue in its entirety. David was a fan of IKEA's Stockholm range when it first came out - I used to say, "Eugh! Too masculine!" Not anymore. Blogs like Making it Lovely and Door Sixteen, where Nicole and Anna are big fans of mid-century modern, have influenced my tastes by introducing me to their unfussy and streamlined, yet beautiful homes. A few years ago the name Ercol would have made me frown and shudder. Now, I find myself being drawn to anything that has tapered legs and comes in teak.

This week, I've been particularly impressed by the Colinton chair from Laura Ashley (I know, Laura Ashley - maybe they are changing too!).

I'd like this:

Image from here.

In this fabric please:

Ruben in cranberry from Laura Ashley.

If I was lucky enough to have this lovely chair in my house, it would probably replace our IKEA POANG chair, currently sitting here in our living room (sorry for the poor photo - it's late here, so I cropped an existing one):

Although I do like the POANG, and I think we chose a good colour and fabric combination, in an ideal world, I would like something a little less obviously IKEA.

A Chapter full of art.

While my parents are visiting this weekend, we'll no doubt go to one of our favourite bars, which is near our house in Cardiff. The bar at Chapter Arts Centre was been described as, "the best place to drink in Wales" by the Observer Food Magazine. It has a great atmosphere, serves delicious food (a lot of it vegetarian and vegan), and is child friendly. We often go there when my parents visit, as my father is partial to their wide selection of wheat beers.

Chapter has recently undergone a £3.8 million refurbishment, and now has less of the feel of an school hall, and more of a contemporary, comfortable place where you can go to eat, drink and meet friends.

One of the things I like the most about the Centre, (apart from the black copycat Eames DSX chairs), is the fact that there is a wall running the length of the bar area, where artists can display their work.

The display at the moment, is by Gemma Correll, an illustrator who specialises in hand-drawn comics, characters, typography and pattern. To produce the huge piece of work for Chapter, Correll drew directly onto the wall, and, in her quirky style, produced illustrations in the form of a mural, depicting the history of the Arts Centre. I was lucky enough to be in Chapter while she was working on the piece, and I was in awe - she seemed so confident, drawing in red and black onto a huge white wall.

Below is a picture of the completed mural, followed by a shot of Correll working on the mural, and a close-up so you can see the detail.

Image from here.

Image from here.

Image from here.

Gift wrapping, vintage style.

Today is my mum's birthday - Happy Birthday Mum! I'm really excited as my parents and my brother are coming to visit this weekend, and my mum and brother are arriving tomorrow!

I wrapped mum's present earlier (won't say what it is, in case she reads this!) and thought I'd share it with you.

I'm a big fan of wrapping gifts in brown paper. It's eco-friendly, MUCH cheaper than normal wrapping paper, and looks good. I began by wrapping the gift in said brown paper, and gathered the rest of my equipment together:

I used materials that I already had in the house - a piece of red card, and some red paper ribbon that was left over from Christmas two years ago. 

The small square picture that you can just about make out (larger image coming up), is a thumbnail image from last year's free Ideal Home calendar. On the back, there were smaller versions of the main images used in the calendar, and I thought it would be a sweet idea to cut them out and use them as gift tags. I'm going to give people the picture that corresponds with their birthday - my mum's birthday is February, so I used the image that was used for February in the calendar. Actually, it's just dawned on me that I bought her one of the heart shaped sconces in the picture for Christmas a few years ago, so it's even more suitable!

I made the calendar image into a gift tag by sticking it onto a piece of red card, and then punching a hole into it using a mini-hole punch in the shape of a heart (well, it is February!).

It was at this point, that I decided against the red paper ribbon - it was a bit too much, and took attention away from the red of the gift tag. So, I used plain old string (from our kitchen drawer) instead. I'm really pleased with the result - it is very simple, with a vintage feel.

I can't wait to give it to my mum when she gets here tomorrow!

What do you tend to do when you wrap gifts? Any tips? Are you a fan of brown paper and string?

My home: an introduction.

In this mini-series, I'm going to share a selection of my favourite things from each room in our house. Hopefully these posts will provide you with a little insight into my style, and give you a peek into what our house is like.

Dining room

Our living room and dining room are really one room. They would originally have been two rooms, but have since been opened up by knocking through and installing a square archway. The result is a large room, but with two very separate areas. 

This week, I've chosen to show you a few of my most loved things from our dining room. They are:

Our large clock

The clock is on the wall that faces the living room, and is therefore visible from both rooms. The sheer size of this clock (50cm diameter) means that we can see it from the other end of the living room, and therefore don't need a clock in that room. We bought it a few years ago - it was a bargain from TK Maxx and I carried it all the way home from town to our house!

Torin's footprints

I made this print of Torin's feet for David for Fathers' Day 2009, when Torin was 5 weeks old. His feet were so tiny! I bought the frame and mount and then printed his feet onto plain card using a large ink pad like this, from Hobbycraft. I did several prints of his right foot on different pieces of card, printed his left foot onto each one, and then picked the best one. Looking at him now (he's 20 months), I can't believe he was ever that small!

Torin's highchair

There are so many high-tec and expensive highchairs to choose from when you have a small child. We managed to escape that hassle because we were given this highchair from my parents:

My grandfather (the same one who drew these) made it for me when I was a baby 28 years ago! It was also used for my brother and sister, plus numerous other visiting cousins, and still looks great today. Using nothing but a staple gun, I recovered the seat in the same fabric as I used for the table cloth - a much cheaper version of this by Cath Kidston from here.

He was a clever man, my grandfather.

Shopping in Cardiff.

Sorry for my absence yesterday - we spent the day in Cardiff with David's mother, as it was her birthday. After having yummy Mexican food for lunch, we went for a browse around the shops. Here's what I found:

I remember seeing pictures of the Lock kids' interlocking table and chair set from Habitat a while ago, but I'd never seen one in a shop before. Walking past Habitat yesterday however, I saw this beautiful piece in the window, and in the sale for half price!

Image from here.

Not only does this table and chair set look great, it is so practical too, as it slots together to form a neat cube  -such a good idea for families with limited space:

Image from here.

We gave Torin a table and chair for Christmas this year - it sits in our living room, here:

He loves it - as soon as he unwrapped it, he knew it was for him, and promptly sat on the chair, dangling his legs. It's the LACK side table, and the SVALA children's chair from IKEA - a budget option, but we're quite happy with it. It looks very sweet, goes well enough with the decor in our room, and at such a low price, it really doesn't matter if it gets felt pen (or Weetabix!) all over it.

I have to admit though, if I'd seen the Habitat set at the sale price before we bought the IKEA set, I may have succumbed!

I can't go without showing you the other thing I found while in Monsoon:

- this gorgeous red chiffon dress - so pretty!

And no, I didn't buy that either!