Seventies style in Mog the Forgetful Cat.

I'm so lucky that our local library doesn't charge late fees for children's books - I'd be bankrupt! I've just looked, and Torin's latest books were due back two weeks ago! Perhaps if I knew I'd have to pay though, I'd keep on top of it a little more.

One of the books we borrowed this time was "Mog the Forgetful Cat" by Judith Kerr. 

Image from here.

Not only is it an old'un (1975), it's a good'un too. If you don't know it, Mog is a loveable but troublesome pet cat, belonging to the Thomas family. He gets up to all sorts of mischief, but of course the books normally end with him saving the day somehow. 

There is also something wonderfully nostalgic about the books. If you had to guess the date of the books, the names of the Thomas family children may give the era away (Debbie and Nicky (boy)), but so does the furniture and decoration in their house!

The furniture, with its tapered legs and simple lines is reminiscent of Ercol. In fact, just the other day I was looking at a rather lovely Conran table in Marks and Spencer that was very similar to this!

Image from here.

Look, there's even the little three legged stool!

Image from here.

Although I do pay attention to the illustrations in my children's books, noticing how the pictures in this particular book illustrate the time it was published so well, I think I'll be looking at several of Torin's books with fresh eyes to see if I've missed anything elsewhere!

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.

I can't believe it's Friday again! At the moment it seems days are going slowly, whereas weeks are romping by!

Have you by any chance seen Bookshelf Porn before? Don't worry, it's not at all riské. It's a blog for people who like bookshelves. David pointed me in it's direction as he knows about my preference for colour-coding!

The blog describes itself as, "A photo blog collection from around the world for people who "heart" bookshelves." Here are some of my favourite pictures from the site:

What a great use of space - incorporating your bookshelves into your staircase!

Such a good idea - make your books into art!

Love these bookcases - so pretty! Although, it would be difficult to find your books if they were all turned around like these! Pretty, but not at all practical!

All images from here.

Happy weekend, people! x

The top shelf is up (at last)!

A while ago, I mentioned that I had this little mishap in my dining room while trying to arrange the books on our alcove shelves according to colour:

I'd forgotten that some of the books on the upper shelves were actually supporting the weight of the shelves above them, and therefore, when I tried to replace the books in their new order, the weight of them sent the top shelf crashing down onto the shelf below, pulling out the wall plugs as it fell. So, I was left with a shelf missing, and several large holes in the wall, right where I needed the shelf to be put back up.

This weekend, my Dad tackled the job for me (I keep being told I'm not allowed to go up ladders!) and used some Polyfilla putty to fill the holes, which dried like concrete. Once this was dry, he made quick work of putting up the top shelf (thanks Dad, again!). Then my sister-in-law put the books back up on the shelves in strict colour-coded order (thanks Bec!).

This is how the area looks now - I'm so pleased with it. I really think I'll never put books on a shelf again unless they're arranged by colour as it helps to make everything look so much neater!

Apologies again for the light in this picture - have been potty training Torin all day and haven't been able to take my eyes off him in order to take a photo during the daylight!

I'm so pleased with how well these rooms are coming together, and I'm so grateful for all the help that we had from our family at the weekend.

Spot the difference!

Quick quiz!

There are 5 main differences in these two pictures (apart from the fact that some of the books are in slightly different places) - can you spot them?

Did you find them? Answers below:

1. I have managed to put one of the shelves back on the wall. I got our newish powerful drill out at the weekend, and managed to put the shelf up securely. I may have actually let the words "Girl Power!" slip from my lips with the excitement that comes as a result of a job well done. Embarrassing! Luckily David was playing with Torin upstairs, so no one was around to hear! I'll post another picture when the top shelf is back up, but this is going to be a more difficult job as most of the wall plugs were ripped out of the wall when the shelf came down (as I describe here).
2. There is a pretty greetings card on the second shelf. I gave this to David for his birthday back in October. It's still on the shelf because I plan to frame it (I'll give you a close up when this has been done). In the meantime, you can view it here.
3. There's a candlestick infront of the blue books. I bought this in an antiques shop in York just before we were due to go to a wedding. It wasn't expensive, but it really caught my eye. I believe it dates back to the 1870s.
4. There's a large red vase next to the vases. This was from The Pier (now closed down), and was one of the first pieces of "red" that David and I had in the flat we rented together when we first moved to Cardiff. At the moment it's acting as a bookend, but it may stay there as I quite like the contrast between the red and the white; it depends on how many white books are left on this level when I've put the top shelf back up.

Lastly . . . number 5

David surprised me at the weekend and gave me the little wooden bird that I was coveting here. It's so cute, and I'm very lucky!

Here it is in close-up:

I think when the top shelf is up and the books are back on the shelf, the bird should end up in front of the white books, which will help it stand out more. In the meantime, I'll enjoy looking at it in its nest by the brown books every time I walk through our dining room. 

Happy World Book Day everyone!

Today is World Book Day in the UK and Ireland!

Did you know that World Book Day is celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world? A celebration of books and reading, it is a day where publishers, booksellers and other interested parties work together to promote books and reading for personal enjoyment, as well as personal enrichment.

In order to share my love of books with you, I though I'd take a look at some of my favourite book-related products available for the home.

A whole book on a poster? It's possible with this great print from Spineless Classics via Her Little Place.

Image from here.

These great Penguin Classics tea towels available from here. Use them to dry your dishes in style, or stretch it onto canvas as Heather Young has done here:

Image from here.

This literary candle from The Literary Gift Company, features an excerpt from "Wuthering Heights", and is scented with wild heather and a hint of violet :

And finally, the now discontinued Wakefield Chandelier from Pottery Barn, featured here.

Image from here.

I'm currently reading "Such a Long Journey" by Rohinton Mistry (promise you'll get it back eventually Catherine!). It takes place in Mumbai in 1971, and tells the story of Gustad Noble, a father of 3, who is set a difficult task by his friend that means he has to delve into a dangerous world of politics, secrets and large amounts of money. I'm learning such a lot about how India was at this time - I really love it when a book teaches me something. What are you reading at the moment?

Happy reading everyone!

Don't try this at home.

OK, so I spent a while taking the books off my shelves last night, smiled a lot while I was sitting on the floor surrounded by a pretty rainbow of books, and then began to put them back on the shelf. Then . . . disaster struck!

I had put the red and orange books on the top shelf, was just reaching up with the yellows, and - argh! - the top shelf came crashing down, and clonked the second shelf on its way (this didn't fall down, but I took it down just in case). Books and screws everywhere. Not a happy bunny.

I then remembered that when David and I put those shelves up on the wall, we really struggled as our drill wasn't very powerful. We decided to get as many screws into the wall as we could, and then made the shelves safe enough by supporting the top shelf with taller books on the shelf below. We had planned to put the shelves up properly once we had a better drill (which we now have), but obviously forgot. I obviously weakened the top shelf when I took the supporting books away from the shelf below.

Anyway . . .

I've managed to put some of the books back on the remaining shelves, and piled the others up on top of the cupboard below:

I'm really pleased with how neat it looks - it turns our books from a bit of a mess, into more of a feature. David even admitted that they looked, "sweet".

I was so inspired with how good the books looked, that I also sorted out our poetry books.

The bookcase on our landing also got the treatment:

Ah, the littlest changes can be so pleasing. I know it's not the most practical solution, but as we have so many books in our house (I haven't shown you our spare room yet!), it takes a while to find a book anyway, so I don't think colour-coding them will make much difference to searching time.

Right . . . guess I'd better find some time to put those shelves up more securely - will show you what it looks like when it's done. 

Never judge a book by its colour.

Our house is getting a bit overrun by books. Although most of them are on shelves (most), I'm finding that they make the rooms feel cluttered, and something definitely needs to be done. Before I began writing this post, I wondered about the possibility of sorting the books in my dining room according to colour. This is what the area looks like (sorry for the grainy photo - it's been dismal weather here this morning):

Ugh, those shelves - I really wish we'd got a carpenter to make fitted shelves in this alcove. Instead we went with the cheaper option (we have shelves in all 4 alcoves in our living room and dining room) and fitted floating shelves ourselves. I don't think they look too bad, but fitted shelves would have looked neater and more authentic.

I've spent a while getting inspired by pretty pictures of colour-coded bookshelves like the ones below.

Anna's books in her dining room at Door Sixteen:

Lovely, neat piles at HomeShoppingSpy:

Ordered shelves in Manda McGrory's living room via here:

A cute little library from Lesley:

And I think my mind is made up - I'm going to go for it. Not sure David's going to play ball with this idea (I just told him what I was planning to do, and he raised his eyebrows - a clear indication that I'm going to be forever putting books back in the "correct" place after he has plonked them on the shelf). Oh well, as long as they go on the shelf, I won't mind too much!

Stay tuned to see what my shelves look like after I've sorted them.

It's Orla bit beautiful . . .

I was so excited to open this on Christmas Day! My sister and her partner gave me Pattern by Orla Kiely! 

Although it would look great on any coffee table, it really has more to offer than just its aesthetics. It's a really inspirational read - Kiely writes about how she started her business, what inspires her and her love of colour and pattern, as well as advice on how to mix and match pattern and how to create displays in your own home. 

One of my favourite sections of the book is the "Print Gallery" - 36 glossy pages showing a selection of her prints from the last 10 years - lovely!

Image from here.

There is also a section dedicated to blogs! She writes, "It's a powerful medium where directness and honesty override all else. Genuine and endlessly creative, the blogger's voice is loud and clear." This was just the thing I needed to read, to spur me on to get this thing started!

Thanks Jo and Melanie x