Thursday 23 April 2009

bedroom update

I have fallen for the Jenna bedding by Linda Barker and was so excited to discover that it is on sale (up to 40% off) on many websites. This will be the perfect thing to accompany the freshly painted floor (still negotiating with Mark) and update our bedroom for summer.


Another thing that I wanted to do was to replace the bedside lamps with wall mounted reading lamps, this will free up space on the bedside tables and give more directional lighting for reading. Don't you just love that ikea always seems to have the right thing for you? These basik wall lights are perfect in their simplicity.


I know that this swallow cushion from Graham and Green would probably be too much with the bedding above but I just can't resist putting it here ... maybe I could use it as a cushion for the chair we have in the bedroom?

rule britannia

Happy St George's Day everyone!

Wednesday 22 April 2009

kitchen shelving

Just to add to the kitchen confusion, some beautiful images from Sofie Andersson. And look ... white painted floors!





Monday 20 April 2009

painted floors








I am drawn to these pictures from LivingEtc and noticed one common denominator, painted floors, white painted floors to be exact. I love the cool, calm, tranquility that they bring to these rooms and now that the warmer weather is here it seems the perfect refresh to add to our bedroom.

I think Mark is dreading coming home one day to find all flooring ripped up in a bid to see whether our floors are paint worthy!

Thursday 16 April 2009

kitchen confusion

Having lived in old houses before, we set out house hunting with certain proportions in mind, large rooms and high ceilings would fit the bill. But when we discovered our house the large kitchen was a massive selling point to both myself and Mark, and something that we didn't think that we would get, as most older houses like ours have narrow but long galley kitchens. So seeing past the badl fitted, cheap units we (I) started planning what we could do with the space. Three years in and we still have the same units in place (despite my many protestations) we have, however, painted the units and replaced the old work surface but we both feel that it is time to invest in the houses busiest room.

Mark and I love to rearrange our furniture and artwork quite a lot and like to have the opportunity to change them again if something doesn't work, so a fully fitted kitchen doesn't seem to fit the bill. Thankfully there are more and more freestanding kitchens coming to the market ... in fact so many that it is quite hard to choose, I'll be stuck with the old units for another three years if I don't narrow it down!

Here are my top three...

On a recent trip away I found myself in habitat (the first time for a while because I could spend a fortune in there) and there is was, stood proud in solid oak, the massello kitchen. The quality was brilliant, with everything that you would expect from a top of the range fitted kitchen.

But friends of ours have wooden work surfaces and struggle with the maintenance, I think that we would too as the space is used so much (and I'm a clumsy cook who tends to spill). I like the mixture of the gloss white and the wood of the ikea bravad kitchen, which may be easier to maintain in the long term, as units come with a choice of stainless steel or wooden tops.

But then the sheen of the stainless steel draws me to images of a more industrial looking space, I have seen many images where people have installed the ikea udden kitchen which look fantastic. Now I'm thinking that a mix of these units, along with a traditional wooden butchers block would look great in our space. I'm still confused!
Colour ... I'm loving the herbert cookware collection at habitat, designed by Annika Standsteth.

Wednesday 8 April 2009

i heart ikea

We quite regularly have family and friends over for a meal and for drinks so our oak dining table gets quite a lot of use, unfortunately so do the matching leather upholstered chairs which the cats like to use as a scratch post (all six chairs). So when updating our home we are planning to invest in some beautiful, scratch resistant furniture. We will keep the oak table as it is fantastic and can extend to fit 8 people (10 if feeling cosy) so we have been looking for ideas for the seating.

I love this picture from Christina Coop's house tour on apartment therapy, the mix of the bench and the chairs is something that would work quite well for us with having the open plan living dining room.


Our table and the range it is from originally had a matching bench, this seems to have been discontinued (along with the table), so until we find the perfect match we are going for the pocket friendly Norden bench from ikea.

I also love the ikea PS slingra chair but think that this wouldn't work in our space ...


... enter the nordmyra, simple enough without being too bland.


Not to obsess about ikea but we are also planning on getting two of the knappa pendant lights, I love the soft diffused light that this gives off, no glare in the eye when you are at the table ... perfect.


I guess the first meal that we will have to serve in the revamped area will be swedish meatballs!