A little reminder of my early photography days

When first introduced to developing film, we made our own pinhole cameras and I was amazed when I came across the quirky Ridley's House of Novelties version: http://www.lovelygifts.co.uk/little-people-and-their-grown-ups/pinhole-camera-by-ridleys-house-of-novelties/prod_13.html Priced at only £6.99 (lovelygifts.co.uk) it will make a perfect stocking filler or secret Santa pressie.

Muji Maps and V&A Stamps

As the year in closing in on us and Christmas is ever nearer I'm frantically looking for those quirky gifts for people and seemingly finding things that would also look good in the flat...

Loving Muji's update on their ever popular city map handkerchiefs, which had sold out at every Muji store I visited last year, I've managed to grab the Paris, New York and Tokyo versions this time and it's great to see they've got a vintage look to them, which I think makes them all the more appealing.

Grab yours while you can at Muji online: http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=21&Sub=87&PID=3922

The V&A Shop also has a great range of gifts and I'm loving their stamp collections, perfect for personalising your gift tags and cards... get hold of yours now: http://www.vandashop.com/product.php?xProd=4548&s=1

UK Textile Artist, Anna Raymond

A quick post about the amazing work by friend, Anna Raymond who is a talented Textile Artist. Anna digitally prints and screen prints on to cotton satin, she has an amazing ability to use bright colours and brings the everyday to life within her imaginative creations, her work is displayed within several of the renowned Firmdale Group Hotels and she has previously exhibited at the V&A. Here we see one of her most recent works; 'Numbers Game', 2009, being showcased within the home of the private curator.

UK Textile Artist Anna Raymond: www.annaraymond.co.uk

The Mercury Range Cooker and SMEG fridge - is it really worth it?

Retailing at £3795 (rangecookers.co.uk) and £1330 (johnlewis.com), these Retro cool designer appliances are what everyone with a new apartment is sure to be after... love the colours, the finish and their form.



http://www.mercury-appliances.co.uk/products/rc1090-range-cooker.html (Beautiful minimal site, which showcases the product ultimately)



http://www.smeguk.com/Catalogue/Fridges.aspx (Smeg could do with a more user friendly site with more info and lifestyle shots)

It would be great to know if there are any good alternatives out there or are these the real deal?

Onda Bed, by Paolo Piva

So I'm still awaiting for everything to go through, plus the day job is manic at the moment... which is why I haven't written much since my first post. What I did want to quickly jot down was how I loved the bedroom special in November's issue of Elle Decoration, however was a little disappointed at the price tags, as it's my first home I'd love to it be all that it can without the crazy costs.



'Onda' bed, by Paolo Piva, Poliform (from £5480)
http://www.poliformuk.com/

What I did find is that if I was willing to make a compromise on the bed frame, what I could afford is a custom headboard, which would make a real impact in the room without being overbearing... my search for custom headboards landed me on the Love Leather website - http://www.loveleather.co.uk/ and sure enough they were able to send me some leather swatch samples - loving the olive at the moment, but will have to get in the room and suss out the space a bit more. Nothing which quite matches the ultra sleek form of the Onda however...

A little bit of an intro

I'm a single female in my mid twenties and I'm finally in the process of buying my very first flat/apartment - very exciting!

I've been doing so much research on interiors lately and I thought it would be great to document my first rennovation experience. I'm loving Elle Decoration and Living etc and have consequently fallen in love with Meridiani beds and Mercury stoves - I head up the digital team at a design agency and yes being a designer does make you a marketeers dream! However, it is looking as though these dreams are somewhat beyond my bank balance and so I thought it would be an interesting way to use this blog as a platform in showcasing my attempts to create these marketed lifestyles without the designer price tag - whether I will achieve this will be another matter, I guess half the fun is finding out!