Last year I visited Marrakesh with friends and if you're ever looking for an ideal shopping experience...go here! Fabrics, lanterns, leather bags, herbs and spices, jewelry, you name it - it's there in abundance and if you're good at haggling you have a ball. I bought lots of fabric - I had just started an upholstery class which I didn't finish in the end but that's a different story - and by the end of the week my eyes were hurting looking at all those colours, non-stop. I came home with six throws (how many throws does a girl need?!?)...
Reestore is the brainchild of Max McMurdo, and the products clearly show that you don't need to sacrifice design and aesthetics in favour of environmental sustainability. Reestore excels in "cheekily" turning waste objects into stylish and functional pieces of furniture and accessories...
Also, in the same category as 'I've got lots of old fabric/clothes and I don't know what to do with it....'; here's the idea of creating a Rag Rug. Sounds very crafty (next thing you know I suggest quilting), but I thought it was a pretty good idea. Seems very straight forward anyway. Here's the full work plan.
I love the teapot and other items from the Picquot ware range. I snapped each one of these up at different times, one in an antique store, another at a car boot sale. I believe the design of these is 1960s. You see Picquot ware pots quite often and they're worth quite a lot of money if they're in good nick, so worth looking out for (apart from the fact that they are just very nice to look at!)
The photo wall in our kitchen: an ever-growing cloud of frames.
And one of the vintage (1960s Danish design) G-Plan chairs I rescued from a garage in Aberdeen, from a fellow Freecycler (long live Freecycle!!). I recovered the seat.
OMG, I felt like a kid in a sweet shop...
I came across Apartment Therapy's tip of the day (which they apparently found on another blog called A Little Hut) ... How to make a bowl out of old magazines. Cracking idea! Sometimes that stack of colourful magazines is just too pretty to shove into the ol' recycling bin, but this way you get to look at them for a little longer. Seems a little bit laborious, but hey, it sure keeps you busy on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Last year I dragged an old dark brown bureau home which I found via Freecycle at an old people's home in the area. I finally found time to give the thing a well-needed make-over and here's the result. It's still in the garage, drying...I'll post another photo once it's looking all shiny and proud in our study! The colour is 'Hague blue' from Farrow & Ball (we've got that on our front door and it's actually outdoor paint, but it does the job fine). I'm thinking of painting some sort of oriental flower pattern across the front as well (in the same glossy black as I've done the inside of the writing desk), but we'll see.
Auberge Le clos de l'abbaye
Sometimes in your life you come across real gems at very unexpected moments. After a long day of traveling (while on holiday in France) my partner and I ended up in a town called Cluny. Once we found out that most of the hotels and B and B's were fully booked we didn't really know what to do.
