Randon rooms

Does your computer collect loads of images too? every so often I have to go through the files and have a clear out, as my computer seems to capture every picture I look at. I swear it slows it down as well, so I have been having a little delete session, but thought I would share these ones with you, though you have probably seen them floating around the Internet already.

I love that little seating area at the end there under the window, a little cosy area tucked away there, the cushions and sofa give it a slight granny chic feel to it, then in the foreground you have the modern mesh dinning seats.

In this one above its the grey sofa, I really have a thing about grey sofas at the moment, not sure how long it will last for, but is the thing of the moment.

and this room, its so fresh and bright, actually I think i have a thing for white walls too at the moment, all these rooms have white walls! Maybe its since I painted my daughter's room for her in white.

PS not sure where these pictures are from, if you recognise any do shout out and let me know so i can credit the pictures,

Black floor, black celing..

When it comes to spring cleaning, well I'm just not very good at it, I get side tracked so easily. That pile of magazines sitting on my bedside table....well the idea was to sort through them, but instead I started looking through an old inside out magazine, and before you know it I'm loving the pictures and searching for more info on my computer.

Photos Apartment Therapy

These lovely pictures are of the home of designer Mark Tuckey, wife Louella, a stylist, and their family, featured in the Jan/Feb 2009 edition of the Inside Out magazine. The black and white living space caught my eye as I flicked through the magazine, and I really like it, the black celing is not dark at all, but this home looks like it gets alot of natural light through those large windows, its simple yet homely for a young family, so it works well here, but would you consider a black ceiling?

See more about Mark Tuckey and his design here.

Ferm Living at Cloudberry Living.

Don't you just love the spring, the longer days, flowers and trees blooming, the effect that the sunshine has on people, and the anticipation of new spring summer products being launched by your favourite places to shop, or new places to discover.

Cloudberry Living is a new site to me, I think I have seen the name else where on other blogs, but yesterday they kindly dropped me an email informing me of the new spring collection called Ferm living, by Denmark Designer Trine Anderson, and I have to confess that I'm not familiar with either, so I have been having a good look around the site of Cloudbery Living today, and I'm rather liking far too many items the more I look around! I love the wonderful knitted poufs, I should think that they are gorgeously tactile, and the colours are so warming, I can picture that mustardly yellow one going nicely with the grey sofa that is living in my minds eye at the moment....

Other items include the Ferm Living knitted vase, a knitted cover and vase, ready for adding your spring flowers to, or just as eye catching with coloured pencils to brighten up a little corner of the home, I'd probably speed far to much time arranging the pencils just so to get the desired effect, much to the amusement of the rest of my family.

There are plenty more items in the collection to see by clicking here, these new items will be available mid April, but you can pop over and pre-order them now, which is a good thing because once word gets around, well, things this good looking wont be around for long!

Pied A Terre Home Collection.

Updated this post, because of a miss type, (slightly blushing blogger) it should read House Of Fraser, and not Frazer as previously typed (I think that's a US sit com isn't it?) Apologises to the House of Fraser.

Picture by Samantha Stansbridge (Me)

I love these red shoes, and every once in a while I get them out of their box, slip them on to my feet, stand in front of the mirror and admire how absolutely fabulous my legs look in them. Sadly that's about all I can do in them.....stand....they have killer heels on them and while I love them, trying to walk in heels is a skill that I have never really mastered, I just feel that I am going to fall flat on my face. So what are they doing on today's post I hear you ask? Well I'll give you a clue, these are a pair of Pied A Terre shoes, a name well known for stylish foot wear, and now Pied A Terre is turning its attention to interiors, creating a home collection exclusive for the House of Fraser

Pictures House of Fraser blog

The look is chic and glamorous, using a palette of grey blacks and charcoal, off set with lovely plum pink and fuchsia. For more info check out the House of Fraser blog

Readers Comments.

Earlier on this week I did a post about finding your own style, actually it was an older post that I have updated, because since first writing the post I have been giving it much more thought, and its a subject that is getting its very own blog, but more about that latter, anyway, struggler left me a comment that got my rummaging through my collection of clippings, here's way:

Struggler Commented;
Great pointers, thank you. I do need to give more formal thought to this; I am drawn to bright colors and fun patterns, then wonder why my home lacks the grown-up calm that I seek.
Our house is also by the water, and I want to acknowledge that while refraining from turning it into a beachy theme park.

So...

Dear Struggler

I recalled having saved a selection of seaside/beach inspired pages from magazines, and this lovely home came to mind when you said that you would like a grown up calm, but beachy inspired home.

This one, featured in the Country Homes and Interiors Magazine of April 2009 has a lovely calm feel to it, yet takes its inspiration form the ocean outside. I love the use of the drift wood accessories used throughout the rooms, and the use of textures such as the sheep skin rugs and cushions and the rustic drift Wood furniture.

After doing a bit of googling I discovered that this home is in fact a Holiday home in Ireland and you can see more stunning photos here and here.

cowboy books and charity find lamps.

Do you Style with books and magazines? Sometimes when flicking through a Homes magazine or on a blog I come across a photo where books or magazines are used in the styling, not just on the coffee table or on a book shelf, but used in way to create a Little styled area. So i have been playing at being a stylist around the house of late, using magazines and books to create my own little styled areas here and there, I have even let some of my Husbands tastes creep into the styling of our home, normally it is me that has the last say on on decorating, but just lately I have been looking at things with more of an open mind, the map lamp shade I made for him a while back, but the other day I thought I would dig out his cowboy annuals and use them along side my newly aquired charity lamp. You see, recently I joined the group interior styling on flickr run by Holly Becker of Decor8, and each Month Holly sets us a little photographic challenge, my offering is the picture with the white chair, lamp, bag and cowboy books. Actually the cowboy books work really well with the turquoise colour of the lamp as the spines of the books are all different colours, it adds a lovely pop of colour.

Check out these other great flickr group pools:

Interior Styling

Flea Market Style

offbeat interiors

This Home Sweet Home This is my group, do feel free to join and share, all welcome.

Interior Style Files and this is also my group which goes with my other blog that I am working on, which you are free to join too!

Have a very stylish weekend ;)

Charity lamp shade chic.

Did you have a good weekend? I hope so, did the lovely weather put a spring in your step? I spent some of the weekend playing at being a stylist again. On Friday I stopped by the charity shops just on the off chance really, and picked up this lovely little table and lamp in this fab turquoise colour, I thought that I might paint the table but actually when I got home, the lamp and table just seemed to go together so well that I now think they where made for each other and am going to leave it as it is.

The Lamp didn't have a shade with it when I bought it, so just to see what style shade I should go for, I borrowed the one from our bedroom, this map lamp I made a while back for my husband as he has a thing about maps, we have a few dotted around the home, something which I am beginning to quite like, anyway, I wanted to see if this shape of shade would go with the lamp base, and as it turned out, I think I have another great match, as they just seem to go so well together, isn't it strange, you could be looking for something for ages, and then out of the blue it all just seems to fit into place.

Photos also added to my flickr groups here and here, and also to the flickr group of Decor8 with the lovely Holly, where I have been picking up some great styling tips and getting some inspiration from the group pool, well worth a visit if you haven't yet stopped by. you are also very welcome to add your self to my group pool on flickr too!

lamp shade kits available from www.duffylondon.com click here for kit.

Watch and Marvel

Photo Made by Girl blog

We have all seen these lovely hand cut maps created by Famille Summerbelle, but do you know just how much work goes into creating one of these lovely maps, watch the link below and marvel.

avaiable to buy from:

Bodie and fou also a nice little interview here by Bodie and fou

Famille Summerbelle

Made by girl

Have a marvelous weekend!

Quick project, (not really a project at all)

OK, here is a really quick DIY project for you, not really a project, its SoOOo simple, I got the idea for this from all over the place, a bit from here, a bit from here and a bit from here.

you will need

1. A photo frame that fits a piece of A4 paper in it.
2. A4 printer paper.
3. A phrase or saying that is personal to you and your loved ones.
4. A printer, preferably with some ink in it (this is why this has taken me sooo long to do this)

Firstly type out your phrase, or saying, and fill the page, if its just a short phrase copy and paste it until it fills the whole page. For the on above I typed, I Love You over and over again. Adjust your colour to a slightly lighter colour of black, then print this page out, and then put it back into the printer. Next type another phrase but make this larger, and adjust the colour to dark black, move it around on your page until you are happy with where it is, (do a page preview to see how it looks) for the one above I simply typed 1,4,3, if you are fans of The Lettered Cottage, you may get this, its so cute. Now print this out over the top of your all ready printed page. (you may have to do a test run with another piece of paper to see which way up your printer prints out, if that makes sense)

Take this out of the printer and Pop it into a frame and hey presto! Its really that simple...

You can really play around with this, try different colours, different fonts, and sizes, highlight one of two words etc etc... do let me know if you have a go, would love to see what you come up with, its sooo easy to do.

Habitat Surprise

A special delivery had me dancing around the living room like a two year old yesterday, a box full of Habitat goodies! Now usually Habitat do not deliver to the Channel Islands, but with the help of the newly set up delivery service, ship2me, you can now buy all those lovely items that once upon a time would have meant a trip to the UK to get.

In my box of goodies included a lovely brightly multicoloured latticed ribbon cushion, a large throw and a table lamp, which had me playing stylist for most of the afternoon, (i need plenty of practice there I know)

Ambra Cushion £35

Sherbert throw £35

This cotton throw will keep me snug from now right through to the summer when it will come in useful for a picnic blanket, with summer salads and pink lemonade!

Palermo table lamp down from £19 to £13.30

this little lamp looks fab on my newly acquired tea chest, though I think it will end up in my daughters bedroom, she has plans of decorating her bedroom this weekend, white , black, and bright pink.

See that red sofa above, how could you miss it? I was going through a red phase a few years back, but now I'm longing for something grey......

Tea chest inspiration.

Good morning how was your weekend, I spent the best part of mine looking for ideas on how to use my recently acquired Tea Chest that I snapped up last Friday. When I first caught sight of it, I remembered seeing these lovely images below in the Livingetc Magazine, and the crate as a side table got me thinking that my tea chest would look great used as a side table too. Its also got the added charm of the great slogans such as IT PAYS TO BUY GOOD TEA, as a big tea drinker I quite agree.

Photos above Photographer Paul Massey's Home

Styling and photo above by Samantha Stansbridge (me!)

Sooo I have been trying it out as a side table in my living room, unfortunately the top had been removed so for now I have had to turn it upside down to use it, which is a shame as the slogan don't quite have the same appeal when you have to stand on your head to read them !

If you fancy trying this your self, but can't get your hands on an old Tea chest I have discovered that this kind of tea chest is still made, (see here ) it would be very easy to do it your self by just adding some wording, and maybe age the wood a Little by staining with some tea!

And the Winner of This is my Habitat is..

you may recall that last October Habitat ran a competition to find the new face of This is My Habitat, well the waiting is over and I can reveal that the winner has been announced and it is....

... Alison Hyslop, aged 58, Alison sent in a photo of herself sitting in her living room and is now set to follow in supermodel, Helena Christensen’s footsteps as the face of the This is My Habitat. She is set to feature in the Spring/Summer 2011 campaign after wowing the competition judges with her striking, colourful and modern home. Here's what Alison had to say when you discovered that she had won:

“I literally couldn't’ speak for about an hour when I was told that my entry had won. I was excited to have been picked as the overall winner as I’m a big fan of Habitat but to be fronting an advertising campaign really is something else.
I love Danish design and natural materials but don’t tend to stick to one trend. I like pairing different pieces together for a unique look, especially if the product is interesting, bright and beautifully made.”

Information provided courtesy of www.Shinyred.co.uk

Let there be clusters of light.

Right now I'm loving cluster lighting, Click on each picture to take you to where you can buy them from, actually one of these beauties is virtually free!

Available in Black and also white

All loved up....

Pearl & Earl

Click picture to enlarge.

.....around these parts lately, my Nephew and his girlfriend have just got engaged, and my husband and I have recently celebrated our wedding anniversary (23 years!) so when I spotted this framed poem this morning in my google reader (and had a little chuckle to myself over the toilet seat and trousers on the floor) I just had to re-blog it! Its available from Pearl&Earl ( I recently blogged about them last week, scroll down a little to see) priced at just £29.00 who by the way also have a blog that you can follow along with, and if you pop over there right now you can see some more lovely stuff to get all loved up over.
Update, find the Poem  here.

Scandi wall decoration.

Don't you just love the fresh feel of these scandi wall decorations? Perfect for a child's room. Recently a couple of people I know have had babies, so I have been in the mood for a looking at baby stuff, not too much though you understand, don't want to be getting broody myself now!

These lovely scandi inspired wall decorations where spotted at Lily and Lime, and come with the recycled teak shelf to fix to the wall. Not only do they make a lovely poster style display, but as they are made from hardboard can be used as drawing boards to develop creative drawing skills when your little ones get older.

To brighten up a winters day.

Have you heard of Pear & Earl? I came across them today and fell in love with these bright and cheerful lovelies, perfect to brighten up a dull grey winters day. Inspired by all thing with a nostalgic charm, Pearl & Earl launched in 2008, and have just won The best home product 2010

awarded by Top Drawer for their new art prints, these needlepoint kits will bring fun and vibrancy to any room, I love the 2nd one down, I think it had me with home made jam and scones.

Check out the two sites (granny knits) for all things nostalgic. VW Camper van lovers will also be very happy!

These needle point kits are also available from the sister site Granny Knits

Chalkin it up.

Ideal Home Magazine (above)

madebygirl.blogspot.com (above and below)

Chalk boards have been popular for a while now, I even have a section of wall painted with black board paint in my kitchen, but how about these ones above, don't they look great? and they don't have to be black! The lovely pink board is ideal for a girls room or play area, and I absolutely love the one behind the bed, though not entirely sure if the art work is done using chalk.

Update; the lovely calendar chalkboard above was featured in the Ideal Home Magazine September 2009 and Not taken from the living etc magazine as previously stated. Apologies to all, that's what happens when trying to watch TV and blog at the same time, and flicking through back dated homes magazines. :) Hope that clears up that little over sight.

Design Challenge

Have you ever thought about designing/making a piece of furniture, but don't have all the resources? The CustomMade.com Design Challenge invites you to use Google SketchUp to create your design and upload it here: If you design the winning creation, CustomMade.com, an online marketplace for consumers/designers seeking customized furniture and wood pieces, will create the piece you designed -- and pick up the tab!

You will have to be pretty quick though,

Entries Accepted: January 18, 2010 – February 12, 2010
Voting for Top Three Entries: February 15, 2010 – February 23, 2010
Winner Announced: Friday, February 26, 2010


For a full description and a link to the rules, check out http://blog.custommade.com/2010/01/design- challenge-2010/

Finding your own style: Part two.

How did you get on with Part one of Finding your own style? Is there a style starting to emerge? For the second part of Finding your own style, we are now going to look at

• colour
• pattern and
• texture.

Do the same with this section as before, get a sheet of paper or a scrap book (I note from your comments that some people prefer to add thing to a scrap book, I like a sheet of paper hung up so its easy to see) and start to look at colours, pattern and different textures that catch your eye, try visiting a DIY store and collect some paint samples, again look through magazines and tear out any rooms settings with a colour scheme that you like, check out fabric samples and wallpaper samples with patterns and textures that that you like. Build up a Sample/mood board of all the samples that inspire you. I'll be back in a few days to share mine with you, again do feel free to share what you find either by leaving a comment or sharing on your own blog.

DECO myplace.

I was recently invited to join Decomyplace to share tips ideas and photos from my flickr pages, which I did, and if you get a chance take a look your self, its simply brimming with great ideas tips and images for the home, from over 70 different countries around the world.