Category: interiors
Breakfast x
The title is breakfast, but the truth is I am not a breakfast person – a cup of tea to wet the whistle and I’m good to go. Breakfast for me comes at 11 o’clock, but whilst I know the time I want it, it’s taken me a long time to discover what I want…
These things have made all the difference: Chia seeds. I remember having my first helping in a hyped up cafe where the portions were small, the prices were high and the vintage was new – in this country we like to charge extra for concepts, ideas and ambience, even when the ideas are copied.
It didn’t take long to find the recipe. Welcome to my fridge coconut milk.
To make one kilner jar – or any other storage vessel – fill a quarter with chia seeds, top to the top with coconut milk and give a good shake. Some recipes then add honey or other sweetness – personally, I don’t need this.
Which ends up something like this: Mum’s frogspawn. The benefit of which is nobody else touches it.
Twenty four hours in the fridge and it’s thick, gooey and swollen.
Perfect with muesli, a dash of coconut milk and fresh raspberries.
I would like to say this is on my desk now. But it’s not 11 o’clock.
Think of me then.
Laters, Kate x
Feathered Friends x
I’m not sure if we’re in lockdown in London any more, maybe it’s a strange transition period, like wondering what to wear between seasons? Because, despite the rhetoric, nothing has really changed for us; we’re still spending the majority of time in the house or garden.
But it gives me the time to salute some of my heroes of the past couple of months: The birds…their activity – the magpies that make me laugh, their song – we have a particularly vocal blackbird, their curiosity – yes, I’m speaking to you, unafraid Robin who watches me just a foot away when I’m gardening, the stories they tell – I’m gazing at nearly arrived swallows from my desk heralding the start of summer, and just their continual zest for life: nothing fazes them.
This post celebrates the inventive, simple but attractive ways we can introduce more of their joy into our lives.
(All pics Pinterest)
Which will hopefully lay down strong foundations to repay their gift and help them through the colder winter months.
A circle of life I value.
Laters, Kate x
Roses are pink..
I think today is meant to be a day of celebration – we are officially out of strict lockdown in London, except nobody knows quite what that means. I read today that you can have a conversation with one person you know outside, but not meet my mother. Five year olds in a class will have to maintain a 2 metre distance when they go back in June – if they go back, and the one I love – I can drive a car with another stranger, if the windows are down! My delight is the garden centres re-opening; I have plans for window boxes and filler plants I need. This week my roses started to bloom! And with the air so clear at the moment, if the back door is open, even when walking down the staircase to the kitchen, I can smell them.
Blasting the roses with water has worked a treat re the aphids – thank you! A very eco friendly solution. And it has the added bonus of rainbows when the sun is out.
One of my favourite combinations – this pink rose against the dark leaves of the smoke bush.
There were some casualties from the gale like winds of the past few days; the trachelospermem jasminoides (hark me!), the full grown version of the comb-over tree, has been pulled off it’s wall, and the wind did it’s best to destroy my seedlings, sending the ones in the egg box flying. I thought they were goners.
But I found the survivors, replanted, and they’re now in my study, by the window, being regularly watered from an re-used wine bottle, and are quite frankly thriving. The only problem is I had two varieties of plant, one in the lid, one in the main section..and now they’re all muddled. But I’m sure time will tell…as it always does.
Laters, Kate x
Laundry Life x
The weather has changed. A strong wind is blowing in from the north, dropping the temperature by ten degrees plus. As I look out of my study window there’s still enough blue to patch a Dutchman’s trousers, but the heavy grey clouds look like they could gather and coalesce at any moment. Now half is dark, fast moving cloud, the rest blue. The clouds are being chased away. But there’s more behind. Would you put your washing out today?
There’s something inescapably romantic about clothes on a washing line
like the playing cards of a family laid out for all to see.
Fresh air whipping the wet into submission.
The downside can be rust marks from wooden pegs, lack of flexibility from solid wooden pegs, and brittle plastic pegs that age and snap. Hence the joy of these babies by Pincinox: Stainless steel, designed for life, packaged with care and vintage love.
(All pics Pinterest and Pincinox)
Made in France, but buy now and the shipping to the UK is free.
Laters, Kate x
Le weekend x
With the lockdown starting to fray, we wanted the kids to experience the stillness of London before it’s officially bubbling again, so we biked through the virtually empty roads all the way to Trafalgar Square, a 20 km round route (I have saddle arse to prove it). The only thing to interrupt our peace were the all the gear, no fear mamil brigade, the blinkers of self-interest firmly down. I saw three almost accidents, their speed seemingly taking precedent over a slower decision maker ahead. Given the freedom of the roads, the nature of the situation, it felt greedy and uncalled for.
Trafalgar Square felt like a movie set from a post apocalyptical film. It wasn’t just that there were no people there, the pigeons had left as well.
The weather wasn’t great, so I painted inside. Since completing Carla Sonheim’s online class on flower portraits, I’ve become obsessed with painting all things plant.
I think I want to do a proper painting, a large one: The dark filtered light down below, the open sky above.
Can’t for the life of me think what it represents…
Laters, Kate x
Layabout 2!
So Monday’s post was about soft, squishy, adaptable garden chairs and this photo made the prime slot. But there’s no pattern. But I don’t think it would be too hard to deconstruct: Two box cushions for the seat, make first. Two side cushions, once done will give measurements for back cushion. Finish with leather buckles at side and back. I’m sure those with more skill than me can even pipe the edges…I may give that a go!
This looks like a piece of foam cut to size, versus bean bag beads for stuffing or foam bits. In many ways it’s is a simpler design, but possibly harder on the sewing? Again, I would replace the velcro with the leather straps.
And then there are variations on a theme!
As and When I make, I will post again!
Laters, Kate x
Klemens Torggler
This is a post has been recovered from the mists of time, because it’s one that I often think of and was courtesy of the lovely Lia in Brussels who first introduced me, via a comment on this Blog, to the incredible work of Austrian wizard, Klemens Torggler.
There are a rarified group of objects like the London Underground map that have totally fulfilled their design potential – to meddle any further would be to over-engineer or muddy. And so it could be thought with the humble door – opening or sliding are the only two options.
That is until now. Torggler’s design, based on rotating squares, makes it possible to move an object sideways without the use of tracks. Even if the object weighs 200 kg.
There’s also the Evolution door,a door based on triangles that moves at the touch of a finger tip like a piece of living origami.
What I would give for my own flock of steel birds – The perfect marriage of function and Art.
Laters, Kate x
Lap of the Gods x
I was drawn to these photos of John Caudwell’s £250m London Mansion because they raised so many conflicting thoughts, like when is a home a home and when is it a hotel? When is a home a sanctuary and when is it an art installation? When does the line get crossed between just because you can, should you? And what about, just because it’s expensive, does it have value? The amount of money on view here is obscene: tens of hundreds of millions of pounds, we’re talking the best of everything. And yet…what went wrong?
(This was probably the room that blew my mind the most: All the space, all the choices…and it looks like a bad taste Las Vegas take out joint with no natural light, no ambiance, no thought about the vital need for people to get up, push their chairs back and move around. But hey, there’s a river running through it. With real fish)
Conference room or sitting room?
(All pics Pinterest)
Porn set or spa?
It makes you very grateful for what you have.
Laters, Kate x
Upcycle x
Long hair. Don’t care.
(All pics Pinterest)
The magic of re-invention plus the mastery of pushing boundaries equals joy personified.
Laters, Kate x
Light Up x
I often wonder, do people like Champagne because of the taste, or the associations? It raises that question of how much of life do we see through filters of branding and subliminal messages? Step away from what you’re supposed to want and a whole other world can open up. For instance, this lighting is from Homeof, a relatively new brand formed by Helen White and Michael Jones, ex-BHS lighting designers who decided to go it alone. Remember BHS lighting? How brilliant it was? A high street wonder…the ethos here is very similar, but oh so much slicker…
(All pics Homeof and Pinterest)
This is designer looks, because they’re designed by exceptional designers, with the experience to know what the high street wants, and the eye to push boundaries for the perfect product, at a price point that’s genuinely affordable.
I, for one, am sold.
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 