January 29, 2016

Touching the Tide..

The girls are coming in and heading for home!! Row Like a Girl, the 4 girl team rowing 3000 miles in the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge Race are due to cross the finishing line and arrive in Antigua today (around 4 o’clock UK time) to claim a staggering 2nd place against 26 other boats and break all sorts of records – like the youngest women ever to row the Atlantic, fastest women etc…

And they won’t be too sad at coming second..they were only bested by another British team: Ocean Reunion – which included the brother of Row Like a girl’s Bella Collins….and adds to their remarkable record haul: First brother and sister to ever complete the challenge..

Behind them many boats are still battling it out..including the magnificent and maverick Row2Recovery…who boast only one pair of legs between them..

And the awesome YorkshireRows – 4 forty something mums proving that motherhood is just a stepping stone…if you dare to dream.

Gutsy, bonkers, courageous, inspirational. It’s been a joy to follow their journeys..and you can be a part of it too – each and everyone of them are doing this for charity..click through tho their respective websites here to see more..because this is special and they deserve everything they get.

Laters, Kate x

January 28, 2016

Marbled Marvels..

It’s that time of year: sick children…one coughing her way through the night which is the natural equivalent of chinese water torture, the other with a weeping ear and suspected perforated eardrum. Winter – don’t you love it? At least there’s beautiful wallpaper to keep the blues at bay. The final choice for the cellar (can I really keep calling it that? (but cinema room sounds so pretentious..)(such a first world dilemma)) has yet to be made: There’s three choices and this post represents the first group…a marbled/malachite paper with the hint of unusual mixed with traditional, timeless beauty..

I’m going to trawl the internet to see what I can find that’s UK based…but first we’re off to the quacks…

Laters, Kate x

January 26, 2016

An Update: House etc..

Yesterdays fascinator experiment went well..I was thinking of you Julie (hattitude) as we marshalled in the sinamay into shape! Could’ve done with your skill!!

No real finished ones to reveal yet..(the first official creative coffee is on Wednesday) but I think we’re a bit more prepared..

(It’s great stuff just to let loose and play with..I recommend it.)

On the house front, there’s no longer a broken neck risk checking out the cellar…we now have stairs!..

Upstairs…could that actually be a sink in the kitchen??!

To the unknowing eye, this all just looks like mismatched piles of wood..

To me, it’s the light at the end of the tunnel..(even knowing, once it’s made it’s coming out (sob!) to be painted (and so the floor can go down))..but this is pure progress. We may even have a working bin soon – the excitement, the luxury!

Laters, Kate x

January 25, 2016

Hats Off…

It’s the trial run today for our termly creative coffee morning for the mum’s in Charlie’s class…we’re making fascinators to be worn at our class party the following week. Cross your fingers – I’ve only ever been a pupil before, never the teacher, hence the need for a few guinea pigs, but I was treated to a class just before Christmas….and found it fascinating…here’s hoping for luscious lilly’s..

The odd rose…or two..

Big bows for those that want..

And just letting imaginations run free…

Pics to follow…

Laters, Kate x

January 22, 2016

First Step..

There was a brilliant article in the Evening Standard last night about our insatiable appetite for stuff, it described a worker in a plastics factory in China laughing at the crap products being churned out for the international market..only to see the order tripled the following week. It’s all around us..look through a Lakeland catalogue and see some brilliant ideas..but also some entirely superfluous ones, designed just because we think we need them..or (because we always have to show progression) over-engineered designs of something that already worked perfectly fine. But hey, that’s more money for the ~~fat cats~~ economy..particularly when you add in the modern power of build-in-obsolescence..with any luck it’ll break…and we’ll buy it twice!

I’d love to see a move away from vapid accumulation to less is more, quality over substance..and the best changes start at home. The wardrobe is having it’s first attack today…

All nightwear is heading the way of charity or cut up for rags, leaving just two pairs of pajamas and a dressing gown.

It’s a start.

Laters, Kate x

January 21, 2016

The Sitting Room x

In the normal run of things, you look at a room, decide it needs a spruce and decorate it knowing the context surrounding it. A renovation is slightly different – you tend to think of each room as individuals and forget how they link together. It’s what’s concerning me about our sitting room.

The original choice was for it to be a green as it leads into the garden, merging them together.

And there are some gorgeous greens out there.

But vaguely rational part of brain said ‘it’s leading from dark grey..’

And then I was drawn to blues, deep, dark, inky blues…resist, I thought – stick to leaves and plants. But the pull was there. And kept coming back. So compromise stepped in – use the midnight blue in the cellar where light doesn’t matter. Which seemed like good thinking.

Except I can’t resist the bluey teals that are dominating my Pinterest page.

I laugh that our home might be a cave. But I’m starting to think it really might be…

Laters, Kate x

January 20, 2016

Raw Talent x

Jessica Kramer is my new arthouse-slash-fully-fledged-rockstar (of the jewellery kind) and the maker/owner of Hawkhouse. She’s been a wanderer and traveller, soaking up the sights and sounds of six of the seven continents of the world before love made her drop anchor or as she says ‘Wild woman falls in love with island boy and signs up for Etsy’. Her story and all it’s wonder is ingrained in her pieces.

Her works are frank and forthright without the slightest glint of superficiality, just pure natural beauty shining through.

There’s a visceral feeling of groundedness (is that a word??) straight talking and sincerity.

(All pictures Hawkhouse and Pinterest)

Designer prices? No – everything, even the uncut emeralds above are around the £40 plus shipping; This is outside the brain boil of mainstream madness, brand and oneupmanship, here it’s honesty and integrity that take centre stage and run straight through the middle of every single piece.

Just simply inherently cool.

Laters, Kate x

January 19, 2016

Bees Knees x

In my virtual world, this is what I look like today.

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(All pictures Pinterest)

Proving that old is always new….which gives me endless hope!

Laters, Kate x

January 15, 2016

Bea Johnson x

Anyone else read the article in the Times yeesterday about Bea (pronounced ‘Baya’) Johnson and her zero waste lifestyle? The picture above represents the amount of waste her family have accumulated over a year…it’s an eye opener..

She’s been living this way since 2008..and it doesn’t make her a crusty hippy.

Her (and her family’s) wardrobe are small enough to fit into carry-on suitcases…which they pack, wheel away – and then their house is rented out to pay for their holidays.

But a small wardrobe doesn’t mean she doesn’t have style.

It’s just that they’ve made choices about what they really need against what society and big companies want them to need.

I think I’m going to have to read her book…

Laters, Kate x

January 14, 2016

The Hall x

Time to decide which wallpaper makes the cut for the hall which is a bit like going into Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory and just choosing one ickle bickle flavour. How do you pick?

It will be William Morris because he is my interior design hero and God. But that hardly narrows the field down.

I’ve discarded some of the darker patterns, just because I’m going darker…on the dado and skirting boards..and in the kitchen..and sitting room..and cinema room..hey ho – just call my home a cave..