Gift Guide {Part 2}: For the creative souls in your life

Why not sign someone up for a course at the Papered Parlour? It's an independant craft venue based in Clapham, London. They have such a great range of affordable and fun classes (and on a side note, how fantastic is their website?)

Lomography Diana F+ Dreamer Camera from UO, £50 & Made at Home by Lisa Stickley, £16.99

Memorabilia notebook from Papermash, £5 & Patterened clipboards from Colloco, £2.95 each (I raved about patterened clipboards a while back here)

Knitting pattern for the above cowl/scarf, StaceyJoy, £3.64 & Mini sewing machine from John Lewis, £50 (I have this one in butter yellow and it really is so great for a small sewing machine - and not too pricey)

Hope you enjoy this week's gift guide! Are there any gift guides you'd like to see? If yes, pop a comment below - thanks! Louise x

I heart Free People's vintage collection

I know I usually have a Best of the Street post on a Friday but today I came across Free People's vintage collection and I adore it! Especially the styling they've used. So inspiring for a Friday! Hope your weekend is filled with fun - Louise x

Dream a little dream...

As regular readers of this blog will know, I took a little break from the blog earlier this year due to ill health which also rather painfully coincided with the OH losing his job. The OH has now found a new job which he loves and I'm on the mend and back in the workplace - which rather excitingly means that we can revisit our plans to do up the flat!

The first rooms to tackle have to be the kitchen and the bathroom. I've been saving any images that grab me for both rooms, but I thought I'd start by sharing the ones of my dream kitchen (kitchens have proved to be much more exciting than bathrooms!)





Images via Interiors Porn, Living Etc, Desire to Inspire, Apartment Therapy, Emma's Designblogg, The Selby & The Seventy Tree

Gift Guide {Part 1}: For the home lovers

If, like me, you always have tons of great gift ideas throughout the year - and then promptly forget every one of these great ideas in the run up to Christmas, then I'm hoping that my little gift guides might be able to help.

I'll be posting one a week. The first is for the people in your life who are always looking for new little trinkets to add to their homes.

All of these are under £20 in the hope that I'm not the only one watching the pennies this holiday...

Bunting Cushion Cover from UO, £20 & Union Jack Doormat also from UO, £16

English Breakfast print from Tea & Ceremony, £12 & Inside Out Bowl from Anthropologie, £8

Retro Storage Container from Oliver Bonas, £12.95 & Lovely Jubbly Mug from Andrew Tanner Designs. £11.50

Best of the Street

I'm finally beginning to feel normal again. It's so nice to wake up and actually feel energised! I feel all ready for the weekend now - perfect timing!

I hope you all have a lovely few days off work. Any plans? I may go to see the René Gruau exhibtion at Somerset House. His illustrations are so magical...

So here are my picks for best of the street for this week. I have to say that my favourite is the lady in the bottom left picture - oh the draping and colours of that dress!


Images via Altamira, Hanneli, Stockholm StreetStyle & The Sartorialist

Wild thing... I think I love ya

I am sooo pleased that leopard print is everywhere at the moment...
Jason Wu styles his pretty animal print dress with simple black courts and dark rimmed specs (secretary chic anyone?) and Meredith Melling Burke (from US Vogue) goes preppy with her print. Love.

And then Zara has made all my dreams come true by designing this gorgeous coat and skirt - and styling them beautifully with all black. Puuurfect.

4 pretty mood boosters

The best way to describe how I'm feeling today is blurgh (I can feel a cold coming on...) so I thought it was time to post some things that are currently making me smile and feel a little less sorry for myself ;)

1. This pretty in pink shake bar (via here)

2. 'i love you' notes (via here)
3. Al fresco spring suppers (via here)

4. Bunting will surely be everywhere in the UK now that Kate and Wills are tying the knot and these hearts are very sweet (via here)

Swedish Home

I absolutely love this charming Swedish home. It looks so cosy with the fire, throws and the stacks of books and CDs. Perfect house tour for a chilly day.

Hope you had a lovely weekend. Me and the OH went out on Saturday to this really nice pub in Camberwell to celebrate a friend's new job. Never been there before, definitely worth a few drinks if you're in the area (and the food looked pretty great too). I was absolutely gutted to miss the Midcentury Modern show in nearby Dulwich (did any of you make it?) but did manage to get down to see my sister and her hubbie for a big Sunday pub lunch here. Another great pub I might add! This weekend was all about the pubs :)

Images via Hus & Hem

Best of the Street

Hello lovelies, I'm back from Manchester just in time to post my three favourites from the streetstyle blogs this week:

1) Sadly it is way too cold for bear legs here in London, but the minute spring comes around, I'm going to be referring to this picture for inspiration.

I love the mix of materials: the delicate, feminine dress juxtaposed with the heavier wool/tweed blazer and finished off with a pair of beautiful camel loafers. And I adore her hair colour (yes, I'm still very tempted to go red!)

2) I read somewhere that leopard print is now considered a neutral. Case in point above.

3) Who says brown is boring? Certainly not me...

Photos from The Sartorialist & Vanessa Jackman

Inspiration from Australian Vogue

Love this editorial from Australian Vogue's December issue. All of these outfits are ridiculously inspiring, especially the first - and check out the orange Mulberry bag, gorgeous!

Photos via The Vogue Diaries

Happy Monday!

What isn't to like about this apartment? The furniture lends it so much character. And I have real radiator envy (see top pic). *Oh dear, that really is a sign of impending middle age...*

I'm off to Manchester for the week to shop to work so blog posts will be few and far between I'm afraid. But I am going to try to schedule a few in (wish me luck with that!) so if all goes to plan, there won't be complete silence from me this week!

Photos via The Seventy Tree

Best of the street

I’m loving the first lady’s beautiful deep red cardigan that she’s thrown over her shoulders. If I tried to recreate that, you can bet your bottom dollar that it would be slipping off my shoulders within 2 minutes! I guess some people are literally designed for fashion. And isn’t it lovely to see someone in colour. In autumn I quite miss the flashes of colour from the clothing that people wear in summer and spring.

Hope you all have an extra special weekend. What are your plans? I’m off to our local fireworks display tonight with the OH, hopefully with a nice big mug of tomato soup. I’m praying it doesn’t rain.

Photos from Stockholm StreetStyle & Vanessa Jackman

More on Rachel Whiting

As promised, here are some of the other beauties I found on Rachel Whiting's website.

I especially love the first picture of the home office. I was reading an article in The Times magazine on Saturday about how Generation zero are embracing minimalism. I think it's a brilliant idea - and I'm definitely not one for avid consumerism, but I do need and love having beautiful, inspiring, colourful and useful things around me. For me, it makes a house a home. I guess that's why I love that home office so much. How inspiring would it be to have a little corner of your home like that to devote to your hobbies and passions?

My picks from Kate Moss' final Topshop collection

I've only ever owned one Kate Moss piece - the pansy print dress which is now re-released as an iconic piece - and to be fair, I did love that dress. Sadly it didn't last a slight weight gain a few years ago (due to too many work trips to NY). The poor love tore under the pressure inflicted by my frequent diner visits and mexican take outs (completely worth it by the way...)

But since then, I haven't found anything that's really caught my eye... It's all been very pretty and I've seen many a girl looking stunning in the clothes, but I've found that in general the cut doesn't really flatter my shape (UK size 12).

Seeing as it's Kate Moss' last collection with Topshop, I really hoped to find something wow. Nothing has really blown me away, but I do like this embroidered tea dress...

the star necklace...

and this circular cocktail ring.

I'm probably the most tempted by the ring, although £30 is pretty steep (but if it doesn't turn my finger greeen, £30 is fine and dandy).

Have you checked out the collection yet? I'd love to know your thoughts.

the beauty of autumn

Happy 1st November! Can you believe it's come around so quickly? Hope you all had a great Halloween weekend. Any photos to share?

I stumbled across these beautiful pictures by Rachel Whiting. They completely sum up why I love autumn so. Those colours!

P.S. I'll be posting more on Rachel Whiting this week. Her portfolio has blown me away.