Challenged by Julie from Most Wanted I created a moodboard with a selection of summer indoor/outdoor accessories from both high street and designer shops. All 10 of them for under £50 together!
The mix contains accessories from various shops, ranging from IKEA to Philippe Starck and Alessi. This just shows that with a bit of looking around (and helpful sale season!) we can add a bit of spark to any room, and on a tiny budget!
This set is designed to work perfectly for the summertime, and can be used both indoors, as well as for outdoor entertaining. Fresh and colourful!
Summer designer mix under 50 pounds
Including, from the top:
– IKEA Superfin glass tealight holders, £0.39
– Argos Mimosa Cushion – Cream, £6.99
– Dwell Organic tubular vase, £13.95
– Homebase Mini Dried Bundles, £3.99
– Koziol, Bird napkin ring, £3.60
– Lux by Starck, Set of 6 Squares plates , £3.90
– Lux by Starck, Set of 10 Big cups, £2.70
– Cath Kidston, Spray Flowers Salt and Pepper Shakers, £3.50
– IKEA Legym 2-piece salad servers set, £0.99
– Ti – Coffee cup and saucer, Sentou Edition, £5.70
TOTAL: £45.71
I hope that inspires you to hunt for other summer bargains!
So, we’re finally back from Poland. I know, I said I’d be sharing pictures as we go along but things were changing so quickly, and we were literally working 24 hours a day… so instead, let me just share with you the video I’ve just created, I hope you’ll like it 🙂
A few details:
– I have managed to stick to my motto (design on any budget!) and have not spent a fortune on the flat!
– bedrooms are still unfurnished – we’ll see who will rent the flat and furnish according to requirements
– we had to compromise a few times – mostly due to funds, or lack of time. E.g. when we get to live there, I’ll change the window treatments, buy a proper coffee table etc. But things I cared most about are all there – my beautiful white high gloss kitchen, Indian-marble mosaic in the bathroom, and three built-in wardrobes… for all my shoes and bags!
More info and detailed photos will follow soon. All comments welcome.
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Nareszcie wrocilismy z Polski. Tak wiem, mowilam ze bede sie dzielic zdjeciami w trakcie pracy, ale wszystko tak szybko sie zmienialo, a my pracowalismy doslownie 24h na dobe… dlatego w zamian, pozwole sobie podzielic sie z wami tym filmikiem ktory wlasnie stworzylam, mam nadzieje ze sie spodoba 🙂
Kilka szczegolow:
– udalo mi sie podtrzymac moje motto (dezajn nie musi byc drogi!) i nie wydac na mieszkanie fortuny!
– sypialnie poki co nieumeblowane – zobaczymy jakie zyczenia bedzie mial wynajmujacy
– kilka razy musilismy pojsc na kompromis – glownie z powodu kosztow, lub po prostu braku czasu. Kiedy my sie tam wprowadzimy, na pewno kilka rzeczy bedzie do zmiany, kupimy porzadny stolik kawowy, dodamy troche wiecej koloru, zmienimy wystroj okien. Ale to na czym mi najbardziej zalezalo – jest 🙂 Moja piekna biala kuchnia na wysoki polysk, mozaika z indyjskiego marmuru, i trzy garderoby… na wszystkie moje buty i torebki!
Wiecej informacji i zdjec detali wkrotce. Wszystkie komentarze mile widziane.
Having seen a photo of a room with a hand-painted silk covered wall in World Of Interiors a few months ago, I have not since stopped thinking about the supremacy of hand-made designs over 53cm-wide wallpapers, which – no matter how creative – usually are restricted by the roll size.
OK, photo wallpapers are an alternative, yet the quality, exclusivity and uniqueness is uncomparable.
What I found today (courtesy of Mochi Home) is this amazing company fromental. A few words about them:
Founded in 2005, with offices and design studios in London and a team of talented artists in China, Fromental’s mission is to create the world’s most beautiful wallpapers.
Having worked in fashion and interiors, directors Tim Butcher and Lizzie Deshayes have twenty years experience in designing, producing and restoring hand-made wallpapers.
Here are some of their designs:
fromental's bedroomfromental
I would literally die for this kitchen:
fromental
Now some of you probably think – nice, but not for me. I’m all modern. Well, heres’s the response to that:
Now, how long do I need to save for one of these 🙂
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Kilka miesiecy w World of Interiors zobaczylam zdjecie pokoju ze sciana oblozona recznie malowanym jedwabiem, i od tej pory nie moge przestac myslec o przewadze recznie wykonanych projektow nad 53-centymetrowymi tapetami, ktore – jakkolwiek kreatywne – zawsze sa jednak swoim rozmiarem ograniczone. Tu – konkretna sciana jest wyznacznikiem pracy. Ma 3 metry dlugosci? Taki bedzie wzor. Ma 15 metrow? Tym wieksze wrazenie taki wzor moze zrobic.
Fakt, fototapety wracaja do lask i pozwalaja zaaranzowac wieksza przestrzen, jednak jakosc, ekskluzywnosc i wyjatkowosc sa nieprownywalne…
Dzis znalazlam (dzieki Mochi Home) wspaniala firme fromental. Prowadzona przez pare z duzym doswiadczeniem w swiecie designu i mody, ich ambitnym celem jest stworzenie najpiekniejszych tapet i tkanin na swiecie.
Czy im sie udalo? Powyzej mozna zobaczyc czesc z ich pierwszych trzech kolekcji, zarowno dla tych co lubia klasyczne jak i nowoczesne wnetrza.
Taak… ciekawe jak dlugo musze oszczedzac na takie cudo 🙂
I don’t think I should even start apologizing for not being here for ages… so let us pretend those two months never happened 🙂
That would be difficult, though, as since the last post:
we finished and rented out our Polish flat within a week of posting the ad (which is a really good time in our market!),
both me and my husband started working at different companies (still within one corporation),
we moved offices to outside of London,
we moved houses in London to be closer to new offices
… and yesterday we have become owners of yet another flat in Poland :).
So this is a very exciting time for me and there is really lots going on. I am obviously going to share with you the ideas for the new flat, and can tell you straight away this is going to be tricky, as we want to finish the flat mostly remotely, and as of today there are only bare walls and windows there.
But! First things first, let me show you what we managed to do to our first flat around Christmas; we wanted to make it livable, so that it rents out quickly, on a budget of ca. £250:
bathroom
I guess you’ve seen some of our bathroom, especially the cupboard hand-made by my husband; to our great anger and despair, the glass maker did not manage to do the doors on time so our shelves are still open, but the rest was good to go:
Bathroom - view from entranceThe old trick - big mirror visually increases the size of this bathroom
bedroom
The bedroom, with the furniture set we got for free from a friend, a super-old retro ceiling lamp, and bits and pieces of decorating from my mum, with the only new element of the baroque-inspired white wallpaper to add just a teeny bit of glamour:
White bedroom with white glamour wallpaperDetailed view of the wallpaper
To complement the wallpaper, we have used a spare piece as wall art and put it in behind glass, all placed on an old shelf which I finished in a quasi-shabby-chic look. The throw also works the same theme as the wallpaper.
living room
Now, the living room, and to be completely honest this is the most haphazardly finished room ever 🙂 One feature wall covered in beautiful black wallpaper… though since it was our first time ever wallpapering, the results are far from perfect! Good tip – when working with a dark wallpaper, it’s much easier if you dab the areas on the wall, where wallpaper pieces will meet, in paint the colour of the wallpaper; this way even if your work isn’t perfect, the gaps between stripes will not be as visible as on our wall.
Living room - feature wall with black floral wallpaperLiving room - view towards the ornamental blinds
The rest of the room is my parents’ old sofabed under a new throw, a red ceiling light which was supposed to be comlemented with red wall art though we never put it up (don’t ask), my teenage bedroom set, a good old piano, a spare single bed that can be put away depending on the needs of the tenants and an Ikea Lack table 🙂 Plus the really pretty blinds which unfortunately do not show too well in this light – basically when it’s light outside, they seem very pale and creamy grey, but when it’s dark, additional silver elements show as well.
kitchen-diner
Finally, the kitchen-diner, with the infamous kitchen units which never got properly fitted together (so that the worktop still floats independently of the units, there is no steel strip at the bottom and a millon other sins we committed with it and haven’t tried to make up for yet). Nonetheless we like the kitchen and maybe, some time, in the distant future, we will finally put it together once and for all 🙂 There is also an extra loveseat and armchair in the other part of the room.
Light and dark wood kitchen with green wallsRetro kitchen oilcloth
Hall
…and our hall, unfortunately I have a photo only from the time when this ugly carpet was there (with the dog’s bone and toys prominently on display) so try not to notice them 🙂
Open hall with spotlights
So to sum up, this is certainly not the best example of interior design, but we tried to make the place nicer for the tenants than the usual offering but on a minimal budget, and the result was that we rented it out just a few days after we advertised it!
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Chyba nawet nie ma co zaczynac przepraszac za to ze mnie tu tak dlugo nie bylo, wiec moze zapomnijmy o tych dwoch miesiacach 🙂
Z drugiej strony byloby to trudne, gdyz od ostatniego postu:
wykonczylismy i wynajelismy nasze mieszkanie w PL w ciagu tygodnia od dania ogloszenia
zaczelismy z mezem prace w nowej firmie
zmienilismy biura
przeprowadzilismy sie w Londynie by latwiej dojezdzac
…i od wczoraj jestesmy wlascicielami nowego mieszkania w PL – a raczej wygralismy przetarg i teraz staramy sie jak najszybciej mieszkanie ‘przejac’ 🙂
Takze ten czas jest bardzo ekscytujacy i na pewno bede dzielic sie tu pomyslami na wykonczenie nowego mieszkania; juz teraz wiem ze nie bedzie to proste gdyz duzo chcemy wykonac lub zlecic ‘zdalnie’ z Londynu, a w tej chwili w mieszkaniu nie ma nic – stan deweloperski.
No ale! Zaczynac wypada od poczatku 🙂 wiec kilka slow o naszym pierwszym mieszkaniu. W okolicy Swiat Bozego Narodzenia postanowilismy zrobic ile mozemy w mieszkaniu by przygotowac je na wynajecie. Niestety czasu bylo malo a budzet juz zupelnie ograniczony (troche ponad 1tys. zl) wiec spedzilismy troche czasu wymyslajac co mozna zrobic by we w miare przyzwoitym stanie mieszkanie wynajac.
Zdjecia powyzej pokazuja rezultaty naszej walki z nieterminowymi sprzedawcami (czytaj: brak szklanych drzwi do szafek w lazience) i bardzo ograniczonym budzetem (czytaj: wykorzystanie naszych starych mebli, mebli ktore dostalismy od znajomych, odmalowanie kilku rzeczy, samodzielne kladzenie tapety ze skutkiem mieszanym – hej! robilismy to po raz pierwszy ok?? – i kilkoma drobnymi nowymi zakupami). Kilka rzeczy dalej nieskonczonych, typu kuchnia (caly czas nieprzykrecony blat i brak cokolow, nieoslonieta sciana i inne takie), te nieszczesne szafki w lazience (szklo to jedyne czego moj maz sam w tej lazience zrobic nie moze, i cholera tak nawalili 😦 ), oraz totalny misz-masz stylow i kolorow w duzym pokoju.
Zdecydowanie nie jest to przyklad swietnego designu ale biorac pod uwage ograniczenia czasowe i finansowe jestem w miare zadowolona z efektu, i obecni najemcy mam nadzieje tez.
Ah, and so we are – mid December, a few days to Christmas. So how does this time look for me every year?
– overworked (company targets need to be met!)
– cold (though London is surprisingly mild this year)
– sad (missing my family, the more the closer it’s till Christmas as I know I’ll see them soon and want this to happen ASAP!)
– and this year, additionally, stressed out and tired as hell since as always I’m over-ambitious and have decided that I need to be responsible for whole of the Christmas look and feel. The occasion is perfect as it will be the first Christmas at my parents’ new house, so a blank canvas almost. So I’m sewing: tablecloths, table runners (both in 2 sizes!), napkins for 15 people, choosing decorations for the whole room and presents for both my and my husband’s families…
Anyway, I’m hoping all this hard work is going to pay off and deliver the ‘wow’ factor – the color scheme / theme chosen for this year’s Christmas is Gold, White and Glitter: timeless, elegant and very celebratory.
Let me share with you a few beautiful photos that inspired me and maybe can inspire you too, if you’re planning your Christmas last minute.
Modern white and golden wreath with a pinecone and snowflake
Golden wreath
Twigs and candle decoration
Glamour Christmas hanging ornaments
Stylish golden table setting
Golden table setting with ribbon-tied cutlery
Glass, candle and roses centerpiece
Name tag attached to the glass
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I’m also planning to bake and decorate cupcakes, and – another last-minute idea – bake gingerbread in the shape of letters, for a different take on gift tags.
I hope this is going to work out as I never baked gingerbread before!
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No i jestesmy w polowie grudnia. Jak ten okres w roku wyglada dla mnie? Jestem zwykle
– przepracowana (bo przeciez firma musi wyrobic plan)
– zmarznieta (choc pogoda w Londynie jest w tym roku dosc laskawa)
– smutna (bo tesknie za rodzinka, tym bardziej im blizej do naszego spotkania!)
– a w tym roku dodatkowo absolutnie zestresowana i zmeczona jak diabli bo jak zwykle ambicja wziela nade mna gore i postanowilam zaprojektowac cala wizualke swiateczna. Okazja ku temu jest niebanalna gdyz beda to pierwsze Swieta w nowym domu moich Rodzicow i jest duze pole do popisu :). W zwiazku z tym szyje obrusy i biezniki w dwoch rozmiarach, serwetki na 15 osob, wybieram dekoracje no i naturalnie prezenty dla calej mojej i meza rodziny…
Tak czy inaczej mam nadzieje ze wszystko dobrze sie uda i swieta zrobia wrazenie na gosciach – schemat kolorystyczny na te Swieta to Zloto, Biel i Blysk, czyli kombinacja elegancka, ponadczasowa i bardzo uroczysta.
Powyzej dziele sie kilkoma pieknymi zdjeciami ktore zainspirowaly mnie w tym roku – jesli szukacie swiatecznych pomyslow na ostatnia chwile, mam nadzieje ze te pomoga.
Ostatnim pomyslem ktory moze sie przydac to pieczenie piernikow w ksztalcie inicjalow – zamiast bilecikow prezentowych. Sprobuje to zrobic, jak sie uda – pokaze efekty 🙂
Apartment Therapy's house tour at Harmony & Vance's
…and another view to show the whole space:
Apartment Therapy's house tour at Harmony & Vance's
Why? Because of its very natural approach to eclectic spaces. It’s no nonsense, relaxed, with a splash of colour here and funky design there, and somehow it all comes together. Even though every item has its own history and comes from somewhere else, it’s all so.. simple. Feels young and refreshing!
I can’t believe how many great products and designs I’ve seen on my last trip to Poland. The interior design market is changing there rapidly, and there aren’t that many new trends that you can’t find there now; even better – most of them are available at high street retailers, making great design available for many!
But before we go into the New, first let us talk about the Old. First, a find stil bought in the UK, but which I envisage to place in the yellow bedroom I was describing some time ago. For now to keep you in suspense – still in packaging, you will see the final effect when all is ready! This vintage glamour / shabby chic mirror frame cost peanuts and is absolutely amazing; I found it on iBootSale and picked up the next day. As it turned out, it was too big even for my mutant-huge suitcase, so had to ship with DHL. But it was worth it, the new owners are thrilled to have it!
As we’re with vintage, when we visited my in-laws, I was in heaven. Here are some more finds. First, the sideboards, etc that my husband’s grandfather hand made some years ago (he was even taking carpenter order for those for local people, and funnily enough I saw a very similar one in some other garage when cycling through the village):
I’m planning to sand it, paint in a delicate pastel colour, add a few embellishments and generally keep it shabby chic / country. Whether for me or someone else – I don’t know yet!
Handmade vintage sideboard by my husband's grandfather
This is another beauty, with more bite to it and gorgeous handles… there is also a sideboard top in another shed but in much worse condition – still there is a chance 🙂
Handmade vintage sideboard by my husband's grandfather
Loads of those around as well… I’ve seen some very nice decors of country kitchens with stove door as a decoration on the wall:
Vintage stove door
…and finally our finds from a nearby house that is being refurbished – a vintage double shelf and an old radio which I am thinking about converting into a night stand. They were just being thrown away so hopefully they will get a second chance 🙂
Vintage find - old double shelfVintage find - old radio frame
And now last truly vintage items. Not obviously planning to do that, and with ideas ranging from ghost chairs to mismatched vintage, we bought 8 chairs 🙂 When we first got into this antique shop, we just came in to browse, and then we came across the two beauties:
…the raspberry-peach louis-style chairs, eight
Raspberry Louis style glamour chair
…and the black and golden stylized chairs (19th c. Art Noveau style), six
Black and golden 19th century Art Noveau style chairs
I couldn’t decide which ones are better. The raspberry ones worked well with my idea, and I even considered such chairs (with different upholstery); they are also much easier to fit with many styles; glamour, eclectic, shabby chic, etc. The black ones, though, were absolutely original and different to what you normally find, but would not suit our space as they would really require it to be much more upscale than we planned for.
But we couldn’t decide, as both sets were gorgeous. We also had to think through whether they really will work well, how much they will influence other design elements in the house, even what are we going to do with this number of chairs 🙂 At some point we wanted to get both sets, as the black ones were dirt cheap. Having slept over the night dreaming about them, we took a decision – we go again and we buy one set that will work best.
Raspberry Louis style glamour chair
At closer inspection, it turned out that the black chairs were very uncomfortable – what looked as well-formed foam was in fact a nicely shaped plank, or some other piece of wood, and the seats were darn hard. Also, the paint was peeling off at the teeniest touch, and someone actually painted (probably with spray) over part of the fabric at the back. There were a few other elements we didn’t like either.
Generally unhappy about the quality, we turned to the raspberry set. Gosh, that was comfortable 🙂 Very soft, stable, and sturdy in construction; after being told the shop can pressure-clean them, and having got a super-discount, decision was taken and they are OURS! Of course they need re-upholstering and a new coat of finish (and maybe crystal buttons?), but after cleaning they can even serve as they are for the time-being (meaning: when they are in the shed waiting until we move back to Poland, but no one knows when!).
Raspberry Louis style glamour chair
Their versatility will allow me also to use one for a work desk, and another two can work very well with some retro or modern couch.
My mother-in-law even suggested some fabrics for upholstery from her own collection:
Golden and cream upholstery for the chairs
OK! Enough of vintage, I will show you what I found in shops next time 🙂
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Az mi trudno uwierzyc ile przepieknych i oryginalnych produktow i projektow znalazlam w czasie mojego ostatniego pobytu w polsce. Rynek wnetrzarski i projektowania wnetrz naprawde jest teraz ciekawy, i niewiele zostalo jeszcze designow ktorych w Polsce nie mozna teraz znalezc. Co lepsze – dostepne sa w zwyklych sklepach, nie u drogich importerow, dzieki czemu dostep do nich ma w koncu wiele osob.
Ale zanim o nowosciach, troche o starociach. Najpierw przepiekna stara rama, na skrzyzowaniu glamour i shabby chic, ktora planuje powiesic w zoltej sypialni o ktorej kiedys pisalam. Znalazlam ja za grosze na iBootSale i odebralam nastepnego dnia. Niestety okazala sie za duza nawet na moja gigantycznie zmutowana walize, wiec poleciala do Polski DHLem. Ale bylo warto – rama bardzo spodobala sie nowym wlascicielom!
Juz w Polsce najpierw odwiedzilismy tesciow. Moja radocha nie miala konca gdy zajrzalam do stodoly, obory, i innych skrytek. Znalazlam na przyklad dwa przepiekne kredensy / komody zrobione wlasnorecznie przez dziadka mojego meza (robil je tak dobrze ze nawet przyjmowal zamowienia od okolicznych mieszkancow, i faktycznie – rowerujac sobie przez wioske znalazlam w innym garazu bardzo podobny kredens!).
Z kremowa lub pastelowa farba i krysztalowymi galkami beda przepiekne 🙂 (choc ta mniejsza komoda sama z siebie ma piekne raczki wiec moze zostana). Jeszcze nie wiem czy znajda miejsce u mnie (w koncu 59m2 ma swoj limit!) czy jednak u kogos innego…
Mnostwo jest takze drzwiczek od starych piecow kaflowych, ktore pieknie moznaby wkomponowac w kuchnie wiejska.
…a na spacerze kilka domow dalej trwal remont, gdzie wsrod wyrzuconych smieci znalazlam piekna podwojna polke i rame starego radia (ktora byc moze stanie sie stolikiem nocnym). Cuda nad cudami 🙂
No i w koncu – ‘niechcacy’ kupilismy krzesla 🙂 no nie moglismy sie oprzec. Zastanawialismy sie nad dwoma zestawami – malinowo- brzoskwiniowymi Ludwikami, oraz czarno-zlotymi z przelomu XIX/XX wieku, w stylu secesyjnym. Przyznaje ze bardziej za serce w pierwszym momencie chwycily secesyjne, choc od razu wywietrzylam problem. Te krzesla mocno narzucaja swoj styl, ktory jest duzo bardziej elegancki niz planowalismy. Z kolei ludwiki jak to ludwiki – pasuja do wielu wnetrz (eklektyczne, glamour, shabby chic, i inne), wygladaja dobrze nawet z nowoczesnymi (szklo, plastik itd)…
…przespalismy sie z problemem, w pewnym momencie nawet uznajac ze moze kupimy oba zestawy. No ale przy drugim obejrzeniu okazalo sie ze jakosciowo te czarne nie sa najlepsze… i mocno niewygodne. Oczywiscie byloby to do zmiany ale juz nas tak nie zachwycaly jak dzien wczesniej. Malinowe (choc siedzenia bardziej w brzoskwinke wpadaja) ludwiczki za to jak najbardziej wygodne, i nawet sprzedawca dorzucil profesjonalne pranie zeby troche ich jeszcze pouzywac tak jak sa. No i je wzielismy 🙂
I tak przyda im sie nowa tapicerka z pelniejszym wypelnieniem, krysztalowe guziczki (moze) i nowy lakier, ale poniewaz na razie i tak stoja w schowku czekajac na lepsze czasy czyli nasz powrot do PL (kiedy? kiedy??…) to moga byc 🙂 Planuje jednego uzyc do biurka, i sa odpowiednio ozdobne by pasowac tez przy retro czy nowoczesnej kanapie. Kochana tesciowka odlozyla juz nawet material ktorego moglabym uzyc na obicie i inne dodatki, ale to juz zalezne bedzie od ostatecznej koncepcji. Juz sie nie moge doczekac!
No! To tyle tego vintage. W nastepnym poscie przechodzimy do nowosci jakie znalazlam 🙂
OK – so I’m finally back from my day of window-shopping (well, not exactly – I actually bought some side plates, two books on design and color, and hand cream!). First, let me share with you the furniture side of my IKEA findings.
– a space-saving solution for small kitchens. Also, table top is bought separately so one can get a bigger one if space permits:
Ikea Billsta table and Sebastian bar stools
– one of the more stylish double desks I have seen on the high street (and it is not easy to find a desk for two…)
Ikea BESTA BURS double desk
– an interesting dining table ‘for surfers’ as my husband called it :). Not sure what the name is though…
Ikea oval dining table
– …and that’s how the Bernhard chair looks in reality – was very comfy as well!
Ikea Bernhard leather chair
– nice idea for kitchen fronts – in wide-and-glossy units-dominated kitchens, this vertical beech set provides a welcome change:
Ikea Solar kitchen units
– Now the tricky part – what the hell is this wallpaper / material on the wall? I thought I’ll find it in the online catalogue but there are no matches to ‘wallpaper’ and I am pretty sure it is one, as it reflected light when photographed with flash. Really pretty French country style, with roses and birds… anyone knows?? I attach a magnified view of the design as well. HELP! I see it in my mother’s bedroom and I need it desperately and why oh why have I not asked anyone of the staff?!
Looking for designer additions to your kitchen but don’t want to break the bank? One of my favorite designer discount online shops is Brand Alley. Today, a new Home & gift boutique sale started, where you can get these beautiful sets for a reduced price (to buy, you have to set up a free account). Hurry, or you’ll miss the chance – sales last only a few days at a time!
Interior Design inspirations by Indywiduum Design 