CONCRETOPIA

I picked this book up from the Barbican last week, and have just started reading. It's a fascinating read on the rebuilding of post war Britian (as stated on the cover!) There's a nice little section on Newcastle too!

SPECIAL

Paul took me to see The Specials last week at the Roundhouse. The Roundhouse is one of my favourite venues in London. I have so many memories here. Here's a pic from when they performed Ratrace.

PANTONE

I love Pantone mugs. They're so simple, but the colours are incredible! This is my favourite, and they do an amazing grey. It's nice to have a pop of colour every now and then though!!!

LAURA

Hello and welcome to "Your Hjem." Peeking into the homes of people with inspirational interior style. All different styles, from all over the globe.

 

This week I am joined by Laura! She is 27 and living in Kent with her husband Dan, and their little girl Bertie, and two sausage dogs. Currently on maternity leave, she is enjoying having the time to not only embrace being a new mum, but also pursue lots of creative projects that have always been on the back burner while Topshop ruled her world! Sounds like a winning combo!

 

 

How would you describe you interior style?

 

Quite straightforward really; I like simplicity and maximizing light. Scandi design and graphic prints will always have a place in my heart. Overall though, there has to be a balance of form and function, especially important now there’s a little person around.
 

 

Tell us a little about how you selected and acquired your lovely home:

I guess you would call it a funny story. I grew up in a huge house, which at one point homed four generations. In 2006 came a time when we were all ready to spread our wings. My parents took over a great pub, and my grandparents moved into a lovely little bungalow. Dan and I were ready to buy but hadn’t truly begun the hunt. The couple who ended up buying the family home were selling a three bed terrace, and somehow or another we ended up viewing it. We fell in love with the large open space downstairs offered, and the rest is house swap history! It probably wasn’t the most financially savvy purchase in that it was the peak of the market, property prices were at an all time high, but it felt right, and I’ve no doubt it will be our family home for a long time to come.
 

 

What a lovely story! Let's start in the living room, what is your favourite thing in here?

I’m having a bit of a love hate relationship with this room at the moment. By having a white space it flows really well with the rest of downstairs, and takes advantage of the differing lights day-to-day, season to season. I’m dying to add some bold prints and a splash of colour though. I love the original Victorian doors throughout the house, and they work especially well with the white. My most recent purchase is the mustard dipped leg side table. So lets count that as my three favourites; light, doors and table!

 

I love that table! Favourite thing in the kitchen?

Both Dan and I love cooking, we are total foodies. The kitchen may look tidy, but behind every drawer front and cupboard door is every cooking utensil and saucepan you could ever need. The kitchen itself isn’t to my taste at all – roll on the day I can get a white kitchen, concrete work top and mint green Smeg, so my favourite thing would have to be the accessories; crockery, cutlery, chopping boards and mugs!

 

Your bedroom:
 

This room is next on our hit list! We haven’t touched this room since we moved in (6 years ago!) so the walls are still a hideous custard colour and its really cluttered. I have an ideal in my head; a light-filled, serene and peaceful space. Nothing will stay except our bed, and my collection of linen.

 

Baby's bedroom:
 

Oh I really love Bertie’s room. I found creating this space very cathartic through a really hideous pregnancy. It was a shell, so its filled with everything we hand picked. I particularly like the Victorian chest with china handles. I spent a good few months hunting down the perfect one. At the moment it doubles up as a changing table, yet has longevity, and will be used long after the days of nappies.

 

What are you inspired by when you shop for your home?

I feel like I’ve really started to find my interior style in the last couple of years. I’m drawn to midcentury furniture from the likes of Eames and Ercol, and accessories and prints which you don’t see in every high street store and show home. Supporting independent businesses is so easy now with the likes of Etsy and Instagram, I love that you can hunt down treasures.

Any brands you'd like to claim your undying love for, or any new brands you'd like?
 

As a designer Sir Terence Conran is synonymous with style for me. I love that nearly everyone will be familiar with his design, without perhaps knowing who he is. He’s a hero of British design.

Danish super brand Ferm Living is another favourite. In their own words “it is modern, but also has a reassuring homelike quality”, which, alongside being well made, is all you could really need.

 

Finally: What's on for wish list?

We have been threatening to install some filament light bulbs for forever, we just can’t quite decide where!

A few pieces of white Le Crueset would be ideal, as well as some marble serving platters.

Finally, my sanctuary like bedroom, and everything I need to create it!!!



 

 

EGYPT

Our little Egyptian Gods. Clarence and Alabama are Egyptians Maus, (translated as Egyptian Cats, surprisingly.) They are the oldest domesticated cat in history and have been house cats since the great Egyptian dynasties. This is part of the reason we chose this breed. We wanted cats that would be happy with being indoors, as I couldn't even bare to think about letting cats out in London, and I can genuinely say, they've never shown one ounce of interest at the outside world, and I swear I can see them laughing at other cats at the window when it's raining outside.

 

They're relatively new to the UK, and we still get vets asking us what breed they are. I believe a Russian Princess took them to the USA in 1956. They are fiercely loyal to their owners, known to be a bit timid around strangers, but very "dog like" with their family. They have all sorts of chirrups and vocabs, that i've never heard in any other cats. They are also the fasted domestic cats, running up to 30mph, this is due to their hind legs being a little longer than their forelegs, so they always look like they are on their tip toes! They can also jump 6 feet into the air from standing.

 

Apparently in Egyptian times, people would worship them as "Gods" and when one died people would shave their eyebrows off as a mark of respect?! Crazy!

 

The famous "egyptian eye make up" is also copied from the Mau's, such trend setters.

 

So there's a little fact file on our little Maus! Hope you enjoyed! MIAOWWW.

 

 

ORANGE

Breakfast. No need for any explanation. Just a perfect breakfast.

BARBICAN

Here we are AGAIN. The Barbican. I am fortunate enough for the Barbican to be right near my work, literally a hop skip and jump away. This week we visited for a talk on Brutalism, using Jonathan Meades' documentary Bunkers Brutalism And Bloodymindenness as a springboard for discussion. Meades was joined by Sir Simon Jenkins, Douglas Murphy, Piers Gough to discuss the power of Brutalism, as well as the misconceptions and misunderstandings it has been subjected to. The concrete poetry is obviously not to everyone's taste...

We also managed to make it to the Constructing Worlds exhibtion. which brings together eighteen photographers, from 1930s to the present day, documenting monumental change in the way we view buildings. From the first skyscrapers in New York and decaying colonial structures in the Congo.
It's showing untill 11th Jan 2015, so if you have the time, and inclination, it's definitely worth a visit.

MARIELA

Hello and welcome to "Your Hjem." Peeking into the homes of people with inspirational interior style. All different styles, from all over the globe!

This week I am joined my Mariela from Puerto Rico! She is wife to one, and Mama to three. A 9 year old boy, and two dogs, Rocco and Lucas. She takes great influence from Scandanavia, with whites, blacks, soft colours and wood furniture. The juxtaposition of the palms and tropicalities, and the minimal Scandi- style, makes for a wonderfully unique and exciting habitat!

Hello Mariela! Thank you for inviting us into your gorgeous paradise of a home! Please tell us how you came about your house.
Hi! I'm so happy to be featured on your blog. My home was my grandmother's home, so my husband and I have been fixing lots of things for the past few years. It's a small house but we make the most of it.

 

How wonderful! I love the idea of homes passing through generations! Tell us, what is your favourite thing in your living room!

That's a tough one because I like everything, but I could say the Eames plastic side chair my husband gave me as a present, I always loved those chairs, so I'm really happy about it. Also I can't leave my Andy Warhol print that a dear friend from Italy sent me for my birthday last May.

 

 

 

 

And venturing over to the kitchen. What is your favourite thing here?

My favorite thing in the kitchen is our wood table that my husband made. I love that it's all wood, the dark color and that he made it.

 

Wow! That's very impressive! Moving over to your bedroom?

Our bedroom is one room we need to start renovating but I always like our bed.

 

 

 

 

Super important to have a cosey bed! Your son's room?

I like very much my son's room because all the walls are white so I put color in accessories like the curtains, pillows and prints, it's a happy room.

 

Bathroom?

Oh the bathroom! This is in a renovation phase! So I can only say that I like my Aesop products that a dear friend from Australia sent me haha! I can't lie it's not beautiful right now.

 

What are you inspired by when you shop for your home?
I get inspired by lots of things specially magazines, I love interior magazines, I love to see different spaces, specially small ones.

Any brands you'd like to claim your undying love for?

I always loved Eames, Artek, for the sake of my friendship with my friend Elia I can't leave Hay haha!, love Fine little Day, Depeapa, Snug studio, 45 wall design, Le Train Fantome and I'm going to stop here or I will not finish!.

Finally: What's on your wish list?

Oh my endless wish list haha! well right now I would love to have the Fine Little Day book and the LTR low table rod base by Eames.

 

Thank you Mariela! I love how you've styled your home! Truly unique, in a jaw dropping setting! I may have to find an excuse to come visit!!

PK COPENHAGEN

I love these prints from PK Copenhagen. They do amazing limited digital prints. We have our three in our dining area, above the table. Head over to their website to check out their collection. We got ours printed up 50 x 70cm.

 

 

SUNDAY

I love the rituals of our Sundays. It is our dedicated lie in day, cats and all. We eat breakfast in bed, watch Friends, and read the paper, and get up whenever we feel like it, with the cats getting in on the action too... As pictured! I absolutely love Sundays.

 

Linen: H&M Homeware

PUMPKIN

Mini pumpkins are so cute! I don't remember mini pumpkins as a child? Were they always a thing?

LATE

Everyone who knows me, knows how much I HATE, hate, hate the late shift at work. There is one benefit though, a little lie in. I'm enjoying the last few weeks of our fully finished flat, before we are back in overalls every spare second we get with the new property! I love our little flat, but am equally excited to get our teeth stuck into the new place!!

CYCLE

On Weds, I cycled at work for breast cancer. I can honestly say, it was horrendous. I begged IT to put my soundtrack on, as they were playing horrendous R&B and we all know I'm not a grinder, I'm more of an indie shuffler. So Jen and I cycled to Blur, No Doubt, Pulp, The Strokes, Heaven 17 and Placebo. God Reptilia has helped me through so much in my life.

After about 3 minutes I started to doubt whether I could do it, but then for the majority it was fine, then the last 2 or 3 minutes was agony again. Thank god for Nancy Boy.

When I stepped off the bike, my legs gave way, turned to jelly and I KO'd on the floor. Smooth. A few stretches, and about an hour later, I was fine to go home.

BREAKFAST

The other morning on instagram, I saw this Almond shake thing from Pret. It looked amazing. I like almonds, I like almond milk etc, this however, was the consistency of pineapple juice- a bit thicker than milk, and tasted rather bland in my opinion. The pretzel was lush though.

FIONA

Hello and welcome to "Your Hjem." Peeking into the homes of people with inspirational interior style. All different styles!

This week I am joined with lovely new internet friend Fiona Burrage. Owner of a super stylish converted factory, up in the ever creative Norwich. She has a beyond gorgeous little boy Stanley, and runs the click design with her husband- a creative brand agency. All photos credit to Ricky-Joe Burrage.

 

 

Welcome Fiona. Thanks for the interview and inviting us into your home! First off, tell us, what is your favourite thing in your living room?

The light. We are very fortunate to have a sky light that runs the full length of the apartment. We are also blessed with double aspect windows that not only provide a wealth of natural light but they also provide a stunning view of Norwich's beautiful skyline (and the changing of the seasons).

 

 

Favourite thing in the kitchen? I must say I love your plumen's!

I'd probably agree with you. I love minimalism and simplicity. You can't get much more raw that an exposed bulb and, in particular, I love the form of the plumen. We've positioned them above the worktop and the black cable draws your eyes vertically reinforcing the height of the ceiling.

 

 

Your bedroom:

Eugh, nothing. This is very much a work in progress. We have designed and will be building custom fitted plywood cupboards, wardrobe and bed at Christmas and I can't wait. We bought the apartment just over a year ago and the bedroom was the very last thing on our agenda. We're looking forward to this becoming our sanctuary and having lots more storage. You know you're old when you're pleased about more space to store your bed-linen!

 

Stanley's bedroom:

His muji CD player. Bobby said it was a must and whilst it doesn't have the best base it's perfectly adequate for a one year old. He loves pulling the cord to play CD's. He's particularly fond of Calvin Harris at the moment.

 

Bathroom:

The bespoke built shelves. We wanted to give the bath a refresh (on a budget) so we bought the cheapest tiles just to give it a face lift. As the tiler was removing the old ones, the plasterboard fell away revealing a cavity. We utilised the cavity to make two custom built shelves that are great for storage. There I go again!

 

 

What are you inspired by when you shop for your home?

Clean lines. I look a lot to Japanese and Swiss design. I hate clutter and will often buy a new product if it does the job of two (selling the other two).

Any brands you'd like to claim your undying love for?

This is a toughie. I guess we are mostly furnished with Ikea and Hay, so it should probably be those. The first is superb value for money and the latter albeit expensive adds the finishing touches to a room.

 

Finally: what's on for wish list?

I have a very different wish list to Bobby's but you're not asking him! On mine would be an outdoor shower and tap. The roof terrace won't hold the weight of a hot tub and we don't really have the space so this would be a great compromise. I can imagine it being a scorching day next summer and we enjoy a quick shower to cool down. Also we're in the process of drawing up plans to remove/replace our stairs so we can have an upstairs shower, matt black fittings obviously! And then the decorating would almost be complete. Although I'm not sure what I'll do with myself once we're finished!

 

Thanks so much Fiona! Your home is truly beautiful, we would love to do a factory conversion one day! I will leave you with a few more shots of the incredible factory!

 

 

 

TIME

Is it possible to feel jet lagged from the clocks going back!? I'm so out of whack! I went to bed at 21:30 last night, which is incredibly out of character!! I literally couldn't stay awake! I even fell asleep in Modern Family, which is when you know I am tired!

Here is our clock from IKEA, which we have in the hallway. There was great drama about where it should go. I was ADAMANT for it to go where it is, and Paul was worried we would drill into the electric and heating, as it is directly above thermostat and main electric board. My father in law, took no worry in this fact and just whacked the nail in there. And everything still works, thank goodness.

Clock: IKEA

GREY

A few people have been enquiring about the progress of the grey, so here is a little update.

 

I am at about eyebrow level at the moment. I keep having moments of weakness, when I just want to dye it! Then Paul or other friends steer me back to the straight and narrow. There are some days it really doesn't bother me, and others when I think it looks like someone's dropped a bag of flour on my head. I think it looks best when tied up into a messy bun, as I can really see what it will look like! This keeps me going also. I think the main issue with growing out grey is seeing what the quality of the grey will be like. Mine appears to still be shiny and not wiry, so I will keep persevering! Elfin locks are on their way!