Part two of another home decoration story from the archives (check out part 1 here)… styled and photographed in the Netherlands by the talented duo of Anke Helmich and Sanne Tulp. The postal theme continues, this time in the form of postmarks and handwritten type. I know that a lot of people are very wood precious (aka anti painting furniture)…and I get it. Or at least if I would if I could afford a piece of furniuture made of proper wood. In the meantime I am a fan of transforming furniture with a lick (or two or three in the case of glossy) paint. How fabulous to do something a bit ‘risky’ like this table of dark paint, chalkboard placemats and handwritten (handdripped) type and know that if it no longer works for you a year later, you go back to square one!
All photos copyright of Akzo Nobel, created by real. london.
Want more? See a home fit for some glamorous girls here
Another home decoration story from the archives..this time styled and photographed in the Netherlands by the talented duo of Anke Helmich and Sanne Tulp. (You might remember Anke from this post). This couldn’t be more fitting for Pillar Box Post with its giant decorative nod to the mail system and all of its design triumphs-airmail envelopes, stamps, letters, postcards etc.
One of my favorite images we ever created is the shot of the notebook paper inspiration board on the dark gray wall. All of the graphics were handpainted with wall paint, incredible, no? The notebook paper is actually achievable without artistic talent, I promise. I think the key is using something circular as a pattern for the punched holes…and then connecting some of those holes to the outside paintwork to create the ‘just torn out’ look. Someday when I have some spare rooms I will have to fulfill my fascination with oversized (swoon) notebook paper to hang up my ever evolving board of inspiration…and while I’m at it a great rustic table…and vintage chair…and days of the week cubby hole would go down a treat.
All photos copyright of Akzo Nobel, created by real. london.
Want more? See a home fit for some glamorous girls here
This weekend the mister and I celebrated our chance meeting six years ago…and by celebrate I mean I remembered on the walk to get dinner with some friends…’hey whats the date?…We met six years ago today, weird!’ So it seems fitting that earlier that day I had purchased a ‘love necklace’. Cos (one of my favorite stores as I’ve mentioned previously) does fabulously affordable necklaces. I first spotted the ‘D’ shaped necklace and thought it could be quite a cute artistic monogram for my ‘darling david’. Then I spotted the ‘B’ shape and realized they really were alphabet letters. The yellow ‘B’ and nude ‘D’ looked too good together to pass up. Different letters are made in different colours materials and styles– and at only ten pounds each, I was seriously tempted to go pick out the best shapes/letters and start ’scrabbling’ them into something poignant!
I can’t decide…would I rather be with my green bicycle like the one up top, or sitting at a moody pottery desk?… Beautifully diverse styling from Dutch stylist Anke Helmich.
Not too much camera action this weekend…it felt a bit forced. Which is kind of the point–getting out there and just shooting and learning new things, but wasn’t pleased with the resulting photos. Meh. I did however find my obsession with old cars and stella artois ads increasing…
See last weeks crop here
When our office was redone last year, we received a foosball table (and a drumkit–as you do…) The foosball table quickly became a daily part of our routine for the design team…it started as an all boy matchup, but not long after they started, I picked up the ‘fourth man’ position. These games are super intense and the table shows the signs of it, as its one bolt away from crumbling. Sadly, one of our teammates is moving to greener pastures and it only seemed fitting that we give him some sort of foosball sendoff.
I dont’ know why it all started, but we seem to only speak in ‘cliched phrases’ when we play, and its almost entirely spoken in random accents. The fact that the four man team is made up of an Australian, an Italian, a Canadian and an American might have something do with it…anyway, these phrases are used on a daily basis so we decied to make a simple typographic poster to commemorate our games. After they started being laid out, it became clear that we were close to mimicking the ‘foosball man’ shape, so after moving line after line we finally got our man o’ type created. Off to print, our A2 poster then needed a home, no? And what is football without grass. So one mailing tube later and a trip down to the market to barter some faux astro turf grass off of a market stall and we made ourselves quite a fine little grass container tube. One final touch of some white ribbbon down the center as pitch lines and voila…a foosball/football themed pressie!
Despite the poor quality photos (anyone out there have any tips for photographing through shop windows?!) I hope you’ll appreciate this window display from Jigsaw. Beautiful vintaged flags wound with thick chunky rope and tiffany blue backdrop to celebrate London Fashion week I presume. Sounds random, but works so well!
In an attempt to organize my overflowing computer files, I’ve been purging, reshuffling and discovering files on my computer as of late. I came across the archive of lifestyle photography that was created during my time at real.london. We used the best interiors stylists and photographers in London and I believe we made some brilliant lifestyle images along the way. Sadly, unless you were in Europe and in some rather obscure areas, you probably haven’t seen them…soooo why not celebrate some well done work on Pillar Box Post? Why not indeed.
This particular shoot was styled by the soft, pretty and elegant styling hands of Lorraine Dawkins. Anything she touches turns to glamour, I swear…and was captured by Chiara Romagnoli, who you might remember from this post last week. I can’t say that this sort of style is one I would personally embrace in my own home, I’m just not ‘pretty’ enough for that. However, I’m still fascinated at how patchwork this all is, and yet still perfectly glamourous all at the same time. And yes, in case you were wondering those peaches are covered in gold glitter. How decadently divine.
All photos copyright of Akzo Nobel, created by real. london.
I don’t think I’m going to get any older this year. Good idea, no? And in celebration of this epiphany I was flipping through my copy of Peter Pan and Wendy. When I come across childrens classics with beautiful illustrations I scoop them up, in hopes that one day I’ll have little kiddies to pass them on to (as well as having a story of where they came from “i got this one in London and this one on a trip to etc.”) My copy of Pan is illustrated by Robert Ingpen and is faaabulous. I find pencil sketches come along few and far between, and these are so full of character. Just a few hints of color in some, and vibrant hues in another, each illustration is like Peter Pan has been beautifully styled. Beautiful ‘collages’ and ’see through’ shots…the scene of the lost boys undergound house could keep me enthralled for hours! I wish I would have had this as a child…but then I probably would have chosen to not grow up sooner.
We’ve had our camera for nearly a year now, but I’m still not accustomed to hauling it out every time I leave the flat. I’m always so inspired by the little life details in ‘Bits of my Weekend’ by Kate over at ‘for me for you’ and I thought I should shed the inhibition and just get the camera out. Of course this is easier said than done in a city where it seems to rain every fifteen minutes. Sure, they won’t be amazing photographs, but it still might be nice to see the little details that make up our life, as well as a documentation. So here goes. Round 1. Yesterday was rainy…so with camera tucked safely in my coat (ugh!), puppy in jacket and the mister in tow, we took off on a walk through kensington and chelsea and down to the riverside. Here is what we saw on the way….highlights include a fabulous yellow door with handpainted script numbers, a full blown painting above a wooden door, and the shopfitting to the new anthropologie well under way on Kings Road! Should be a nice little spot with a building complete with stained glass windows and fabulous (original I presume) tiling underfoot. Let the ‘throught the weekend window’ feature commence.
