Old School Hooligans…

I love my dear bicycle Betsy, I do…but sometimes she is quite the wide load, which unless you have a pack mule of a husband, willing to carry up and down steps etc. you’re a bit out of luck. Which is where a cute, retro styled, city bike would come in very handy. And seriously at £135 you are not going to get any cheaper. I’m so seriously tempted… Loooove the orange colour, white tires and gold chain, and no hideous graphics!

Unisex and Women’s versions available from Old School Hooligans £130-135

Thanks Louisa for the amazing find!

Currently in the post…

Currently awaiting two items from the ASOS fairy…I’m torn between hoping they are ugly so I can return them and crossing my fingers that they are as fabulous as I see them in my head. What do you think?

ASOS bell sleeve dress £28 & ASOS temple studded suede boots £55

From the desk of…

I seriously can’t get enough of Present and Correct…nor can I get over these fabulously adorable/affordable ‘ from the desk of…’ stamps. Clever, cute, snail mail worthy and english made. I can’t say anymore…

from the desk of…’ stamps available from Present and Correct for £7.50 each

Sourced Market

Photos by Me

It was this time last year that we were running through London’s St. Pancras Train Station and I spotted the Sourced Market. Despite having sprinted across London to make our train, I then felt the need to stop and have a wee little wander because I wanted to look at every little handpainted sign and piece of produce. David somehow pulled me out of my trance and managed to get me to the train…but I was back in no time with a camera. I then proceeded to lose the photos… (I’m starting to sound horribly headless chicken like aren’t I !?)  but after a weekend of photo organizing, I found them! These shots don’t quite do it justice (train station floors, no matter how new, cast an unfortunate hue) but it’s a refreshingly charming stop amongst the boring Starbucks and WH smiths of the train station world!

Basically, the whole idea of Sourced Markets is to take the best produce from the markets around town and pack it into a super-convenient market that is open 7 days aweek in the middle of one of London’s busiest stations (St. Pancras is the station connecting London to Paris, as well as being a domestic station and underground stop as well). Sourced Markets believe markets encourage local food production, better reflect the seasonal nature of food, reduce food miles and packaging and help increase the diversity of food on offer. And I believe that Sourced Market reflects a gorgeous design aesthetic with handpainted signs, communal wooden seating, enhances the tone with vintage industrial lighting, utilizes good designers and supports my wooden, rustic addiction. We all have beliefs but it’s nice to see some one practicing them…

If this tickles your rustic fancy, you might also be interested in Australia’s Capital Kitchen and Brooklyn’s Glass Shop!

The build went swimmingly…

So simple and yet so sweet! A fish hotel/condo/flat/maisonette/holiday home….the possibilities are endless. I’m really trying to ignore the reality of icky unvacuumed water and concentrate on the imaginary curtains hanging on all the windows!

Fish Hotel by Teddy Loung $25 USD
The fish hotel is a glass fishbowl with a white ABS shell. fishbowls can be stacked for a tall hotel-like appearance. glass bowls may be removed for easy cleaning.

Clip it…clip it good

It’s been years since the Martha Stewart ‘how to’ was stashed in my inspiration folders. Long years of yearning for a clipboard, which I’m on the verge of fulfilling. The only problem is….How sad am I going to be at having to cover up all these beauties. I mean I’ve been tempted to make the Martha, patterned board wall numberous times, but either it’d be as a work of art, never to be touched again (or fear losing your fingers) or you use it and it looks awful. And to think this is supposed to function as organizing, not creating a new issue!

1. present and correct chalkboard clipboard // 2. Martha Stewart DIY clipboard tutorial // 3. Bigger Poultry Profits clipboard 4. Left: Stenciled Clipboard from Letterbox, RIGHT:  A sadly sold Antique shannon arch clipboard

In the House

I’m slightly concerned. About myself. First off, I literally mighavepossibly actually squealed when I saw House Industries new prints. Which is worrying for varying reasons, but I’ll move on. Two, I fear I might have some self manifested issue that when wall space, framing possibilities are taken away from me, I naturally (mentally) hoard an endless list of potential canidates for the prime spots. I haven’t gone down to auditions yet, but don’t put it past me. AND 3. I’m really about to copy and paste boring product details blurb into a post. Not because I’m lazy or that dull, but I find it hysterical, and if you weren’t sold on the prints before this, I’m pretty sure this will be the tipping point…and I quote:

Even a crappy frame and some custom glass is probably gonna run you over a hundred bucks, and that doesn’t even count the artwork. So before you go off the deep end with the Insane Clown Posse fans that work in AC Moore’s framing department, ask your personal accountant to do a cost benefit analysis on purchasing a few of our pre-drilled, ready-to-hang plywood prints. The number crunchers most likely won’t be swayed by the romance of our hand-pulled, air-dried inks, but they can’t argue with the fiscal prudence of bypassing the costly framing process.

P.S. “mr. gif’ i’m really sorry for all the hate on you in the past. I fully appreciate you can be cool now too. Not that the cats weren’t or anything, but flicky posters, inexplicably makes me happy.

Get in on the house industries action from $45 USD here.

Pop up Houses…

I was tickled when I heard from illustrator, Max Dalton today…it’s not everyday you get an email from a ‘monocle‘ illustrator or an artist producing fabulous ( + fabuloulsy affordable) prints. He’s recently created a couple of cut out sets to allow you to build a little mid-century modern scenes–namely the Sunday barbecue and the cocktail party scenario. And if you have a phobia of destroying artwork *ahem-me* or just don’t fancy having a miniature time warp on your desk, the design is created to be framed, flat (and unharmed!).

I can’t quite put my finger on why, but this somehow reminds me of a dollhouse that I had at my grandma’s house growing up–probably solely for the fact that it was all ‘faux’ rooms with just illustrations printed on it, and the one side flapped down so that you could access the inside of the house…but viola on doing so you created a patio, complete with beautiful aqua pool. Sigh, I LOVED pools in any capcity growing up, but especially in illustrations, drawings, book covers etc. I’m thinking the phone on my desk at work is really unecessary, whereas a fake flat pool and pom pom palm trees on the other hand. Perfectly practical.

To see more of Max’s work visit his blog, or shop.

Cocktail Party Cutouts and Sunday Barbecue Cutout Set start at $28

*( there is a variety of sizes on different papers at different price points)

I also am eyeing up the other work in his portfolio including the Clouds poster which you can buy here and the sad mr. unicorn. Obviously his exclusion from the trip was in the interests of safety for everyone else, but I’m sad for him nonetheless…

Still want more? Perhaps you would be interested in this World Map Poster or more about the Monocle brand.

Capitalize on the design…

Oh goodie, another muse for my cafe obsessed brain. I’d love to have a cafe/restaurant/cafe/shop etc…well except for the whole having to serve food (too many waitressing jobs as a teen/university student has put me off).  So let’s take a vote–if I were able to create as warm and beautiful a space as the Capital Kitchen by Mim Design in Melbourne Australia, BUT I didn’t serve food, would you still come? Because let’s be honest, who needs food when there is so much beautiful industrial, rustic, scandinavian, wooden touches to feast on…oh and pops of yellow for dessert! If all goes well, I’ll think about serving lemonade.

Thanks to Black Eiffel for making me swoon!

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If you like a good rustic, design led restaurant, you might check out Pizza East in East London for more!

Fifties boys gone wild…

When I was compiling shots for the ‘camping inspired’ post last week, I came across this image from the The Golden Book of Camping published in 1959, which I’ve inexplicably fallen in love with… How fantastic is the illustration, and dare I say not suitable for print by todays standards. Somehow telling children to strip down to their underwear and to ‘grab the other fellow’s bag’ in the water probably isn’t the first motto for the scouts anymore… what a shame.

{click on the image to view larger}