Saturday, 18 June 2011

Decorating and the art of seduction: tips from the bowerbird

This is probably one of the most incredible things you will ever see.

If you haven't seen the bowerbird in action before, I highly recommend watching this clip from the BBC's Life series. The male bowerbird builds a structure and decorates it with brightly coloured objects in order to attract a mate. The structure alone is highly impressive, using pillars to hold up the curving roof, but the bird's collecting and decorating behaviour is astonishing. The male collects great piles of small objects, placing them around the entrance to the bower to make it attractive to females. Each male has his own taste in décor, favouring certain colours over others, and will choose flowers, leaves, stones, feathers, shells, berries, fungus, charcoal, dung or even shiny beetles (which have the disadvantage of not staying where they are placed) to achieve the desired effect. Some birds will use man-made objects which have been discarded in the area, such as plastic, glass, nails, coins or rifle shells, spending hours arranging their collections in the hope of seducing a mate.

Here's the video. Perhaps you could pass it on to any lonely bachelors you know.



I particularly like the male's celebratory dance at the end.
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Sunday, 12 June 2011

Mexican Fiesta!

Mexico is one hot trend for garden this summer. This is a fantastically vibrant, playful look that's perfect for outdoor summer celebrations. It's time to take down the Union Jack bunting and get the fiesta going with some Mexican-inspired accessories for your garden.

Rocio Outdoor Rug, £12 from Habitat

Citronella Tealights in Terracotta Holder, £2.49 from Cargo


Festival Outdoor Fairy Lights, £35 from Habitat


Circle Table Lantern in Lapis, £5 from John Lewis

Acapulco Recycled Picnic Mat in Turquoise, £19.95 from Dotcomgiftshop

Yellow Club Table & Chairs Set, £89 from Debenhams

Pineapple Tealight Holder, £4.90 from Habitat

This blog post is part of the mydeco.com ‘Pass It On Garden & Outdoor series’, a collaborative blogging project.


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Friday, 10 June 2011

Debenhams Home Collection for Autumn/Winter 2011

Last week Debenhams kindly invited me to their Autumn/Winter 2011 press show. I was in great company, as Matthew Williamson, Julien Macdonald and Ben de Lisi were all there too. Not bad celeb spotting for a Wednesday lunchtime!

I was really impressed by the new home collections for next season, from each of Debenhams' designers and the store's own label range too. 

For me the highlight was Ben de Lisi's collection, featuring retro graphics, London icons and his signature bulldog in the form of a porcelain lamp. 

Ben de Lisi Home at Debenhams 

The ceramic egg box and milk carton are particularly cool and I expect they will sell very well as Christmas gifts.
Ben de Lisi Home at Debenhams


The latest addition to the Designers at Debenhams stable, Lisa Stickley, didn't disappoint with her first collection for the brand. Lisa's poodles, polka dots and roses are sure to be a hit. 

House and Home by Lisa Stickley for Debenhams 

Betty Jackson's elegant range was fabulous; the purple toile bed linen, blue smoked glass vases and two-tone mustard/mushroom crockery were among my favourite pieces of the whole show (and I will post more pics as soon as I get my hands on them). 

Betty Jackson.Black at Debenhams

Matthew Williamson's Butterfly Home collection will bring some welcome colour to the winter months and his signature Indian influences are present and correct. The peacock cushions are absolutely gorgeous. Lime green is a key colour in this range (looks far better than it sounds!), Chinoiserie patterns decorate bedlinen and tableware and Williamson shows that this season's ikat trend is set to continue through to next year. 

Butterfly Home by Matthew Williamson at Debenhams


Butterfly Home by Matthew Williamson at Debenhams

Debenhams keeps the Royal Wedding spirit alive with a patriotic collection for next season. There was some fantastic quilting happening with Union Jacks, gingham, checks, florals and denim shades. Please excuse the pictures - I took the first two myself on my phone...




Debenhams

The Debenhams Autumn/Winter 2011 range will be in stores from September.


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Saturday, 21 May 2011

Is it a doorway?



Image via ArchiExpo

No! It's a mirror! With half a table attached! Ingenious - a coup d'oeil triumph courtesy of Swedish designers Front for Porro

Image via archiproducts





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Sunday, 27 March 2011

Ideal Home Show

The Ideal Home Show packs up today for another year. Over the last week I managed to go not once but twice! I had heard that it was going to improve hugely on previous years, but I'm not sure if it really delivered in that respect. Nevertheless, there's a lot to see and you can still count on getting a few free food samples, just as you can pretty much guarantee that you'll leave with some sort of artisan sausages.


In terms of interiors, it's actually quite limited but the highlight for me was Ideal Home magazine's roomsets. You can find pictures of the rooms here on House To Home. These are a few of my favourite things...


Tesco appliqué birds cushion, £9 


Heal's bird leaves printed silk cushion, £72




Ecochic wallpaper, £45..95 per roll, Wallpaper Direct. Image: Simon Whitmore for Ideal Home



Ikea Stockholm Rand rug, from £101





Set of two chess pieces, £26, Next






Plum acrylic dome ceiling light, £54.99, Litecraft



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Thursday, 10 March 2011

Ten Beautiful Bedrooms to Delight and Inspire

These gorgeous bedrooms almost make me swoon with delight just by looking at them... Imagine how happy you'd be waking up in one!


Image: Oka
You can rely on Oka for stunning colours and fabrics. Just fab to look at!


Image: Jonathan Adler
Love the simple colour palette here. Jonathan Adler is my new favourite. No stores over here though, sadly. Can you buy his stuff anywhere here in the UK?


Image: Occa Home
This glamorous buttoned headboard caught my eye. The way it wraps around the bed looks so snug.



Image: Oka


Image: Plover Organic
Plover Organic make beautiful patterned fabrics and it's all 100% organic. They have everything from table runners to baby blankets, in eye-catching geometric patterns, pretty florals and more. 


Image: Laure Joliet via Apartment Therapy


Image: Living Etc
Love this blue toile print. 


Image: Suzie Beezie


Image: Adrian Briscoe via House To Home



Image: Oka

This blog post is part of the mydeco.com ‘Pass It On Bedroom series’, a collaborative blogging project.


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Tuesday, 1 March 2011

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus!

Happy St David's Day! I have made Welsh Cakes to celebrate. I have also found some lovely daffodil things to show you.


I get really excited looking out for daffodils at this time of year. I love the way they just appear out of nowhere, even on scrubby little patches of grass by the side of the road in Brixton, their trumpets heralding the end of winter. And suddenly it's spring!


Daffodil Baby Mug, £13.95
Emma Bridgewater

Yellow Appliqued Daffodil Pillow
Mazizmuse's shop on Etsy


Damask Spring Daffodil Print
ialbert's shop on Etsy

Daffodil Photo Print by Steven N. Meyers, £11.95
Easy Art






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