Yesterday my daughter had a play date with another little girl and they got hooked on the colour green.  The two girls kept saying ‘green’ louder and louder and then bursting in to fits of laughter.  They then started adding an extra word and coming up with things like ‘green toast’, ‘green dog’… the idea being to pair it with something that most definitely isn’t green.  This produced more laughter and eventually the inevitable bathroom humour ensued followed by the loudest giggles ever!  I don’t know how 4 year old minds work but I do know this little game tickled them pink!  While I didn’t take part in the game, it did get me thinking of the colour green and I realised I’d never done a green post.  I always think that green isn’t a colour I’m naturally drawn to but then again there are so many shades of it that there really is a green for everyone (my personal favourite is mint green) and so I thought it would be fun to look for a few things in different shades of green and here’s what I found:

1.  green linen sunsuit by wolfechild…  2.  minty green toddler duvet set by garbo & friends…  3.  forest green firs pillowcase by fine little day…  4.   shades of green bird poster by silke bonde…  5.  ice-cream green playhouse by lucky boy sunday…  6. dark green book called Grandpa Green by Lane Smith.

Happy weekend all and see you next week!

Circus themed kids things have been around for ages and aren’t going anywhere in a hurry.  While some of them can be cute, it’s the circus inspired harlequin pattern that I love best of all.  It’s such a simple geometric pattern that has loads of style without any of the fuss.  I love that you can play with many different colours on any harlequin adorned object or you can go for a more minimalistic 2 colour look.  I was reminded of how much I love this pattern when I spotted that circus bunny on pinterest so I went looking for a few more things and here’s what I found:

1.  Decorative bunny…  2.  Harlequin cushions…  3.  Porcelain bowl…  4.  Animal shorts   5.  Circus poster

I remember when I was around 13, there was a girl in my school who only ever wore black.  Occasionally she would wear little hints of white or grey but the dominating colour from head to toe was always black.  I seriously thought she was the coolest kid I’d ever seen!  I’ve always loved black and even several years on this obsession with black has never waned.  When I see a piece of clothing in a shop, it can come in every colour under the sun and I will always be drawn to the black one.  Over the years I’ve taught myself to have more colour in my wardrobe especially for Spring and Summer but in Winter it’s back to black!  Now this black obsession is creeping in to my decorating ideas and I’m thinking of re-doing my daughters room in black and white.  So I’ve been looking around for kids room decorations that are not only black and white but are also simple, unfussy and uncluttered in their design.  These were my top picks:

1.  Heart poster… 2. Polka dot wall stickers… 3. Sheep mobile… 4. Striped blanket… 5. Striped cloud cushion… 6. Tica chair… 7. Mickey Mouse pillow.

Hope you all have a great weekend!  See you next week…

My brother and sister-in-law are total art lovers and wherever they travel they pick up a painting by a local artist as a souvenir.  I think this is such a lovely way of remembering your travels and combining your love of art.  They always try and buy an original because given a choice I think anyone would opt for this over a print and very often you can get your hands on originals for not a lot of money.  While there is a lot of great original art out there, it’s not often that I come across cool original paintings for kids and so when I saw these by Adriane Duckworth I had to share.  The art is delightfully simple yet striking and I love the uncomplicated nature of the drawings.  My favourites are the black and white animal paintings and I love the black clouds too but there are some bright coloured ones available as well.  While Adriane’s style is minimalist and modern, it has plenty of warmth and cuteness too!  You can visit her online store ADOP to see more or checkout her selection at Society 6.

I’m always dreaming of re-decorating every room in the house.  Today I’m loving pink and grey for my daughters room.  Grey isn’t the most obvious choice for a kids room but with a dash of pink I think it works so well.  Personally, I’d even go for just grey with lots of white but today I wanted to add a bit of pink to the mix.  This kind of colour scheme and decor also really appeals to my minimalist side.  When i started putting this board together I knew I would like the end result but I didn’t realise quite how much this colour scheme would appeal to me.  Hope you like it too…

1.  Harlequin wallpaper… 2.  Knitted flag garland… 3.  Circus print… 4. 3D Olephants mobile… 5.  Soft pink lacquered chair… 6. Beauty baby doll… 7.  Sonny angel doll… 8.  Floral print beanbag…  9.  Starry cloud cushion…

I’m not really in to the whole Valentines day thing.  It’s a bit too commercial for me but I still appreciate the sentiment behind the day.  If you’ve been a couple for a while it’s easy to take each other for granted so for me Valentines is a day to remember and appreciate all the little things I love about my husband.  We have never exchanged gifts or celebrated in a big way but if the mood struck, we would do something impulsive and fun.  Of course impulsive has gone out the window these days as having a child involves a lot of pre-planning.  But tomorrow I am thinking of having a fun day and evening with child and husband.  I haven’t yet decided what I’ll do as I’m such a last minute person but I do know it will involve the 3 things that matter most to us… eat, play and love!  And with that in mind I gathered a few images that say just that to me:

1.  An illustration of a pair of Valentines bears… 2.  A heart decoration for the heart of your home … 3. A Valentines bread loaf to bake… 4.  A fun and playful pillow called Harriet the heart

Recently I have come across so many blogs that showcase beautiful Scandinavian homes and each home is more striking then the next.  Often the rooms are all white from floor to ceiling, complemented with black accents and gorgeous mid-century furniture.  I am so smitten by this Scandi chic look that last night I told my husband it was time to re-decorate our living room and draw from this style but with our own personal touch.  In my excitement I even showed him all the images I had been collecting.  He agreed but then quickly burst my bubble by pointing out the elephant in the room – the carpet.  To really achieve the look I’m after we need wooden floors but living in a period flat with a 4 year old, that just isn’t an option.  The noise would drive the couple below us insane!  While I know he’s right I can’t help but mourn the living room of my dreams.  So for now I’ll have to make do by fueling my love for all things Scandinavian by sharing more Scandi decor with you and today I’ve turned to an old favourite with a wonderful new Spring Summer 2013 collection.

If you haven’t already guessed, this is the new collection by Ferm Living.  Always chic, always minimal this new line is right up my street.  I love the use of lots of black and white with pops of bold colour.  That half moon wallpaper would fit like in a dream in my imaginary living room.  As I’ve come to expect with Ferm living, most of their pieces aren’t age or gender specific like those bolsters that would be fun in any space.  And that play tent, with it’s black and white stripes and hint of neon orange wouldn’t be an eyesore if your kids decided to camp out in the living room.  There’s a lot more to this new Ferm Living collection including some cool wall stickers like the ones pictured below.  Enjoy!

Whenever I used to hear someone mention Sweden or when I saw something Swedish I’d always think of one of my closest and oldest friends who is half Swedish.  Sadly we now live continents apart but luckily it’s one of those friendships where this doesn’t matter at all.  Now when I hear the word Sweden, I fleetingly think of my friend and then my mind just gets flooded with thoughts of wonderful Swedish design!  The Swedes, and the other Scandinavians too have a design sense that is second to none and I’m very drawn to their aesthetic.  So when I discover a new Swedish shop I get very excited as I know it’s going to be good even before I check out what they sell.  And that’s exactly what happened with Le Kiosk.

Le Kiosk is a new Swedish store which sells goodies that are sourced from all over the world but each piece has the Scandinavian touch of being simple, light and bright in style.  In their kids section you’ll find fun crafty things like the {make your own} house box and the pretty washi tape covered pencils… {forget the kids, I’d love some of these for myself!}  There are also the cutest kimono baby slippers on offer and some cool mini woollen blankets plus loads of unusual posters and prints.  What I love most about Le Kiosk is that a lot of their carefully selected offerings are handmade and as a result very unusual. 

P.S. Have you seen our Christmas gift guides for kids and mama’s?

When it comes to kids decor, all manner of animals have adorned so many different objects.  The fox, owl and elephant have been some of the most popular but I have even come across some unexpected animals like anteaters and bulls.  But now, these {lovely} beasts have got competition in the form of the humble cloud.  I mean how many wonderful versions of cloud pillows have there been?  While I love the whole animal thing, I think I may just love the cloud a teeny bit more.  There’s something quite cuddly and comforting about the shape with it’s soft curves and ageless appeal.  So when I saw this cloud shelf and felt cloud mobile, I had to find out more.

I discovered Coccoli home, a new Spanish shop that makes not only these cloudy creations but also those fun house shelves that double up as dolls houses.  There are also some adorable raindrop wall hooks and lots of colourful wall stickers on offer.  I love the idea of lining up some of these dolls houses with the cloud mobiles hanging above them.  It would {almost} be like having a house in the clouds!  And when your childs grown out of playing with dolls houses, the shelves can be moved to any room in the house as cute storage shelves.  The Coccoli home collection is sold through their own site and also exclusively through the lovely My Little Square.

I have always wanted to visit the London Design Festival but each year passes and I miss it for one reason or another.  I’ve now added it to my huge ‘to-do’ list.  Unfortunately nothing ever seems to get crossed off this list and instead it just grows bigger and bigger.  But while I’m waiting for the 2013 festival I went and had a browse of their site and found Supafrank.  Nothing excites me more than discovering a new design studio that creates unusual things and that’s exactly what Supafrank is all about.

Supafrank work with various brands to create packaging, stationery and more.  But they’ve also created their own line called Creature Collective which I’m loving.  The furniture is still in prototype phase but the cute artworks are available now.  I love the bright colours and the element of fun they’ve injected in to all their designs.  There’s a bit of quirk mixed with lots of playful style to create products that would be fun for any age.  The artworks are more for kids and would add some humour and brightness to any room.  In addition to this project, Supafrank have also worked on some really fabulous collaboration projects like the Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh ones which you can also see on their site.