Feeling Stylish

Wow, what a busy few days its been.

On Thursday I was at an AGA launch event. Firstly, the new products are amazing. There’s a new colour called Pearl Ashes, based on a colour from Kevin McCloud’s Fired Earth paint range. It’s a very pale grey/blue colour. So, so gorgeous. There’s also some new Fired Earth tiles by Emma Bridgewater being launched. The ones with stars on just blew me away, truly stunning.

I also met the brilliant Harriet of Bite Me Blog, she needs a mention because we talked at length and the blog itself makes my mouth water.

The  on Saturday I photographed a wedding. My official working day was 8:30am – 8:30pm(ish) but as these were my friends I stayed on into the evening. I ended up getting home at about 1am.

Well, Sunday’s hangover was horrendous. There’s something about weddings that always mean I’m hungover. But I did manage to cook a gorgeous roast dinner for some guests. I also looked through and rotated all 1600 images from the wedding.

Now, the images are amazing. I’m so happy with how they’ve come out. I’ve now got the mammoth task of editing the 279 that I think are the best before Saturday this week. I’ve done 57, the really technical, artsy shots may have to wait. I do feel like the rest of this week is going to be spent staring into the depths of photoshop.

The teaser images will be up here once the brides have seen them on Saturday.

One week turn around for the majority of their wedding photos, I am spoiling them. All other ‘togs I’ve spoken to say they have a 3-5 month turn around to get pictures back to a client. Crikey.

On another note, Doctor Who! Still obsessed and still loving Eleven. He is marvelous. Plus Karen Gillan is amazing too.

I’ve never really thought about Feng Shui before. It’s something that interests me but I don’t know how to do it or how it can improve your life.

But I think it would be interesting to look into it for when we get a new house. Can’t hurt can it. I know that is is all about direction of energy. It’s supposed to make you feel more awake and happier. So I could be rearranging art on my walls to create an area of serenity. My bed should be pointing a certain way and my wind gong should be in a certain place in my garden. That’s it right?

First things first, it seems clutter and junk have to go, that’s in the house and in the garden. That might be tough. I need some of those big cube bookcases from Ikea. I like bookcases because I like organising things by height. That’s good for Feng Shui.

For the outdoors, any garden fountain should have moving water. As soon as the water goes stagnant the fountain won’t be helping. Water is a good conductor of wealth, so I’ll be having six water features, two fountains and a waterfall.

Good bedroom Feng Shui is ridding it of the things that you do when you are awake. This means no exercise equipment, televisions or computers. Well, we are already there with that one. Mainly because we don’t have a television aerial in the bedroom. It makes sense though, you don’t want to associate your place of rest with mind-stimulating games and programmes or body-stimulating exercise machines. It needs to be a place of serenity and relaxation – that means cushions.

It’s certainly something I’m going to look into. I used to be very into the spritual but I suppose I’ve grown out of it. However, I am more than open-minded to anything that can help me to relax and point wealth in my direction.

I might just have a small sea for a garden.

When Ben and I get back from America we’ll be looking to start replacing all the cheap stuff we got when we moved into our house. Money was much tighter back then and we bought all the cheap stuff we could find from places like Woolworths and the Range. It’s all lasted us well and would probably continue to do so. However, we want to get things that look prettier and are not hand-me-downs from family and friends.

Our family and friends were as kind to give us things like sofas, a TV, a dining table and some expensive le Creuset cookware. We are indebted to them and so thankful. To return the favour if anyone is looking to get a place of their own it’s very likely that we’ll soon have new things and no space for the old. I’ll probably post here when that happens but if you do feel you need something we’ve just replaced then shout. We don’t want to just throw things away.

We gave our old television to an old people’s home. They were so greatful. That lovely CRT will probably outlive even our new plasma (which broke after a month and had to be replaced.)

Because our tastes differ so much Ben and I struggle a little with discussing what we want in a house. He wants slick, minimalistic and modern while I want quirky and antique filled. Luckily I like the modern look. We will work out a way of getting modern + antiques…

Below are some examples of the types of things we want. It’s purpose is for us when we find we’ve got a bit of money we can come back to this and see what I like. It’s also to bring pretty cookware, furniture and wall paper to you, my readers.

Morphy Richards Kettle

£49 from Very.co.uk

This is a great shape for a kettle. Plus it is in black, which I love. Ideally I’d like one of those one-cup kettles that boil really fast. Ben and I drink ALOT of tea.

Love Cushion

£45 from Rockett St. George

Ben isn’t a lover of cushions but I am. This is lovely and simple. I like the black and white, it’d match anything.

Birds Wallsticker

£49 from Rockett St. George

I have a slight wall sticker obsession. I love this ones of the birds.

Skulls Wallpaper

£210 for 52cm x 10m from Rockett St. George

It’s expensive and complicated but I need it in my life. I need a skull and cross bones wall. It’s also glittery. Possibly the perfect wallpaper?

Skullduggery Chair

£750 from Rockett St. George

I’ve posted this before. It is my first chair love. However, I don’t think I’d ever buy it. It’s a lot of money. Ben and I talked about doing something similar on a vintage chair by painting and reupholstering it. Big job, no idea how to do it.

Skullduggery Oven Gloves

£20 from Rockett St. George

We really need new oven gloves. We’ve had ours two years and they have holes in (and not a skull in sight) it’s time for something new (with skulls on.)

Bull Bottle Opener

£16.95 from Rockett St. George

This is super cute. No need to hide him away in a drawer.

Lab Vases

£19.99 each from Rockett St. George

Ben isn’t one for random decorations in a house. Everything has to serve a purpose. I’d probably use these to put little flowers (from my own garden) in. I think they’d appeal to the geek in Ben and I’d be able to get away with it. Science flowers are the way forward.

Ribbon Coat Hanger

£55 from Purves

We were looking for a free -standing coat hanger but they are all boring. If I had faith in the strength of the walls in our rented house I’d buy this in a flash.

Outdoor Ball Chair

£149 from Purves

The outdoor space I want is nothing like what we have. I want loads of space, seating, decking and garden ornaments. These ball chair stack and come in loads of colours. They look so much cooler than bog standard seating.

Summer is almost here. Right now the sun is shining and that makes me feel overwhelmingly happy. Summer for me means barbecues and lots of them. My parents throw the best outdoor parties and it is my dream to be able to do the same. They may as well have a huge outdoor kitchen rather than doing up their real kitchen. But they do have their utility room, which acts as another bathroom, a place for drinks and the area all the food gets prepared.

With the impending house buying, Ben and I are looking for somewhere that has enough garden space to throw massive summer barbecues. My dream is to have a band play in my garden while friends eat meat and drink beer. My ideal garden would have a huge outdoor cooking area with built in grills, decking, a bar and loads of squishy designer seating.

I want people to want to come to my house to party. I want to throw a huge party once a year that everyone talks about. The food and drink will be important. I doubt we’ll be able to find a house with everything we want but if it has a barbecue smoker then I’m having it. Obviously I know I can’t be too fussy but there must be a barbecue loving family wanting to move on and leaving their outdoor kitchen, bar and huge garden for me and Ben. One can hope.

Roll on the summer. We intend to hack down our back garden to give it some space. Clear the grubby decking and possibly introduce some prettier seating. Hopefully people will want to barbecue in our garden on our hand-me-down equipment.

If not then I’m going to mum’s for wine, food, bean bags and the outdoor speaker system!