Domestic bliss

The lovely people at Decor8 have bought another lovely selection of items to my attention today. They showcased the work of Domestic Candy, aka Kerstin from Germany and I simply had to share it with you. It's perfect for spring, and most definitely ideal for the Easter weekend.

Clipped wings

I'll keep it short and sweet today.

Everyone needs cute items on their desk in order to feel inspired. This has to be one of the cutest out there, and was brought to my attention by Rare Bird Finds.

This chirping bird paper clip holder from Perpetual Kid doesn't only keep all your paper clips in one place, but it chirps when you remove one from its body.

And the best part is that it costs just £14.99 (£10.40). Bargain!

Spinging to life

The weather here in Bath is gorgeous at the moment. I'm starting to remember what spring and summer are like. It's been so long since we had those seasons that they seem a distant memory.

On account of spring being in full force, I thought I'd share a few of my favourite images of the day with you.

Rice pudding

I know I've been giving you quite a few websites lately but there are so many gorgeous sites out there that I just can't resist.

Jo (see Sofa so Good) showed me this beautiful site today, called Rice. Not only is the site itself sumptuous (with it's own theme track and beautiful design), but its products are extremely cute, and remind me a lot of DutchByDesign.co.uk.

Here are some of my favourite items:

What a (curious) state

You are in for a treat today.

First up, and in the same vein as the Ork posters I told you about a few weeks ago, are these fabulous United Plates. These screen prints are made by John Wayne Holcomb, and are based on the outlines of the US states and, as the name suggests, food.

Here are a couple of my favourites:


Next up is a beautiful site that I stumbled on today, The Curiosity Shoppe. It's overflowing with all sorts of cute nick-nacks for your beautiful home, and none of them are over-priced.

Here are a few of my favourite items:




The site is full of items just as cute as this. Check it out now.

Present & Correct

I've got another great website for you to look at now. Present&Correct is the place to go for pretty prints, unusual notebooks, and sweet stationery.

Sweet as honey

Listen up. I've just found a site overflowing with beautiful metalwork for your home.
Beehive Kitchenwareare an American husband-and-wife team, who set out to produce items that are as beautiful as they functional.

They succeeded, as you will see in the beautiful images below. If only they had more stockists in the UK.

Truly stumped

I pretty much live to lounge around at home, which is why this tree stump floor pillow caught my eye.

It makes hanging around in your pyjamas almost acceptably cool, which is great news for me!

This is just another great product to come from the world of Etsy. After recently blogging about wall transfers, the selection I just found on Etsy simply had to be flagged up.

Transfer your affections

I know wall transfers have been around for a while now, but I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how much I love them. They create a funky, unusual focal point in a room, and can be changed quickly to give your wall an entirely different look, without the fuss and expense of redecorating.

You can now buy transfers in both boutiques like Marmarco, and multi-national furnishing shops such as Ikea and Cargo.

They don't cost a great deal, but will wow everyone who walks into your home so I strongly recommend investing in a few right now.

In a right mood

I love mood boards, really I do. I actually love them so much that I have now moved on to having mood books, which are scrap books full of my favourite images

I think it's really important to have inspiring images around your home, and I cannot shout loudly enough about having a mood board near the area in which you work (if, like me, you often work at home).

I was reminded of this when I saw this image on Chocolate Creative, featuring a fabulous collection of items over the desk. Personally I'm not a fan of the "all white" look – it's far too clinical – but the mood board looks very inviting.

From Chocolate Creative: White heaven

Sofa so good

Today I want to shout about the fabulous work of my friend, Jo. Jo is an upholsterer who took up the craft after interviewing an upholsterer for a magazine.

She was so intrigued by the experience that she took a night course to learn the skill, and now she upholsters sofas, dining chairs, chaise longues etc in the hours that surround her day job and home life.

Jo is an extremely bubbly person, and this is reflected in her stunning furniture, which is often brightly coloured and always beautifully finished.

If you live anywhere near Bath I strongly recommend commissioning Jo to upholster a statement piece for your home. You will be able to rest assured that nobody else in the whole world will have the same item as you, and the the quality will be second to none.

To see more examples of Jo's work go to joannaheptinstall.weebly.com, and you can reach Jo at joannaheptinstall@btopenworld.com.

I'm hooked

I've decided that rather than having a row of hooks for coats in the hallway, I'm just going to put up a variety of hooks of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Afterall there are too many cute hooks in the world.

I've seen this done elsewhere but was reminded of the idea after seeing this cute koi fish hook on Rare Bird Finds. I strongly recommend this site if, like me, you're hooked on interior design.

Walk all over your house

Often your doormat is the first chance you have to give a hint of the personalities residing in a house, so I think it's vital that yours tell your visitors something about you.

That being said, if you were to purchase this doormat from Rebecca Chitty's site Product of Your Environment, you may seem just a little bit paranoid.

It's full of personality though, as are all the other items on Rebecca's site. I like all of them but I love the TV and picture frame pillow cases, and the "Disturbed" door hanger (below).

This is the site to go to if you want your home to be so cool that it hurts.

Time flies

Today's post is dedicated to this beautiful butterfly clock that's currently on sale at Heal's. Made by German designer Susanne Philippson, it costs more than I would feel comfortable spending on a clock (£117), but, all the same, it really is beautiful.

I just love the effect created by the "fleeing" butterflies. And the hot pink makes it perfect for colour lovers such as myself. It would simply amazine in a funky kitchen.

Pretty as a picture

The way in which you display your favourite things can times their effect by 100. I'm becoming more of an art fiend with every passing day, so when I saw this beautiful bedroom on Desire to Inspire, I felt I had to flag it up.

Interior expert Rees Roberts has grouped together 11 bold, cartoon-style pictures, to bring
a fun and personal feel to the room. This is counter-balanced by the grown-up, monotone, cityscape blinds over the large windows.

The fact that there is very little colour elsewhere in the room allows the art to really take centre stage.

I always try to add an element of fun to my own interior design, so this combination of fun and mature really appeals to me. Good work.

A case study for your bathroom

You wake up in the morning, pad slowly into your bathroom, reach into your bathroom cabinet for your facial wash, and remember as you do so that you own the coolest vanity cabinet in the planet, and suddenly you are ready to face the day.

I imagine this is what would happen if you owned one of these amazing vanity cabinets, available for sale through Etsy. The exterior is in the style of an old-fashioned suitcase and comes complete with a luggage lable.

It has a fabulous "General Map of the World" on the inside of the door, a contractible mirror, two fittings for bulbs and cute little draws.

I dream of the morning that I get my toothbrush out of a cabinet as cool as this one.

Double Dutch? Definitely not

While flicking through the latest issue of Living Etc I found a photo of a crazily original chandelier. It's not a stuffy chandelier though, oh no no. This is a there's-not-a-bit-of-seriousness-in-me chandelier that was made of brightly coloured glass.

And the best news? It costs just £85. I'm sure you can understand why I rushed straight to the url that was listed alongside the image, dutchbydesign.com. And boy was I not disappointed.

This site is overloaded with interesting and unusual items which are fun and slightly off trend, just as I love 'em. There really are so many fabulous items that it really would take all day for me to add all the images of items I love here, so I strongly advise you to whizz on over to dutchbydesign.com after you've finished here.

Just to whet your appetite though, here are some of the best items.

How Bazaar

While rummaging around in the wonderful Bloomsbury today, I found a beautiful book that really "spoke" to me. Bazaar Style is full of beautiful photographs showing how people have made stunning rooms consisting primarily of flea market and junk shop finds.

This is not only a great coffee-book table for our thrifty day and age, but real hands-on advice for those of us who like to create gorgeous rooms that are like nothing anybody's seen before. It's now marked as "Highest Priority" on my Amazon Wish List.

Welcoming spring home

Spring has now most definitely sprung and it's time to fall in love with your home all over again. In light of this I want to draw your attention to some of the most interesting and beautiful points of inspiration that I've come across over the last few days.

First up is the innovative work of Peter Callesen, who works largely with white paper. I particularely like his piece entitled Fall, which shows a skeleton that cleverly takes the place of a tree's shadow.

Next is today's post from desipiretoinspire.net, which rounds up some of the most beautiful images to be found on Absolutely Beautiful Things. Together the two sites have brought together a collection of inspiring and refreshing images, that are all you need to convince you about the wonder of the world of interior design.

Next up is this bloomin' amazing bed, captured in the beautiful photography of Brian Park, and featured in House and Garden magazine. How could anyone who sleeps in a bed like this fail to wake up with a spring in their step?

And while we're celebrating fabulous uses of colour, it would be foolish of me not to point you back in the direction of desiretoinspire.net, and their celebration of the work of Molly Luetkemeyer, to be found at mdesignla.com.

Last but by no means least, it's time to take it to the floor with funonthefloor.com. Carpet shopping no longer be boring thanks to these fabulously fun floor-fillers. My personal favourite is the flower power carpet. I imagine it makes it far easier to get the kids up those apples and pears!

So there are just a few of my favourite interior design links of the moment. Have you lot found any that you'd like to shout about? If so, please let me know.