SIMPLE THINGS 09 LOVE

Packed the Small off for a lovely day of learning to left handed knit at her Nanna's while I spent the day  hiding under a fleece blanket trying to rid myself of the heavy yoke of flu. Best part was pouring over my latest stash of mags. THE SIMPLE THINGS is like a direct pathway from my heartbrain, here are a few bits that stuck. I am busy sourcing one of these (or three) industrial light fightings, going to get my electrician to make it fit an energy saving bulb.

MESSY STUDIO TILES LOVE

It is a dingy day this morning so my pic is a little dark but I am too excited to show you the beginnings of the subway tiles being put up in the MESSY STUDIO bathroom. They are from ITALTILE in Umhlanga and have a beautiful glaze. We went for a flat gloss tile with no bevel, as the beveled tiles available are a little too uniform/machine made for our liking. Our lovely builder has been doing all the final patching, painting, filling of gaps and Rhinogliding the walls and ceiling, in a small space especially one painted white, every little blemish or gap is glaringly obvious, especially to fussy britches like us.

ALEX HAMILTON STUDIO LOVE

The MESSY STUDIO renovation is moving at a frenetic pace now after ages of slowly slowly. The final elements for the bathroom are soon to be delivered. I have huge studio envy of a wonderful artist ALEX HAMILTON, some of his work and images of this beautiful space and his collections are in the latest IDEAS magazine, which is an inspirational issue.

THE SHINING GIRLS LOVE

Had a vicious and unexpected sore throat yesterday, so besides a few mini outings for sustenance, spent as much time as possible feeling sorry for myself under a large fleece blanket. THE SHINING GIRLS by Lauren Beukes, is the perfect distraction, have been reading piles of teen goth romance lately (shame on me) therefore something with depth of historical research and grisly detail was splendid. Love the cover design by JOEY HI-FI.

SHIP LENTICULAR LOVE

I needed a vintage cotton tablecloth, plain and aged, for a very exciting shoot last night - so went a trawling my favourite antiques and collectables shops. No cloths but I did not come away empty handed, I never do, a fact pointed out to me by the proprietor of ECLECTIC (with a chuckle). I scored this fabulous framed lenticular ship and a glass flower frog for my collection. Winner me! As it is against my nature to fail at a task, I bought a plain white cotton tablecloth from Mr P and hand dyed it with rooibos tea, instant coffee and a swig of vanilla extract. It came out perfect.

I LOVE GOOD TIMES TATTOO LOVE

How awesome is the interior of I LOVE GOOD TIMES tattoo studio in Shoreditch, London. If I was an interior designer this is what all my interiors would look like - religious kitsch, vintage anatomical posters, cabinets of curiosity, taxidermy and repurposed mid century furniture. One day it will be so!

VINTAGE CAGE LAMP LOVE

ROCKETTSTGEORGE

Our wonderful builder has a vintage cage lamp that he uses when he has to delve around in our upstairs or more recently in the MESSY STUDIO bathroom. I covert it, it is my precious. Here are some from the Interweb, I plan on using one or more in the wee bathroom of the MESSY STUDIO. They are also known as mechanics lamps and have many variations of cage shape. The handles are usually wood but there are porcelain ones too.

MODERN50

MODERN50

ECOCHIC

MODERN50

YDE ANIMAL WINDOW LOVE

Following on from my post last week, saw these really cool windows for YDE at The Pavilion. Love the foreground and background detailing, key cut outs plus all my favourite animal faces.

BRITISH HOMES & GARDENS LOVE

I so enjoyed the June 2013 issue of BRITISH HOMES & GARDENS, it has a wonderful Spring/Summer 2013 Trends insert. Here are a few things that caught my eye, the ship plate in this nautical shot and the vintage ship painting. Our builder Victor uses one of these lights and I would have loved a brass version for the MESSY STUDIO bathroom but can't have a naked bulb in there, pout!

WATERFALLS LOVE

My latest vintage postcard mini obsession (after mountains), is waterfalls. I am crazy for this one with the brightly coloured shooting stars. Available at ZAZZLE.

KITTENS WITH MITTENS LOVE AGAIN

Mariet from KITTENS WITH MITTENS has new brooches on her blog.
I can't get enough of the intensely beautiful stitching on Beatrix the Basset
and Winnie the Dachshund' faces. I am a KWM stan for life!

GRAZIA HOUSE LOVE

Our wee gingerbread house is in this weeks GRAZIA magazine, a big thank you to TRACY GIELINK for the words, CLINTON FRIEDMAN for the pictures, BABYLON for my hair and LINDSAY NIXON for my make up.

WINDOW STAG LOVE

How cool is this window display at JAY JAYS, Musgrave Centre. Now I want a life size cut out of a stag for our house, I think I may have some 'splaining to do! I like the forest back drop too....

APPLEBY LOVE

ZIMBIO

It is the Travelers APPLEBY HORSE FAIR in Cumbria, was going to show shots of beautiful wagons and horses but went for this one. It's Friday after all xxx A quick post today as I am drawing.

THE BATHROOM FACTORY LOVE

This is a sneak peek at what the basin will look like in the wee bathroom of
THE MESSY STUDIO. For the lovelies who inquired about the clever company that works in brass and copper it is:

THE BATHROOM FACTORY
Rocky Van Goeverden 031 579 1123
rvg-aw@mweb.co.za
1st Floor Stanhope Park, 2 Stanhope Place, Durban, Briardene

MANDIBLES LOVE

So delighted with my first piece of taxidermy that arrived yesterday from MANDIBLES. They are South Africa's first NATURAL HISTORY STORE, based in CT. Their collection is ethically sourced. We have named him Mr Corvus and he is a prop for an exciting photo shoot(more on that later) and will have pride of place alongside my EAMES BLACKBIRD in the MESSY STUDIO.

1944 KOKESHI LOVE

Two Kokeshi came in the post to swell my collection of wooden simplicities.

MOSHI-KUN LOVE

How awesome are these illustrations by MIKE WROBEL aka MOSHI-KUN. He has envisioned a alternate GAME OF THRONES where the action takes place in the 80's/90's. I frikkin' love these!