We have been on hiatus over the Christmas holiday period. Now back and ready to take this place to the next level!
Christmas tree and decorations came down today. Thoroughly depressing, especially how quickly it all comes down after hours labouring to put it all in place to begin with. The upstairs living room is now looking decidedly minimalist.
And everything is covered in glitter. Covered. Soft furnishings, carpet, coffee table, fireplace all adorned in silver sparkle. I'm not even that into glitter. This is testament to the fact that Christmas decorating has the ability to send a sane person delerious and why it is only proper that Christmas must eventually come to an end. I anticipate the glitter will haunt me for several weeks.
Now that festive adornments are banished to the attic, my attentions are once again turning to interior decorations and picking up key pieces in the January sales. There are some fantastic bedding deals to be had and I snapped up this linen mix valance in the Zara Home sale:
I love the look of linen valances but they are so expensive. The one at Oka I had my eye on was nearly £200 so this linen and cotton mix one is a worthy compromise.
I'm currently on the look out for blankets to create layers of texture on the beds. I particularly like the idea of using a Morroccan wedding blanket or handira as a bedspread.
I love the texture and sparkle. These are often used as rugs but look really effective as bedspreads. A great investment I think as it's such a versatile piece. They can be expensive online so perhaps a trip to Morrocco to buy one in the souk is in order? What better way to justify a holiday!
Speaking of textiles, I am all over these 'Ludde' sheepskins from Ikea at the moment. Normally £30, I got them discounted with the Family Card for £22 each (how rock and roll am I, eh)!
I know what you're thinking; 'Sheepskin? Yuck.' And previously I would have agreed with you. For a long time they evoked images of lonely-too-small-rugs adorning the floors of dated unloved homes or, worse still, your granny's house. Nevertheless, I'm converted. When grouped together or draped over a chair they look fab and have somehow gained a new lease of life and popularity thanks to abundant use in chic Scandi homes.
These sumptuous sheepskins looked the part at Christmas time but I can see them being useful all year round for sofas, chairs and use on beds. They had some nice taupe coloured skins too. I'll probably invest in the larger sizes when we have some spare cash.
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| Sneaky preview of the progress in our Studio living/dining room |
I was never a huge fan of Ikea but they have really upped their game lately, seemingly taking note of the big blogging trends and even creating new ones with their slick contemporary prints like this rug (see above) which we have bought in both large and small sizes (though the large is still in it's packaging-we got the small second hand cheaply- I can't face using the bigger one yet until the floor is finished as everything is still dusty)!
I think that's all for now... I'll do a devoted post to our Studio which you can see in the picture above. It's far from finished but we managed a quick revamp just before Christmas which has cheered the place up a bit. You can see the before here.
Most import New Year's resolution- no more builders in 2014. Yay!
