Eastern infatuation Part I...

On Friday morning, as I strolled past one of my favourite local second-hand shops, Granny's Attic, something in the window display caught my eye...

It couldn't be...? Surely, it couldn't be one of those lovely - I think - traditional Vietnamese or Chinese (?) bamboo rice storage jars (or perhaps copies of) that I have been admiring in some blogs and oriental-themed shops for some time. Admired their beauty and gasped at the normal £ 60- 90 price tag, that is... 

Feeling rather pleased to have finished a large assignment in the early hours of that very morning, I thought this £ 5 (!!) bargain would be a splendid reward...!

  

And so it was that this second-hand find gave birth to a whole new blog post from our front room, where my desire to surround myself with warm, spicy colours and a more gold-shimmering palette has been given free reign...

The second photo in the quartet above is of a basket (also seen in the mirror in the very first photo in this post) on the wall above the sofa, opposite the fire place .

(The original red tassel of this ceiling lamp has been exchanged for a 

window decoration from the Scandinavian oriental-inspired store Indiska.) 

From the mantelpiece hangs a chain with, among other things, a small Buddha. The very same little Buddha featured in a display I made a few years back, from which a photo was used to decorate some candles. Yes, well spotted, there is one of them, in front of the fire place, on a cast iron candle stick I found in a reclamation yard a few months ago.

My wall paper curtain panels (will be shown in their entirety in the next blog post) next to a home-made lamp   from years ago, whose only claim to qualify for this otherwise oriental-inspired room was the colour of the apples...

The wall colour does appear a very strange shade in some of these photos... It is certainly not as screamingly yellow as it looks in the image below, or as apricot as in the one above. More of a soft, warm, matt yellow, and we sometimes call it the "winter room", as this is a room which feels warm, both in colour and, obviously, because of its wood-burning stove.

In one of the photos above is a hint of another second-hand bargain I came across the other day, and which will be the focus of my next blog post from the same room...

Wishing you all a gold-shimmering Sunday!

Helena

It's raining roses...

... or, perhaps, rather on the roses...

...by the overgrown, fluffy hedges and immaculate, tidy lawns of Corsham Court, where the other day I went for a stroll, thinking, rather naïvely, that I would have the time to get a few nice shots before the rain returned...

Now, as you may see, the rain played "you can run, but you can't hide" with me, and in the photo above, you may also spot someone playing hide and seek with the rain. Someone whose vanity made it run for cover as soon as the first rain drops threatened to spoil its spectacular feathery cape...

Corsham Court boasts my favourite combination of garden delights, i e both more formal areas, where the lawns look so perfect you immediately want to lie down and stroke them, together with straight paths and shaped topiaries, and also wilder areas, with typical English cottage garden character and a forest which tickles a desire to explore every corner and every tree, because surely there must be a fairy or two hiding in there...

On this particular day, I was almost alone in there, and could fantasize freely about this being my own garden, dream about what cushions to sew for this relaxing bench, think up the menu for a casual garden party, and admire the lovely brick wall and how well some of the green and blood red foliage stands out against the red brick...

Some of the paths were very mossy (deliberately?) and again 

looked very tactile and like a soft, inviting carpet...

I don't know if you can see it very well (click on the image if you want to enlarge it), but in the middle of the photo above is a rusty rose arbour (is that the right word?), which I would LOVE to copy in our garden. It is beautifully rounded and stands like a little house in the midst of a green jungle. Right, all I need now is to learn welding in a day or two. Or, ehm, perhaps keep dreaming rounded rusty dreams...

The old bath house tucked away in the forest... (above)

... and posing peacocks whose sense of style is unsurpassed... 

- even making sure it poses with the "right" colours in the background, 

matching its own to perfection...

Layers, layers, layers of fluffy green eye candy...

... and hello, another blue beauty coming to up for a chat...

This little green (and peacock blue) oasis is a five-minute walk from my door step, and yet I seem to come here much too seldom. Even in our own garden we can hear the tooting of the peacocks from over here, and often stumble upon one strolling down the High Street or resting in someone's front garden. 

Yes, we are truly blessed with an abundance of blue bliss and green garden glory here in Wiltshire and I am grateful to be able to enjoy it so close by!

All the best,

Helena

Ps. Claudia, I replied to you in the commentary field after my 

last post, but please get in touch via email if you want.

Mid week musings and a giveaway!!

Hi looks like this mid week musings thing is now a regular gig, so why not...a great way for me to talk about a whole bunch of randomness. Hope you are having a great week...mine is good, busy and productive. I cannot say summer has been super relaxing so far but I have managed to squeeze in some down time and the little I have had has been wonderful! I am also offering a wonderful giveaway....all details on bottom of this post.

I am actually headed to New Orleans on Friday morning and cannot wait. Its been a few years since I have been there  and I cannot wait to hit the antique shops on Royal st., indulge in french pressed coffee and a piping hot sugar laced Beignet and go to some of the wonderful restaurants we had the pleasure of visiting last time. This is absolutely NO time for a diet.....the food in New Orleans is off the hook amazing! Any suggestions are more than welcome!

For anyone else who has "a thing" for New Orleans....this book is one of my favorites. Got it about a year ago and it just captures that New Orleans essence to a tee, a really wonderful book!

Many of you are so kind to ask about sweet Teddy, he is doing well.....hair 90% grown back so its good to see him whole again. Heres a few pics of him doing what he does best......yep, relaxing!

Does he think he is CZ Guest here or what? 

I like to share the results of my weekly Which would you choose and thought it would be fun to see which girls bedrooms took the top prize from last week, so here they are in order of their votes!

1st place (and my personal favorite)!

A close 2nd place 

Tied for 3rd place

Several of the others vied for 4th place...what can I say, my readers, you have excellent taste!

Finally ordered the wallpaper for the back powder room (this is off the kitchen and the bathroom we use on a daily basis). I decided it was one of the first I loved and often times we go back to the original choices.....this was the perfect blend of something elegant but not too formal, fresh and crisp. I really like it and it gives off the exact vibe I am looking for......will finalize the check I will do the window treatments in and likely have some cute little fabric shades made for the sconces too.......

I also like covering shades with fabric for a custom touch...experimented here, me likey!

I really like Anthropologie and think they are one of the stores that are getting better and better. I recently ordered a bunch of these exquisite glasses...love love them! I am a sucker for anything etched and these look really old and are just beautiful! I cannot wait to use them....what do you think? I have found so many unique and beautiful things there.......

Can you believe I am STILL waiting (only six months and counting) on the Thomas O Brien rock crystal sconces? Crazy! But I have looked and looked for a suitable replacement to no avail....so wait I will. Every time I look at them, I realize they are perfect and I can envision them in my room so hopefully the newest delivery date of August is finally the date that I can see these babies and get them up and get this bathroom done!!!! Once they are up above the tub and at my vanity...I just need my chandelier, a chair and I am set...woo hoo!!!!

Here they are.....by Thomas O Brien

They will go above the tub and on either side of the mirror (single ones) on the vanity....

And on either side of the mirror

And very excited finally got these gorgeous Ralph Lauren sconces ordered for the living room....cannot wait to get them! They are really beautiful, leave it up to Ralph!

They will go on this wall (one either side of botanicals) as well as between all the French doors in the living room.

Moving on.....I love costume jewelry, well I love all kinds of jewelry but being paranoid about losing (lets just say I have done my share) I don't  wear "the good stuff' unless I am going to a wedding or special event and it is all locked up in a safe spot. But I love fun costume and have quite a bit, just ordered some jewelry drawer boxers/liners and cannot wait to start organizing, but in the meantime how cute is this? Its a dress form with hooks for jewelry its finished in a muslin fabric and has French writing. Believe it or not found it at Michaels for $14.99!! I love it and think it adds such a sweet whimsical touch to my closet.

Store biz......I am not going to be adding anything over the summer. While business is going wonderfully I am hoping to take a little time to enjoy summer as it goes by so fast. I have a few brackets left and this is it as well as a few other items I am just about sold out of. I am planning to revamp things come fall, phasing a few things out and adding some exciting new things, so stay tuned and thanks for your continued support and enthusiasm!

I have one of the black and gold brackets on the right and one pair of the antique white painted brackets. I am selling the one black and gold for $45.00 and the pair of large ant.white for $100. This is the very last of my brackets and these prices are far far below retail. Email me if you wan them.

Also......

Last antler pillow.......

Last gray chinoiserie pillow..........

Last small dough bowl, since I have one left I am selling this for $100 even. A great deal if you know the price of dough bowls...contact me if interested!

Last small olive tray (they will be in again sometime later August).....

Last black chinoiserie tray......$90.00

And last have two of these beautiful blue and white scalloped dishes left and that is it! These are soo pretty, I kept one for myself! If you are intersted in this item, you can purchase online (have only two left)!

If there is something in the marketplace you feel there is a lack of, or you would like to see me carry, shoot me an email. I love hearing your feedback!!

Now onto my giveaway, giving a stunning silver cake spade and a darling set of crown bookends to two lucky winners!

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog after visiting my online store and tell me an item or two that you would love to receive. That's it! I will announce a winner on Tuesday morning. Click here to visit my store.

 First the beautiful crown bookends...........

And the beautiful silver highly decorative cake spade.....

Thank you Kristy and Beth from one of my favorite blogs Design Chic for featuring my butlers pantry in your gorgeous post today about pantries!! Great post, click here to visit!

So that's my randomness for a few days. I am leaving early Friday for New Orleans and will return early next week. I will miss visiting all of my favorite blogs but it will give me something to look forward to when I get back. I do have access to my emails while gone so feel free to contact me if you need to. And if you have any must see or do suggestions for the Big Easy, please by all means pass them along! Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week and a fabulous weekend ahead! Until next week........