scandi love

Happy Saturday lovely people!! It's not been raining, yippee! It hasn't exactly been sunny here either but I'll settle for not being soaked through.  

Today I am a tad obsessed with these lovely bits of Scandinavian goodness, all of which have been around for a while, but I've never been extravagant enough to treat myself (yet!)...

 this stunning storage jar by Sagaform, from Illustrated Living...

this lovely Ferm tea towel, also from Illustrated Living...

and this cup from Marimekko, which I have wanted for SO long...

and this one (they're both from Skandium)....

It's my birthday next month so I think the time has come for a bit of Marimekko gorgeousness to enter my home.  I just need to make sure I don't start looking at their fabrics; at nearly £40 a metre I can't even think about it (one metre wouldn't be so bad, but I can't choose my favourite!).

Hope you're all having a great weekend,

Rachel x

these are just a few of my favourite things...#1

Happy sunny day!

It is freezing cold here but bright and clear and spring is in the air.  Today I am saying goodbye to grey winter with a look at a few of my favourite black and white treasures from the wonderful world of the interweb, yes I am often all about rainbows but I do love the crispness of black and white.  Though as you'll see from 3 of these beauties, it works particularly well with a little bit of colour thrown in too! 

First up, a rather lovely cushion from Scandinavian brand Bantie at the ever fabulous Heal's, which not only ticks my black and white box but has birds all over it too! (Slightly bird obsessed of late, more of them another day!)

Yes I know I've got a house full of fabric and I can make my own cushion covers, but that doesn't mean I can't love other people's too!

Next, with a lovely splash of red to brighten our day, these gorgeous Miss Badger stackable coffee cups by James Ward from his Etsy shop:

He's got lots of different animals on his mugs, but Miss Badger reminds me of the Frances books by Russell Hoban, which my Mum used to read to me...I think maybe Miss Badger is Frances grown up?!

Here's a pattern I've been lusting after for a while, and it's not a crush that's fading, so one day I might have to give in....

It's from Marimekko at Heal's, a truly iconic brand at a shop to match - some of my favourite fabrics from my collection were from Heals in the 60s, though I've got very little by Marimekko....a lack that I must remedy one day.  This design comes in cushion covers, tea towels and oven gloves, so if you're a matchy-matchy kind of person, you can co-ordinate to your heart's content - as long as you've got a bit of cash to spare!

And lastly, with a fantastic splash of daffodil yellow to celebrate the sunshine and anticipate the coming of spring, this stunning wallpaper from MissPrint, which was brought to my attention  by the Queen of design blogging, Bowie Style at print & pattern:

What can I say? I love it.  Yellow used to be the one colour I didn't really get on with, but over the last few years it has crept up in my estimation to become a favourite - it doesn't suit my colouring so I can only get away with accessories, but I think it'll be turning up a lot more around my home. 

So there we are - a few moments in my day spent in design heaven.  Now I'm off to get on with a few mundane but necessary domestic tasks, I hope to be back tomorrow with more eye candy.

Rachel x