…hanging in the window of whsmith in paris.

I love the idea of making fabulous homewares from simple, recycled material. Who would have ever thought rubber bands could look so good? And feel good too – this particular design duo also made a seat from rubber bands, and it was beautiful to sit in.

Incidentally, one of my favourite TV shows on at the moment is BBC’s Trash to Cash series 2. It happens to come on about the time I have lunch, so when I can,  I take a break from my writing and watch the show. I love it – it teaches viewers how to turn their junk into cash by holding a house sale and selling their unwanted and unused clutter. There are also great tips on how to fix up broken pieces of furniture, simple restoring tips like how to deal with wood worm, and advice about collectibles and antiques. The idea it to teach people how to rescue, recycle, refurbish and resell. The participant decides how much money they are aiming to make, and then they have to double that amount to give half of it to a chosen charity. Also, the room with the most clutter has to be turned back into a functional room again. Great concept. I hope to see more shows like this around the world.

Do you have any shows like this where you live? I’d love to hear about them.

…hanging in the window at whsmith in paris.

Am I allowed to have favourite photos from my own book? If I can, this would be one of them. I think really its the space that makes the image, and I just happened to be there to take the photo.
And that person on their bike just happened to ride past looking fabulously french. I remember seeing them coming and snap snap snapping to ensure I got them in the shot.

It’s Saturday. I don’t usually post on a Saturday but sometimes I like to. This week went so fast – my head is still a few days behind.

Have you been clicking around the (blog)house this week? There is actually all sorts of things happening. My guest has posted another wonderful travel adventure, check it out right here. And if you go and take a wander to the (blog)library you will see I paid a visit in there too this week, click here to read my post. Yvette, our (blog)house kitchen guest is away right now in sunny France, but she will be back soon to post another delicious recipe. Oooh, I do hope it’s inspired by her holiday destination.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. I plan to relax as much as possible, I hope you can do so too.

xx

…hanging in the window at whsmith in paris.

this is one of my favourite photos from the book. It’s from a gorgeous boutique in the 17th arr called french touche – you can view and purchase some of their collection online, click here to view more like this piece above.

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There is a wonderful travel website called Wandering Educators. I hear they are the largest source of travel guide reviews on the internet and recently, they interviewed me. Yesterday, the article went live. Jessie the editor, asked me lots of great questions like “how did you find the treasures you share in the book?”, and “How has your life influenced your book?”, as well as, “What was the inspiration for Paris: Made by Hand?”.

I really love it when people ask me questions that I know the answers to.

Please click here to read the full article. Thank you Wandering Educators!

xx

On a side note, I’m actually feeling a little sea sick for once while on le petit bateau – there is some construction work going on opposite on the canal and it is making my little home rock like it’s never rocked before. Right now I am holding my head and stomach, and trying to take deep breaths to quel my nausea. Why, oh why, are there these types of distractions when I am on a killer deadline?! Deep breaths.

Left: some gorgeous new page spreads from the latest issue of inside out, out now Right: a list of fab blogs mentioned in the latest issue…

While reading Ebony’s fab blog hello sandwich the other day, I was delighted to discover her post about Inside Out magazine mentioning a bunch of terrific blogs in their latest issue, and one of them was mine! I think this may be my very first magazine mention for my little (blog)house here. That’s special.

It was a great surprise to end my busy week, thank you Inside Out.  Also, I can’t wait to see their magazine redesign, apparently there are all sort of handmade touches added, and new fonts, and oh, it sounds marvellous…

If you have never been into the offices of a magazine, above is a pic of what you would see  – a wall of page spreads from the upcoming issue that the magazine team are working on. It’s one of my favourite sights – seeing the whole magazine on the wall like a work of art. This one above is from Inside Out, showing their page layout for the current issue. Cool non? Check out the Creative Director’s post about the magazine redesign here.