A bathroom cupboard makeover for £30

We have a lovely, very tall, cupboard unit in our bathroom that holds all our towels and other bathroom gubbins. 

It was actually two units (a wardrobe and drawers) from Ikea that my handy husband stitched together and, hey presto, perfect height storage...






Alas, a joyous union MDF and steam do not make and so after a few years the doors got blown and warped and generally looked pretty

Perky tea towels brighten up rainy days

It's still raining... I'm practically begging the weather to just get on with the winter, enough with the rain already!

Still, I had errands to do and so off I went, umbrella aloft, to my next door manor of Greenwich in south east London. Quite by accident I found myself rummaging around the indoor market which, on a Tuesday, is mainly second-hand stalls. And look what I found...



Aren't they

Impulse buy of the week: a toucan shaped lamp

Ah yes, we've all been there: car boot, chucking it down with rain, no bargains in sight when suddenly your 'phone rings; it's the other half: "Where are you? I've found something fabulous..."

So off I trot, past the tarpaulins and rain sodden traders to find the husband. And here's what we bought:



Yes. A floor lamp in the shape of a toucan. Don't ask me why, don't ask me how. I think it was

Brutal and Beautiful: the exhibition

Oooh, we are most excited about a new exhibition from English Heritage about post-war buildings, and our
love/hate relationship with them.

Brutal and Beautiful: Saving the
Twentieth Century, which has just opened in central London, covers the period from 1945 to the 1980s and features many photographs and interviews with
architects demonstrating the vast amount of post-war architecture the
UK

Tait modernism

I was car booting last weekend and found a little gem. Have a look at this lovely old pot – yes, it's missing a lid and has a chip on its spout, but it's just gorgeous. A modernist shape and a perky hand painted design, perfect for a bunch of jolly flowers to pep up a windowsill as we trundle into autumn.






I found it, as I often find these
things, at the bottom of a grubby old box of stuff

A holiday home called FABULOUS...

Abi here. I've just got back from five days in the Algarve – our lovely friend Jarod lives and works out there so we stayed with him at the gorgeous, but very traditional, villa where he's based. 

I did very little except read trashy novels by the pool (I did manage to drive a speed boat which was very exciting; I sang Duran Duran's Rio in my head) but
one day we took a turn around the

Bathrooms have feeling(s) too...

Hello, it's Abi here – sorry for the radio silence but I've been a bit ill and then went off to Marrakesh for a week (expect a post on all things Moorish soon). 

So, after Kate opened up the proverbial can (excuse the pun) when she posted a much-debated picture, it got me thinking about bathrooms. 




You can buy this original, 1956 Briggs Bathroom advert from Arcanium Antiques on Etsy 

Off the wall

A mini post from Abi today.

Remember my zingy apple green kitchen makeover? Well thanks to the lovely Kate giving me this rather splendid Hatch print poster for my birthday...



...I now have another print to put up on the walls. I had it framed and it's going to look lovely in there don't you think?






And another ace birthday present came courtesy of my fabulous husband – also for the

Turning Japanese...

Abi here again. I was lucky enough to visit Tokyo last
October and came back even more enamoured of Japanese design, culture
and general obsession with all things kawaii (that's "cute"). 



I
discovered the delights of the 100 Yen shops (or 78p shops if you do the exchange rate thing); nothing like our depressing pound shops
they are multi-storey caverns of absolutely everything useful,
useless

Lovely Pigeon

Hello there; it's Abi posting today while Kate's still dusting off her her stetson and catching up after her recent trip to Mississippi. It's all about the very lovely Lovely Pigeon today though.

Lovely Pigeon is one of my favourite websites and it's not hard to see why. There are gorgeous prints, delightful stationery and even a smattering of
vintage wares for sale. I found Lovely Pigeon when I

Introducing: Retropolitan

Hello, it's Abi posting today. In case you don't know it, I want to tell you all about Retropolitan, a very fabulous online vintage store my stylish friend Scarlett pointed out to me the other day. 

And I'm very glad she did – it's a feast of unusual vintage pieces with a slant towards glass and vases (but it's by no means only glass and vases). Like these...



Above left, Riihimaki vase by

For the love of car booty

This bank holiday weekend, contributing editor Abi did this...



I've just got back from the Ford Airfield car boot near Chichester; a not too big market of some of the hands-down best junk you'll ever get to rummage.

I'm feeling very pleased with myself as I've scored a load of treasure for under a tenner and had a joyful couple of hours rootling through boxes and bags and wallpapering tables