Saturday 30 April 2011

Happy Corners

Oh lovely homes on design blogs and in magazines, how stylish and perfect you are! And how depressing it is to compare you to my own humble little flat! (does anyone else feel like this when reading design blogs?)

However, I am determined to stop wishing my flat was design-blog-perfect (which, let's face it, it never will be) but instead to celebrate all the small things in it which make me happy. Here are a few corners making me smile at the moment...

Pictures on the walls next to where I work at the kitchen table:


Working in the kitchen is not very glamorous (piles of washing up = not inspiring!) but these pictures always make me happy.


(Let's not mention all the other prints I've had for years and still not got round to framing and/or deciding where to display them. Shhh...)

Much beloved bedroom drawers:


I fell in love with the chest of drawers on the right after seeing it in a charity shop near my old flat in Bristol (despite at the time living in a fully furnished flat with no room for extra furniture!). It fits perfectly under our very slopey ceilings, magically matches the giant wardrobe that was here when we moved in, and we managed to find the drawers on the left in a Gloucester charity shop on our first furniture shopping trip. Hurrah!

Atomic coat hooks:
Love these. They're usually hidden under more coats than that though!

A vintage corner:

I blogged about this corner last year when I "temporarily" hung up these curtains... naturally, they're still there. I thought the boyfriend would hate them but he (amazingly) said he quite liked them and they're so gorgeous I don't want to take them down just yet :)

Bunting on the spare bed:


I made the felt bunting for a tutorial and it ended up (totally by accident) being the perfect size to hang on the end of the spare bed. The rest of the spare room is usually a big mess, but the bed + bright blankets + bunting = lovely.

And one more - beloved vintage suitcases:


I love storing things in vintage suitcases, they're so much more fun than boring boxes.

The bright teal suitcase was a bargain charity shop find, and is currently full of fabric. The brown suitcase belonged to my grandmother and is full of things that need mending... it also doubles as a doorstop!


Now, I just need to remember how happy these corners make me and try not to worry about too much all the bits inbetween ... and all the housework which hasn't been done because I was too busy sewing ;)

P.S. apologies to anyone who got this post twice in their blog reader. Technology & I are having issues today!

7 comments:

Magdalena said...

I feels the same! But I loves your suitcases! :)

Cate said...

This is a lovely idea! Celebrate your own reality - which is fab anyway!! Love that chest of drawers with the carved detail. And love those curtains. And love the birdie prints...
thanks for sharing your corners :-)
xxxCate

Cassandra of Pooknflip said...

I remember when you hung those curtains! Glad he ended up liking them. :) I've been thinking about doing a similar post but haven't been able to bring myself to do it b/c of the same reason - I feel like my spaces are so un-glamorous. :( Yours are cute!

Anonymous said...

Totally Blog worthy corners!

Anonymous said...

I know exactly your situation, tiny flat does not = ability to decorate exactly how you would and could if you had space (and funds, lol). I do love the bunting on the end of the bed and it now has me thinking of alternative uses for bunting!! cheers :)

Nic said...

I love your happy corners. I resolved to do a similar thing at the start of the year and have a pretty corner. I've just done a little update on my blog here http://wilbertandherma.blogspot.com/2011/05/pretty-updated.html and linked to this post. I hope you don't mind.
Nic

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thanks for your comments everyone - great to know it's not just me who feels like this :)

Bess - I started thinking about cute ways to "dress" the bed after seeing another blogger who posted loads of pretty pictures of her bed with bunting and pretty banners and ribbons strung on the headboard. So inspiring!

Nic - thanks for the link x