In January 2021, I set up my lockdown side hustle – @LLGFOUND, selling beautiful antique and vintage china, homewares, furniture, paintings and studio pottery. It’s been *quite* the experience.

I’ve always loved both telling stories, and wondering about the stories behind the people I meet, and the objects I come across. Truly, there is a story in everything and everyone if you just take the time to think or ask.

That’s why I have always had a thing for antiques, and for what we now call vintage. (Although for a lot of us vintage simply means the things with which we grew up.) I love to think about the reasons an item was bought, maybe that canteen of cutlery was a wedding present or a retirement gift, that beautiful tiny Victorian jug that has managed to survive 150 years, maybe it was a birthday present, or a much cherished souvenir of a holiday? And now by owning those objects ourselves we get to create another story around the object.

So I’ve never been able to resist a junk shop, a flea market, a charity shop, an auction or a handed down gift from a family member or dear friend. And so my home is overflowing.

About five years ago I took a look around my home with its cabinets and cupboards, stuffed with vintage china and glass and thought I really need to rationalise my collection. At the same time I was travelling every month for work, coming across beautiful things and so the idea coalesced: I would open up a website selling things I had bought on my travels, along with vintage and limited edition finds of my own

I set up an Instagram account, @LLGFound at the end of 2015 and started pulling together an edit. But then, daunted by the idea of building yet another website and e-commerce platform when I was so busy elsewhere, I put the project to the back of my mind so, whilst I carried on thinking about LLG Found in the back of my mind, that’s where it stayed.

Until I had a light bulb moment somewhere around five months into the 2020 pandemic when I realised I didn’t need to build a website or a Shopify platform to get started: I could simply just run an Instagram feed. Instead of investing in a digital infrastructure, I could just post the lovely things I had sitting in teetering piles of dusty cardboard boxes and see if the idea had legs before I started worrying about building a bigger selling machine.

When I made the move from Camden to the Cotswolds in August last summer I swore to myself I would finally get LLG Found off the ground: there is nothing like hefting countless boxes of vintage china in a heat wave to focus your ambitions.

So I spent the autumn building my inventory, buying flower bulbs, and sourcing tureens. And then, on the 10th of January I decided it was time to press the button. I posted a small initial collection of seven items, and hoped for the best.  They all sold out within a couple of hours. I had barely promoted the feed in the first couple of weeks because it was supposed to be a soft opening, yet with just a couple of mentions on @libertylndngirl’s Stories, everything I posted continued to sell out. I quickly initiated a twice-weekly drop, on Sunday and on Wednesday nights at 7 pm because I was being inundated with messages from people saying they had missed new products going up.

Frankly, it’s been a whirlwind: Three weeks later I’m just putting my 200th item into my burgeoning inventory spreadsheet, when I had been expecting to sell four or five pieces a week. It’s been a huge learning curve: when I sold the first seven items I hadn’t set up any spreadsheets to track inventory or sales, nor any templates for emails or invoicing because I wasn’t expecting this to become a fully-fledged business in under a week.

And I’ve been chasing my tail ever since. In fact it’s been so busy that I am now moving my drops to once a week for the next fortnight just so that I can catch up: I haven’t cooked a meal in two weeks, relying on the freezer and microwave, and I was horrified to discover 10 loads of laundry waiting to be done.

I’d like to make it clear that I am categorically not complaining – making a success out of my lockdown side hustle has been a gift beyond compare. With companies sitting on invoices for sixty, ninety and 120 days, using lockdown staffing as an excuse not to pay, it’s been a very welcome fiscal boost. And I had forgotten how much I like a spreadsheet – yes, I now have more than a few, from inventory control to purchases, expenses to newsletter info.

But the absolute best bits, beyond endless data entry and wrestling tissue paper and biodegradable packing peanuts? That will be making connections with people all around the world who are as passionate about stunning objects as I am, and sending off these multiple parcels containing beautiful pieces to new homes, knowing that they will continue to be part of someone else’s story.

The post LAUNCHING LLG FOUND, MY VINTAGE INTERIORS BUSINESS appeared first on Liberty London Girl.

As we head towards the eighth month of restricted movement here in the United Kingdom, I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been looking at their home with a forensic eye.

I’ve always been interested by interior design, both at home and as a lifestyle writer, but being confined to quarters for several months in lockdown, and spending so much time working from home since then, has made me really reassess both how I use the space in which I live, and the value of the objects within that space.

There is so much to discover about the power of good design, both of space and of objects and to that end I have been reading so much more, researching designers online, and poring over the pages of interior magazines. So if you’re anything like me you’re going to want to know about an interior design panel talk that is happening THIS Thursday, the 22^nd October at 5pm.

Fashion & design school, Istituto Marangoni London, will be hosting ‘Design As Power For Change’ a virtual event showcasing the best of British interior design to celebrate the launch of the newly built facilities at the Istituto Marangoni London campus, in the heart of the Shoreditch Design Triangle.

In collaboration with ELLE Decoration UK and moderated by Editor in Chief Ben Spriggs, the panel talk will host three of Britain’s leading Interior Designers: Lee Broom, Bethan Laura Wood and Mac Collins.

Lee Broom, described by The Financial Times as ‘among the most respected British Talents’, is one of the UK’s leading product designers of luxury furniture and lighting. Designer Bethan Laura Wood runs multidisciplinary studio WOOD, characterised by material investigation, artisan collaboration and a passion for colour and detail. Mac Collins, an emerging designer and maker, focuses on manipulating the materials which he works to celebrate their inherent beauty.

You can join the talk either through a proprietary link by emailing info@taskPR by Tuesday 5pm, using Elle Decoration Event in the Subject line, or by joining the Facebook Livestream at https://www.facebook.com/istitutomarangoni 

The talk is one of a series of special events throughout Istituto Marangoni’s network of schools as it celebrates its 85th Anniversary, and promotes its Design Programmes for the 2020/2021 academic year.

The post ISTITUTO MARANGONI LONDON X ELLE DECORATION VIRTUAL EVENT SHOWCASING BRITISH INTERIOR DESIGN appeared first on Liberty London Girl.

THIS IS A PAID POST IN ASSOCIATION WITH TEMPUR® 

Yes, this is me lying down on a COVID-19 secure bed whilst testing out the most comfortable mattresses I’ve lain on in a long time in an actual shop. (As opposed to clicking online, as has been my wont since mid-March.)

Whilst specific lockdown measures still apply in certain parts of the UK, in London we are allowed to go into shops with no restriction on the type of retailer we visit – August 2020, at time of writing.

Of course, it’s still a process – masks are required (unless exempt), and hand sanitiser upon entry is a must. For me, I find that the retailers that really take this seriously are the only ones I want to frequent for the time being and so, when I was asked to visit the TEMPUR® Westfield store in White City to see just how seriously they were taking customer safety, I was interested to see what mattress and pillow testing and shopping in the age of COVID-19 could look like.

(I also think it will be interesting in the years to come to look back to see how we coped, and made our lives more secure in these extraordinary times.)

I was reassured to learn that TEMPUR® have implemented the TEMPUR®  Clean & Safe promise, which includes new safety measures to protect customers whilst they shop:
All TEMPUR® stores now have a store visit appointment system, hand sanitiser stations, staff PPE, disposable mattress and pillow covers for each customer and enhanced cleaning procedures. Because, of course, the best way to buy amy mattress or pillow is to test them in store.

(One of my favourite facts is that TEMPUR® material was first created by NASA in the 1970s to cushion astronauts during lift-off as they journeyed into space. It’s now used to make mattresses and pillows that evenly distribute weight and pressure, and is still the only mattress product recognised by NASA and certified by the Space Foundation.)

So last week I used the Store Appointment Booking System to book an appointment prior to visiting the White City store, which was confirmed by the store manager.

Upon entering, the first thing that you see is the signage above.

To the left is a mask station, if you don’t already have your own in place. (Which, obviously, I did.)

Of course then it’s time for a thorough hand sanitisation.

Once you’ve had a look around the store, you can request that a staff member covers a bed and pillow with a disposable protective cover so you can lie down and properly test them.

Frankly, I could have stayed here for hours, but that would have looked…strange.

If you too would like to go float on an excessively comfortable mattress, the Tempur Westfield Store can be found at:

Unit SU0205
Westfield White City
Ariel Way
London
W12 7GF

The post SHOPPING: SAFELY TESTING TEMPUR® MATTRESSES AT WESTFIELD WHITE CITY appeared first on Liberty London Girl.

My London garden was designed as an indoor/outdoor space: with two doors, one off the sitting room, and one off the kitchen, and wide windows; in the summer it was easy to make the garden an extension of the house.

There’s no lawn, just a patchwork of cracked flagstones which, however much I power-wash them each Easter when the weather warms up, are still fairly grim. So my solution was to buy hard-wearing polypropylene rugs to spread over the areas not covered by the outdoor tables, chairs and sofas.

I found mine in IKEA (a simple woven navy one), and in Carpetright (an attractive cream and beige geometric print – above).

Their absolutely brilliant selling point is that you can power wash them and they literally return to (an almost) pristine state, even if you leave them out all winter as I did last year.

I hadn’t considered using one of these washable rugs indoors until I decided to move out of London to a beautiful converted 18th century cider house in the Cotswolds. The previous owners installed a poured concrete floor in the kitchen and sitting room over underfloor heating.

It’s enormously practical as one kitchen door opens straight into the farmyard, and the other onto grass. But, regardless of the utility of a concrete floor, sometimes you just want something softer under foot. Especially in the kitchen where I drop things continuously – I would prefer my crockery to bounce off carpet than smash on concrete.

This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. 

But – for the same reasons that concrete is a sensible choice here, a normal rug would be a disaster. So a few weeks ago I started looking for a washable rug. Sadly I didn’t come across Weaver Green until after I had bought mine, but for me Ebay proved a charm. This washable rug is safe for underfloor heating, and can be used outdoors in the summer too, if I feel like it.

(I move next week so, for the moment, it’s outside in my London garden, where Lettice has been happily road testing it.)

I bought this 160 x 220cm (5’3″ x 7’3″) for £105, which is now sold out. They do have a smaller 80 x 150cm (2’6″ x 5′) £42, and a larger 200 x 280cm (6’&’ x 9’3″) for £150.41. There are also two round sizes: 5’3″ and 6’7″.

If you prefer a more yellow/blue colour way, then that is available in the 160 x 220cm size, as well as all the others. The listing is here. You can also find it in a pale blue/turquoise, and what looks like a black, red, & cream version.

The post INTERIORS: RED DOG-FRIENDLY WASHABLE INDOOR/OUTDOOR RUG CARPET appeared first on Liberty London Girl.

I last had my haircut on my birthday at the beginning of December last year. My colour? I can’t quite remember but I think it was a press appointment at lovely Jo Hansford in Mayfair back in the summer.

I only ever have a half head of highlights but what become increasingly visible during lockdown was the most monumental streak of silver running from my right temple. I don’t mind it so much, because both my mother and my sister have the same streak and I like that quirk of genetics, but it didn’t blend very well with my darker roots.

And what I do really mind is having frizzy ends and dry hair that tangles into a knot when I am sleeping.

I didn’t particularly want to go back into a salon when they reopened on Monday, so when I discovered that Blow Ltd had added cut and colour to the list of their services I booked the first available appointment.

Blow have done their best to minimise risk and time spent in your home: they offer a Zoom consultation the day before, and a questionnaire if you can’t do the Zoom so you can send photographs and describe what your hair is like and what you want doing to it, so that your stylist can come fully prepared for the appointment.

I also bleached my downstairs loo to within an inch of its life, and left out a personal hand towel, bleach wipes, and a motion activated soap dispenser, along with a wiped down bottle of water for Andrea to use during her visit.

So on Wednesday morning Andrea turned up on my doorstep wearing a mask. The plan was to do the appointment in my garden, but the torrential rain put paid to that plan. But my sitting room is light and airy and I felt we were both reasonably safe in there, with a door to the garden wide open. We both wore masks for the duration of the treatment. You can also choose in advance if you would like your stylist to wash your hair after the colour, or to do it yourself. I chose the latter as I felt it was safer for all involved.

And the results? Well, you can see from the pictures just what a difference it made. She chopped at least 3 inches off the bottom, and gave me a half head of highlights so we lost that line where my regrowth showed.

If you’d like to get £20 off your first appointment with Blow, then feel free to use my referral code: UA75FDFK.

(I paid full price, and booked myself anonymously through the app. I did not take a press discount on this occasion.)

Lettice sat at my feet for pretty much all of the session.

The post MOBILE HAIRDRESSING IN LONDON: CUT, COLOUR & BOW DRY AT HOME WITH BLOW LTD. appeared first on Liberty London Girl.