HOMEBUG : homes, interiors, art & design - ireland & elsewhere

THURSDAY : THROUGH THE KEYHOLE : MOOOI BUENO

2009-11-12T01:39:00.006Z

Eek, because computer difficulties and deadlines still abound, I haven't had a chance to prepare a new Through The Keyhole post - sorry! Changes are happening in the Homebug household though, and next week I shall reveal.

In the meantime, here's an old snap from the living room that shows two of my favourite things - the vintage Vogue mirror my Mum gave me as a housewarming gift and the Moooi Random Light; it collects dust like a motherflipper and will snag human hair right out of your head if you bump into it, but we all have our flaws.

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : SACRE BLEU!

2009-11-11T06:00:00.003Z

My style ethos is pretty much the opposite of Coco Chanel’s – before leaving the house, I look in the mirror and put another thing on. At the moment, that thing is more often than not blue or a hat or a blue hat.

Blue beret – Penney’s
Blue and pink cardigan – I love this but it’s a weird fit. It somehow manages to be simultaneously too big and too small. I think it might have been designed for a large child rather than a small woman. From TX Maxx.
Yellow tee – Penneys
Grey corsage brooch – Homemade from an old pendant, a hair accessory and some superglue.
Blue skirt– Awear
Grey tights - Dunnes
Blue heels - Penneys

TUESDAY : INTERIORS : ROCK-A-HULA BABY

2009-11-10T10:00:00.002Z

I've never been any use at puns and I know that a post dedicated to the Eames Rocking Chair is crying out for some punnage, but alas, the best I can do is reference an unpopular Hawiian-themed Elvis song. Which is pretty poor. You know where the comments go if you think you can do better.

Now for no special reason except that I got distracted by something else I'm working on for which I had to name one of my favourite design classics, I present... one of my favourite design classics.

Images via (top-bottom) : picture by Tia Borg Smidt for whatwedo.dk; Bolig Magasinet; the home of Suzy Hoodless in the Daily Mail; my house.

PS: To anyone who's been in touch with me by email recently and is awaiting a response - my previously mentioned computer drama is very much ongoing, and I might not be able to catch up with my correspondence for a few days. Sincere apologies.

FRIDAY : FAVOURITES : ELEY KISHIMOTO SS10

2009-11-06T23:45:00.007Z

Sorry, this post is going to be very short as I'm up to my eyes with deadlines* and am having major computer drama. My brand new laptop has just plumb stopped working (way to go Dell! You suck! On many, many levels!) and I'm using the laptop of John's teenage sister for the weekend. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude: Do you know what it means for a teenager to be cut off from a multitude of social networking doodads you're too uncool to have heard of for a whole two days? That girl is a superstar.

As a result, I'm just going to post some pictures of Eley Kishimoto's spectacular new collection, and say only this: Eley Kishimoto. As always, your cheerful, beautifully patterned designs make me happy. Buy yeesh, lose the runway models who are sickly and miserable looking, will ya? I can only hope that the fasion industry is going to rethink the models they use to represent them.

*Working on a few things, one of which is really awesome and will be launching soon - I'll let you know all about it.

THURSDAY : THROUGH THE KEYHOLE : LADIES BATHING SHELTER

2009-11-05T11:47:00.000Z

It's Movember! That's right, the worldwide 'tache for cash month is here again, when men grow moustaches to raise money for charity. Do you know anyone taking part?

A whole gang of my friends did it a couple of years ago and some grew so attached to their taches, they're still sporting them to this day. As for the others, to record their glorious facial hair achievements they organised a photo shoot around some oddball Dublin locations. And to set off their marvellous moustaches, they wore the downright ugliest clothes they could find.

Above is one of the photos from that day. It hangs on our bathroom door.

UNEXPECTED GUESTS

2009-11-04T20:08:00.004Z

I’m on sfgirlbybay today! I’ve long loved sfgirlbybay, and Victoria’s style has been an enduring inspiration to me. When our house didn’t have a lick of paint on the walls and we didn’t have a scrap of furniture to our name, I would genuinely stand in the middle of a room and ask myself “What would Victoria do?” and contemplate her beautiful, world famous San Francisco apartment! So colour me stunned when Victoria recently asked if I’d be on for taking part in her “Unexpected Guests” feature. Uh, hells yes. Click here to read the interview and to see about a million photos of my home!

If you’re an sfgirlbybay reader visiting Homebug for the first time – welcome! Allow me to show you around:

Every Wednesday I do an “outfit post” (below – I’m a little poorly today but nevertheless committed!);

Every Thursday I share new snapshots of my home;

Friday is devoted to favourite fashions or furnishings;

Mondays are supposed to be dedicated to recipes but I’m having trouble finding the time at the moment (whoops!) so Mondays might feature something else for a while;

and Tuesdays are all about inspiring interiors.

In the right-hand sidebar you’ll find my “Favourites Under €50”, which are updated every few days, and over on the left a peak at some of the stuff I’m currently reading, watching and listening to.

If there’s anything else you’d like to know about me or Homebug, check the About page or just ask.

Make yourself at home and don't be a stranger - I hope to see you back here often!

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : IN FRANCE, THEY CALL IT "UN PULL-OVER"

2009-11-04T06:00:00.003Z

Me again!

Whatever happened to the word “pullover”? You don’t hear it any more, do you? It’s all “knitted tank top” these days. Well I’m sticking with “pullover”. Or the American term “sweater vest”. Both perfectly capture the nerdiness of this polka dot number I recently scored in a charity shop.

Shawl - this is older than the hills. I think a great, great aunt crocheted it.
Polka dot pullover - charity shop
Green tee - Dorothy Perkins
Bangle - charity shop
Skirt - Marks & Spencer
Tights - Oops, I forget!
Shoes (dang, barely in the picture again) - Dunnes

PS: I look totally zonked in this photo because I'm exhausted and a little under the weather! You should see the state of the pictures I'm not posting!

TUESDAY : INTERIORS : LILLIAN DAY

2009-11-03T11:11:00.002Z

Because I live in a small, old house, I'm acutely aware of the unique difficulties that come with decorating and living in a small, old house. I'm always inspired by how how other people tackle similarly-proportioned spaces.

Not only does Lillian Day manage to live stylishly in a Viennese house the same size as my Dublin home (600 sq ft), it seems she's something of a kindred spirit - it's sweet to see how many products or elements pop up in her small home which are also in mine!

View more of Lillian's lovely home here.

FEATURED FAVOURITE : LUELLA SS10

2009-11-02T12:15:00.003Z

British label Luella is one of my favourite fashion design houses. I love that it has a signature look season after season (quirky colours and offbeat girliness), and that it’s a look that can be emulated without necessarily having to buy a wardrobe full of expensive Luella clothing (although I would if I could).

Luella’s recent catwalk excursions haven’t disappointed…

Images via style.com

THURSDAY : THROUGH THE KEYHOLE : BOO!

2009-10-29T19:34:00.002Z

Happy Halloween!

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

2009-10-28T09:00:00.002Z

More footwear! I’m obsessing over flat ankle boots at the moment. I bought the Lexi Button Boot from Schuh during the summer. Aesthetically, they were perfect but as functional things that can be worn on the feet in a protective manner – as footwear, if you will - they were godawful. Shoddy, shoddy, shoddy – these boots were made for anything but walking. They started to wear out within days of my purchasing them and I knew in my heart that I should return them but they were so cute! They disintegrated in last week’s wet weather and now, more than ever, they need replacing.

I think I may have found the perfect ankle boot to take my mind off them. I’ve just ordered these amazing zebra print boots from Topshop - not so much a replacement as an upgrade, methinks.

PS: Another pair of zebra print shoes I’m loving are these stilletoed babies from Miss Selfridge (just check out that Louboutin-like red sole - all the cachet at a fraction o’ the cash!)

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : THIS MOI

2009-10-28T06:00:00.000Z

Irish writer Rosemary Mac Cabe’s blog became a must-read for me from the moment I first crossed its path. It’s well written, all encompassing and even a little divisive. You should check it out. Rosemary also writes for The Irish Times, and an article she wrote about Irish fashion bloggers last week gave me the push I needed to follow through with an idea I’d been toying with for a while – outfit posts!

Laura of Whisty blog was interviewed in the article and something she said resonated with me:

"I read a lot of blogs and the ones that I really like, aesthetically, all seemed to be doing these ‘what I’m wearing’ posts – I think it really brings that person to life. In a way, it’s a validation of your opinion, seeing the person wearing the styles they’re talking about."

So, I’m giving it a whirl. I should point out that the light in this photo makes me look a bit chinless but I do have a chin usually. Mustard hat – Monsoon
Blazer – Awear
Nurse’s watch – local jeweller’s
Big pearls – Topshop
Pink cardi – Dunnes
Striped tee – H&M
Mini skirt – I’ve had this for about 10 years. It used to be ankle length but I’ve chopped bits off it as fashion has dictated. It’s quite tatty these days but I’m very attached to it.
Tights – Dunnes
Shoes – Whoops, you can barely see them, but they’re blue platform stilettos from Penneys.

More next week (if I don't lose my nerve!)

TUESDAY INTERIORS : YOO BETCHA

2009-10-27T20:48:00.005Z

Yoo is a "global residential design brand" founded by Philippe Starck and John Hitchcox in 1999. If you scoot over to the Yoo website, you'll see that it's a very posh enterprise indeed, with the likes of Marcel Wanders, Jade Jagger and Kelly Hoppen all on the payroll.

Snooty and depressing as an "international branding, design and investment property company enhancing quality and adding value" may sound, Yoo's interior design output is really quite lovely.

THURSDAY : THROUGH THE KEYHOLE : SHADY GOINGS ON

2009-10-22T20:58:00.006+01:00

I mentioned lately that I was on the lookout for a large, vintage, fringed light shade for the den. Spurred on by a spot of lunch in Shebeen (lovely old lampshades a-go-go), I renewed my lampshade quest last weekend.

It was actually pretty straightforward, as quests go. My favourite charity shop had a perfect big ol' pink lampshade for just €4. This is the same charity shop from which I bought the vintage Sanderson wallpaper a few weeks ago, and from which I have recently come away with an indecent amount of amazing finds, including a beautiful silk 1920s flapper hat for €2, a Dries Van Noten wool scarf for €1 and more vintage handbags than I can shake a tailfeather at.

I’m chuffed with how the light shade looks in the den and I think it adds some much-needed character to the room. I also came across another fringed lampshade while charity shopping and couldn’t resist its old lady florals. The pattern is very Molly-Ringwald-in-Pretty-in-Pink, no? It can be one of my few reluctant nods to the current eighties revival (I say reluctant only because I was still wearing eighties clothes well into the nineties thanks to my sister's hand-me-downs, so the eighties revival is feeling a little bit too soon for me).

I know there are some reading this for whom tasselled lampshades and old lady florals are the stuff of nightmares, and I can totally see your point, but c’mon, live a little!

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : NSFW*

2009-10-21T20:52:00.007+01:00

I know it makes me a total pervert, but I REALLY like these Leg Avenue shoes. Who be Leg Avenue, you ask? Oh, just a trashy lingerie and "intimate costumes" company, or, er, so I've heard. Look, I know my taste is super tacky but I'm actually restraining myself by posting only shoes here - I think their stockings are pretty rockin too. Don't you judge me. *Nice Shoes For Wednesday! Or in more common internet parlance, Not Suitable For Work, which I think is probably the case with sex shop shoes.

TUESDAY : INTERIORS

2009-10-20T20:53:00.008+01:00

Erk, I'm having some connectivity problems at the moment, which should be resolved tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a few photos that combine some of my favourite things - above, a vintage button-back sofa and adorable Romo wallpaper (via BBC Homes & Antiques magazine), and below, more button-back sofas and some gorgeous geometric rugs from The Rug Company.

PS: Speaking of the Rug Company, Suzy Hoodless has a sneak peek on her newly revamped website of a tapestry that she's designed for them - it rocks!

FRIDAY FAVOURITES

2009-10-16T18:52:00.004+01:00

If I had pots of money, I would start collecting designer furniture named “Collect” - such as the Collect Cabinet by Sara Larsson for A2 (above), the Collect chest of drawers by WIS and the Collect bookshelf by Ole Jensen for Normann Copenhagen - all released this year and all beyond beautiful.How about a jolt of splendid colour and graphics? I love these interiors textiles by Glasgow-based designers Mouse & Bean. Mouse & Bean are an environmentally and ethically aware company and all their designs are hand printed onto organic fabric. Their textiles are available to buy by the metre or as cushions.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget that the Vintage Fashion & Decor Fair in Ballsbridge and the Newmarket Brocante Preloved Furniture Fair are both happening!

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : REMIX

2009-10-15T23:00:00.005+01:00

NB: Due to a blip in the space-time continuum, I’m posting Wednesday Wardrobe today (Thursday), and Through the Keyhole will be up over the weekend. Sorry!

If I’m ever asked which celebrities I think have great style, I always draw a blank. I think this is on account of the ‘slebs existing in a different world to little ol’ me; one in which they receive designer duds for free or “drop” what I spend on a year’s wardrobe on one pair of pants. Furthermore, everything looks great on the beautiful people, but nevertheless they have stylists to advise on the “right” thing to wear, which is a total cheat. For these reasons and probably a few more, I don’t have any celebrity style idols. I’m sorry, celebrities – we’re just too different, you and I.

That’s not to say that I don’t have fashion heroes at all though. Some are designers, some are friends of mine and some I’ve encountered through the marvellous medium of the world wide web. Wardrobe Remix is one online location where I’ve happened upon a whole host of snappy dressers. A quick nosy at what the style mavericks there are wearing provides my daily dose of fashionspiration. I’ve mentioned Wardrobe Remix on Homebug before – it’s a Flickr group where people post pictures of whatever outfit they’re rocking that day. Some day I’d love to be gutsy enough to join in but for the time being I shall continue fangirling from afar.

How about you? Got any online style idols?

[from top to bottom: Supayana; Shan Shan; Cinnamon Eve)

TUESDAY : INTERIORS : A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN

2009-10-13T11:00:00.000+01:00

Saturday's Guardian featured some lovely styling by Susanna Powell with a cute premise - fictional spaces inspired by novelists. Above is my personal favourite, Virgina Woolf's bedroom. I love the overlapping wallpapers by Sanderson and Neisha Crossland and how they clash with the geometric Designers Guild rug, the layers of blankets over the bed and the artful clutter. For all the deets as well as the imagined rooms of Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith and Haruki Murakami, click here.

FEATURED FAVOURITE : JOHN HANLY BLANKETS

2009-10-12T19:17:00.006+01:00

'Tis getting pretty nippy with winter snapping at our heels, but you won't hear me complaining. I actually LOVE winter. Ok, last year was the winter of my discontent because our boiler went kaput and we couldn't afford its repair or replacement, but usually I think winter is the best. I love wrapping up warm, whether in hats and scarves when the weather outside is frightful, or around the house in one of my many blankets. One of my decorating philosophies is that every sofa and bed should be accessorised with at least one blanket - nothing says cosy quite it. Our house has more blankets than I can keep track of and they're something I have a tough time resisting in shops. An Irish blanket manufacturer that I adore is John Hanly & Co. Established in 1893, John Hanly specialise in the manufacture of blankets in wool, cashmere, lambswool, mohair and natural fibres. The combination of vibrant colours, traditional designs and high quality are what I love about these. I have a JH merino cashmere throw in my living room, and with over 100 different blankets in the John Hanly online shop, I would happily add many more to my collection.

OTHER FAVES THIS WEEK:

I’ve always had a soft spot for the retro charm of satchels, so it’s nice to see them back in favour. I had been swooning over Peter Jensen's colourful take on the trend without realising that the Cambridge Satchel Company got there a long time ago - they do the cutest satchels in the loveliest colours AND you can get them embossed! Yes!
Recently Marimekko’s dresses, although their prints have been characteristically divine, have come in oddball shapes that are all well and good for slinky models, but which look a hot mess on the likes of me (an hour spent trying on every dress in Marimekko London last year confirmed this). However, my new favourite frock is from Marimekko’s latest collection - the Uranus dress by Mika Piirainen combines a fabulous print with a flattering shape. I covet!
I love this diamond-patterned jute rug from Toast. The dimensions are a bit off to work in my living room (where there already is a fine rug, I might add) but nevertheless I keep going back to the Toast website to admire it...
Japanese Vogue fashion director Anna Dello Russo was a breath of fresh air at London Fashion Week – no leather/studs/ankle boots/thigh boots/boring black ensemble? Well played, madam.

KEEPIN IT REAL

2009-10-10T17:12:00.003+01:00

I've been meaning to update the photo on my "about" page for yonks. The old one was starting to creep me out. I used to get a kick out of it; it was from an old piece in Image magazine about my fashion sense, and with all that coiffured hair and over the top make up, I looked like Bonnie Tyler or something. I guess I used it for Homebug because I felt obliged to have a picture of myself up, and by using a picture that wasn't really what I looked like, I didn't feel too "exposed", if you know what I mean. I'm over that now though and am using an updated picture, and am just mentioning it in case anyone thinks there's been some sort of switcheroo and a different Zee has started writing for Homebug - I look pretty different without my disguise of poofy hair industrial strength make up.

THURSDAY : THROUGH THE KEYHOLE : HOW THINGS ARE SHAPING UP IN THE DEN

2009-10-08T18:11:00.010+01:00

It’s sort of unbelievable that I haven’t posted any substantial photos of our “den” on Homebug yet. My “before” photos are languishing on an old, crapped out laptop, but once I retrieve them, I’ll share them with you. You can take my word for it though – this room started off pretty scuzzy. There are still a few things that need doing that I’ve been hecka lazy about getting round to, but here’s how things are shaping up so far. Before I begin bellyaching about everything that still needs to be done and stuff I'm unhappy with, I should point out that I'm mostly pleased with everything in this room, like the white painted floorboards, Hagalund sofa bed, Eames rocking chair and Sanna Annukka print.

Because our house is so small (have I mentioned? 600 sq. ft for two big adult humans and two big adult dogs? Really, I’ve said that before? A few times?), the notion of having a guest room that is just a guest room is the most preposterous waste of precious space imaginable, so this room is our TV room-cum-guest bedroom. We don’t have a television in our living room downstairs because that room is for dining, reading, chatting, listening to music, using the computer and everything else already. It seemed like a nice idea to have a dedicated room for loafing out and watching DVDs – almost decedent, really. When we have guests, the sofa folds out into a double bed and there’s an armoire in the corner too. I know, I know, it’s not the most elegant arrangement for guests, but we don’t want anyone making themself too comfortable anyway. It’s a tight enough squeeze round here without having extra bodies hanging around!

I can’t help feeling that the room looks a bit overly IKEA’d, but I suppose that’s what you get when you combine an IKEA sofa, rug and TV bench in one teeny space. I think a dose of vintage might help. The only vintage furnishings going on in here at the moment are the String-like shelf over the sofa, which used to belong to my grandparents, and the soon-to-be-curtains that will be made from hand-me-down 1970s bed linen (the purple fabric currently folded over what passes for a curtain pole). There are a couple of vintage knickknacks on the shelf too - the pink donkey figurine is a vintage charity shop find and above it is a Stig Lindberg ‘Linnea’ pot.

The TV bench is the Benno from IKEA, chosen for its petite dimensions and capacity for DVD storage – we can cram almost 200 DVDs into the drawers. The gaps in its back panel scream “flat pack” but ugh, what can you do. It didn’t look like that on the website. We’ll put up a few shelves over it for extra storage – something like this image, maybe (hmmmm, no wonder the room looks a bit IKEAish if I’m taking my decorating cues straight out of the catalogue!) As for the TV… John took care of getting it, which I thought was pretty decent of him when I believed we were on the same wavelength with regard to what size it should be. Of course, he arrived home with the biggest, most ghetto lookin’ widescreen you could possibly fit in the room. But, as he’s never once objected to any of my harebrained decorating whims, I can hardly complain (well, I can hardly keep complaining).
This armoire used to belong to John’s parents who gave it to us when they moved to a house with built-ins. It was knotty pine, so naturally I had to paint it white. I picked up the cute glass door pulls in Anthropologie NY a couple of years ago.

The "To Do" list for this room:

Paint walls (that’s just an undercoat of bog standard brilliant white at the moment. The room needs something a bit warmer – either an off-white or grey, I reckon.)
Give the armoire another coat of white paint (again, that’s just an undercoat).
Make curtains.
Get a chunky white curtain pole (this goes for every room in our house. Do you ever find that as long as you have something that does the job, no matter how awful, you can put off purchasing a nicer upgrade for ages?)
Put up shelves over the TV.
Get a new ceiling light. There’s currently a cheap paper shade from Habitat in here, but I’d like something a bit more dramatic. A vintage oversized fringed shade might be the perfect thing, or perhaps I’ll splurge on something a bit fancy.

WEDNESDAY : WARDROBE : DOTTY 'BOUT DOROTHY

2009-10-07T13:00:00.003+01:00

It wasn’t so long ago that Dorothy Perkins was synonymous with frumptastic Mammy’s clothes, but things have changed and these days I think it might just be my favourite high street store, dontcha know. I’m not a fan of throwaway fashion and tend to have long-lasting affairs with my apparel, so I appreciate the quality of DP’s duds compared to those of stores with similar price points.

I bought a whole batch of tees (from €5-€10) in Dorothy Perkins 12 months ago and after many, many washes and wears, they still look brand new, which is positively astounding considering how plain tees from Topshop, H&M, Penneys, etc. lose their shape after the first few washes and become so shabby so quickly, they’re soon relegated to “er, I can still wear this under something” status.

However, like many British stores, Dorothy Perkins does have a bonkers Pound to Euro exchange rate (“£55? Ooh, that’ll be a million euro, please”) so I’ll generally try on in store but buy online (delivery charge to Ireland is a flat rate of a fiver). And now Dorothy Perkins has won me over with the cutest coats I’ve seen this winter. My head is telling me to go with the sensible black version, which will work with everything I own, but my heart is stubbornly insisting upon the ochre one, which will clash with plenty of things, not least my hair colour (currently, um, tangerine)… Of course, I have neither a sensible bone in my body nor a sensible coat in my wardrobe, so I think ochre may be the only way to go.

PS: Dorothy Perkins is also home to the most beautiful duffle coats going, also in yummy colours.

TUESDAY : INTERIORS : KITKA COTTAGE

2009-10-06T21:29:00.005+01:00

I discovered John and Juli of Kitka Design Toronto and their recently renovated cottage via Katja's wonderful Nestled In blog and couldn't resist sharing a few snaps here on Homebug. It would take me too long to list everything I love about this house - the limited colour palette (white with beats of black, red and blue; perfection), inspired use of plywood, glorious attention to detail, matresses on the floor (who knew?), gleaming white floorboards... I could go on and on... What's more, apparently John and Juli pulled this stunning reno off on a miniscule budget. And you know what? That makes me feel a little sick if I'm honest because I had previously comforted myself with the firmly held belief that only people with mountains and mountains of money got to have homes this beautiful. Sigh. See more gobsmackingly gorgeous pictures here (if you can bear it).

MOST LIKELY, THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF POSTS WHICH SOMEHOW END UP BEING ABOUT COCONUT CREAM

2009-10-06T20:51:00.004+01:00

This delicious spicy couscous, chickpea, pepper and mint dish by Emma Lewis is something I often make a big helping of for a few days’ lunch. It’s definitely a far cry from the sad deli sandwiches on offer near my office. The only changes I make to the original recipe are to replace the chicken stock with veggie stock, and the Greek yoghurt with coconut cream. Coconut cream is one of my favourite ingredients in the whole wide world ever and I’m forever sneaking it into recipes. It makes everything taste sexier. Ok, not everything, but a lot of things. There’s good reason to substitute out the Greek yoghurt in this case – the coconut cream adds more depth of flavour to the dish (i.e. “makes taste sexier”) plus it makes it entirely dairy free; and it’s always handy to have at least one tasty, quick-to-prepare vegan recipe in your repertoire. And believe me, this is tasty.

PS: No harissa? One or two finely chopped fresh red chillis will do the trick, yo.