Sweet, Sweet Love...

I. Am. In. Loveee.

I was cruising blog Decor8 yesterday, and as soon as my eyes were caught, so was my heart..

The post (here!) was featuring Knack Studios, based in South Carolina.

Secretly, I've got a dream of owning my own shop where I give flea market finds and old furniture and home stuffs a fantastic new life... and so you will see why I'm so deeply in love with Knack Studios!! I am totally in heartfelt longing for the cream dresser in the above left photo! And I'm a total sucker for mismatched old plates too (below)!! Hey... I love it all, what can I say!?!

"Knack Studios was born of a passion for discovering home products that reflect a distinctly urban professional lifestyle. With and eye for detail and a talent for repurposing found objects, Knack offers an eclectic selection of furnishings that are sleek yet warm, detailed but relaxed. Clever design. Easy Style. Uncommon Expression." From the Knack Studios Website.

Also Knack studios has a Blog and a fantastic Flickr set! Check them out!!

Heaven!!!!!!

I am in love with Brooke Giannetti's Interior Design!! Her interiors incorporate her love of antiques, beautiful fabrics, and classic design infused with a bit of whimsy. She has amazing attention to detail and sense of style. In her projects, her desire is to touch the emotions, which she does oh-so very well!
She also has the blog Velvet & Linen. Frequently she collaborates on architectural projects with her husband Steve Giannetti, to provide their clients with the full scope of architectural, interior design and landscape services. Together they have created Detailio to help their clients with the design process.

My absolute favorite design of Brooke's must be her Oxnard Interiors. I just love this clean, warm, cosy and fresh white white white!! I could move into this house immediately and be in heaven! I adore the antiques, flea market finds, little details, color palette, natural wood, touches of luxury, wood burning fire, natural light and the warm glow of lamps...I just love it all!

From the talented lady herself, "Our goal on this project was to crate a home that would evoke the calming emotional response. We created a neutral background by painting all of the wood white and plastering over the dated lava rock fireplace. We kept the rest of the color palette neutral, using creams and light greys and a few blue accents. Then we filled the house with things that created the same calming emotional feeling for us: old French shutters, a great baroque Italian artifact over the bed, vintage wicker, Swedish and English bamboo furniture. All were a little worn and faded with age, most of the items were purchased at local flea markets and antique shops."

Well, I do have an extreme soft spot for antique and flea market finds! And I love how this interior isn't pretentious or immaculate, the worn, loved, and warm feeling melts my heart. I love the air of femininity to it too, but it's not so strong that a family wouldn't be happy here too!

So, I think I've gushed over this enough....when can I move in?!


This living room (and the top & below image) is my absolute favorite room, without a doubt, I love everything about this!! It's classic and fresh, elegant and cosy...it's a dream come true!!




An antique Swedish Table with a French chair.


The breakfast room...yes, I can definitely see myself enjoying a coffee or two here!


The perfect kitchen breakfast bar. I love these stools, and I am such a sucker for old antique kitchen tins, scales, bowls etc.!


Yes, the perfect kitchen! I love the open cupboard doors, and I can just see myself making fresh pastry in this kitchen! Oh! Heaven!!


Light and bright dining!


A beautiful chaise for the bedroom (one day I'll have one of these!! I swear!)


And last but not least! Although this is the 'dressing area' it inspired me as a study, or more to the point, my painting room!! It's bright and clean, perfect to paint in, blog in, and for all of my inspirations to run wild!! (I swear one day I'll have a room like this too!!)

Apartment Redecoration Part Three!!

Well, above is my bed - after my room's redecoration! I love my bed..and I have a little obsession with filling it with pillows and cushions! The sun pours in my window every morning which I love...which you can see on my orange blanket...this lil blanket has a few years on it, my Mum used to put it on the bottom of her bed too...when I was a little girl, I had a green one just like it...although I'm not sure where it wandered off to!

Below is my bedside table, at night! I love my string of lights, especially as the bulbs are so big and round...so I had the idea to wrap them up and put them in a large glass vase from Crate and Barrel for $20...I even put a dimmer on them!! so they can also give of a gorgeous dim glow, which I adore!!
Above the lights are family photo's of when I was just a little girl with my family...also postcards from 1909 and 1910 which I purchased from the 25th street flea market, from a really sweet woman who had folders and folders of them to browse through...I had a well spent Sunday afternoon there!



Sooooo....here's my next project!! As you may notice I don't have a headboard to my bed, and the wall above is pretty bare and lacking character.. I could always hang something up there, but I thought I'd be a bit more creative and paint the area instead!

I love the William Morris wallpaper below, and wouldn't say no to hanging a large piece of this from floor to ceiling at the head of my bed! But, I don't have any laying around and I'm not sure my budget could cover it right now anyways!!



So - onto painting inspiration!! Below are some of my favorite finds! But if you have any further ideas or if you have the perfect photo or any inspiration you'd like to share please let me know! I'd LOVE to hear from you!!
In the mean time, I'm going to keep up my search... as I hope to get started this weekend!

A Little More Shabby Chic!

25th street flea market, nyc

The Antiques Garage, nyc

One of my favorite things to do in NYC is checking out the 25th Street Flea Markets, I just love these places - I have wandered around them many times, always finding something I would love to keep!! I think my best find was a 1930's mixing bowl, which was a perfect gift - and now has a wonderful home!

I think I have found a little soft spot for things vintage, flea market, shabby chic, and antique! Below is a chair and ottoman I saw on my last visit - which I would have loved to snap up, clean up, accessorize - if only my little NY apartment could have handled it!

I also found a couple great photo's of the NYC flea market on flickr! Check out 'The Gentleman'.

And if you want to read more about flea markets in America, with some handy little flea market find tips, check out the blog Flea Speech!

So when arriving at my (apartment!) door step today, I found my wonderful purchase of the book 'Flea Market Style' by Emily Chambers, waiting for me! I haven't had the chance to properly devour its pages yet, but here's a few photo's I took of my favorite pages so far! Oh! The inspiration!!.... Oh! How I wish my apartment was bigger!!!!

oh...it's the British in me!

who said dark leather sofa's had to be drab?!

I do love those french inspired beds...

beaten and battered metal furniture - yesss please!

can you imagine the wonderful dinner parties?!!