Sunday 25 May 2014

Moroccan Wedding Blankets:


I actually first discovered Moroccan Wedding Blankets via Instagram and Tumblr a little while ago, and immediately felt guilty that I didn't know the meaning and thoughts behind them! I just knew they were beautiful looking and starting to pop up all over Western Interior Blogs!

Known as Moroccan wedding blankets, handira are woven out of sheep's wool, cotton and linen by Berber women in the Middle Atlas mountains of Northern Morocco.
Berber wedding blankets are woven in anticipation of, you guessed it, a wedding, by the bride's female relatives. It can take many hours — even weeks — of work to attach those hundreds of mirrored sequins once the weaving is complete; it is thought that during this collaborative task, the bride's relatives teach her all about the birds and the bees, among other marital duties and expectations. After the wedding ceremony, the bride wears the blanket tied around her neck as a kind of cape. It might be associated with her trip to her new marital home, which could be a chilly ride.

I love the history and romantic, charming story behind these blankets and can truly appreciate the amount of time, hard work and detail which goes into each and everyone. 
I would simply adore one for mine and Steve's bedroom, to lie at the end of the bed like a throw would. I think against a shade of white wall or light grey, the soft tones and majestic shimmer would work wonderfully together! 

The problem is getting your hands on one here in the UK! I have found some sites online that import them but then obviously charge a lot for them too...
We were lucky enough to visit Morocco three years ago but boy do I wish I'd known about these then, as I might have been able to hunt one down in the Souks there or with other market traders!

If anyone knows of a place I can get them or order them from here in the UK and that they are the real deal, I'd be so grateful if you could leave a comment below and let me know. Otherwise, I might be booking a cheap flight back to Marrakech soon...







Thursday 22 May 2014

Simplicity:






Sometimes you just need to strip things back and look at some simple yet pretty (or tasty) inspirations that surround us.

Where do you look for inspiration?




Monday 19 May 2014

Our Dining Chairs! :

Chairs are probably my favorite item of furniture to shop for.
I sometimes wish at University I had studied furniture design instead of interior design, as I would love to be able to have the knowledge and skill to design and create my own chair! 

Seeing as chairs are one of my favorite things when it comes to design, it can make it a real nightmare when shopping for them, as there are so many different styles out there which I adore...it's too hard to choose!

After about 4-5 months of searching for the perfect dining chairs for our home, we have both decided on the iconic Eames DSW chair in this gorgeous new limited edition pastel shades, from Cult Furniture (one of my favourite sites! Definitely check them out)!

We are buying four chairs, one in each colour and have decided on the mushroom grey, candy floss pink, peppermint green and the top right colour-a beautiful, soft, lemon sorbet yellow. 

The mix of these colours against the kitchen units we have picked out and flooring will really 'pop' and create a real feature in the room as well as obviously being practical.

In a different post soon, I will reveal our dining table of choice too...





Flooring Inspiration:

Flooring can make or break a room in my opinion. 
It is also such an investment to your home, that you want to make sure to take your time and get it right! 
For the past 2 months, myself and Steve have spent many a weekend travelling around different flooring stores and spent hours looking over different samples and trying to come to a decision.
We have always known that for the ground floor of the house, which is pretty much all open plan, we wanted white/grey wooden floor boards.  We adore the clean, fresh, bright and open feeling it gives to any space.

Seeing as wood is uber pricey and can sometimes be a little tricky to manage, we have decided on a new technology of laminate, which is incredible!
It looks AND feels like real wood! Each panel gets laid as an individual piece and each one has different grains in it to make it look as organic as possible. 

We are hoping to order the final flooring in the next two weeks for all rooms, so of course I will keep you posted on our choices!